My Lil' Bro

My little brother traveled to Tokyo all by himself to visit us for three weeks. We had a great time and took him to a lot of places around Tokyo and beyond. We took him to the Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace, Ginza Park, Meiji Shrine, Sony Building (cool gadgets and gizmos there), National Science Museum, Disneyland, and Shibuya to name a few places. One Saturday, while Dan watched the kids, Ian and I traveled to Kamakura, a small coastal city two hours South of Tokyo. It was once an ancient capital of Japan. Ian was born shortly after I moved out of my parent's home. There is a 19-year age difference between he and I. I've always lived far away from him ever since I got married, which was when Ian was about 3 years old. So we never have been as close as he is with our other siblings, whom have lived near him. I remember thinking, when he was born, how sad it was going to be for me. I grew up knowing my other siblings because we were similar in age and how it was going to be a completely different experience with Ian—not having that same opportunity to get to know him as well as my sister and two other brothers. It was nice to spend so much time with him while he was here. Ian is such a great kid—very gentle, funny, smart, mature for his age, and kind. He's known as the peacemaker in our loud and sometimes obnoxious family! I hope he can come out again next year. I miss you Ian!

See some of the pictures we took while Ian was here:

Tokyo with Ian 7/08