Fun-Filled 3 Days!

We had a family from the US stay with us this time.
They stayed with us for 3 days, but it was gone like a flash!
We had soooo much fun and exciting adventure together!

First one happened when John went to pick them up at the local station. 
The train was delayed by 20 minutes or so. John found it out at the station, so rather than waiting there he decided to come back. However, a message came from the family to tell that they are 2 stations away! So I got in touch with John immediately to tell him the situation, then he turned around and went back to the station.

Later, I got a call from John explaining that they misplaced a plastic case with the tickets and credit card etc.
The train was going to the final station 1 hour away from ours. Then the staff will check and see if they can find the plastic case.

...1 hour later...

The conductor found the case! (Of course! We are living in Japan! 😆) And it's coming back to our station!
Since it will take another hour for the train to come back to ours, the family came home with John. Then after some time, we went back to pick it up at the station. Yay! After the business at the station, the mama and I went to the local supermarket to do some grocery shopping.

First day was very exciting already, and the second day was also full of activities!
They visited Kozoji temple first thing in the morning while it is still nice and cool. Then to the Namiki-michi Central Park before lunch, for rental bike ride and the dinosaur park to enjoy relaxing family time.
After that, we went off to the Kuromame-no-Yakata Buffet restaurant to enjoy all the local yummies for lunch!
The boy enjoyed Kuromame soft-served icecream too! 

I know, it already sounds we did so much in a day, right? But, we did even more! After luch and buying souvenirs, we went to Tamba pottery area to try pottery experience at Sue-no-Sato, which was very much fun!

Then it happened towards the end of the day...
We couldn't find one of their water bottle! 😧
We looked around, in the car, bathroom, souvenir area, pottery area, asked to the staff to see if somebody turned in etc., with no result. So sadly we gave up and left there. Team 1 (John and the guest family) joined with our son at the reservoir for fishing, and Team 2 (me!) came home to prepare Okonomiyaki dinner.

They caught 44 fish, big and small, to feed our chicken! They came back very excited!🥰 We enjoyed Okonomiyaki together, shared alll the excitement, and that was the end of the fun-packed second day.

The third day...it's already the last day. They are leaving us already😭

Since both John and I are working that day, I pre-arranged for them to come along to see Japanese elementary school with me.
Thanks to the principal's generocity, I got the special permission to take them to my class, which may have been unprecedented.

When we went in to the school building, all the teachers and students we met along the way said "Hello!" with big smiles! 
The principal was away, but the vice principal came out to greet and led us to the principal's room and served tea. We had a red carpet treatment.

The actual class was a blast!
The guest family introduced themselves, then the students introduced themselves one at a time. We did the game together, did origami together, then we took a group photo together! 45minutes passed so quickly!
The teachers were happy, student had a great time, and our guests also enjoyed this rare opportunity😊 

After the class, the original plan was to go straight home so that they have time to pack their luggage to leave for the next destination. However, you guessed it, something unexpected happened (again!)
I found many missed call on my smartphone from the same number, so I phoned back. It was the pottery center we visited the day before. Yup! They found the missing water bottle!😍

So off we went! We went to the center, picked up the bottle, then was going home. However, in the car to our house, I was explaining that there is a vintage toy museum in the castle area and only who had lunch can see inside. That talk caught the mama's interest, and after some talk we decided to go ahead and see it! The restaurant is the renovated traditional Japanese house, so I am glad that they got to see that kind of traditional house which is very different from ours.

When we came home, last thing the boy requested was to make something with wood with John. So he started making a fancy sports car with balsa wood at John's workshop, literally to the last minute before departure.

Looking back all we did together to write this article, I am amazed to see how much we did in such a short time!
The more amazing thing to me though was how we got so close to each other. Four days ago, we were total strangers, yet they came to our house and shared so many good memories together. It is such a precious thing!
Thank you for coming to stay with us! We look forward to get together again soon!🤗💓