Japanese Family

On our way from Tokyo to Osaka, we were lucky to spend a night with Yoshie's (Emily's sister in law) family in Toyohashi, near Nagoya.  The kids were thrilled to have 5 kids to play with, ranging in age from 2 to 10.  Quick recap of a really fun 24 hours:

Celebrating with Masaki (Yoshie's brother) when his "team" beat a world record by building the worlds largest castle out of beer cans.   Luke is now insisting we have to buy the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records to see it in there.

We came back to their house for a delicious make-your-own-sushi dinner, and then the kids lit fireworks in the front yard.  Nothing like a 2 year old walking around with giant sparklers in his hand to cause all sorts of excitment.

Brian spent the next day golfing (ahem, drinking) with Ishihara-San, while the rest of us visited an amazing adventure/ropes course that all the kids (and some of the adults) climbed all over.

The kids were sad to say goodbye to their "new" cousins.  While the pic below looks like a typical Sunday night dinner in San Mateo, it is really Sunday night in Toyohashi, with the Ishihara clan: Chiharu, Takala, Chikala, Haruna, and Sora.