I’m sitting here in our hotel room, watching the early morning light grow over the Tokyo rooftops in Akasaka. In a few hours we’ll all go with Meg and Kate to the Haneda airport to send them on their way back to their life in France.

It’s been so much fun to witness Guam and Japan through their eyes and share our life with them. I feel like we’ve made the most of it. We really only had enough time to give them the teaser tour of Japan – a few World Heritage shrines in Kyoto, a little shopping in Tokyo, and we ended the tour at The Making of Harry Potter outside Tokyo yesterday. It was the first time there for all of us, and we were all delighted by the whole experience. We ate kaiten sushi, okonomiyaki, oyakudon, ramen and lots and lots of conbini snacks (the convenience store foods that are (to American sensibilities) astoundingly delicious and fresh). We experienced the Shinkansen bullet train, subways, buses, monorails, boat, car and (back in Guam) ripstick. It was cold here, especially after the warmth of Japan. We froze ourselves while waiting for buses, visiting castles, and visiting temples. But, I have to say it was worth it to see Kiyumizudera (one of my all time favorites…) with the snow flurrying through the air.

And of course, in the middle of all the sightseeing and good food and subways and buses, we got lots of time to catch up and reconnect. We marveled together at everything we were seeing and shared memories and jokes. My bucket is full.

I can’t believe we’re here already. But we’ll be off on our next round of adventure about a week and a half later (after we do loads more laundry and get caught up on all the things waiting for us back at home…)