OK, the room is ready for some very special guests...
We're going to go pickup Grandma and Grandpa from the airport!
Welcome to Japan!
This is "welcome," right? Yea
Whoa, good timing!
Alright, drop off your stuff and then let's go down to the car!
I'm glad this isn't a dream.
Ha! Are you guys ready for this? Yea.
Exciting
5:30, oh we're going to miss them! Oh, well let's go!
It’s been nearly 4 years since my parents have visited us in Japan
not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t!
But with travel to Japan open again, they’re coming to visit us over the kids’ spring break,
which just so happens to be the perfect time to see the blooming of Japan’s famous cherry blossoms.
My parents are going through immigration now
And we should be there to welcome them as they come out.
So we just had a fan come up to us, and she just got a picture with us, huh?
It was pretty cute. It was cute.
A high school student. High school student!
Are you guys ready for this?! Yes!
Oh! Ready to see them.
How exciting!
See them? Wave!
Oh welcome! Thank you, thank you!
Here's a present
You can be a ninja now. Oh, well thank you!
Alright! Well Grandma and Grandpa are here! Yea!
We're going to have some soup... Yes.
And then we're going to let them go to bed, maybe.
We'll see. We'll let our kids go to bed.
That's right, let our kids go to bed.
You still have school tomorrow!
You're not on vacation yet.
Ruth's speciality: the ham & potato soup.
As Grandma and Grandpa got settled in, the first of the sakura blossoms made their appearance.
The kids however were much more interested in the fun things that my parents brought with them,
and nothing says fun to kids like Pokemon.
Well we'll count that as number one, ok?
Anna, you can look for number 2.
My goodness! Well, we got to wait.
What are all of... are these all stickers?
OK now Sarah you get first pick.
Sarah honed right in. Wow Sarah, you knew, huh?
Anna, choose
OK Becca, choose number 2.
Oh coffee!
OK, Josh. Coffee!
Oh, he knew what he wanted for number 2!
OK, now it's Anna who gets first choice.
Spring break in Japan is the gap between the end of one school or work year and the beginning of the next.
Today at Sarah and Joshua’s school, the sixth graders are moving on and the students are saying goodbye.
What'cha looking at there, Ruth?
At the graduating class.
She thought maybe the kids were coming parading through.
I think they will parade through. Yeah.
Oh I see them lining up over there!
They call each person up, give them their diploma.
Yea, like they did for Sarah? And they bow? Yeah.
We have such an amazing perch to watch all the activities from now. This is awesome.
Fortunately we don’t have any kids graduating this year, which means we have more time for other things…
like introducing Grandma to one of our favorite discount stores.
Alright guys, are we ready?
We're going to take a little excursion today. Sounds good!
That's right, it's Daiso time!
Uh oh Grandma, what are we doing?
Oh, we're looking for things that we might need.
Or things we don't need.
It didn’t take long for everyone to find stuff to buy — useful and otherwise.
If this was for free, I would get as much as I can.
Where would you put it?
In my house. Where in your house?
Ahh....
In Japan, this means you're a brand new driver
And this means you're an elderly driver, and they put it on their cars.
Some things we nearly bought, but merely out of curiosity, not necessity.
Oh look, disposable briefs for men, large
Disposable panties for women,
There's only one left.
So mom, what did you get?
A caramel—a decaf caramel...
What did you get here at Daiso?
I have Sunday School class, and so I want to take some different ones of these erasers.
So I'll take a bunch of those home for the kids. Oh fun!
And then the rest is Ruth's stuff.
Oh wow.
Yea, is this mine?
Ruth has made the most of our trip, as usual.
Having bought enough to validate our parking, we could finally leave the Daiso. For now.
Oh my goodness, look!
Spring is in the air, the Sakura is blooming!
It's one of the earliest Sakura blooms in a long time.
You guys are playing with Grandpa and Grandma tonight!
Ready, Set, Eigo?
What a fun game.
Grandpa holding down the fort, here.
Pizza for the troops, and...
And look at mommy and daddy, we're all ready for a date.
Love love love!
Oh! Shoot girlfriend!
Shoot, yo! Looking good!
That's right.
One of the great perks of having dad and mom visiting is the free childcare that we get to enjoy.
And tonight we’re going out with Ruth’s little sister Debbie and her husband Ben. Let’s eat!
Alright we've made our orders — we're double dating with Ben & Debbie.
And planning something very big!
Very big! That's right, huge.
Huge. International. That's right. Get ready.
And you have to see these seats that we're in.
Dude, like?! Kona's Coffee!
My freakin' goodness!
Look at my hand!
Ruth got one as well and here she goes.
Oh my goodness, this is so much!
It's like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
You're going to be on a sugar high after that!
When we got home, we saw that we weren’t the only ones having fun.
So what happened while we were gone?
Banana piano. A banana piano?!
Oh my goodness.
What did you do?
What?!
[Playing Jingle Bells]
Ok, someone else's turn Wow!
You have to choose a song that only has 5 keys.
As the days progressed, the weather got warm and sunny. Everything bursted into bloom.
Spring is one of the best times in Japan, so full of new life and new prospects.
All right, we're just about to start. Paz Church is filling up with people!
And we are getting ready to go — here we go! Yes!
Look at that! Oh my goodness, look at that! So precious.
Overflowing in love!
And a full house, I love it!
Joshua’s getting into the spring spirit by starting his first latch-hook project with Grandma.
What do you got there, Joshua?
A Mario rug.
What?! You're making it with Grandma?!
Yeah. Oh my goodness, how cool is that?!
So show him how you do it here.
So first you put it around the latch,
You put it in and pull it up...
until this comes up...
twist it around
You pull it, and you twist it and then you pull.
And you got it.
So he does it all by himself.
Oh wow, I can't wait to see it all when you're done.
It's going to look like this.
It's going to look like that when it's done.
But now I'm right here.
The next day the kids had school, but the sun called us outside to see how far along the sakura was blooming.
Wow, those are just beautiful though- already!
But yea, they have a little bit more to go.
Well the Sakura aren't quite 100% yet but today is a sunny day, so I brought dad and mom out
And we're going to look and see what we can find here and just enjoy the nice day.
But not quite... not quite blooming yet. Just about.
Canola here. Is that what that is?
Yea, they usually plant it near the Sakura because it blooms near the same time.
Gorgeous here Yea
Well what do you think so far?
It really is amazing even though it's still not at the peak.
OK, this is the picturesque bridge
We're going to get the picturesque picture of mom and dad here, it will be perfect!
So when the train comes by here, it's pretty thunderous.
"Come to Japan," Nate said, "I'll take you under all the best bridges!"
Oh here we go! Oh look at that!
Oh you just missed it! You could have been under there!
Two of them! Oh wow.
They've obviously worked on this bridge, it's not so bad.
Yea, and it didn't move at all.
Dad and Mom also came in the Spring of 2017, but missed the full sakura bloom by one day before going back home,
so this time we hope we can show them the glory of full bloom.
Back at home, Ruth had something special cooking for the family.
Well, what do we got going on here?!
Oh! Tongiru.
Momma chan, you made Tongiru?
I did. Look at that!
Mine is half Tongiru half ramen.
Half Tongiru half ramen. Nice.
Yes, this is Tongiru. What is Tongiru?
It's a type of Misoshiro soup
But it's full of vegetables and we add pork.
It's got miso and dashi — it's a soup stock.
Look. And it's good.
Did you make that, Sarah? Yeah!
Of course. Isn't that cool?
Wow, so cool! Don't zoom in on it too much.
Oh, too much, huh?
But Sarah wasn’t the only one working on a big project.
Wow, look at it. It's coming along nicely.
Yea, it is.
The next day, the whole family went to check on the progress of the Sakura.
Look at this one, it's like a Weeping willow
Like a weeping willow, you're right!
That's pretty.
These still have a little ways to go, huh? Yea.
Lots of fish down there.
Koi pond, huh?
Oh yea.
They're good sized too.
Oh yea they are. They're big.
What's going on here? Oh my goodness! Ha ha!
Smile. Pretty smile, or you're going to keep doing this.
1, 2, 3
I want to get in with mommy!
Selfies, and a big, beautiful Sakura.
Today, just getting out with the whole family was a highlight,
but we’re still hoping and praying for a sunny day with the full bloom of Sakura.
Will we get it or not this year?
That’s the question we all want to know.
Hurry hurry!
Sarah stopped?
Yeah.
Look at these guys here, think they own the bridge.
Whoa Sarah!
Oh my goodness, look at the fish. Yea.
These [Sakura] aren't quite full yet. No, they're not.
It's like hit and miss this year, isn't it?
Some are there and some just not quite yet
The ones that are are really gorgeous.
Do you guys have names for the ducks here by your school?
Lefty and Righty. Lefty and Righty?
Yes, this has been an unpredictable spring so far, with some things blooming early and others late.
It makes me wonder what other kinds of surprises the rest of the year has in store!
But our prayers for sunshine during the Sakura bloom were answered the very next day,
as the sun made it’s triumphal return to the spring.
Today would certainly be our best bet for seeing the Sakura this year.
Oh it's finally warm enough I can start sitting out here.
I have coffee and I have Joshua!
Yes! How'd you sleep Mr Joshua? Good.
Good. Did you have any good dreams last night?
Umm, no dreams.
No dreams?
I hear your little project of making a rug is really coming along nice.
Yep. Should I go and bring it out and show you?
Well not out here, I'll go inside and see it in a little bit, OK?
These are amazing!
This is a big troop right here. Look at this! Ha ha!
So the other days the Sakura was not in bloom but today it is perfectly in bloom!
The sun is out and it is amazing!
Here we go.
Whoa, there went the train. Look at these guys.
This is the way to roll, huh?
Coast is clear!
Ah, this is the perfect Spring day here for Sakura.
And we hit it just right with the friends and family. That's it.
So this has been quite the thing, a lot of fun, huh?
Yes, my parents finally got to see Sakura just how it should be seen.
We have some more fun trips planned with Grandma and Grandpa while they’re in Japan,
so make sure to subscribe to our channel and enjoy more episodes of Life in Japan.
We'll see you next time.
This is the life!
The Queen and Princess's Goodbye.
Goodbye!