The country life was just wonderful. We got used to it all right- having a yard full of flowers to run around, having a spacious porch to have all three meals on, making a fire to roast marshmallows, waking up to birds loudly chirping outside the window, instead of horns and garbage trucks. Coming back was a shock. For days I just wanted to move to a country. Taiyo had a terrible tantrum for two days, but on the third day, he said he was glad to be home. After a week we seem to be adjusting to the way of our summer days. Shopping in the morning, then working in the restaurant in the afternoon. Then what did we do this weekend? Went fishing! At a festival on East River at Pier 42, we attempted to fish. We were told not eat the fish if we ever got one. We never did. But next day at a fair in Williamsburg, Taiyo won two goldfishes. One died overnight, but the surviving red capped guy seems pretty happy so far in a little tank with a fake plant. Ah, city life even for a goldfish.

Where did June go? It came and went. It was the end of his first school year; the growth of all the children in the class was just amazing. On the last day of school, their teacher Shonelle was telling them to try new things during summer vacation - they have to keep growing without school and her guidance for the next two months.

So we took off to experience a country life in Carbon county, Pennsylvania. We only got here yesterday, but Taiyo has been experiencing so many new things already- like fishing in a lake (or more like a pond.) We are such city folks and decided couldn't handle live worms for bait, so we used more expensive artificial worms. When I pulled out a nice big bass from the water, Taiyo screamed and ran away. I asked him to hold the fish and posed for the picture, but he would not come close. He watched the lady clean out the fish for us at the pond, though. She showed him a tiny fish heart still beating when she gutted. To my surprise, he saw it closely. He's been making a big deal of the bugs at the house we are staying. "We can never live in a country," I said to him. "I can get used to it," he replied. We'll see how much he can get used to it by the end of the week. The dinner was an amazing feast of all fresh local produce: bass grilled on the porch, tomatoes, zucchini, and beets from the farm stand. I could totally get used to these.