Mona’s vocabulary and ability to express her own thoughts is growing in leaps and bounds, so this year we wanted to bring Mona back to Michigan to spend some time with Grandma, Grandpa and the cousins.
Problem: Michigan is cold. Colder than where we live in Japan. We get lots of snow in Sakae Mura, but when people there smile and say “Too much snow for ya, eh?” I just say. “The snow is fine. Where I come from the typical temperatures drop below -20C (-5F).” That shuts them up. In Sakae Mura the coldest days are only -8C. My parents didn’t want to be there, and frankly, neither did we.
Solution: We arranged with my parents to meet in Michigan, spend some time with the cousins, and then take the 24 hour drive south to sunny Florida with may parents. Getting out of the car at the Florida border in t-shirt and shorts was great, but even better was getting to the condo on the beach and seeing on the Weather Channel that a cold front/winter storm had hit Michigan Ohio just after we escaped, and temperatures had plummeted to -20c.
It made the beach and outdoor pool that much more enjoyable.
