Summer Vacation - Visiting Caputos North

Joshua warmed up quickly to Great Grandpa and who kindly let him check-out the cordless telephone :-)

Hey, Mommy! Remember...I am "your little sweetheart!" Why are you lovin' on my cousin Anna?!
Older cousin Mariel was so kind to play with Joshua and checked-out his "Baby contraband toy box" (with a doorbell he can ring 10+ times, a cat's tail to pull, a key, a plug, a "TV" to turn on & off, etc.)
Joshua investigating Great Grandma's beautiful garden under Great Uncle Ric's watchful eye

Cousin James was generous to share his cool toy cars with Joshua

Three generations!

Kendra's "new Mommy" cousins w/ Joshua's third cousins...three & six months younger

Uncle Rob played too and let Joshua spin his bike tires!

After missing some naps, having a blast meeting & playing with everyone and eating a snack of some delicious cookies from older cousins Cecilia, Cielo & Mikey....Joshua finally fell asleep in the car!

Summer Vacation - Visiting Caputos South

So, we headed down to Atlanta to be with Gigi & Papa, Uncle Dan & Aunt Leigh and Joshua's sweet cousin Caroline :-)

I'm realizing that we didn't capture everything on our own camera...hence this blog entry is missing some key events like the amazing chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake Leigh made for my (Kendra's) birthday celebration (thank you!), some cute photos of Caroline & Joshua getting acquainted, lunch at the Varsity, etc. However, those of you who know any of the paparazzi that was with us, can see more complete photos :-) You should've seen us: two firstborns, four doting parents and grandparents! As someone said almost prophetically, "Joshua's feet won't touch the ground!" He lacked for nothing on the love & attention front, that's certain!!

Here are Jonathan & Joshua waiting outside the fabulous Atlanta Aquarium with Dan & Leigh and Caroline.

Here's our sweet little niece playing in her exersaucer

Joshua didn't have to twist Gigi's arm to get her to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to him!

Joshua hanging-out with his Great Aunt Leslie

Joshua also warmed up right away to Cousin Tyler and plopped himself in his lap!

A nice Sunday swim in summery Suwannee

Dinner out one evening after several days of feasting on homemade Caputo cuisine

Make-it-yourself frozen yogurt sundaes at Yogli-Mogli, a new favorite!

Mmm...good :-)

Playing around in the fountains at the lovely Suwannee town center

Yeah, I'm just hanging-out here with Papa, enjoying the stones

This is my kind of summer evening...

Farewell breakfast with Papa & Gigi at yummy Cracker Barrell

Why do we have to go get on an airplane? I'm so happy here rocking with my Gigi & Papa!

Wow! A chair my size too, right next to Gigi's :-)

Summer Vacation - Visiting Friends in Indiana

We started off well! Joshua thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride over to the airport (our first time trying it). He bounced himself up & down on Jonathan's lap while babbling excitedly practically the whole ride :-) He did fine on the long flight from Osaka to San Francisco, however, he just decided not to sleep, in spite of it being essentially an overnight flight :-(

When we were getting ready to board the next long flight (5 hours) to Boston, we knew it was going to be tough. Joshua - and we - were feeling close to "melting down." We eagerly volunteered to be bumped by the airline (and put up for the night in a hotel) to fly the next day. Yes, the meltdown came (for Joshua), and he barely slept again, but at least he had some fun bouncing around the hotel crib with some pillows.

In all, it may have helped with his jetlag. After the first 48 hours with little sleep, Joshua did pretty well once we got to the Boston area. He'd crash for about 5 hours in the late afternoon, but then wake for dinner and go back to bed at night for a good 6 hours or so.
Here he is in the airport heading to Indy. He loves wheels and was thrilled to check out a Mustang - just his size and right at our boarding gate!
Joshua's favorite pastime during the trip...checking out these cool door-stops! (Way cooler than anything we have in Kobe.)
Joshua enjoyed lots of hugs and playtime with great friends in the Indy-area...
and lots of swimming too :-)
I'm so blessed! Thanks for welcoming us!!