Fun in the USA - June 2011
After Matthew finished his final performance in the 4th grade play on June 8, we shared hugs and goodbyes and headed to catch the bus to the airport. We had booked this flight last November in order to use upgrades and Skymiles points to be able to fly business class. This is quite a treat! We flew from Osaka to Seattle to Minneapolis to St. Louis. We got our rental (Chevy Traverse) and headed to Phillip’s brother David’s house. (Summer stop #1). Total travel time? 23 hours. The kids did great. Everyone got enough sleep to hang out with David, Jane, Conrad, and Annie for a couple of hours before going to bed at 1am! We had pizza and strawberries. Yum! We laughed that the bowl of strawberries would have cost us $30 in Japan!
On Thursday, we bought Jacob new baseball cleats at Dicks Sporting Goods and drove to Farmington to stay at Grandma’s house for a couple of days. (Summer stop #2). I was very excited to go to Walmart! ☺
On Saturday, we drove to Phillip’s brother Joe’s lake house. (Summer stop #3). Linda was a wonderful host as always. It was so nice to just hang out there and catch up with family (Linda, Uncle Jim, Aunt Helen, Aunt Shirley, cousins Keegan and Jack, and of course Grandma!). We rode in the boat and did some tubing. Matthew even caught his first fish.
Jessica with big cousin Daniel
Jacob and Daniel were pretty crazy on those tubes!
Sunday morning came with a lot of excitement. We packed up the Traverse and headed to Cincinnati. First stop – the Milford Skyline! We were so excited to see “Welcome Maloney Family” on the sign and to see friends there waiting for us. Immediately, the kids went home with friends, so I hit Walmart and Target to find a cell phone.
Matthew was happy to see his best buddy Braden.
We stayed at the Vianello’s rental house for a few days. (Summer stop #4). Friends had gotten us mattresses, linens, kitchen items… there was even a bottle of wine in the fridge! Seeing what our friends had done really brought tears to my eyes.
We hit the ground running on Monday. I drove Jacob to St. Xavier HS football camp. I drove back to take Jessica to swim team. Matthew went with a friend to swim team a little earlier. The warm reception by friends and the swim team coaches was just so sweet. Phillip arrived on Monday. That night, Jacob pitched in his first baseball game back with the Grizzlies. He did awesome! The smile on Jacob’s face as he walked off the mound at the end of the first inning will be etched in my mind forever. I think he was so happy to be back with his Cincy friends, and I also think he was relieved to have that first successful inning behind him. He had a great game, got the win, and the fun had begun!
Matthew finished out the week at football camp with Jacob. They loved it! I think they both enjoyed being back on the football field again. On Friday, Jacob’s team lost in the final game of their tournament. Matthew won the St X Bomber award for always giving his best effort and for being a great teammate and competitor. He raced his player coach Nate, a St X senior, every day after camp. I got a great picture on Friday.
We started all of the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, etc visits. Amazingly, on Wednesday, June 15, we ran into a friend Holly at the orthodontist. She invited us to stay at her home for 5 days since her family had to go out of town unexpectedly. We accepted! (Summer stop #5). Their house is just spectacular complete with a great game room in the basement. We had a blast and are so appreciative of their generosity.
On Friday night, we had dinner and stayed with our dear friends the Petermans. (Summer stop #6). Phillip returned to Japan on Saturday, June 18.
We went back to the Vianello house until June 24 when we moved to Martha’s house. (Summer stop #7). Martha is the mother of a good friend of ours and offered us the opportunity to stay at her house for 3 weeks while she was gone. It was nice to be settled for a few weeks. More summer leave adventure to come in the next blog ...
Peace and Love,
Tina
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