The Takagi Reunion & Other Happenings

So our Takagi family reunion was a success and we survived family photos and a weekend together piled into two cars. It was great to see Koji again and the timing of our new minivan purchase worked out for carting eleven people around town (not all eleven people, it just meant we only had to take two cars around instead of three!). We ate lots of great food, celebrated my Dad's birthday, spent some time relaxing and doing a little bit of sightseeing downtown before everyone headed home.

I am looking forward to visiting my parents in Japan this winter as it may be my last trip to Japan for quite sometime-- my free lodging will be moving to the U.S. next spring! We are excited to have them on the same continent so we can see them more often though. I am nervous about how Jaron will do on the flight, but I plan to being as many activities and snacks as I can realistically carry while juggling two kids and I will have a big bag of mini marshmallows for any emergencies. It will definitely help the first little stretch of Jeff's deployment go quickly and although the holidays will be lonely without him, at least I will be with my parents for Thanksgiving.

Oh, and I realize that I did not make an official announcement, although many of you probably already know from Facebook or word of mouth. We are expecting our third baby in March 2012! What a surprise, let me tell you. We knew we wanted another baby, but with Jeff's deployment we had planned to wait until he got home. Well it seems we have a little spirit that just cannot wait any longer to join our family. Sadly, Jeff will not be home for the birth or the newborn stage, so I pray that God will have mercy on me and give me an easy baby! The newborn stage is so exhausting.

I think I covered most of the news around here...new minivan, family in town, another baby and an upcoming deployment. Oh and we found renters for our Missouri house! That is pretty exciting news after paying rent and a mortgage for the past few months we decided the market still stunk and renting was the best financial choice for us for now. The icing on the cake this past week was that I found an awesome Japanese grocery store-- it's a little bit of a drive, but it has almost anything I could ever dream of having from home. Not everything, but the closest I've ever seen in the U.S. Yum.