Airbnbs and Wedding cake

We are slowly making our way to the wedding date.

On the 16th, my brother, Keion, my sister-in-law, Marcy, my niece, Kiana, my nephew, Colin and Kiana's boyfriend, Justin arrived in Detroit flying in from Los Angeles.  Marcy has always sworn that she would cross continents and oceans to attend Leiya's wedding and Kiana and Colin were to be in the bridal party.  My brother who is at best of times rather anti-social and would rather stay at home in peace, was forced by his family to come along for the ride.  Justin just thought it might be a fun trip with Kiana.

For the past couple of months we have gone back and forth trying to figure out how to coincide our plans before and after the wedding, make decisions on what to do, what to see, where to go, where to stay etc.  Kiana chose an airbnb for all of us to stay at while we were in Detroit, I made the plans for a jaunt to Indiana and Kiana booked us another place in Canada. 

On the evening of the 16th we all met up at the Detroit airbnb, a cute little place that was so nicely decorated in a travel theme.  This was my first experience staying in a airbnb and we stayed in three during our two week America stay.  One was great, one was nice and one was "interesting."

Lots of nice little decorative details...

I was tempted to add some Japanese graffiti "konnichiwa".  I didn't.

A very pretty little neighborhood.

Tony and Leiya took us to a trendy sliders place and Tony's mother even met us there after she got off work.  (We had thought we wouldn't see her until the next day.) 

This was the first time for all of us to get together and we made introductions, did a lot of talking, and did a lot of eating.  The place might not have been too far from the hospital where Tony works because there were two or three groups of his colleagues that Tony greeted while we were there.  (And when we had been at the mall the day before Tony had run into some gym friends...  And later in our stay when we were browsing the farmers' market Tony ran into some other acquaintances.  Even though Detroit is big, a lot of people seem to recognize Tony!)

On the morning of the 17th, Leiya picked Tetsu and me up from the airbnb and we headed back to Tony's grandparents' stopping first to pick up the wedding cake she'd ordered from....  Nothing Bundt Cakes.

We sampled...

Leiya had ordered one large bundt cake and assorted boxes of Bundtinis. 

The details are getting covered...  What about flowers?  More tomorrow.
 

Dandelions!

After breakfast made by Tony (he cooks!  A lot!) Leiya, Tetsu and I went to pick up her wedding dress from where she'd been getting it pressed. 

Tetsu was surprised at the bridal business in the States.  Of course, when is he ever going to come in contact with the business even in Japan...  I had such great memories of helping Leiya choose her dress at this shop back in November!

Then on we drove an hour north of Detroit to Tony's grandparents house.

It is SO beautiful!!!!  I had seen it in November and agreed that it was the most beautiful spot for a wedding (if the weather held) but the spring greenery was beyond our expectations!!!

Tony's grandparents, Pawpaw and Cynthia.  By the way...  Tony's grandparents aren't much older than Tetsu and me...  There is practically another generation between us!

The grandparents have lived in their beautiful home in Northern Michigan since Pawpaw's retirement but they are snowbirds who head to Florida for the winter in their RV.  Oh, to have so much land and only be spending three quarters of the year there!  (Of course I understand that Michigan winters might not be so pleasant...)

Leiya had ordered a tent for the wedding and it had been delivered the day before.  The weather forecast was still iffy so we weren't sure we going to "need" the tent or not...

As Tetsu marveled at the amount of land in front of us, Pawpaw brought out his field buggy and motioned for Tetsu have a try.

"Oh no.  I wouldn't be able to drive that!"

"Give it a spin!  There's nothing to hit!"

Tetsu drove around the yard once and then I got on back as Pawpaw directed us to the wilds behind his house. 

 Better than Disneyland!!!

A picture from over Tetsu's shoulder.

 And here we come!

 I changed places with Leiya and Tetsu had another spin around the back fields.

 Bye!

I should point out that when we arrived at Tony's grandparent's house Cynthia was apologizing  because though they'd cut the grass a few days before, all the dandelions had grown back!

"Leiya!  The dandelions are everywhere!"

"We LOVE dandelions!!!  Don't cut the dandelions!!!  They are beautiful!"

Truly.  WE LOVED THE DANDELIONS though they seemed to be an affront to the Michiganers.

So, our afternoon at the grandparent's home gave us an idea of how the wedding was going to pan out.  Depending on the weather, wedding and reception in the tent.  If at all possible, a wedding outside with the dandelions!

The evening was spent back in Detroit where we met up with my brother's family and Tony's mother.  More tomorrow!

Back home in Japan but Michigan pictures!!!

A two week absence!  Sorry about that!  Tetsu and I got back to Nikko last night at around 11:00 after a short flight from Detroit to Dulles, a three hour layover, a fourteen hour flight and then a three hour drive home.  We are rather bushed!

BUT...  Our trip to Michigan, Leiya and Tony's wedding, a side trip to Indiana, a jaunt into Canada and another trip to visit friends was a complete success!!!  I am so hyped to tell someone about it all but my pictures are all in a mess everywhere.  I took pictures.  Tetsu took pictures.  We both took pictures on our iPhones... and of course wedding pictures came in from the photographer...

Tetsu took about ten times as many photos as I did on this trip... I was afraid my computer was going to overload!  As I blog I'm going to have to do some photo weeding (like he took 600 pictures in one day!  He might as well have been taking a video!)

So...  We continue where we left off two weeks ago.  We took John to the vets (we will pick him up this afternoon) and Tuesday, the fourteenth, we drove to Narita Airport, left the car, checked in and started on our travels.  Flying United this time.

We changed planes in Ohare Airport but that was a complete circus!  Immigration took forever, getting to the right terminal and correct gate was a wild run through crowds of people, getting on and off buses, getting misdirections etc.  We made it onto the plane with 5 minutes to spare (and we had thought a two hour layover was going to be leisurely!)  But the skis were friendly and the flight to Detroit was a quick and easy one.

We waited a bit for Leiya who went to pick us up at the wrong terminal... 

A short trip home to Leiya's apartment!  I visited in November so it feels like home.  This was the first visit for Tetsu.  And so our stay begins!

Wednesday in Detroit was a beautiful day!

We started the day with bagel sandwiches.  I'll try not to say too often how much we overate during our two weeks.  But everything was SO good and we wanted to try everything! 

I think this was Tetsu's sandwich...  He found it hard to believe that he was going to get his mouth around this!

And I had lox and bagels...  a longtime favorite of mine but one I can't get in Japan.

And what did Leiya have planned for us this day?  Would you believe a pedicure...  FOR ALL OF US!!!  Tetsu about died!

"I am not going in there."

"Come on, Tetsu-san.  Live a little!  Tony's going to do it!"

With much persuading and cajolling and Tetsu trying not to be a spoilsport on his first day in America we all had pedicures.  (Men minus the nail polish.)  Tony loved the foot massage and aroma oils.  Tetsu not so much...  But he did it and I have a picture to prove it!

La-di-da!  The girls have got pretty toes!

I think we did some shopping in the afternoon, Leiya and me looking for some earrings for her to wear at her wedding...  We actually had the two men in our lives go off together in the mall and let us have mother-daughter time.  This was a fun challenge for the two guys because... they can't talk to each other!  Somehow Tetsu and Tony managed and Tetsu even figured out how to tell Tony that he wanted to buy a Detroit cap.  Two hours later we all met up and Leiya had her earrings and Tetsu had his cap!

Time to eat again.  Tetsu in his new hat.

This is called Poutine.  (I think.)  It seems to be a Canadian dish of french fries with gravy and cheese curds on it.  Delicious but filling.

No mind because here come the sandwiches!

I can't even explain all the laughter we had.  Tony joking about things, Tetsu mistaking a very pretty waitress for a wax figure (he took her picture as she sat at a desk and about had a heart attack when she smiled at him!)

Tomorrow pictures of Tony's family and grandparents home!
 

Random spring pictures

Tomorrow morning after crosswalk duty, Tetsu and I are heading off to Japan's Narita Airport and catching a flight to Detroit via Chicago.  We will arrive in Detroit the same day in the evening!  From there, our two week adventures begin!

So, before I leave I wanted to get some of the random photo files I have onto my blog.  Sorry, lots of miscellaneous photos today.

We came upon some wild ducks that had discovered the flooded rice fields.  There is a slim week or two when the fields become flooded and before the rice is planted.  The ducks love swimming around and even when the fields are planted they will still paddle between the fresh stalks.  As the rice becomes thicker and fuller the ducks will hide out along the banks and many will begin laying eggs and raising families.

Oops.  Got too close and I scared them off.  They flew a short distance to another flooded field.

And here comes a tractor set to plant the flats of rice.  The machine goes through the flooded field and some gadgets pulls off a few stalks at a time from the blocks and push them into mud.

Planting is going on elsewhere too!  Tetsu has planted a vegetable garden!  Our neighbor who has quite a few fields, has this one unplanted and isn't planning to do anything with it this year.  Tetsu is only going to use a FRACTION of the field but he has tomatoes and cucumbers and eggplant and pumpkin and okra planted...  We will see what will come of this new endeavor.  One problem is that the field is a five minute walk from our house and it has no water supply.  Instead of walking, Tetsu fills a tank with water from our house every day and goes over to his new field by car.  John and I often follow on foot to see how the garden is growing.

John is checking out Tetsu's garden (and happily jumping up to greet Tetsu getting his jeans all muddy!)

Of course taking off for two weeks to Detroit isn't going to be great for the garden but it will have to bear up without Tetsu's watchful eye or hauled in water...

 After visiting Tetsu's garden we walked another 10 minutes over to the elementary school.

It is a nice little country school...  Lots of colorful play equipment.

John playing amongst the playground tires.

The school even has a wisteria tree on the grounds!

John is hiding behind the flowers.  Speaking of John, he went to the vets this evening and he'll be boarding with them for the two weeks that we are gone.  I hope he doesn't forget us!  He lived at the vets for nearly a year before coming to us so I don't know if he is happy to be back with them or will be missing us...

Okay... I've got to stop!  I am taking my computer to Detroit but whether I'll find time to blog or not I don't know...  If I don't check in you'll know I'm having fun with my family!!!