A Month for All Seasons

Liam leads the charge as the family emerges from the concourse.

Sharif brought his family from Japan to see us in February again this year.  We met them at the airport at 8:00 PM.  We had rented a minivan as usual, although I was leery about driving an unfamiliar car out of a city airport at night.  The weather was good, however, and Sharif was a good spotter of slow vehicles and trailers without lights on the way home.

We arrived home around 10:00 PM.  The grandsons had slept all the way, but once they came into the family room/basement they seemed pleased to be returning to familiar territory including their toys which I had taken out of storage and left by the stairs. 




Sachiyo and Chris play Tic Tac Toe.





We had the rented van until 12:00 noon the next day.  Therefore, we aroused everybody fairly early in the morning and drove to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with the best blueberry pancakes in town.  I regretted our determination to treat the family with breakfast when Liam put his head down on the table and slept the whole time.

Liam tries on Chris's Angry Birds hat as they make their valentines for school.

  After the one day of rest, Sharif and Sachiyo took their sons to the CIS to enroll.  On their first day of school, both Liam (age 9 in January) and Chris (age 6 come March) enjoyed birthday parties (not theirs) in their classrooms that afternoon.  As the school was celebrating Valentine's Day the following school day, the evening after supper was quite busy.

My valentine to each of the boys was a balloon. 
Liam appears to be wearing his.

Liam creates a monster valentine box for his valentines.

Chris made friends with the cat, Chiaco.  I was hoping they would pack her in one of their bags and take her back to Japan, but they didn't.

We were blessed with several unseasonably mild days when the family first came.  Liam and Chris took the pup tent outside to use.  They and the neighbor kids politely removed their shoes before entering.   Later they brought the tent into the family room, and here they are!

After having less than an inch of snow for the

entire winter, we were buried in eight or so inches about a week after their arrival.  Here Sharif and his dad vainly try to

clear the drive.   Dad is using his two year old

snow blower for the first time ever. 

   Burying Liam in snow, seemed to be the first neighborhood project.  

The grandsons had warm coats, hats and gloves, but no boots.  I was sure they were going to get frost bite, but they seemed to survive.  By the time the second big snow came, Liam was wrapping his stocking feet in plastic bags before putting his shoes on, but strangely enough, Chris would have none of that and wore only his shoes and warm socks.


My brother and sister-in-law, besides having us over for a soup supper, lent us two sleds used by their sons a generation ago. 

Noodle soup and chicken made a popular lunch.  Chris looked so cute slurping up his noodles,

but when I tried to take his picture for the record, he hid behind his cup - my special Kansas mug.

On one of the nice days, between snows, Sharif drove his family to St. Louis where they visited the City Museum.  It has many sculptures to climb on and even a lady who roasted marshmallows over a fire - complete with instructions.
www.citymuseum.org
The next evening, Sachiyo and Sharif  roasted marshmallows for the boys in the family room fireplace. 



With teacher work days, Presidents Day, and the snow,  the boys were in school only three days in the three weeks of their visit.  When we woke up on their last Monday, the skies were clear and the streets were open.  But another snowstorm was predicted for Tuesday.   Since their plane was leaving Wednesday morning at 6:00, it was evident that if we didn't get them to St. Louis that day, we might not be able to get them there at all. 

Last pictures and last good byes

Therefore, I called the rental company and secured a minivan.  Sharif and Sachiyo took their boys to school.  I washed, dried and folded a load of clothes for them.  By 11:00, when the rental company picked us up, their six bags and two boxes were packed and ready to go.  After we finished the paperwork, we made a final stop at the teacher's store for pencils for the grandsons' classmates in Japan.  Then we picked up the boys at school as they finished their lunch, and off to St. Louis we went.  The drive there was uneventful.   We left shortly after arriving at their hotel.  We had to get the minivan back to the agency, so someone could drive us home before closing time at 5:00 PM. 

As it turned out, we did have a ten inch snow in Columbia on Tuesday.  The snow fell like a curtain most of the morning.   We had another big snow after spring arrived.  The last of the pile of snow pushed up by the city snowplow disappeared this week. 

Nevertheless, St. Louis had neither snow nor rain. Tuesday,  Sharif and family took the tram from the airport to the Arch and spent the day there.  Wednesday morning they were off - flying to Japan - with plenty of stories to share with their friends and schoolmates.