Nothing much...

We've been home for almost a week and we're right back into our usual summer routine.  Reina, Chris and I are all getting much better sleep in our own beds, and during the day we are visiting Obachan and other friends, or going to the beach. It is much hotter here than I remember, I'm not sure why, but it is very refreshing to jump in the water here, and Reina doesn't seem to mind either.

Reina continues to amaze us with her speech.  She is starting to combine words, like "water more" or "where is it" which I don't think really counts, since it sounds like one word, but its still cute.  She is not only mimicking our speech, but also our gestures and behavior.  When Kaori came for a visit, Reina started waving her hands around like Kaori was gesturing. Reina also loves to lend a hand when we're cleaning, wiping the table, sweeping the floor, or washing the windows (even though it makes a usual chore twice as difficult).

When we were in England we visited a really great indoor playground for little ones.  We were happy to discover that there is one right here on our little island: mona kids. Except this place is for escaping the heat, rather than the wet and cold of England.

We have about one more week before we start work.  Oh, good news. We think we found a FULL Japanese daycare for Reina.  The one she was at was Japanese, but they really catered to Americans and there were definitely more American kids than Japanese.  This daycare is literally a "mom and pop" place: very small with 3 teachers who don't speak any English.  This also means that they will be taking off Japanese holidays, which will pose a little problem for us, but we'll tackle that when it comes.  Maybe somebody should come visit then!  While I am not sure how great educationally the place is, I know that Reina will get a full Japanese language and culture course, which is something Chris and I cannot give her.