At Last!!: "Can We Go To My New City?"

Or otherwise known as, The Henry and Mikyo Tour.

Last month we went to New Your City to visit Billy's cousin, Ryuichi and his family. Ryuichi came to the US from Japan about 40 years ago and stayed with Billy's family. Somehow they lost touch. When the tsunami occurred, Billy reached out to look for Ryuichi to make sure that he and his family were alright. He thought they had gone back to Japan. Lo and behold, they were living in NYC! And, Ryuichi is in the restaurant business, who knew? Not us! Ryuichi was so happy to hear from Billy he invited us to NYC to meet his family.

To get ready for this adventure, we talked all about New York City. I think Henry was hearing "Your New City" because he kept asking, "When are we going to my new city?"

Here's Henry on the way. I guess the good thing about writing this entry weeks after we went to NY was that I have forgotten about the horrendous drive due to torrential downpours. Henry was amazing. No longer are the days when all Henry has to do is look at a car and burst out screaming. No, most of the whining came from the front seat. Just give that kid a cell phone with Tetras on it and he's good to go...for 8 hours!
This is before I learned that the items in the mini bar were weighted and we were charged for items that were MOVED, not consumed! A quick phone call to the front desk and M&Ms, Pringles, Vodka, Famous Amous Cookies and a Coke were taken off the bill.

I don't have the words to express how warm and inviting Ryuichi, Tomomi and Mikyo were. Just look at how Mikyo (10 year old son) and Henry bonded!

Here they are in the Penguin House at Central Park Zoo.

Central Park Zoo

Henry saying to Mikyo,

"Just smile Mikyo, mommy will be finished putting us in silly poses soon."

"It's just what she does..." "Yep, now we're turtles..."