Dan and Phil's Daughter

Babies on Board

We came home after being hospitalized for a few days, so I could regain my strength. Giving birth to twins is one hell of a journey!
Ichiro, being the first born, is very calm and happy. Although Keiji, on the other hand, is such a crybaby. He's very sensitive and doesn't like being tickled or played with like Ichiro does.
A few days later, Mom, Dad, and Yuki want to see the babies, so we head to the Yamashita household. Miyagi drives, I'm in the passenger seat and the boys are in car seats in the back. Ichiro's is yellow and Keiji's is blue.
I carry Ichiro and Miyagi carries Keiji.
After talking for a while, the boys were too tired to entertain their audience any longer and fell asleep.
"Oh my, they're so cute. They look so much like their parents!"Mom smiles to Miyagi and I.
"I think it's time we head back and lay them down to rest." I say standing up from my chair. "Thank you for having us over, we'll be sure to come often" Miyagi says smiling, holding Keiji.
"Please come again soon!" Mom says helping us get to the car.
"Thank you again, I'll send you videos and pictures!" I say to Mom with my window rolled down.
On the way home, Miyagi and I ramble on about being such young parents and raising twins.
"We're so blessed to have such beautiful baby boys. I can't wait to see them grow up to become handsome young men" I say gazing upon the sleeping munchkins in the backseat drooling with their heads slumped.
"I love you" Miyagi smiles, driving down the neighborhood streets.
"I love you too"

After 21 years, I've finally found the meaning of those three words.

(time skip - 2 years later)

Californication plays on the radio, wind blowing through my hair, the sun, warm on my skin. The smell of the salty ocean and sandy beach brings me back to the high school days, the family trip.
The twins are 2 now and they've got minds of their own.
Ichiro is a wild one, always getting into things he shouldn't and tries to escape his car seat daily. His favorite activity is to refuse his food.
Keiji, on the other hand, is more of an introvert per say. An artist type, very quiet and behaves well, but he's quite the crybaby.
They're at the point where they can walk on their own, of course with the occasional stumbles.
This trip to the beach is to let them see the ocean for the first time, so they can get used to it and learn to love it unlike I did growing up.
Keiji's first word was "book" and Ichiro's was "ball".
Once we get to the hotel, the boys are ready to hit the town! They're running rampant around the room grabbing everything they can and trying to put it in their mouths. We resorted to using the double stroller and taking them down the shopping strip.
There's a candy store that we thought they might like, so we made our way there and Ichiro wriggled in his seat. Keiji looked earnestly at the candy and sat out of his seat. We unbuckled the boys and let them pick out 3 candies.

Ichiro came back with a huge gobstopper, a caramel lollipop, and sugar crystals on a stick. Keiji brought me a chocolate biscuit, a tootsie pop, and sugar crystals on a stick.

Miyagi and I picked out a few sweets ourselves and payed. We buckled the boys into their stroller again and they both ate the sugar crystals happily.

I have my promise ring on a necklace around my neck, kind of like Lord of the Rings. My wedding ring is silver with a diamond shape frame in the middle, enclosing 4 small diamonds pressed together. Miyagi's ring is a solid gold ring with our wedding date engraved on the inside, 3-22-41. We were married in the same cherry blossom park as my dads.

(The boys' birthday is February 14th, 2042)

Now that they're 2, they can speak alright, but it's not fully understandable or actual words.
Ichiro's favorite word is "right" which we've figured out means "rice." Keiji's favorite word is "ought" which means "art."
We want them to grow up learning both English and Japanese to help them in the future, so we have them say the English and Japanese version of whatever they say.
"Honey, this is so relaxing, just the boys and us. My mom not calling 24/7 checking in on the boys or your dads texting about your health; it's peaceful and new..." Miyagi smiles giving me a small kiss.
"This is too good to be true, I'm sure they put tracking chips in us and the boys. Something crazy is bound to happen because I'm here" I say raising an eyebrow to him.
"The boys seem to be enjoying the vacation" he looks down to find the little gremlins gnawing on the sugar crystals.
"Well any kid is happy if you hand them sweets" I laugh as I push the stroller down the sidewalk.
Since I've moved in with the Yamashitas back when I was 15-16 or so, my Japanese has improved immensely. I'm practically fluent, I do forget the characters or words sometimes. I know that being 24 with twins isn't the ideal for a fairly recently married woman, but we make it work the best we can.
They boys prefer English, which I don't mind. We'd like to take them to Europe or America someday when they're older.
It's getting pretty late, so we decide to head back to the hotel. The boys are fast asleep when we open the door to the room. Once we lay them down, we change into pj's and talk about the day.
"I don't think at this age we should be giving them the sugar crystals. I feel they could be too dangerous" Miyagi says flipping his shorts inside out. "I was thinking about that too, we can take them from them tomorrow and get them new candies" I respond slipping off my shorts and grabbing my pj pants.