Ward Wanderings

Birthday girls

Mermaid and Pirate birthday theme

The twins turned 4 and had some friends over for a party

Christin did all the decorations including the cakes

Alora

Clarity

Summer Grands

What better way to cool off in your swimming pool than with bubbles! You get clean in the process, also. :-)

Elorie is four months and showing her personality...so cute!

Big sister Arianna 3 1/2, and baby sister.

June is rice planting season here and whenever a farmer is plowing a field, there are always, always birds following the tractor looking for good eats. We passed this one field and I have never seen so many egrets in one place. Some were in breeding plumage with the brown head and chest (first time to see this bird)

I think this is a mountain hawk that flies over our house frequently making its noise that sounds almost like a whistle. Rather elegant bird, and I found one of its feathers last week--beautiful

This was a sunrise about 4:45 a.m. one morning. So pretty; I am not usually up at this time, but did hear some of the birds wake up :-)

Trip to and Arrival in Tokyo May 21, 2021

On the jumbo airplane from Chicago there were less than 50 people on board including the crew. It's a wonder the airlines are still in business.

Social distancing walking through the l o n g process through customs at Haneda Airport. Took about two hours to get through the various stages.

One of the children's toilets in the airport. The rest are in two different ladies' rooms. Really nice facilities. :-)

We got through customs and immigration about 4:30 p.m. and drove from Tokyo to our home in Ono City in about 6-7 hours. Along the way we had to stop for gas and discovered a front tire had a bubble, so we got two new front tires and a new battery at the gas station. Then we drove some more and got to Ono about 3:30 a.m., very tired and worn out. Good to be home. :-)

Cracker Barrel

Matthew treated us to Cracker Barrel breakfast in Waldorf, Maryland. It's always good eating here.

I love the nostalgic decor hanging all over the place from the ceiling to the walls and floors. Many old ad signs are hung plus antique-type household goods and items.

Three pancake breakfast with eggs and bacon--a bit much; skipped lunch this day.

Different tools and metal items in this section

As we left, there were two Canadian geese walking in the parking lot, probably hoping for a handout. I got the idea they were regular customers.

King's Mountain trail walk

Everyone except Peter and family, who returned to Nebraska, went on an outing to King's Mountain and we walked the 1.5 mile trail through the woods. This is a sight of the American war for Independence about 1780. There were many markers along the way detailing how the Americans fought against the larger British army. Joe's little girls were troopers. I think it took over an hour to walk this trail.

Back at the BnB we played with the girls.

On Sunday morning, Mother's Day we went to Sara's church Morning Star Baptist Church. Teresa and Stephen returned to their states on Saturday. All the mothers in the service received a beautiful red rose and I also received a mini-rose bush for being the mom with the most children (6). Never happened before :-)

Sara and Jonathan Linzy graduated from Ambassador and the two kids in front finished kindergarten. They were honored with gifts.

Sara's graduation event

Friday, May 7, we all went to Ambassador Baptist College for Sara's graduation. The whole family was there--the last time was over 5 years ago, so it was really great to see everyone.