Let's catch up! : )

Oh goodness, so much to catch up on! : ) Where to start...where to start. Well, Noah's duckie rainboots got here. He's been using them ever since on rainy days. : )

Branden's rainboots got here too. It's rained about 4 days since they've had them so they've been put to good use so far. : )

One of the meals I prepared last week. We all had corn on the cob with butter, salt and pepper, a nice buttery baked potato and some rice and yakitori. It was a pretty good simple meal. : ) Made this last Thursday.

I also made a gratin at the beginning of last week.

And last Friday we were all TGIF and stuff, so ready for the weekend to be here. And so we had an easy pasta and garlic toast. Wish I would have had time to run to the bakery to get a nice loaf of bread to make garlic bread but ahh, well we were all pretty tired so we kept it simple. And that's okay, it was pretty good. : ) : )

The dvd's came for us last week. The kids liked both. Though we definitely enjoyed Underdog more then the other one. I actually found Underdog pretty funny. A few laughing out loud, type moments for sures.

Also last week, I am not sure if you can read the number, that 2-2 means, the 2nd grade and 2nd class. That's the class Branden's in. And this is his first cucumber that he grew on his cucumber plant at school. Yup, he's got plants at school and the plants the school sends home. @_@ But he brought this home and I peeled it and the kids and I shared this with just a sprinkling of salt and it was pretty good.

Also last week, my neighbor Rumi-san brought us some freshly dug up potatoes. Three of them were like enormous sized, the other 2 were normal sized. The size actually shocked me a little. I made baked potatoes out of these! Ha ha ha. I had a normal sized one and it is pictured above with the yakitori dinner. I made Branden and Noah, the super sized ones, they loved em'. : )

Saturday, June 27th, was the day at Branden's elementary school for us parents to go and observe and also do fun type activities with our kids. It was a lot of fun! In this pic, the guy teacher, was talking about static electricity from this balloon. He wanted us to rub the balloons with different things to see if we produced static.

Errr yup, Noboru thought of rubbing the balloon on Branden's head. I thought of using a tissue and rubbing the balloon with it. And it didn't produce much static, ha ha ha. And sure enough one person accidentally popped their balloon and it scared the living daylights out of the rest of us in the room. That family was pretty embarrassed. But it was cute and we all laughed about it. And then we moved to another room and did an activity and then switched rooms. I think we switched rooms 6 times total.

And kakigori/shave ice!!! Yumm. But it was for kids only, none of us parents got to have any but that's okay, it was more then fine. We were there for the kids and they enjoyed it. I think in the background of this pic, you can see all the different flavors the kids could chose from. : )

And now we were in the gymnasium. And this was essentially just red bottles and blue bottles. You were assigned a team. red or blue and then when they shouted out, everyone was supposed to run and go knock down the opponents bottles. So the red team goes knocking down all the blue bottles and vice versa. Meanwhile trying to pick up their own bottles.

And of them in action. It was like a frenzy of fun and it was really interesting to watch actually.

And Branden's science stuff they all got to make and bring home. It looks like just slime to me. But they made this gloop and so B was really happy to have this stuff. They made this on Saturday with us parents. : )

After enjoying our Saturday at the school, we went home, relaxed. Branden had about 7 of his classmates come over and so he had friends over playing in the backyard last Saturday until 5pm when the bell rang. I didn't really mind so much, they stood outside and had a good play. One little girl came in to go pee, but other then that, they all stood outside and played their hearts out. After everyone went home, we all had chicken chow mein/sara udon for dinner that I made.

We watched "My Cousin Vinny" on satellite last weekend. It's funny, no matter how many times I see this movie, it never stops making me laugh! I love this movie.

Monday was what we called, a date with dad. Basically it is just one on one quality time with Noboru. Since B went to school on Saturday, he had no school on Monday. And since I was going to be gone at Costco with my friends. It was just Noboru and Branden and hubby thought why not go do something fun together just them two. I thought that was a great idea. And Noah had yochien that day. So, here is a pic of Noboru and B leaving the house about to go spend their day fishing together!!! : ) Fishing hat, bucket, yup they were ready. : )

Noboru took this picture with his keitai/cell phone. So the quality isn't so good, sorry. : ) But they caught shrimp and fish. They released them all back though. And Noboru said there were a few grandpa types there and they all chatted with Branden and gave him pointers on fishing, lol.

Then they said they went and had ramen at a ramen shop and on the way home they apparently went and had 100 yen shakes from Mc D's. Branden had so much fun, he kept talking about how much fun he had. Noboru had fun too, because he got to share his hobby with Branden. I was pretty glad they enjoyed their day. Anyway they had a great Monday.

Same day the hubby and B went fishing. My girlfriends and I went to Makuhari and went to Costco. Five of us yochien mommy's total and 1 cutie patootie little girl. : ) Monday June 29th, we all met up at 9am. We all hopped into Mayuko-san's minivan and hopped on the highway. We all shopped, then had a quick lunch before jumping into the minivan and heading back to the inaka. It was SO packed. Couldn't believe it was a Monday.

I didn't get a whole lot of stuff. : ( But just a few things. I got this pizza margherita. Everyone of my yochien mom friends also brought back a pizza each as well. : ) We must have all been craving pizzas. : )

Donuts, tortillas and dinner rolls. I know I rarely rarely go there. So this may be old news to most of you. But, has anyone noticed how the amount of donuts greatly shrank??? They used to sell 24 in a box and now they sell just 12 in a box. Is this like this everywhere or just at the Makuhari one? I was pretty surprised, also the price increased too right? I was really surprised. Two of my friends got the donuts too (Mayuko-san and Noriko-san), Miyuki-san got the muffins though and my other friend (Jogo-san) got the bagels. : )

I picked 2 magazines. Anyone keeping up with the Gosselin thing? : ( I happen to watch "Jon and Kate Plus 8" whenever I am in the US. I started watching the show because it was of a western mommy and an Asian American daddy and all their cute cute kids. : ) I think I have missed about 80% of the shows though because I just don't have enough chance to watch them. Anyway it seems they are getting divorced and just the whole thing sounds sad. : ( Anyway I am greatly out of the loop, so I picked up these 2 magazines to catch up on stuff in general. Also, picked of some salsa and dish washing liquid for the dish washer, and some kids vitamins. Again nothing too great or anything. : )

Needed more Spray and Wash, goodness, between Noah and his school socks. And the occasional stuff B gets on his clothes, I need this stuff.

Lean ground beef, going to make hamburg and probably some yummy burgers too. : ) A big bag of red cheddar. We do love our cheese around here. And that's seriously it. Aw well, just a few things, so not too bad. : ) I was looking for a few things at Costco Makuhari and they didn't have them. They didn't have the kids pool, I had seen on the Flying pig. And they did't have any tortilla chips. That was sorta a bummer. But I did have a great Monday the other day, with my friends. And I did end up ordering the pool and chips online anyway so it's okay. : )

Yesterday/Tuesday after driving B to school because it was raining cats and dogs yesterday. And coming back home to make obento for Noah. I got myself dressed and ready to go because I had another meeting for the "games group" From 9am-11am the game group, spent our time upstairs making little bags and purses out of Pet bottles again. I brought 4 cleaned and rinsed bottles, my scissors and stuff. And went upstairs. It was like Santa's toy shop upstairs, *except* we weren't elves and we didn't have toys, instead we were mom's and we had pet bottles. Ha ha ha! : ) : )But we cut, taped decorated each bottle with stickers, put handles on them. Two hours worth. I made a ton of bags, I'd say I made about 15 bags/purses yesterday, not counting the ones I made on our first meeting either. And these are just the snack holders but a lot of work went into this project by us. We made 250 bags total. Every single one of us in the games group is doing a pretty awesome job. I am looking forward to seeing what the other 2 groups have been doing as well. I think our kids will be enjoying this summer festival a lot! : )

When we were about to leave, each of us were handed some construction paper. Some are making beetles, some lady bugs. Jogo-san and I were given the butterflies. So, this is my homework! 50% of the butterflies. Ha ha ha. : ) This must be done by next Monday. And they said only to write happy faces on the little butterfly faces, not scary ones, ha ha ha. I said, okay! : ) I will do it! : ) And so, what will I be doing this week or weekend? Making butterflies. Ha ha ha. The kids will catch these butterflies in a net and win a prize. : )

When I got home yesterday from the yochien. I was a little tired. : ) I took a 30 minute nap. A power nap, I think. Ha ha ha. : ) And then, I woke up and had a little lunch and then watched Driving Miss Daisy. Noboru watched it with me, we both really like this movie a lot. He actually owned this on VHS when I met him. : )

I only could watch an hour of it because I had to go and get Noah from school. But we enjoyed it.

What else have we been up? Gee lots and lots. : )

Noboru flew to Osaka on Wednesday June 24th. He came back early morning (around 9ish) Friday June 26th. He went to go and visit his dad. I'm really glad he went. As a lot of you know, his dad has been in the hospital since Branden was 2 years old. It's pretty upsetting for Noboru because he is/was just as close to his dad as Branden and Noah are with Noboru. : ( His father has alzeimers. He only remembers stuff from about 5 years ago and older... he has zero memories that are newer then the past 5 years (5 years and newer are hard for him to retain). So he knows me. And knows Branden but thinks of Branden as being age 2 . It's like in his mind everyone is frozen in time. Branden is now 7 and I think if he were to see B as a 7 year old it would be shocking, could be a bit scary even. He has no memory of Noah at all. When we went there 2 year ago he sat and stared at him but didn't know who he was. And that was pretty sad because my father in law is a fantastic guy, he really is so sweet. He doesn't know Jun is married and even if we tell him he is married and has a daughter he won't remember it the next day. : ( So in his mind Jun is single still. Yeah it's pretty sad for the whole family, especially since he used to be so full of life and so fun and kind. I have been asking Noboru to go and visit with his dad because god only knows how long he will be here. And he should see him, as much as he can. Finally he got the chance to go and it was really good for him to go to Osaka, he enjoyed visiting with his dad very much. He says his mom is well. My sil and nephew and niece are well too. Kobby my nephew will probably be going to spend 2 month's in America with his dad. So that's a good thing.

Last week was certainly a loss of 2 great people. : ( The loss of Farrah Fawcett and the loss of Michael Jackson. I had known by reading the news that Farrah was quite ill, so although I was sad to hear the news it was somewhat expected. Does anyone know what I mean. Still sad but not out of the blue is what I mean, but still quite sad. : ( Now the Michael Jackson thing totally and completely caught me off guard and totally threw me for a loop!!!! Friday morning at 4:45am, my keitai rang and it was my husband, he called to say he was on his way to Itami (sp?)airport and going to be arriving in Narita at 9am. I went back to bed. And at 5:30am I woke up and got both boy's ready for school. I turned on the CNN and they said, Michael Jackson had cardiac arrest and was in the hospital. I couldn't believe it. I still was getting both boys ready for school. But I emailed Noboru and said, Michael Jackson was in the hospital. Okay by now it was 7:28am Japan time and we were driving down the road, I was driving B to school and Noah in jammies sat in his car seat in the backseat. My keitai rang, I answered it only because I was worried maybe Noboru got bumped from his flight or something he said, "I'm at the airport and Michael Jackson died" I said. What??? I hung up because I really don't wanna get in trouble for driving and talking. I dropped off Branden, he knew and heard the news from us. And then Noah and I drove home and sure enough it said it on CNN. It was sorta, surreal right? He was a very talented man. I know he was at times thought to have believed to live a weird or at times an odd life. But it was pretty sad news all in the same. : ( He was way too young to die. Now this week, it's on the news about who gets his 3 kids, who gets his estate. The "will" from 2002 just came out. Is that the most recent one. Was he on prescription pills or wasn't he. Just sad, all in the same. Anyway I thought I'd share.....my favorite album of Michael's, for me.... it was the "Off the Wall" album. My 2nd favorite was the Thriller album. I also dug the older Jackson 5 stuff quite a bit. I liked the things Quincy Jones and Berry Gordy said about him and Diana Ross and Liz Taylor also said really nice things as well. And Janet popped in my mind, I think they were the closest of the siblings, right? They always seemed so close to me. Even when they did the song Scream together. Ahhh, anyway, I just wanted to say, I hope things turn out okay for everyone involved. : (

Noah's birthday is next week. July 7th. And we are getting ready for it in bits. Hubby and I, took a trip to Toys R us this morning. Can't believe he'll be 4 years old next week. Grandma Mitsuko said she's sending him a Toys r us, gift card and my dad sent him a card with some money in it a few days ago. thanks dad. : ) We'll be ordering his Baskin Robbins birthday ice cream cake probably tomorrow. And taking him out to dinner the actual evening of his birthday. It'll just be a quiet little family thing next week. Very low key and simple as usual. : )

I have a breast exam this coming Friday. I believe a pap smear will also be involved because they are checking for cancer there too. I have had yearly girly exams like clock work all my life. But since we've been in Japan, I am afraid, I haven't gotten checked up like I should have. So anyway my exam will be in 2 days. Noboru will be working, so I'll pick up Noah from school early Friday so Noah can go with me to my exam. A few of you know my mom had breast cancer. She beat it. But somehow I always feel more nervous when getting checked. Anyway I will just feel a great sense of relief, after I get my exam on Friday and then they give me my results. : ) I hope the results don't take too long. Ha ha ha. : )

What are everyone's summer plans??? Anyone have anything planned? Anyone going home for the summer? Or perhaps maybe planning on staying in Japan, and doing something fun here? We have a few plans. Noboru got 11 days vacation off in July. We're pretty happy about it. So we're indeed going to go and take a family vacation. Not to Guam this time. More then likely we will be going to Honolulu. The flights look open so far. We've been checking daily about that. If the flight gets too full we will go to Los Angeles maybe or someplace. Maybe even Denver. But the flights (there's 2 each day) to Hawaii look pretty good. So far we're planning on that. If the flight looks good 7 days prior, is when we'll probably book our hotel. So right now, I sorta hesitate to say. But yup the plans in motion so far and it looks good. So we've been in crossing our fingers mode over here. : ) Each flight has over 200 seats available so far, so 400 seats available so far total, so it does look pretty open and good and we only need 4 seats anyway. : )

Going to the movies: Noriko-san, Mayuko-san and the Jogo-san and I made a plan, to go and see the new Harry Potter movie in July. I think they said the day it opens we have a yochien thing. Games meeting or I am not really sure. But I think we agreed to go July 16th? A day after it opens? Is that right? Don't quote me the days I could be off, a bit on the dates.: ) But anyway yup we are going to the movies to see that when it comes out. I think we are going to buy our tickets a week in advance. I am pretty excited. Jogo-san said she read all the books. So she knows her stuff. Me on the otherhand, I didn't read them, shame on me! So, I will be pretty surprised. : )

Anyway my real life is just pretty busy lately, but fun type busy, not to worry. : ) I am pretty lucky that I do have a good network of irl friends and we do fun stuff together like Costco, movies, etc. So, it keeps me busy. And then the summer festival prep also has me pretty occupied at the moment and should be keeping me occupied for the next 2-3 weeks. Ha ha ha. But I don't mind so much. And now with vacation plans and such. So....anyway, I did want to at least catch up some. At least a little bit. : )

TV Talk: I am so totally into Kyle XY, every evening at 8pm, Monday through Friday, I am watching. A faithful viewer I am, I am. Ha ha ha. The new season of Dexter is so good, hubby and I love watching this when the kids go to sleep. And same with the new season of Ghost Whisperer. I'm still watching Hannah Montana with the kids and Wizards of Waverly Place every night with the boys. Edited to add: They seem to have taken off Kyle XY. And they left me on a cliffhanger, ha ha ha. I watched up to season 3 episode 10. I think the show gets cancelled mid season 4? But I would like to catch the other episodes. : ( I hope the sci-fi channel here in Japan decides to air them. : ( Bummer about Kyle XY. : (

Okay, I'm sure I have more things to add, but I have to run to swim school right now, so I better end this here. Have a great week, you guys!!! : )

Bits from the week! : )

Haven't been up to a whole lot this week, but on Tuesday June 16th, I indeed met my two friends at the movie theater at 9:40 am (after we all got our kids sent to school), our movie started right at 10am. : ) We went and saw the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, called Angels and Demons. I went to the movies with Rieko-san and Mio and Mao-chan's mom. They both got coffee and a pastry at the snack bar before the movie started, very appropriate for a morning movie. : ) And I picked popcorn and a soda.: ) I really liked this movie a lot, I thought it was even a bit better then The Da Vinci Code. We went on ladies day, so it cost each of us just a thousand yen. Also, I was gonna say, they have the new Harry Potter poster hanging already at the movies inside already. I think it said it was coming to us in Japan in July? Is that right. I would love to see that movie. I hope I get a chance to see that. I wonder how far in advance someone could buy their ticket? Would a month in advance be allowed? Hmm. : ) : )

Branden's ensoku went great on Wednesday. I think in these pics you can see sketch pads with the kids. The sensei asked each of the kids to also do some sketching of the nature they saw and draw it.

Getting his pencil out to start sketching. : )

Four friends, after lunch. : )

The elementary school sure does give a lot of things for the kids to bring home and grow. Last year it was the flowers. And this year, it was the tomato plant and now this week he brought home 4 corn. Branden said the Yuka-sensei wants us all to grow 4 corn. @_@ So, sure enough I drove this week to the local DIY and bought a bigger container for the tomato plant because she's gotten so big lately she needed to be replanted. And another container for the 4 corn. Also, something that's sorta been on my mind, is, you know that strip of bark area on the left hand side of my yard? Anyone know what I mean? I was originally going to plant a nice row of trees there, that was my first thought about that last year. But then we held off. And now, I am sorta thinking that I will grow a flower garden there instead. So, this coming week, I think I will be spending a great deal of my time at the DIY in the flower area, trying to get some flowers picked and stuff. : ) Pretty boring stuff, I know. Sorry you guys. : )

Two of our DVD rentals came at the beginning of this week. I have yet to see the Kate Winslet one. I will try and watch that tonight. But the Boston Strangler one we saw last night after the kids went to sleep. It was a really bad movie. A grade B, no doubt, I do feel bad for saying that but it really was a stinker of a movie. : (

Today is Sunday, and it's raining cats and dogs here today! Today looks like it's going to be a great day. A nice stay at home type day for sures but a good day nonetheless. Anyway I just wanted to touch bases with all of you. Have a great day you guys. : )

The Terminator Salvation, El Torito Mexican restaurant and a few other interesting bits for good measure!!! : )

Noah and his swim friends as they look on at the coach. And listen to him. : )

Aww, Noah is now 3 or 4 levels passed from the starting level/point. So many of the kids are much bigger and older then he is. But he doesn't mind, he thrives in swim class. He really enjoys it a lot.: )

Listening to the coach again.

The bigger boy on the left of Noah, is a good friend of Noah's. They go to the same yochien as well. He's a pink badge though. : )

Friend chit chat!!! The day Noah swims there are actually about 5-6 kids from our same yochien swimming. It's nice because when we walk in, he hears, "Noah-kun...Noah-kun" from his buddies/classmates. And he runs to them and greets them and starts talking and joking with them. It's amazing how well he's adjusted to not only swimming school but also yochien life. : )

And of course Wednesday is also the day Branden swims as well. How is life as a new #6? He likes it. : ) It is a tad more competitive now, lots of emphasis on time and also technique now. Each child is paired with their own swim mate. The coach determines who has the same skill and same speed and level and pairs off that way. This girl down in the pool in this pic next to Branden, has the same speed as Branden and same skill. Obviously they're both #6's. And so each week, since he started as a #6, they do practice after practice and swim lap after lap. And then the last 15 minutes you and your partner must swim against each other. Coach is watching her stop watch and they go back and forth. And race back and forth. Have you ever heard the term...."you've met your match?" , Funny because these 2, are so equally matched it's a tough call who will win 1 round to the next. First round last Wednesday went to Branden, second round totally went to the girl and 3rd time, Branden beat her, but it was by a split split hair, I might even call it a tie to be fair. They are THAT equally matched. And yes they are friends, they do chit chat between taking their turn in the pool. They joke with each other etc. But it's right back to business when they enter the pool. And then they get out and they laugh and smile with each other again.

A very blurry picture of Branden and the girl racing to the end of the pool. Meanwhile some boy behind them, just smoked his partner. I tell ya, watching these kids is amazing, all of them are so good. With everyone being so equally matched one might win one time and lose the next, talk about having to "bring it", each and every week they sure do. These kids swim their hearts out. After swimming Wednesday is when we went to buy our movie tickets for Saturday's Terminator movie. We picked our seats and everything, it was pretty cool. Also, we 4 ran to the 100 yen and bought some scissors and stuff that I would be needing for Friday's "game group" craft work session.

We got back and it was still light outside and so Noboru did some weed spray stuff on our lawn Wednesday while I got supper ready. : )

I didn't want to ruin my scissors from home, so we just bought a pair at the 100 yen. A box cutter type knife and the pair of scissors. And 2 bottles and I was ready for Friday. How did it go? About half of us "games ladies" showed up. And we spent about an hour and a half making purses/bags out of pet bottles. I really enjoyed myself. I had a lot of fun, time seemed to just breeze on by. All of us joking, talking having fun. I thought I made 2 really nice looking purses. I did try my best and I felt proud of my hard work. We also got to choose what games we will work at during the summer festival. Those of us who showed up, got first choice/first pick. Whoever didn't show up on Friday, unfortunately will have to take the games and times leftover. : ( I don't make the rules, that's just what they said. Anyway, Rieko-san and I will be partners and we chose to do the ball toss game together (her son and Branden were classmates at this same yochien, so we both have 2nd grade sons and her daughter Itsuki-chan is a blue badge this year, I've known her daughter since she was a yellow badge and now she's a blue badge, so we're old friends Rieko-san and I and she's known Noah since he was 10 month's old and now he's a red badge, my how time flies, sniff, sniff. : ). And we chose to work the first half of the festival that way we don't have to do the cleanup afterwards. *But*, we will be there beforehand and help set up which is more then fair because setting up is hard work all on it's own as well. I prefer that way anyway. Sorta just get it over with and then enjoy the end of the festival walking around etc. After our games meeting ended Friday, Rieko-san and I went to have lunch together. We went and had tantanmen for lunch it was so delicious! : )

Friday after school, and after the boys came home, Branden went zarigani hunting, crawfish hunting with Genki-kun! They both wanted to practice before next weeks ensoku!!! So, I waved off B and Genki and they went trotting down to the rice fields and down to the canal. Genki caught 2 fish. And Branden caught 1 crawfish and 2 dojo! : ) For those of you that have been reading for a while know that Genki-kun and Branden have been friends since *their* yochien days. And they live in the same housing community and attend the same elementary school and are in the same class together. They have been in the same class together since both were pink badges, blue badges, and first graders and second grader's. LOL. They've been in the same class for 4 years together. It's good they are such great friends after all this time. : ) : )

Branden with his 99 yen bucket, very handy! And 1 tiny crawdad and 2 small dojo, he did release them back the next morning. : )

Saturday from 9:30am to 11:15am. We were at Noah's school for observation day. They sent a note saying beforehand, no cameras and no camcorders allowed at all. This really sucked. : ( I would have loved to take some pictures!!! Branden showed up and Aoi-kun was there since his little sister is a blue badge. Shion-kun showed up too. All these kids were classmates of Branden's when he went to yochien. They played their little hearts out. They still see each other at swim club, but it was good they got to hang out for a few hours at their old school/yochien. I wish I could have snapped a few pictures. : ( Also Noah did great! There was a father and child race and they ran so good, their team won! It was just really cool being there. The school's photographer took pics Saturday, we will buy some and hopefully I can post some then. All the kids had to show up in their gym uniform. So, those yellow shorts and white shirt. Anyway, at 11:15am, the observation day was now finished and we went to have lunch at Coco's. The kids told us...."we haven't been there in 100 years!!!" Noboru and I just smiled at each other, because we actually go on dates there quite a bit.: ) : ) Anyway hubby had the hamburg set, Noah had a kids hamburg set, Branden had the french toast and I had my trusty chicken, cheese and veggie quesadilla and fries and drink bar. : ) : ) By now it was noon, and with the Terminator not even starting until 2pm, we went home. Everyone went to the bathroom. Noah changed clothes from school gym uniform to regular clothes. And at 1pm we left to the movie theater. This is the pic of the boys outside the movie theater. : )

We bought 1 large popcorn, plus 2 small popcorns for the boys. And 2 large drinks. 1 very large orange Qoo for the kids and 1 very large coke for us. A lot of people showed up, a lot, a lot. It wasn't packed to the gills, like no seat to spare but it was indeed pretty full..... good thing we got our seats picked out from Wednesday. The Terminator Salvation was great! I won't give any spoilers, but I will just tell you, it was dazzling! It did NOT disappoint at all. And yes they did have Arnold computer graphically added towards the end, at the most edge of our seat type moment. It was so cool!!! Helena Bonham Carter was in this. As was Dallas Howard (Ron's Howard's daughter who I think is really great) we left the theater talking nonstop about the Terminator as we walked all the way to our car and even as we drove to Tsukuba. We loved this movie. : )

After watching Terminator Salvation, Noboru said, "since it's the weekend, let's go enjoy it some more. Let's eat out", he said. So we headed to Tsukuba. For those of you who may not know, Tsukuba is located in Ibaraki prefecture. And it's actually closer for us to drive there, versus driving to places like Makuhari in Chiba. I have mentioned before we live close to Ibaraki prefecture. : )

We went to El Torito in Tsukuba.

We enjoyed 3 appetizers. Kids shared chicken finger appetizers, Noboru had calamari and I chose the nachos appetizer, which is pictured right here. They were so good. : )

I had the fajitas, they came out *sizzling* and they even lit a candle and it fried some more on our table. Ha ha ha. : ) Noah had the kids meal. Noboru had a combination plate and Branden had the chicken enchiladas. We sat and ate and enjoyed our time there for about an hour to an hour and a half. Talking about quite a few things, also about the movie we just saw as well of course and other things too. Between our appetizers, entrees and the 2 baskets of chips and salsa they gave us. We were stuffed. Now, of course always a bit of room leftover for dessert though, right? :P

Wendy's is, right across the street from El Torito, so we just cruised through the drive thru. And picked up some dessert for the drive home. : )

Wendy's drive thru menu in Japanese, very cool. : ) : )

Four, 99 or 100 yen frosties for the drive home. It's a 30 minute drive home on regular roads, not the highway, so not too bad of a drive at all. We got back home, the kids took a fast shower, quick brush of their teeth and right to bed they went, they were exhausted. It was a long day for them. Hubby and I meanwhile enjoyed watching American Idol Saturday night. What a truly awesome Saturday. : )

Sunday was spent at home. And that was fine, after our perfect Saturday, it was good to spend a nice Sunday relaxing. Noboru worked on the grass a bit, he mowed the lawn with our big American lawn mower. And did the edging around the lawn. Branden meanwhile played with Keita-kun all day long! They played DS games on our front porch and then after a while they went and played in the backyard. He stayed at our house playing from 10am to about 4:30pm. He did go home at noon when the lunch bell chimed in our community. But he came back. And yup, I provided snacks and stuff throughout the day as well. Noah meanwhile cruised his bike on our back patio all afternoon.

Sunday, I did vacuum the upstairs and I cleaned the toilet downstairs but mostly just relaxed being a happy lazy bum. : ) I had Noah straighten all the shoes in the genkan, that's his chore he is expected to do. It's not a lot, granted but it does give him 1 task to always do and he is really good at it. : )He checks the shoes everyday. : ) Each of the boys have their own little chores. Not huge chores just little ones. It's good for them. : ) Anyway where was I again? Oh yes, I checked my calendar and saw that today/Monday was a "no school day" for the boys. And that swimming starts this week for Branden. So, I got his swim bag prepared and ready to go. Last week, I had B try on his navy blue swim suit and it was plenty big still. Last year if you check my old blog posts, I bought it in size 140cm. The swimsuits are quite affordable so rebuying is no trouble at all. In Japan for elementary schools, they wear navy blue, the boys and girls. We bought Branden this Adidas one for cheap last year at the Aeon, for like 1500 yen or so? I forget the exact price, but it was a fair price. We bought it in 140cm. It wasn't baggy and it wasn't skin tight, it seemed to be a great fit. I was set to buy him the same thing just a size bigger this year, but had him try on last years one anyway, just in case. And sure enough it fit great still. Not skin tight just perfect. It's 140cm so it's plenty big enough. And the swim cap is an Adidas one size fits all. So, I made my momly decision that yes he can wear it again this season. And I mean, if it was even a pinch too small I woulda replaced it in a heart beat, no problem, but it honestly was perfect. The size regular shorts he wears is 130cm anyway. So this 140 swim shorts are perfect still. I did switch the name label and put, 2nd grade versus first grade. Plus the kids only swim for about 5 weeks. From June 16th to July 20th or whatever when school goes on summer break. So, he can wear it for a mere 4-5 weeks and call it done. Next year he will get the same thing but a bigger size. : ) : )

His towel was freshly washed and dried. I packed it all up into his Spongebob swim bag.

His O'Neil flip flops, we bought for swimming at shogako last year. I think we bought these in 21 or 22cm and they were a pinch big last year, but perfect this year. Name has to be written on everything, and it is, sewn label on his swim cap and swim suit, and sewn on label on his towel. And hand written name on his flip flops. And even his bag is labelled. And next week, I will do this for Noah and get him packed up for his swimming to start at yochien. Except no navy blue regulation swim suit though, at their yochien they can wear any swimsuit : )

All nicely packed and ready to take to school on Tuesday! I was glad I got my son all packed up on Sunday. : ) : )

Any interesting things? Well, we picked our 4 DVD's for June. I somehow forgot to pick them and when I realized, half the month was over, I sat online and picked 4 movies, I had to get my butt in gear regarding those movies. Here is what I picked Sunday afternoon. "Revolutionary Road" with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio. Underdog, anyone remember the old cartoon Underdog? LOL. Anyway the new movie was just relased in Japan recently on DVD, so I picked that so the boys can watch it and the whole family could enjoy this. I also picked, the "Boston Strangler" It's a new movie and with David Faustino, the younger brother character on Married With Children. This one obviously the kids won't watch but I wanted to see this. : ) And the last DVD, I chose was a kids film but perhaps more aimed at girls called, Tinkerbell. Anyway, it looked good to me. And I wanted to see it and I thought since it's a kids film, the boy's might enjoy it. Same as, I totally dig little girls who like to play with trucks. I myself used to climb trees! And on the same token I dig boy's who can cook. My kids love watching Jamie Oliver. And I let my boys cook. I don't believe in pigeon holing my kids, just because of gender. And I think they will dig the movie Tinkerbell, as will I. : ) Anyway those are the 4 movies we will be getting in June. They come 2 at a time, anyway I am glad I picked our 4 movies on Sunday. : )

What else is up this week? Hmm not much. : )

American Idol ended for us in Japan! (if you are actually behind us in Japan please don't read ahead) Anyway... Kris won!!! I think he's a nice guy and he'll probably make a nice album. I personally think Adam shoulda won though. But I'm not going to lose any major sleep about it, because I think they'll both end up with great careers the both of them! And they both genuinely seemed like 2 nice guys. So, I'm happy. : ) : )

Tuesday June 16th (tomorrow), is the day Branden starts swimming at the elementary school. Also tomorow/Tuesday the 16th is when I will be meeting Rieko-san at the movies at 10am. We will go and see, Angels and Demons, the sequel to the Davinci Code. As soon as I get both boy's sent to school, I will be driving to the theater and we will meet up there tomorrow morning. And Wednesday is Branden's ensoku/field trip to the fields behind our house. That means I will be making Branden and also Noboru an obento for that. Which means tomorrow after the movie I better go and get some fresh fruit for the ensoku the following day. That's basically all that's going on this week. Have a wonderful week, all of you!!! : )