Off to Japan! 🇯🇵

This one feels different.

We’re sitting in the airport, rolling our suitcases toward a flight to Japan… just the two of us.

No stroller.

No snack negotiations.

No one asking to be carried.

No tiny shoes to chase down the terminal.

And no baby Lily in my arms.

That last part is the hardest.

As parents, it’s easy to believe that every minute away from our kids is a minute we’re missing. But somewhere along the way we’ve also learned something just as important: strong families are built by strong relationships.

Our children deserve parents who laugh together.

Who dream together.

Who still choose adventure together.

That’s what this trip is really about.

We’ll wander through Tokyo, celebrate a birthday, dance a little, eat way too much good food, and probably get wonderfully lost more than once.

Then we’ll come home.

Back to six kids.

Back to the beautiful chaos.

Back to the routines that make our house feel like home.

But hopefully we’ll come back a little more connected than when we left.

Because the greatest gift we can give our children isn’t a perfect vacation.

It’s showing them that love is something you keep choosing—even after years of diapers, carpools, homework, bedtime routines, and everything else that fills a family calendar.

For a few days, we’re simply Katy and Chet.

And we can’t wait to bring the stories home. ❤️