We’ve spent 3 amazing weeks with family in the States, and now the time has come for the long road back to Japan.
We’ll spend the last 2 weeks we have with my parents in Illinois,
visiting with many friends and family there before passing our COVID tests and boarding a plane for Japan.
Well guys, welcome to Ohio.
We're in Ohio!
Ohayogozaimasu.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
Green light to our hotel.
3...Jump! Jump, jump.
For happy kids on a road trip, just look for a hotel with a pool, and you’re set!
The next day we went by an attraction so enormous, we just had to stop and take a look for ourselves.
Ark Encounter!
Whoa, look at this. This is awesome.
So we're about to the ark. This ark if from the story of Genesis, a Biblical story about the flood that covered the whole earth.
And God spoke to his man Noah, told him to build an ark.
And it's in these proportions. We don't know if it was exactly like this, but it was these proportions.
And we're going to tour this thing now.
They had all kinds of cages for the animals.
Whoa, chips! And pepsi.
I didn't know they had Pepsi and chips on an ark.
I'm sure Noah had coffee on the ark.
Come over here and look up.
Noah, are you up there?
We're heading up the deck.
Up, up, up and away!
Ok, the kids are walking up the ark.
Look, at the ark.
It's amazing inside.
Maybe his wood work shop looked a lot like this, huh?
What would it have been like back then?
We spent the morning seeing how Noah and his family could have survived on the ark with the technology and animals from ancient times.
For the adults and older kids it was fascinating, but the limited stamina of the younger kids kept us moving along.
Look at all the herbs.
That's a loom. That's where they would weave things together.
Eating and meeting.
But even on the ark, we were able to find a few thrills for the kids.
Kids only. Go. Oh, kids only area?
It got you! Whoa!!
Very cool. I think I'm going to get this magnet for the fridge.
So cool. Now you can tell if there's an earthquake. Just look at the ark.
When we came out, wouldn't you know it, it's raining! Oh my goodness.
What a rainy day but what a huge ark!
We're a wet, wet, wet picture. Wet picture!
I wasn't expecting a flood when I visited the ark.
We all got soaked, huh guys?
We were soon on our way again, the next step this time would be Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and we could hardly wait to arrive!
We're coming up on Champaign, IL,
This is my old stomping ground where I lived for 1 year after college
And I worked at a psychological testing agency.
That's where I worked folks.
There it was. There it went.
And I lived out that way, in the middle of the corn fields.
We only have 1 more hour left.
Yeah!! We made it!
What are you so excited for?
For the game that you throw the ball in. Oh, basketball?
Got the most beautiful chauffeur in the world.
You're too kind.
There’s something so relaxing about driving through the expansive prairies and fields of Illinois. I love it!
Well kids, look. There's Peoria. See all the buildings up there?
I'm going to need lots of help to get everything out of the car. EVERYTHING. Yes Mommy!! Yes Mommy!
Uh, there's grandpa. Sitting in the driveway. Alright!
Oh my goodness!
Hey, big girl! Hey!
There's some kids very happy to be out of the car. I'll don't blame them, it's been a long, long trip.
You look so different with short hair!
I know! I look so bad with short hair.
Oh yeah.
Big J is shooting baskets with Grandpa.
It's Panda Express for dinner tonight. It's one of daddy and mommy's favorites.
We're watching the Prince and the Pauper. My goodness, this looks old, doesn't it.
It is old! No it's not.
It's only like 50 years old. Oh, really?
Now Grandma was ready to squeeze a year’s worth of fun into 2 weeks.
What are you getting ready for?
Like the horseback riding. Horseback riding?
The bow in the back? I thought the bow goes in the front? Oh, ok, sure.
Ohhh, how cute Sarah!
What happened? Where did this come from?
Hello everybody. Please welcome to the ranch.
Here we go. Look at that!
How is it up there Becca? Amazing.
Whoa. Becca you want to wave? Ok.
So while the kids are all out having fun horseback riding, Ruth and I are shopping.
Oh, that is a beautiful watch, honey. I always wanted an Apple Watch - here we go.
Giant screen on that.
Can you smile?
Hi!
Look at that. Good job Anna.
Ok, well hold on for your life.
Can you do a smile for me?
We got it!
Let's talk about the insane size of things in America.
Honey, we ran out of coffee. Again!
Hi.
Oh, there's Anna. She feels very comfortable on the horse. And Becca.
There you go. Now, are you going to give her a kiss? Give him a kiss?
Ok.
Hold it flat like this.
Can I, can I? I want to do it. Ok, good.
I'm going to throw you up there, ok?
Whoa buddy! He knows how to be a cowboy.
Look at you. Hi. How is it? Good?
Mommy, mommy? Can you sit here. What?
Breakfast pizza. Eggs, bacon, cheese.
And the birthday girl.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday. Happy birthday. 42 years old, thumbs up!
Happy birthday. Oh wow. It's so beautiful. It's a sunflower.
Ruth is going to be 42. Joshua. I love you. Joshua.
Awe, did you draw all those hearts? That's so good. Give me a big hug.
One more.
Awe.
Whoa! I need to work on my presentation a little bit, but.
Today's trip is a little over an hour.
Not too bad.
We celebrated Ruth’s birthday and then took a trip down memory lane, going to see our first house and friends that go way, way back.
Some pretty houses along the way.
With absolutely ginormous lawns.
There it is, waiting for us.
Whoa, this is a nice hotel. No way!
Look at this. How nice.
Oh my goodness. That was mommy and daddy's first house.
There it is. Look. They took down the cherry tree.
Oh yeah, the cherry tree isn't there anymore.
Alright, let's head on in guys. Yay.
Tell him, say Buddy sit. Buddy sit.
Don't give it to him yet. Buddy sit. Sit! Buddy sit.
Ok, you can give it to him.
Shake. Shake! Shake.
Whoa! Wow.
We got all kinds of backyard games going on.
Oh, yum! Watermelon.
Oh, is this nice then?
We don’t get much time with our friends when we’re back, but the time we have is meaningful and precious.
We value lifelong relationships with others.
Watching a video. Doesn't look like they want to go at all.
They don't want to go! Joshua's out the door. Joshua! Bye Joshua!
Bye. Later Gator. Bye. He's like "I'm going to drive".
Inspired by our Life in Japan videos, good friends of our Jim and Rita started looking for parks around them to explore,
and they asked us to meet them on the banks of the Mississippi River at Empire Park to see one of their favorites.
Looks like there's chocolate, is that chocolate? And then plain.
How is that Caleb? Is it good? Awe man. Yeah.
And Viviane? You like it too?
How is it there girls? Yes?
The donut was so yummy. Yes, I see it. It's all over your face.
You ate it too fast for me to even get a video.
Ok, have fun.
Go work that sugar out!
This is an awesome park.
Let's see. Oh my goodness you're fast. Holy cow.
Oh, that's the tough part. Awesome.
Whoa. Oh Viviane. Way to go.
The park was a blast, and we even had time to get in a couple of flight lessons…
Caleb's trying a drone. How is it?
Fun. It's fun? Maybe we can use one of your videos
So one thing I absolutely love America, just about anywhere you go, you can find a garbage can.
Down by the river, if you need to throw something away, there it is.
Ok I want off, someone said.
What do you got there Viviane? Stuffed animals.
Whoa, that's so nice of you guys.
Awe, what do you say? Now we have our own version of Oliver [the dog]. Our own omiyage, souvenir.
Back at the hotel, there was something that had yet to be done.
If our hotel has a pool, we will be at it. We will be at it. The kids must swim.
So you may be wondering where's Becca and Anna, I didn't see them swimming.
Becca
Anna
Are you guys chill-laxing?
Chill-laxing to the maxin.
In previous trips, we've left chargers before, we've left toothbrushes, we've left, what other things have we left?
Not much because Mommy's usually pretty good. Mommy's usually pretty good about checking,
So it was a huge surprise that she left her pillow.
Actually I forgot my pillow in another hotel, about made me cry, because I love my pillow. I brought it from Japan.
But I am looking for another pillow,
But they only make big, fat pillows, I can't find a super thin pillow.
But anyway, today we are going to be visiting a couple different churches and driving a whole lot.
So we just finished our second church today. We had a great time.
Meeting with everybody, talking with everybody. We had to race here. It took us 3 hours to get here and now we have one more visit to do.
This is Cissna Park. The little city where my father grew up.
A city of about 800 people in the middle of the fields of Illinois.
We're coming up on the town square, and up here was the one place you could go to a playground, and they had a slide.
That's where Grandpa grew up?
Yes, this the town where Grandpa grew up!
After more visits with good friends, it was time to move on again.
That was our last visit of the day and now we are on our way back home to Peoria.
We had to get back to Peoria for our last week in the States, and Grandma Reutter had some big fun planned.
Wait, can somebody tell me what's happening here first?
So, we're going to put these mentos into this. Wait, wait, wait.
My mother was a school teacher for years and did the most amazing science experiments with us growing up and now she does it with our kids.
3, 2, 1... Oh no.
Whoa. That was quite a volcano.
It was a Coca Cola volcano.
The mentos are a candy, did you know that?
Did you want to eat it? Yes.
Grandma said no though. No eating. Right. It's for the volcano.
The Coca Cola 'cano.
3, 2, 1
3, 2, 1..
My mom waits until the diet cola goes on sale and then buys it for these experiments. And saves it for when her grandkids come.
Here comes Anna Cakes. The last one. Let's see if it can be the best one yet.
That's how it should work. I want to do it again!
Wow! That's how it should work there. My goodness!
Look at all the mentos, the mints, at the bottom of that. My goodness.
Cleanup time.
Blast off! A blast off?
Yeah, and the bottle is just going to fly up in the air.
The bottle's going to fly up in the air? They fill it with some water and compress some air in there and then let it go 'toosh'.
Hit the compressor! Here it goes!
My camera lens was not wide enough to capture how high these bottles went!
Whoa! Oh my goodness!
It is never a dull moment at grandma's house.
The rockets taking off just reminded us of something else taking off in less than a week — our plane back to Japan.
And so it has begun. It has. Packing, but I have to unpack first.
So what do we shop for when we get ready to go?
Cereal. Cereal, hahaha.
In Japan you have rows of ramen, but here its whole rows of cereal.
Look at the girls, trying on the glasses.
Can we buy these? Oh my goodness.
It keeps going at the end.
Alright, who's excited for ice cream? Yay!!
Grandpa's taking us to his new favorite place.
Oh my.
Here we go. Uncle Bob's.
We're at Uncle Bobs getting ice cream. Look at these flavors, butterfinger crunch, Sweet Georgia peach, oh my goodness.
Chocolate, chocolate, Sweet Georgia peach and turtle sundae, a 1/2 of each.
Wow, and Sarah? Cotton candy
I got butterfinger crunch and Joshua? Chocolate. Chocolate of course.
What does it say Sarah? Honk if you like ice cream. Do you guys like it?
Blah, blah, blah.... Bow, shake, begin!
You can't do that way. That's cheating!
And make silly sounds like, oh no, oh no, here it comes.
[making silly sounds]
We've come out to my Aunt Joy's house. She is my father's youngest sister.
And her husband, Uncle G, they're farmers out here in the country and it's so fun to come out here and spend the evening with them.
And the girls are going to spend the night tonight. It should be a blast.
Whoa, there you go.
It's pretty hot in there. It's green! It's hot out here!
Turn the wheel.
You have like planters, and tillers that breaks up the earth.
And a combine that harvests all the corn.
Which one would you like to use? That one? The combine.
The girls noticed the horses.
For my girls, the only thing as cool as swimming may be horses.
After they got to greet the horses, it was back to the house for a very special dinner.
Uncle G is famous for his pies which we are going to get to eat in just a little bit.
Getting it Nate? Oh, I'm getting it. Look at that. What kind of pie is that Uncle G?
That's blueberry and peach.
And look at this over here, we are shucking corn.
Illinois corn. Illinois sweet corn. I may be biased, but this is the best in the world.
Look at it! It smells so good!
There we go, the burgers are going on!
Burgers and corn!
Oh look at those eggs, they look yummy!
How is it Sarah? Very good? Oh good.
It's also really good. Yours is also really good? You're eating that corn on the cob like a champ.
Daddy's plate is ready. This is a good ol' down home meal right here.
Look at that! That is a burger! That is a burger!
Here comes Sarah. Hey Sarah!
After dinner, the kids got to pick out a pumpkin of their choosing. The choice was not an easy one.
If you see one you like, pick it out and I'll cut it for you.
Can I pick one? Absolutely.
You like that little one Anna? Yeah, its cute.
That's the one you want? Yep.
Ok, that's yours!
Ok, that one there? That's a beautiful pumpkin.
That's a tiny little guy. A tiny little one.
Now that one is yours to keep.
Zoom it in a little bit. Ok, I'll zoom it in. Look at that pumpkin. That's awesome.
Right here is spiky, so don't touch right here. Ok.
Look how pretty this is. You got a white and an orange.
Did everyone say thank you Uncle G. Thank you! You're welcome.
It was a perfect evening for a visit.
We got some pictures outside before heading back in — we couldn’t leave before having some pie!
The moment has come. Ok, let's go right down the center here.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, this is looking really good.
It sure smells good.
This is a double effort, right? The ice cream with the pie. How about you eat some of mommy's pie.
Here we go! Ruth has chosen hers. All right!
No more video, it is time to eat some pie.
Getting ready for the sleepover.
The girls modeling their new pillowcases that Aunt Joy made for them.
The pie for the road. Thank you Uncle G. You're more than welcome. All right!
Thank you Aunt Joy. You're welcome.
Oh my goodness, he dropped a pumpkin. Are you ready to go big guy?
I think he is having a tough time opening the door. Ok, let me help.
And big guy emerges.
Go Becca.
Here's Sarah. Working through the ropes.
Oh, go, go, go, go. Way to go Anna!
And slide on down.
There it is. Way to go.
Beckster.
What do you think dude? You gonna try it? Let's just see how high you get.
Ha! Splat.
This is the Iron Coyote in Bloomington and the kids are having a blast here.
And pretty soon they are going to go up on this high part where they can walk around. They are harnessed in just in case they fall.
While you are out there on that course, you want both of these clips on the cable as often as you can.
There you go. One cable to another.
Look what Becca is about to do. Oh my goodness.
Way to go honey.
Wow, Becca.
That's not bad. Ohh, its shaking. It's scary if you fall.
It didn’t take long and they were cruising around the top layers of Iron Coyote, having a blast.
You did it! Way to go.
What 's it feel like?
A little cary but fun!
Its fun for you to watch, but it's not fun for me. It's scary. It's not fun? It looks fun.
It's fun! But scary.
Joshua made a friend over here and is playing baseball with him.
Whoa dude! That was a huge hit dude!
There goes Sarah up the climb wall.
You're like a spider on a wall.
Sarah's getting some good coaching tips there how to get up.
Wow Sarah.
You did it! All the way to the top. Awesome, look at that.
Ok, now you just... yes! Awesome. Look at that!
You look like a pro.
Look at that. No problem.
Anna, how was it up there? Fun, you get used to it, it is fun.
Oh, that looks scary.
There it is, awesome. Way to go.
We're about to see some really American shopping.
It's pretty awesome, huh guys?
Dude, those are big fish. Look how big those are.
Did you see up there? Look. It's a bear. Oh my goodness.
Mamma-chan got a purchase. We gotta find the kids. Ok, let's go find them.
The kids are camping out with Grandma tonight in a teepee she built in their back yard.
Let's go check on them.
Is this the teepee here? Oh wow.
Joshua, you're in here too?
It's really, really hot in this tent.
It's hot in the tent? Well don't pull -- take the blanket off!
No, I want it on.
Well, I'm not sure how long that will last, but us adults, will be sleeping in beds inside.
Yes, in an air condioned room.
As far as I can tell, they're all still in there, so they must of slept there the whole night.
Becca, you're awake. How was it? Good, Joshua was kicking me in my tummy
Hey dude, did you sleep in the tent?
Yeah? How was it? Fun.
It was a lot of fun?
We're getting ready for our last road trip in America, going up to visit a church this weekend,
And then we are going to go to my Mom's side of the family, out to the farm. The family farm.
Where we are going to end our huge trip here in America.
Contact. Contact.
They remember the words.
Are you guys next?
Well you guys got a really good ride in. Look asparagus. Oh, purple asparagus.
Hey dude, did you drive? You did!
Life on a farm in Illinois and life in Japan near Tokyo is about as different as you can imagine, but wherever you live, family is important.
In fact, farming is in my family, and my mom grew up on this farm where my uncle lives, so it’s great my kids have this experience before going back to Japan.
Ok Sarah. Here she goes.
We had such a good time with family at the farm where my mom grew up,
but in the back of our minds was the big trip that was only a day away — the big trip back to Japan.
No adults allowed. No adults allowed?
Ok, how about a camera? Yeah, its ok.
The camera ok? Yeah, I guess. You guess?
There was still a lot to do and little time to do it.
Well, we got back to my parents place, and there's deer in the neighbors yard and we can see it really well.
So this is it. Our last day here.
There's the PCR test we gotta get, we're going to do some last moment shopping, packing the bags,
Having the last meals we want to have before heading out early tomorrow for our flight back to Japan.
Ok, the double doors on the left. Ok, sounds great, we'll be right in. Thank you.
Alright guys, lets go get our tests so we can fly.
The tests are done. Are done!
Oh, everyone's eyes are watering.
What is the treat today, Joshua? Donuts. Donuts.
Look at all those donuts. Oh my goodness.
Whoa! Here it comes.
Do you like playing baseball with grandpa? Yeah.
With the kids entertained, we finalized our packing.
Packing for international trips is a fine art, one which Ruth has perfected over the years.
This is a big part of the process, weighing the bags before you go. They need to be under 23 kilos each.
Here we go.
Look at that. 22.2 kilos.
What do you got there?
We have our negative covid tests. That's right!
Now that the covid tests are taken care of, we can finish up the shopping, the packing, and then it's time to go.
There's just a couple more bags to go and then we're all packed and ready.
Oh yes, it's dinner time.
Oh, hey dude, you sitting by daddy?
As we meet around the dinner table one last time, I’m so thankful for my roots.
The values that were instilled in me from my youth continue to guide our family, and we’re so happy to be able to share this back where we live, in Japan.
It still doesn’t make saying “Goodbye” any easier though. And that’s a big price you pay, living abroad.
Do I want to taste it? Yes.
Munch, munch, munch. Umm, so good.
Grandma wanted to squeeze one more project in before we left.
Oh my goodness. Are these pictures of our time here?
Just a few that Grandma had.
Oh, cool. There are a lot of pictures at the end. What fun memories from this summer.
These are my two favorite ones. Favorite experiences in this trip.
Oh, you guys on the couch playing phones at the reunion. Yeah.
This is Sarah's American Adventure 2021, huh?
Oh cool!
Oh my goodness, so nice!
It's early- we've got an early flight to catch...
We're going to get the kids up, going to get a cup of coffee,
And going to be on our way.
I'm going to start a clock right when we get going
To see how long it takes from this doorstep all the way until we get to our doorstep — we'll see!
You ready to go? Let's buckle you in?
It's a long flight from America back to Japan.
It is a long flight back to Japan, that is right.
Alright, so here we go
I'm starting a clock...
Start
We will see how long it takes from one door to the next
How many seconds until we get home?