How's everyone been doing? I'm sure you all have been busy in your own lives lately. Same for us. These past 2 weeks especially have been pretty busy around here. It's honestly a wonder how I can get all things done, accomplished and know wonder most nights I just fall into a deep deep sleep.:P I'm sure most mom's reading feel the same. I actually fell asleep on the couch once this week and woke up and had to shuffle myself up to bed. :D Between dealing with school life at the elementary school and *also* dealing with school life and my obligations at the yochien. I'm busy with just those two things alone. But add on top of that the Kumon and swimming and house cleaning, meal making. Homework helping. Boo boo kissing (Noah got a little scratched knee this week, so had to kiss and make it better :D ) Seriously, yeah things have been sorta nuts around here. @_@ No wonder my blog gets updated always last. : ( But then like I always tell myself, "family first (husband and kids and extended family), house second, school things after that somewhere and blog has to go last" It just does. I'm sure it's the same for many of you too. Anyway, we knew since the beginning of the month, but weren't given the "list" until last week. So a week in advance, so that was good. A week for me to get the list widdled down and get things packed into his backpack. The note said Branden could bring snacks but they couldn't cost more then 300yen. Okay that was the same rule for field trips we had in yochien as well. So, last week, I grabbed his 300 yen misc. snacks while I was doing my weekly shopping last week.
The 3 pack of gums and the m&m type chocos and lemon tart type candies, and fruit gummys are all like 10 yen or 5 and even 15 yen type prices, the Ultraman and Pokemon cost more but they are the character's my son likes, so I picked those up. He was pretty happy with the snacks I picked up. : )
The note also said, wet tissues and to also bring a vomit bag with plastic bag inside. Hmmm, didn't think we needed one, but the note said everyone needed to bring one, so, we followed the list to a "T" and so we brought one. For the record Branden doesn't get motion sickness at all. Never had that in a vehicle, car or bus, never in an airplane either. Well, yeah he did vomit once when he was real little maybe 18mos, maybe near 2 years old in an airplane, but it wasn't motion sickness related at all, it was because he caught a stomach virus 2 days before we were due to leave Denver and head back to Japan. : ( But anyway, they wanted a vomit bag, we brought it anyway. No worries. : )
The note also said to bring a towel for drying off and a spare pair of undies because they would be splashing in the water and would need a change of undies and socks.
The note also said to bring a cloth hankie, and a raincoat. We were not expecting rain that day, but they still wanted one, so no worries, I rolled it tightly and put it on the bottom of his Denver Bronco backpack. : ) Did I mention that I started packing for his Tuesday field trip on Saturday in bits? Not because I am a super mom because I'm not, it is honestly because *so* much was requested that I knew if I waited until the last day, I would surely be rushing and leave something out. This way I slowly got him ready for ensoku.
Here was my list. Yes, after hubby and I ran through the Japanese list together, I hand wrote it in English. Sorry my handwriting was so "chicken scratch" if I was thinking someone else might see it, perhaps I woulda made a better effort to write more clearly. Ha ha ha. Also Branden's field trip was going to be about an hour away from where we live, so quite far away. They went to some very large park. Not just plain park, but a park where activities are done, and you pay to get in type place. The kids all baked bread! Ran through the water. Played and learned and enjoyed. played with guinea pigs and goats etc, so maybe like a Bokujo type place, who knows. And then had lunch and then got back on the bus and came home. They were home at 2:45pm Tuesday. So it was an all day thing. By Monday, I had everything packed in the backpack. I was really proud of myself for getting everything together, especially while still handling our regular schedules and such still going on. : )
Monday at 11:30am, I met 6 other yochien mother's at an Indian restaurant. So 7 of us total. We enjoyed ourselves a great deal. We stayed until it was time to pick up our kids from yochien. Granted I didn't get any house cleaning done that day, but I did have a lot of fun. Two of the ladies had both vacationed in Australia and told us how beautiful it was and stuff. One of the mother's that was there was hosting the luncheon the following day, so that was cool. 3 mother's other then me were red badge mom's. I think, out of us 7, 4 of us were red badge mom's (myself included). 2 were pink badge mom's and Noriko is a blue badge mom. : )The curry was very very good and the naan was so big, actually I don't think I've ever seen a naan that big!!! @_@Monday evening we BBQ-ed this was delayed from Saturday, because of the big winds! Ha ha ha. So we still had the hamburger buns and the hot dog buns and we wanted to use them before they went bad. So, Monday morning I took the meat outta the freezer and by the evening we had our burgers hot dogs, grilled but baked potatoes and BBQ chicken. Nothing fancy just very very simple. So that was Monday night.
This was my meal, simple BBQ eats Monday night. I had a baked potato, a hot dog and a piece of BBQ chicken. It was good and filling. I think I was still a bit full from lunch though. : ) Oh yeah also Monday I ran to the store with both the boy's and ran in for some fresh fruit for their obento. I was thinking bright red strawberries. But Branden asked for fresh pineapple. So, they both had pineapple. Also, I was planning to make yakitori for their obento. That was my plan since last week. I had my sauce and sticks and everything. However Monday Branden requested karaage. I said, "karaage?" That was in your last obento, you can't have that again!" He said, but everyone in my class is taking karaage, so I want to take it too. *Deep sigh* (it's only lunch it's not the end of the world I thought) okay, okay, you can take it then too. Kids, I tell ya!
Tuesday morning, my hubby left the house for work at 5:30am. He had a 6am to 2pm shift. So we said a quick goodbye and he left. : ) Meanwhile yup, I woke up Tuesday morning at 5:30am actually around 5:20am is more like it. And I got started on the boy's lunch. I have made obento a 1000 times. But honestly I have never made obento for both kids before on the same day. Luckily it wasn't any harder then just making one though, lol! So there I sat at 5 freaking 30am. In the kitchen. Listening to UB40. Put the rice into the containers, boiled the veg. Placed their fruit into their fruit cups. Noah loves furikaki, so placed an Anpanman one there so I wouldn't forget. Started arranging and was done by 6am. 6am, I ran upstairs woke them both up. Noah usually sleep in later but today I was really pinched for time since I also had to get myself to the mother's luncheon and get myself ready with my face on, etc. So, they both woke up, they both split a 3 egg cheese omelet and rice. Branden's bus was leaving at 8am SHARP for the ensoku. So, we drove B to school at 7:30am. Noah went in the car with his jammies. Dropped off B. Waved at "Boy's next door's mom" who was also dropping off "Boy next door" and boy next door's little brother, who is now an ichinensei this year. And I drove Noah and I home. Hmmm. Noah had eaten his breakfast already and lunch was made. So, I ran upstairs and took a 5 minute quick shower just washed my body real quick and my face. Jumped out of the shower, did my hair and put my face on. Got dressed. Then I went downstairs, Noah was watching cartoons in his jammies, good boy, good boy. Got him upstairs brushed his teeth put on his yochien uniform. And we were on our way to yochien!!!! Dropped off Noah. And I went home. It's now 9:30am, kids are both at school, my luncheon starts at 11am. However did I manage to get all that needed to be done this morning so far! Good going, keep it up, I thought! So, I vacuumed the downstairs and upstairs. And now it was 10am. I didn't want to clean anymore, hmm showing up a big sweaty mess at the luncheon sounded like a no no to me. Ha ha ha. So, Instead, I sat on the couch and practiced my speech. I practiced my speech 30 minutes Monday night. I practiced my speech Tuesday morning another 30 minutes. I knew it by heart frontwards and backwards, inside and out!!! However I *know* me. I know how horrible I am at public speaking. Giving speeches in English is scary for me, anyway and that's my native language, but giving a speech in Japanese? Ha ha ha! Also, regarding speeches when I get nervous, I tend to forget things and parts of my speech. So, I printed it out Tuesday morning just in case. Thank god I did!
This was my meal, simple BBQ eats Monday night. I had a baked potato, a hot dog and a piece of BBQ chicken. It was good and filling. I think I was still a bit full from lunch though. : ) Oh yeah also Monday I ran to the store with both the boy's and ran in for some fresh fruit for their obento. I was thinking bright red strawberries. But Branden asked for fresh pineapple. So, they both had pineapple. Also, I was planning to make yakitori for their obento. That was my plan since last week. I had my sauce and sticks and everything. However Monday Branden requested karaage. I said, "karaage?" That was in your last obento, you can't have that again!" He said, but everyone in my class is taking karaage, so I want to take it too. *Deep sigh* (it's only lunch it's not the end of the world I thought) okay, okay, you can take it then too. Kids, I tell ya! Tuesday morning, my hubby left the house for work at 5:30am. He had a 6am to 2pm shift. So we said a quick goodbye and he left. : ) Meanwhile yup, I woke up Tuesday morning at 5:30am actually around 5:20am is more like it. And I got started on the boy's lunch. I have made obento a 1000 times. But honestly I have never made obento for both kids before on the same day. Luckily it wasn't any harder then just making one though, lol! So there I sat at 5 freaking 30am. In the kitchen. Listening to UB40. Put the rice into the containers, boiled the veg. Placed their fruit into their fruit cups. Noah loves furikaki, so placed an Anpanman one there so I wouldn't forget. Started arranging and was done by 6am. 6am, I ran upstairs woke them both up. Noah usually sleep in later but today I was really pinched for time since I also had to get myself to the mother's luncheon and get myself ready with my face on, etc. So, they both woke up, they both split a 3 egg cheese omelet and rice. Branden's bus was leaving at 8am SHARP for the ensoku. So, we drove B to school at 7:30am. Noah went in the car with his jammies. Dropped off B. Waved at "Boy's next door's mom" who was also dropping off "Boy next door" and boy next door's little brother, who is now an ichinensei this year. And I drove Noah and I home. Hmmm. Noah had eaten his breakfast already and lunch was made. So, I ran upstairs and took a 5 minute quick shower just washed my body real quick and my face. Jumped out of the shower, did my hair and put my face on. Got dressed. Then I went downstairs, Noah was watching cartoons in his jammies, good boy, good boy. Got him upstairs brushed his teeth put on his yochien uniform. And we were on our way to yochien!!!! Dropped off Noah. And I went home. It's now 9:30am, kids are both at school, my luncheon starts at 11am. However did I manage to get all that needed to be done this morning so far! Good going, keep it up, I thought! So, I vacuumed the downstairs and upstairs. And now it was 10am. I didn't want to clean anymore, hmm showing up a big sweaty mess at the luncheon sounded like a no no to me. Ha ha ha. So, Instead, I sat on the couch and practiced my speech. I practiced my speech 30 minutes Monday night. I practiced my speech Tuesday morning another 30 minutes. I knew it by heart frontwards and backwards, inside and out!!! However I *know* me. I know how horrible I am at public speaking. Giving speeches in English is scary for me, anyway and that's my native language, but giving a speech in Japanese? Ha ha ha! Also, regarding speeches when I get nervous, I tend to forget things and parts of my speech. So, I printed it out Tuesday morning just in case. Thank god I did! So anyhow, I am now at the luncheon meeting spot, the restaurant basically. As usual, I was the first one there since I always tend to be freakishly early. : ( I sat in my car and tried not to look like a dork for being so early. Good thing I always keep something to read in my car. Ha ha ha. One mom came, and she was the lady who we went to the Indian restaurant the day before with. She waved and met me at my car. We walked into the restaurant and went upstairs. We chit chatted a bit in Japanese. She said they will sit me next to Jogo-san since we both speak English and we can talk to each other. I said thank you. That was really considerate of them for doing that. Another mother came and so the 3 of us chit chatted in Japanese. And then a few more and a few more. 21 mothers came. 22 were expected to come. But 1 name tag was sitting on the table perhaps her child got sick, which is understandable. I had my speech printed and hiding in my purse. For emergency purposes only. Jogo-san came and she sat next to me. She told me she was *very* nervous and this was her first time. And she was glad to be sitting next to me. I told her, "not to worry, I am very nervous too and I am glad to be sitting next to you too" While we were all sitting and waiting for the last few ladies to come. I sat and I asked myself this question. Just thinking this obviously not saying this, ha ha. (Gina do you remember your speech?) and I sat there and I thought, now what was the first line? And I am kidding you not, I was completely mind blocked. Not a single word came to mind. It was as if I had never practiced my speech at all! What the hell? Seriously. Not a single word could be remembered. Yet, I know, I practiced this flipping thing over and over again. How could this be happening to me? OMG! (remain calm I thought) Anyway the last lady comes in and we all begin. The 3 or 4 ladies hosting this luncheon started. One started speaking and gave info on how we are supposed to park our vehicles in June for some day us parents are supposed to go to the school. Okay, I got that. She went on and spoke about a few other topics. Understood those too. Shook my head. And then she started off the introductions. It started at the left side of the table and I was on the right side of the table. I listened. Everyone had given such great intros. By now I realized I must be suffering freaking nerves or flippin' short term memory loss (lol) or something and was SO SO SO glad I printed my speech out. I wasn't going to even attempt it free style. No thanks, saying the wrong thing and utterly humiliating myself? No thanks. I prefer just read it and read it well, there's no shame in reading it. At least I can't muck it up. : ) Okay by now we are on the 2nd lady to my left. When she stood up, she looked visibly nervous. It was a relief to know I wasn't the only nervous person. Then the lady to my direct left gave hers and then it was my turn. I stood up and I gave my speech and I said it perfectly. Granted I wish I woulda been able to say it without reading it. But you know what...whatever and who cares!!! I did the best I could. And everyone clapped for me, like we clapped for all the others too and I was just so relieved I got through it! Hey...at least I showed up for this luncheon and at least I am friendly and social and heck, I did try my best!!! I couldn't have asked for more! I got through it. Yatta!!!! Jogo-san did her speech and she did wonderful too and the next 3 ladies and it was done. Honestly I think we were ALL nervous about speaking and I think we were all relieved to be done with the speaking part. After that the food came, and we were all relaxed. I chatted with the ladies across from me. And the ladies to the left of me. And chatted with Jogo-san. Ohhhh also, I was asked to bring Branden's yearbook. So, I brought it. 2 other mother's brought theirs too. We passed them through the group of ladies and they all looked at the 3 yearbooks. So, now all the red badge mom's know my older son attended here as well. But I think ,most knew that anyway though. Ohhhh, also one lady, she introduced herself, she said she came from blah blah town. The same town as me. I was surprised, I didn't realize another one came from the same town as me. It sorta made me happy though because at least when Noah does become an ichinensei, like in many years from now, lol, he will be starting shogako with at least 1 classmate from his yochien. So that was cool and also a surprise. She sat at the totally opposite side of the table though.
After the luncheon, I went to go and get Noah. All of us mom's went and picked up our kids. Picked up Noah, at 1:50pm. drove home, now it's 2:10pm. Got his stuff unpacked and we both went to the bathroom (had to pee *so* bad, I was practically doing a jig) and at 2:30pm we left to go pick up B. So many mom's waiting for their kids at the elementary school. I spoke with Kouiki's mom, told her I went to the yochien's mommy's lunch today. We giggled a bit and talked about how it was. I told her it was good. Kouiki made melon pan it looked cute, I told them both it looked so good. Branden meanwhile baked a dinner roll type bread and he did this bear face on it (pictured up above). Granted the lips sorta remind me of Mick Jagger or something but it's okay. As being a mom, I told him after we got home, how that was the best looking bread I'd ever seen. Which that made him very happy hearing that. Ha ha ha. We warmed up the bread and put butter on it, it was really good, all four of us shared the bread Branden made. By now Hubby is home. He's exhausted, and I'm freaking out of my mind exhausted too. Started from 5:30am with obento, yeah it's safe to say I am freaking exhausted. I was set to make cream stew, I had the meat defrosting in the the fridge but hubby said, "let's go to restaurant" so we drove to Narita and had Chinese. One thing about my husband is he truly knows when I am just THAT tired and he picks up on it. He was very smart to take us to the restaurant and I appreciated it, heck I needed it, ha ha ha. We had ebi chili, 3 orders of gyoza, haposai ramen (interesting eh, but good), and 3 large orders of fried rice. 4 egg drop soups, we all shared everything. Branden told us all his fun and crazy stories of his field trip while at the restaurant. Then I went and told them how "mommy got a major brain fart at the luncheon and completely forgot what I was supposed to say" but luckily I printed it out. Oh they laughed so hard at me for forgetting! I admit I laughed so hard at myself for that too! How hilarious! Hubby told us this story at work a really interesting one. And Noah added he crayoned with Chi-chan today and he also got a scratch on his thigh while playing outside, lol. The conversation at dinner was pretty umm lively to say the least. Ha ha ha. It was good! : )
Tuesday was the last day of school for Noah. He's now on Golden week break. Because Wednesday is a holiday in Japan. I think it's Showa Day (?) And Thursday the yochien is closed. So the holiday started for Noah already. Branden is off today/Wednesday too. But he has class Thursday and no class Friday. So B's last day is Thursday. So no school stuff for us for a while. Which is nice, a break is sorta appreciated here and there. : ) Gives us mom's a much needed break, right? : ) What will I do this Wednesday and Thursday? Clean house, and start packing for our trip. We also have to get through these 2 DVD's before we leave. So, tonight and tomorrow night we will be watching these movies. But mostly staying home resting cleaning or packing (we have very little to pack anyway though).
After the luncheon, I went to go and get Noah. All of us mom's went and picked up our kids. Picked up Noah, at 1:50pm. drove home, now it's 2:10pm. Got his stuff unpacked and we both went to the bathroom (had to pee *so* bad, I was practically doing a jig) and at 2:30pm we left to go pick up B. So many mom's waiting for their kids at the elementary school. I spoke with Kouiki's mom, told her I went to the yochien's mommy's lunch today. We giggled a bit and talked about how it was. I told her it was good. Kouiki made melon pan it looked cute, I told them both it looked so good. Branden meanwhile baked a dinner roll type bread and he did this bear face on it (pictured up above). Granted the lips sorta remind me of Mick Jagger or something but it's okay. As being a mom, I told him after we got home, how that was the best looking bread I'd ever seen. Which that made him very happy hearing that. Ha ha ha. We warmed up the bread and put butter on it, it was really good, all four of us shared the bread Branden made. By now Hubby is home. He's exhausted, and I'm freaking out of my mind exhausted too. Started from 5:30am with obento, yeah it's safe to say I am freaking exhausted. I was set to make cream stew, I had the meat defrosting in the the fridge but hubby said, "let's go to restaurant" so we drove to Narita and had Chinese. One thing about my husband is he truly knows when I am just THAT tired and he picks up on it. He was very smart to take us to the restaurant and I appreciated it, heck I needed it, ha ha ha. We had ebi chili, 3 orders of gyoza, haposai ramen (interesting eh, but good), and 3 large orders of fried rice. 4 egg drop soups, we all shared everything. Branden told us all his fun and crazy stories of his field trip while at the restaurant. Then I went and told them how "mommy got a major brain fart at the luncheon and completely forgot what I was supposed to say" but luckily I printed it out. Oh they laughed so hard at me for forgetting! I admit I laughed so hard at myself for that too! How hilarious! Hubby told us this story at work a really interesting one. And Noah added he crayoned with Chi-chan today and he also got a scratch on his thigh while playing outside, lol. The conversation at dinner was pretty umm lively to say the least. Ha ha ha. It was good! : ) Tuesday was the last day of school for Noah. He's now on Golden week break. Because Wednesday is a holiday in Japan. I think it's Showa Day (?) And Thursday the yochien is closed. So the holiday started for Noah already. Branden is off today/Wednesday too. But he has class Thursday and no class Friday. So B's last day is Thursday. So no school stuff for us for a while. Which is nice, a break is sorta appreciated here and there. : ) Gives us mom's a much needed break, right? : ) What will I do this Wednesday and Thursday? Clean house, and start packing for our trip. We also have to get through these 2 DVD's before we leave. So, tonight and tomorrow night we will be watching these movies. But mostly staying home resting cleaning or packing (we have very little to pack anyway though). Friday May 1st, Hubby and the kids and I are flying out of Narita, we are going to Guam for Golden week. We will be staying at my dad's condo. We could really use the rest and relaxation. And the tropical weather sounds really nice to us. We plan to swim at my dad's pool and also do some snorkeling at the beach, also take some drives around the island. Eat some good eats. And basically just veg out and have fun. Perhaps take in a movie while there as well, who knows. And as usual get my eyebrows waxed. These suckers haven't been waxed in a month. @_@ They are starting to look straggly.
Anyway, just wanted to say, if my blog is a bit quiet from now, it's just because I am packing getting ready for our trip, or we are on our trip. Either way, if I am quiet in the blogosphere for the next week or so, it's just because we are away. But I'll check in with you all after we get back. Besides, I know you all have lots going on yourselves in your own daily lives, so you all more then understand anyway. : )
Just wanted to say....I hope you all have an awesome Golden Week for those of you in Japan. And please have a wonderful week for those of you not in Japan. And dad, we'll be seeing you this Friday!!!! : )
We road a boat, that was our first ride of the day, it was sorta like a jungle cruise type boat just without the jungle, ha ha ha. We toured all of Disney Sea via the water and it was pretty nice to see.
Branden enjoying the view from the boat. : )
Inside the Indiana Jones ride.
The boys got to take a pic with Cruella De Vil. She was actually a very nice lady!!! Very very nice! : )
My guys, after getting off a ride!!! : )
And almost done with theirs. : )
The boy's in Triton's play area in the Mermaid Lagoon area. Wanted a pic of themselves with the snail. Again I think it had to do with Spongebob again though...because Spongebob has a snail named Gary. : )
See Noboru how he was walking down a granny or rice farmers walk path. We took that route.
You can see the purple flowers up ahead of Branden is this pic.
What's in here? Rice, the rice that they are all currently trying to get planted, lots are already planted but still more have to be planted.
I like the character of these old Japanese houses, granted I wouldn't want to live in one, but I do appreciate looking at them a lot. : )
Plant tillers, and lots of these vehicles are made for planting rice, so rice machines. So many of these around here. It's very common to see blobs of dirt or chunks of mud on the road and think..."ugh the rice mobile must have been around here this morning" Ha ha ha. They're all over around here, on all the roads around here. : ) : )
Noboru laying the net down. We caught none by this net this time. However they caught a ton with this net the week before, go figure.
Noboru teaching B how to catch them. Crawdad's are very skittish. Even a shadow scares them and they run away. You have to be really sneaky to catch them. : ) We were talking and we saw some hiding, yup our voices scared them so we had to speak softly. Some saw our shadows and they hid. But by the time we left though Branden had caught on really good, how to catch them.
My rainboots, lol. Country gal wear, I guess! Ha ha ha. : )
Staying way way back and sure enough he caught one.
Trying real hard to sit and not let any crawdad's know we were there until it was too late and they were sitting in his net!!! :P
Branden caught quite a bunch. Here he was passing one into Noboru's net because this side had the bucket. Ha ha ha.
And sure enough here, he just caught yet another one! : )
This was a pic midway through. We caught about twice as much as this. However I should say, I only caught 2!!! :(
Monday, since like I said, B had the day off school. Branden and I went to go and pick up Noah from yochien in the afternoon. When the encho sensei/principal and the secretary saw B, they came outside. And talked with him. Told him how much he has grown, asked him how he likes shogako/elementary school. It made Branden happy getting to talk with them again. Meanwhile we picked up Noah and were on our way home but we stopped off at Mc Donald's first though. Both the boy's picked a cheeseburger Happy Meal.
And I went for a Cinnamon Melt. Oh goodness it's so good.
With both boy's home, I started supper on Monday. I made, pork chops, cheesy rice (rice a roni) and steamed veggie. Simple meal. No bells and whistles going off for that. Ha ha! :P But it was good.
Everyone had 2 pork chops each. 1 was saved for Noah's lunch for Tuesday. So, this was Noah's obento for Tuesday. Same stuff exactly as the night before. Fried pork chop, I split it in half so it would be easier to eat. Cheesy rice and veggie and some yellow cling peaches. Very simple. I just nuked everything in the morning and I had lunch made in no time. : )
Funny this pic, you can actually see the steam from the curry. It was that hot. Ha ha ha. Tuesday night, I made a nice pot of curry. It was a nice simple basic dinner for us Tuesday night. Wednesday was a half day for Noah so no obento was had Wednesday. :D Anyways, nothing too earth shattering or whatever, but that's just a few bits of what our family in our little neck of the woods has been doing this week. :P
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