Sunday, July 23rd. Costco cart pic in Arvada, Colorado. Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits. Going to the movies to see, War for the Planet of the Apes...

Sunday, July 23rd, the breakfast buffet started at our hotel at 6:30am (daily), we were definitely one of the first 3 families downstairs. It's just because...we had jet lag. So we were up and ready to go. We went downstairs. They have many different types of cold and hot cereal and different varieties of yogurt and chocolate milk and regular milk and apple and orange juice daily, plus hot coffee. And cinnamon rolls baked daily and pancakes you can make yourself via a cool automated machine. But the main part of breakfast changes every single day. This day, they had omelet and scrambled eggs and bacon. I had a slice of toast and a fresh hot biscuit too. And a hot coffee with Irish coffee creamer first and my 2nd and final cup of hot coffee had hazel nut creamer. They had so many different flavors and variety's of coffee creamers daily, so good and totally free. 

With me being an American mom and living in Japan. There are often many things that I "need" from my country to bring back to Japan with me. What are they? Normal stuff. For everyone what *you* need... it may vary from person to person. But for me personally. I need Advil. Deodorant, tampons. coffee creamer. So for example those are my supplies that I make sure to bring back with me every year. And like I said for everyone it could be a different story...what you individually may need. What you can NOT live without, perhaps I could live without it and vice versa. Each person is different...so what each person brings back is so super personal, ykwim? : ) Immediately after breakfast we all went upstairs to our room and we all went to the restroom and got ready to leave. Anyone have to do a last minute pee? Anyone, anyone? And off we went. The plan was to hit Costco on a Sunday, clearly we must be crazy to brave such crowds...however I know that most folks are at church in the AM and if we hit Costco as soon as it opens at 10am. We can zip in and out before it starts getting crowded which is what we did. However...it was only about 8am-ish. So we made use of our time and hit 2 grocery stores to buy all they had in stock of their cinnamon roll coffee creamer. So we hit 2 King Soopers as soon as we left the hotel. I use 1 container of coffee cream a month. So, I knew I had to leave Denver with at least 12 containers of coffee creamer, to ensure I had a year supply. However when 1 store... only has 2 containers of coffee creamer for example. And the other has only about 7. You know you will indeed be going to a 3rd and final King Soopers after hitting Costco. So we went to 2 King Soopers. Then we parked in the Arvada Costco parking lot... which is my nearest Costco from my childhood home. And my original Costco, I always went to in the US. And as soon as the store opened we went right inside. I had a short list and scratched everything off my list. We exited the store by 10:50am.

Every single year I buy Advil at Target or Walmart or Kmart when in Guam. And they sell them in 50 tablets or even 100 tablets. And they're pricey. And I know they're tons cheaper buying at Costco. And yet... I have never ever bought Advil at Costco. I must be a complete nitwit for not buying it earlier there. @_@ And...I have mentioned this before on here. But, I am quite cheap. I will always buy store brand or brand X, when I can. However...once I bought Target brand ibuprofen and it didn't work at all. I always assumed active ingredients are the same...regardless... doesn't matter which brand it is. But one time...I had a horrible pounding booming headache and I grabbed a Target brand ibuprofen and waited for 20 minutes for it to kick in...like Advil always does. And it never kicked in. And as you know...I only get to the US...few and far between. And yes...I was pissed off...that I brought back essentially...ineffective headache/fever reducer. For the next year. And I was lucky in that I did zip to Guam a few months afterwards and bought a small bottle of Advil. But...really.  While I do... cut corners and buy store brand when it's as good as the name brand. I will never scrimp for headache or fever reducer. Not ever. I do go to American original Costco every year. Yet I never buy Advil. Which is just nuts. This time...while I was writing my list down on a piece of paper, yes I'm old school in that I prefer a paper list, electronics can glitch out and paper lists are just safer in my opinion. I wrote under Target/Walmart...Advil. And I stopped and thought. How come I don't buy it at Costco? I went and checked the price online and saw how cheap it was. And so...I am now...very smartly buying my Advil in bulk at Costco USA now. 

360 tablets for $12.89 US. Such a bargain. First it was just Noboru and I using Advil tablets. And Bran and Noah used liquid kids ibuprofen. But when Bran became 12, we switched Bran to Advil tablets. And he uses them and they work like a charm for him. You can't use Advil until age 12. When Noah turned 12 years old, this July 7th. I told Noah...you still have 2 bottles of liquid kids Advil that you will use first...since we still have it, but once that's done. No more for you. You will now be...team Advil tablets. And he said okay. : ) He's very chill. So...now it's peace of mind that I have 360 tablets. They won't expire until December 2019. And I'm quite happy with the deal I have. And this way...if one of my kiddos has a horrible pounding headache. No worries at all. 

96 Tampax Pearl tampons for just $9.99. You just can't get a better deal then that. That's practically a year supply right there for 1 box! Best deal ever! 

This is the best daytime facial moisturizer. I wear it under my makeup. I wear it even if I don't wear makeup. It has SPF 15. I do wear SPF 50 when I go out. But...on days that I just stay home...it's nice knowing I am at least using some sun protection. I also have extremely sensitive skin. Meaning...if I just look at a french fry...I could break out. I have seriously sensitive skin. And this has never broken me out. And my skin is dry in the winter and it's enough moisture for me year round. 100ml for $29.99 is perfect. At Target the 50ml ones are like $24 US. So...so much smarter to buy Olay at Costco. I have used this for years and I love this. 

My "Ride or Die" night cream for years. Olay and in a 2 pack. 

$38.99 for 2. Every morning I wake up and my skin is all plumped up and all uniform in color. I love this. 

Last year when I was in Denver...I lugged back 2 micellar waters. Garnier and Simple. I have 30% of the Garnier one left. I really like it. The Simple one, I have not even opened yet. But...it's sometimes a pain to grab my cotton pad...then soak said cotton pad and take off my makeup before I wash my face for real...with my wash cloth and Basis face wash. I always double cleanse. This year...I am taking an even easier route at makeup removal and using Neutrogena makeup remover wipes. All I have to do is wipe my face down. And then wash my face for real, with a hot steamy sudsy wash cloth and face wash afterwards. Couldn't be easier then that. 

$14.99...perfect price. 

Americans you already know what this is. Peeps not from America. The Olive Garden is a very delicious Italian American restaurant, it's a chain. They are super famous for their delicious salad dressing. So they started selling it. You can buy it at Walmart for like $6 for a big 24 oz bottle of it. Or you can buy it at Costco USA, where it's way cheaper. They sell it in a 2 pack. 

For only $7.49. ...$7 and some change... is amazing considering you get 2 huge bottles of it. 

Miracle Whip. For all those leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches this November. Also a steal at Costco.

Only $3.99 for 2 huge containers of Miracle Whip. So cheap. That's insane type cheap!

Costco Arvada cart pic! 2 boxes of tampons. 2 bottles of Olay daily facial moisturizer. 1 two pack of Olay night cream. Neutrogena wipes. 3 two packs of Olive Garden dressing. Yes it is THAT good! Thanksgiving salad...we have the dressing covered now. Advil. And Miracle Whip. We went in, shopped our list and left. Before it was even 11am. We were in our car by 10:50am. And the store was still pretty quiet and not very many people. Woohoo! We hit 1 final King Soopers and bought the remainder of cinnamon roll coffee creamer. Instead of getting 12. We bought 13. Figured better to have more than enough...than not enough. 

At noon, we stopped for lunch. And we each enjoyed some Popeye's. Flaky buttery biscuits, mashed potatoes and spicy gravy. Some chicken strips. Noboru picked the fish and shrimp combo. 

After lunch we decided to hit Walmart and call it a day. I only need 1 full day to shop. But, we split it up in 2 days. Because that way... we still ended each day with fun. Such as a movie or amusement park. So...yep. We hit Walmart. We were in here for about an hour. We walked every aisle. Cosmetics aisle. Food aisle. Noah bought another fidget spinner. Food to bring back to Japan.  Such as meal helpers or side dishes. After this. It was about 2:30pm. We went back to our hotel. Unloaded all our stuff. And we rested our bodies for a good hour. Laid on our beds. Noah napped for an hour. Noboru checked the movie schedule online. And we knew our movie was to start at 5pm. So we left our hotel at 4pm. And slowly drove to the movies. We made it in no time at all. by 4:15 we were parked and walking into the movies. 

Another smart move or change we made this year. Is every summer we take the kids to the movies in the US. And every year we pay full price. And every year... we also hit Costco too. This year we decided to buy our movies tickets at Costco America and that saved us about 7 or 8 dollars. We also bought our movie snacks at Walmart and I snuck them in my purse. 

These were only 80 cents a box at Walmart. Versus $2.50 each at the movies. Sorry...but it's just a smarter way to enjoy the movies.  : )

Colorado Mills movie theater here we come!!! The guy at the ticket counter was so funny. So warm. And truly such a delight. He cracked jokes. And he was a nice good kid. Sandy dark blond hair probably senior in high school. 

Hi Branden. Hi Noah!!! Ready to go and watch the new Planet of the Apes movie? 

Concession stand. For a Sunday evening it was relatively quiet. And we loved that. No huge crowds of people. 

Everyone was full from lunch still. So we bought a medium popcorn. It would have just been... less than a dollar for a large popcorn with free refills. But nobody was hungry enough to warrant us getting a large We did buy 2 medium sodas...which look like extra large sizes if you compare them to Japanese sizes. : ) 

Noboru was sitting far right, then Bran, then me and then Noah. The movie theater was so quiet and the only other family sat far away...we didn't even feel like we needed to book-end the kids. We enjoyed going to a movie not stuffed to the gills with people. How was the movie? It was so excellent. It definitely tied in the old ones from the 60's or 70's (my dad always watched the old ones on TV). I really enjoyed this movie a lot. : ) 

Planet of the Apes. 5pm and yep..told ya...7/23/17. : ) 

After the movie it was... what...after 7pm or so? Because of the sodas and the snacks. None of us were very hungry. Just a little peckish. Just a tad. Nobody was hungry enough... to want to get a full dinner at a sit down restaurant. So we didn't...we just went to Wendy's instead. And brought it back to our hotel room. We had Vitamin Waters in our room. And we watched TV and ate and then showered. 

The boys each had an adults cheeseburger. The single with cheese. They shared a large fry. They each had Vitamin Waters. And I had a chicken sandwich and a Vitamin Water.

How was our Sunday? It was awesome. We bought 13 coffee creamers (I ended up getting a few extra at other places too, so ended up with 16 total) but I had a year supply, so I was thrilled at that. Noboru bought me... my face lotions and creams. So, I should be safe now, for the year. I most definitely have a year or two supply of tampons now. So, gee whiz. I was feeling quite accomplished for a Sunday. I had picked up deodorants for us all. A year supply of Advil. About an 8 month supply or year supply of salad dressing. And an... until February supply of Miracle Whip. 2 concealers from Walmart some mascara from Walmart too. We managed to enjoy a movie too. That way we ended our day with a fun way...with a movie. And we kept the shopping for supplies part... as stress free as possible. Meaning Noboru and Bran and Noah bummed around Walmart and looked at things guys like. Such as drones and movies and TV's and whatnot. Meanwhile I felt like Santa Clause checking the list and checking it twice. Going from aisle to aisle. We all have free-wifi in store and could LINE each other in the store. So...if they needed to tell me something or I them. We could message easily. I would message Noboru, I'm ready to check out. And then he'd take the cart and check out. We'd all go and check out. : ) Costco...we all stayed together... but that's because we had a small list and were quite fast. We took breaks in between such as..for lunch to Popeye's. And an hour nap. I never want anyone to feel overwhelmed. And nobody did. Which is why I broke the shopping day... in 2 days. And kept things light.

The next post, will be the next day. Hitting Sephora. The Bath and Body Works. Walmart for 1 last time. For side dish/ meal helper stuff. And that was it. Monday's shopping was done by 2:30pm too. We also ended our Monday with a trip to the amusement park. Which the kids *absolutely* loved. That post will be for next time. : ) 

Recent Costco cart pics...

Usually once a month I'll share a Costco post of stuff I bought for the month. I didn't share anything I purchased at Costco in March, although we shopped there once a week in March. So, figured it would be a good chance... to share some pics of what we bought for April. Since today is May 1st. #1, growing up unless we made pasta sauce from scratch.... in a pinch Prego or Ragu was always the one we'd buy, if we were just having a quick dinner. And those 2 brands were always my faves. I think 12 years ago in Japan at Costco we used to get Prego. But it sadly stopped being available. We then... had Classico available and it's meh. It's okay. But the large chunks of tomato in there have never been my kids fave or mine. So...when I was in Costco April 10th, I was happily surprised to see the 3 pack of Ragu pasta sauce for sale. I bought a pack immediately. 

1180 yen for 3 large jars of it. Considering the teeny tiny size of pasta sauce you can find at Kaldi here in Japan. This is a fantastic price!

So April 10th, we just picked up pasta sauce and ham for lunches for the kids for their packed school lunches. 

April 17th, again not huge amounts of stuff, just the basics. A 2 pack of milk for cereal or chocolate milk, that sorta thing, tons of eggs and tortillas. 

This was the day we needed 2 Costco shopping carts. Because we bought a brand new BBQ grill. Let's see what's in this pic. Costco dinner rolls. Costco sandwich rolls. Mozzarella cheese and ricotta (yep baked ziti happened) eggs and lean ground beef under the eggs. 2 packs of chicken breast. Tillamook cheese slices for sammiches. : ) And a rotisserie chicken because the boys took rotisserie chicken sammys the next day in their lunches for school. Also same day... 

Mac and cheese happened and chips because Branden can take chips in his lunch now in high school so he takes a standard American lunch daily more or less now. Meaning sandwich, chips fruit and a dessert. 

Aha, dinner rolls, you can see at this angle better. The lean ground beef on the bottom and laundry detergent 2 pack. And tortilla chips because nachos happened too. We basically did all our shopping before Golden Week kicked into gear. Plus with the BBQ grill too. Because we know Golden Week at Costco will be a mad house. Packed to the gills. So glad we were smart enough to go before GW kicked into gear. : ) 

Unpacking all our Costco stuff at home. We forgot to take a pic of the charcoal. We BBQ-ed last night and it was awesome. : )

Anyway...so for those of you outside of Japan. You may or may not know this week is Golden Week. A string of holidays where most people have no school or work in Japan. Today is Monday May 1st here in Japan. And Noah is supposed to go to school today and tomorrow and then be off school until next week. However tomorrow, Branden has a Field Day type event at his high school. And with it being Golden Week. Noah has a half day tomorrow anyway. And since Bran's school is far. And since Noah's having a half day. And we will be at Bran's event until 3:30pm. We decided to send Noah with a note to school today. Letting his teacher know that Noah will not be at school tomorrow because of a "commitment at his brother's schools in the city"  My priority is to *not* strand any of my kids and considering the distance between the 2 schools *plus* traffic, so when Branden has an event, Noah will just have to come with us and lucky for us, he doesn't have too many events anyway (2 a year?). And since Noah will be out of school from 12 tomorrow in the afternoon and considering Branden's event starts from 8am and lasts until 3:30pm it's logistically impossible for us to warp to our town at 12 noon and warp back considering it's a 1 and a half hours drive one way. Better for us to just let Noah take the day off. That way he can just come with us. Enjoy his day at his brothers school. Have a picnic with us. And then we 4 will all go home together. So that's tomorrow. So Noah only has school today. And then no school for Noah until next week. Meanwhile Branden...has just his Field Day event tomorrow and then he is off Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday, Sunday obviously he is always off on the weekends. And he doesn't need to go to school until next week either. So all Bran has to do is go to his sporting event tomorrow which will be held inside a gymnasium. And then he's free. And his high school sports event is supposed to be a lot different than elementary school and JHS undokai. It's apparently super chill. And not really competitive-y at all. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow to just watch and chill with my entire family. I'm glad we will pull Noah out of school for tomorrow so he can come with us. 

Homemade apple crisp. Bought the cutest rice bowls from Costco. We watched Doctor Strange. Noah was invited to a yochien class reunion. Plus enjoying my dad’s visit in Japan right now...

How's everyone doing? As for me here. Pretty great. My dad's here visiting. The kids are at school, although Bran gets out today at 10:40am. 9th graders sure get off early their last few months of school as 9th graders here. I have a free 45 minutes and I figured it's the perfect time to get my blog up to date. You know how in Japan...Pringles potato chips are pretty popular. Meanwhile... Frito Lay is a popular chip brand in the USA. Calbee is a hugely popular well known brand for chips here in Japan. However they have always sold just regular normal bags of potato chips. And about 3 weeks ago, I saw these. I thought...what a fantastic idea! Calbee making a Pringles type of chip too. Perfect idea. So, I bought 2 packs, 1 for BrannyB and 1 for Noah. And after they munched them, I asked them. How did you like them? They both said they were delicious! And would be happy if I bought them again. And the price, at my local store was 78 yen a pack. And I saw them at a different store yesterday for 80 yen. So about 75 cents US. 

What else...oh yes, I also made an apple crisp. I made this last week. 

This was our cart pic from when....about 10-12 days ago? Around there. Noboru was with me and he bought the chocolates for me. And let's see...what's in the cart. A 2 pack of milk. A 2 pack of Pace salsa. Organic tortilla chips. Tortillas underneath the eggs. Eggs. Lean ground beef and a pack of bowls. Rice bowls.

These bowls caught my eye as soon as I entered the store. And so many Japanese women were also instantly stopped oohing and ahhing at these too. And I was oohing and ahhing right along. For one thing, the price was 1400 yen for the pack of bowls... so they were affordable. And another thing is...we all use rice bowls in Japan. And sure...every family likes to have cute ones. Some families even have their own special rice bowels for each person in the house. We in our house... don't have set bowls for set people. But we do like cute ones. And usually you can find one with a cute outside but a plain inside. Or vice versa. But to find a rice bowl with a gorgeous design outside and a gorgeous design inside too. It's just...really unusual. And very cool actually. So I jumped on my chance and picked up a pack of them. 

Like it says...uniquely designed with beautiful patterns inside and out. Exactly. And the mix and match design...is so cool.  And 6 is a good amount. 

And dishwasher *and* microwave safe helps in the modern world. 

So pretty and yes...so unique. I am just in love with our rice bowls. : )

The day before my dad got here, the kids and I watched the new movie at home...Doctor Strange. 

He was a brilliant doctor. Surgeon who...needs his hands. His living is his hands. He was in a horrible car accident because he was texting and driving. And look at his hands. Totally ruined. His life of a surgeon, gone.

He heard of some healer who could help him.

She taught him many things.

She sent him to the top of a mountain to use his power to make it back. To show him...he had the power too.

He was either going to freeze to death or use magic to get back. 

He used it and he got back. Phew. : ) I won't say the ending or the main parts of the story only to say. It was a really good movie. : )

This is what we bought the day we went to Loft, in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. 

You know how I always say they have a sale most of the time at Gap... mostly 30% off. Well this day it was 50% off. And I love getting quality clothes and super cheap prices. We paid 1900 yen about US$18 dollars. Saving money and still getting cute clothes makes me happy. : )

I love that preppy button and the jean shorts are really nice. Noah will be wearing these this coming Summer or as soon as it gets warm enough for shorts. Maybe in late May. : ) 

And then my dad arrived Saturday at 3pm. He told me...I read on your blog that you were looking for the coconut Girl Scout cookies. And I was like...yeah, I was. : ) And he said, I brought you back a box! Aww. How nice! Thank you dad. 

And my dad told me... that my auntie had asked him to give this to me. : )

Anyway....my dad and I just had toast and yogurts and coffee. He just jumped out of the shower. And I am about to jump in the shower now...that he is out. I just wanted to pop on real quick. Just quickly update...the regular day to day type stuff we've been doing. Yesterday afternoon all 5 of us went to Saizeriya for lunch, lol.

Noah received a post card in the mail about 2 weeks ago asking for him to attend a yochien school reunion. They never had this for Branden's years or anything. And I was talking to my friend when we went to the movies to see "The Accountant" about it. And even showed her the postcard. She also has 2 older daughters too and they never had this reunion for her children's years either. We both wished they had. : ) But...perhaps they just started it for Noah's graduation year? And the grades younger too? Oh well. The bright side is...they started this. And I think it's fantastic! A kindergarten school reunion. Hahaha. : ) It's March 29th or something. And you have to RSVP whether you will be attending or not. We did fill it back and Noah will be attending his yochien class reunion, hahaha. : ) Anyway...I think it sounds like fun. And I look forward to it.. because most 99% of Noah's classmates live in the small city nearest us. And only like 2 live in our town and 1 being Noah. So...it will be nice to catch up with our friends. : )  We can't wait. : )

Anything else to add? It snowed yesterday (Sunday), or the night before while we were sleeping. We woke up and there were about 2 inches of snow on the ground all over...everywhere. My dad was surprised. However by 11am Sunday, it was completely melted and gone. We've been having Japanese for dinner the last 2 nights my dad has been here. So, we're having tostadas tonight. : ) Anyway...I better go. Just wanted to say hi and catch up a bit with you all. : )