Bettina and Maximilian arrive in Spring

It was very difficult for us to say goodbye to our friends, family and sunny California. Everyone has been so supportive in so many different ways. While we appreciated the nice gifts, we will especially miss the support, advice and fun times that we have had together. Please continue to keep in touch and we hope to see you again real soon !

We were very surprised at how well behaved Maximilian was on the eleven hour flight from LAX to Nagoya (via Narita). He was talking a lot to the flight attendants and managed to sleep for a entire five hours without interruption in the brand new bassinett which was attached to the wall in front of our seats.

Here we are with all our extra carry-on baggage. The most challenging part of the trip was getting through security. We must have taken about 20 minutes passing all of our items (2 strollers, car seat and base, diaper bag, breast milk and medicine cooling bags, blankets, toys, etc.) through the scanner.

We were fortunate that mother nature decided to delay cherry blossoms until our arrival. Below are pictures (before and after) of the cherry trees that are located about one block from our home.

Before the arrival of Maximilian and Bettina - no blossoms.

Bettina and Maximilian are greeted by the cherry blossoms.

On the first weekend of our arrival we took a 20 minute walk to the local Yamazaki river which is lined with many cherry blossoms (sakura trees). We enjoy walking along the river on the weekends. There are small parks, tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, a track stadium, and a horse riding school along the way. The weather is very nice in the Spring time.

As you can image, the first few weeks of our arrival were quite challenging. We had many bags to unpack and we also relocated our bed to the second floor. In addition we brought a carload of furniture and household goods from IKEA in Osaka. Visiting IKEA and Costco in Osaka on our first weekend made us feel like we were back home. We are now starting to finally settle in.

We were even able to sneak in a few hours of salsa dancing on the 28th floor of the Hilton Hotel.

We have also been able to enjoy a few nice dinners. We took Maximilian to his first Yakiniku restaurant. We ordered plates of raw meet and vegetables and grilled them at our table.

We say "Sayonara" for now and will be back with more news soon!

Tony, Bettina, and Maximilian
Nagoya, Japan