Recent Costco cart pics...

September 25th. Both the kids were at school. I had been awake since 4:40am, but didn't get out of bed until 4:50am. Made and packed 2 lunches. Got myself ready and dressed. And since the cheap price.. but amazing quality meat store in Inzai opens bright and early at 8:30am. I had first went and bought my pumpkin from the same store, but in the flower shop department first. Quickly put the pumpkin in the car, went back inside the store and was going down the meat section with my cart. Grabbed what I needed according to my weekly menu that I wrote down the day before. And was in and out by 9:30am. I was now waiting in front of Costco and as soon as they opened, they always open a little early, I grabbed my cart and got my stuff and checked out. I had a slice of pizza for a very early lunch and zipped back home. You can see by looking at these pics that the store between 10am and 10:45am is dead. After 12 noon it gets packed. So...imo...shop first thing in the morning. If you'd like peace and quiet and to get your stuff and go. Which is what I prefer. : )

Dead as a door nail. Which I love!!!! 

Such quiet. I always go before 11am. In fact...I'm always on my way home by the time 11 am rolls around.

Seats for days. Best time ever.... to do your shopping. : )

Chips variety pack. Eggs. 2 packs of bacon. A 3 pack of Ragu pasta sauce. Tortillas. A rotisserie chicken this one I made a Mexican meal out of this chicken on this day. Kind of like soft tacos, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, Spanish rice the whole shebang, they were amazing.

This means twice during the month of October we will be enjoying some nice crispy bacon for a leisurely weekend breakfast.

Case of mugicha. It's just cheaper at Costco than at any store I have price compared/checked.

I always like to have 4 large frozen pizzas in my freezer for a weekend afternoon in case my boys get hungry. And aren't feeling like Mac and Cheese or a sandwich or a cup of noodle. 

At my cheap meat store in Inzai, they have been selling these cookies for 400 yen for a pack of 50 cookies, this is a way bigger amount than what they sell at Kaldi. These are cinnamon-y and taste a little bit like gingerbread. They're really good, perfect for Fall. My kids love these. Anyway that's it's for now...

Also wanted to add. This weekend is a 3 day weekend, meaning no school for kids in Japan this coming Monday. It's a holiday in Japan, so the kids do not have school this coming Monday. Neither of my kids have school this Monday. Have an awesome weekend you guys! : )

Recent Costco cart pics...

Howdy! It's Tuesday. Haven't shown a Costco cart pic post... in a hot minute. So figured I could do that today. Because it's a fast post to get up. Plus it gives ya'll a teeny tiny idea of just some of the things we have been doing. Let's see, on this day, it was still summer break. So the whole family was with us... for this Costco run. This took place on August 23rd. The 4 of us had lunch there after we finished shopping. And after lunch, the kids shared one of those huge sized Costco soft serve ice creams for dessert that afternoon. What is in this cart on that particular day? Kettle chips, I personally hatehatehate kettle chips they're too overly crisp for me. But my kids like them so they picked those. Umm, what else. Those  delicious 4 frozen cheese pizzas. An excellent thing to have stocked in my freezer especially if you have kids in the house. Under the pizzas was a huge box of frozen waffles. Nice to keep on hand during busy early morning school days. As you can tell, I was already gearing up for the kids to go back to school. So smartly stocked up on those waffles. Also frozen bean and cheese burritos, again excellent to have quick meals on the ready... for quick lunches when the kids are home during summer break. Under that a huge tiramisu. A rotisserie chicken (I made taquitos out of that rotisserie chicken) mozzarella cheese for pizzas and a huge pack of tortillas. Also next to the Kettle chips from Boulder Colorado, is Noboru's new UV sun protection hat. Since summer was winding down, this hat was nearly 50% off, he got it for only 900 yen. Such a fantastic deal on that hat. He loves it and has been using it when he goes fishing or when he mows the lawn.

Different view. Same stuff/same day.

Different view from the same trip, same stuff yet again. 

And another trip. This took place on August 28th. The was the last time the kids went with me to Costco. Because they had returned to school September 1st. Now, I make my Costco trips alone or if Noboru is around that day, he loves going to Costco with me. : ) What's in the cart from the kids final Costco visit? Chips. Branden usually takes 2 sandwiches to school daily and 1 pack of chips and fruit and stuff. Noah meanwhile takes 1 sandwich to his school, no chips and he does take fresh  fruit on the daily. Pasta sauce also pictured. Parmesan cheese too. Mozzarella cheese and Mexican style cheese, salsa and corn tortilla chips because I made fully loaded nachos that night. And cookies. My kids love those cookies from Costco. Do we eat American food every night? Nope, of course not. But we don't eat Japanese food every night either. We eat a wide variety of things. 

Different angle. 

These 2 trips, I made without kids. Now that they were back to school. Halloween stuff is still for sale. But also all the Christmas stuff is out. They have big boxes of candy canes.  

Advent calendars. 

This trip, I made September 4th. Dinner rolls, provolone cheese, eggs, rotisserie chicken this was for the kids packed school lunches the following day. They took delicious rotisserie chicken sandwiches with lettuce, provolone cheese. Chips for Bran. And fruit for the both of them in their packed school lunch the next day. That vanilla ice-cream was turned into peanut butter ice-cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

And underneath the cart was Kleenex tissues, a Costco sized amount and a box of mugicha. With Noah doing Sports Day practice now, he takes a filled thermos daily to school with tea and tons of ice. 

And this was just taken yesterday. The kids took rotisserie chicken wraps for their packed lunches today. Hence the rotisserie chicken. And this week, I am making a whole lot of Italian for dinners. Tonight, I am making homemade pizza from scratch, which is why you see the jalapenos and mozzarella cheese in my cart. And tomorrow for supper, I am making homemade from scratch chicken fettuccine alfredo. I already bought the fresh handmade fettuccine noodles already. Hence the huge block of parmesan cheese in my Costco cart. I'm also making chicken parmesan sandwiches this week too. And will be making some chicken teriyaki one night too. And Saturday afternoon this weekend... we will be having Noah's sports day. So, I will be packing a karaage obento for our family. 

Costco in Japan has a huge selection of cheese. Just like you'd find back home in America. So buying huge blocks of cheese. Or sliced cheese or grated cheese. No problem for us in Japan. Parmigiano reggiano is readily and easily available if you go to Costco. Of course you don't need a Costco membership... but for me...I personally love being able to get groceries and a huge selection of foods from "home" from America easily while living in Japan, so for me personally... it is worth having a Costco membership. Anyway...this is just pics of stuff we have bought recently. : )

Anything new to add? Things are just quiet here. And isn't that wonderful. : ) The day time still feels like summer. Albeit a cooler summer. The evenings are nice and cool and breezy. Is it pants and sweatshirt weather yet? Ehhh, not yet... almost. Noah is still wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt daily to school. But he is taking a sweatshirt every single morning. And will tie it around his waist... if he gets too hot. Our part of Japan has been gray and cloudy for days. And we have had rain off and on for the last few days too. You can definitely tell Fall is rolling in. But I think the official "starting" day of Fall isn't until. September 22nd. So it's not officially Fall just yet.

We went and started the Fall clothes shopping yesterday evening. Bought Noah 4 pair of jeans. His winter coat and 2 sweatshirts, keep in mind that he wears regular clothes to school, 5 days a week no uniform, so he *needs* clothes, right away. Branden meanwhile wears a school uniform 5 days a week, but we bought Bran 2 sweatshirts yesterday evening too. Plus 1 piece for his costume that he will be wearing for Culture Day. 

Recent Costco cart pics...

Sometimes we go to Costco once a week and sometimes we go every other week. Most of the time though, we go every week.  We do go there pretty regularly. The day after we got back from America. We had to restock the house, because we made sure when we left the house to the U.S. There would be no perishables in the house. So it only makes sense, after we got back. We would have to fill the house back up with food. This pic is of the day after we got back. We went to Costco. Picked up a pack of 4 cheese pizzas for a quick lunch for the kids. A huge pack of flour tortillas. A rotisserie chicken for an easy supper that night. And a case of fresh mangoes. We hit Besia after Costco and then Japan Meat, which is a huge meat store with good quality and cheap prices. After we stocked up with plenty of fruits, veggies and meats and bread and stuff we went home. And a nice roasted chicken dinner was later that evening. Perfect for all our jet lag. A nice quick meal was very appreciated. The day after this, we had a BBQ at home. 

Another trip to Costco. They now have Kirkland brand makeup remover wipes. Granted I just bought a huge case of Neutrogena ones from Costco in Arvada, Colorado. However, sometimes things in Japan are a 1 time thing. And never to be seen again.  Plus,sometimes they "change" and alter the formula. However...as these are the American version and were on sale. I figured, it would be a nice thing to get anyway. That way, if they do discontinue these here... or change the formula for Japan. I, at least have picked up 1 box of the original ones. 

About $9 for a case. Which is a pretty good deal. 

Cart pic from this day. A case of mugicha was under the top part of the cart. Ground beef for BBQ-ing some burgers out in the backyard and the other half of ground beef was for a fun taco night we had at home. A bunch of eggs. Some grated cheese. A big salad. Potatoes. Milk and those makeup remover wipes.  

These smell really nice. A nice light clean scent. I haven't used my Neutrogena ones yet. I am using a pack of these Kirkland ones first and then will try the Neutrogena ones next, they're all in sealed packs so I can flip flop between the 2 brands I have. And I really like these. 

And this final Costco cart pic was for some beach picnic items. Just some chips. Some fresh dinner rolls and a rotisserie chicken for some delicious rotisserie sandwiches to take to the beach the following day. Anyway...that's just some of the stuff we have picked up from Costco this month so far, I am going to Costco this week too. I'm thinking about picking up one of those huge tiramisu's. And a case of frozen waffles and a couple other things.

Anything else to add? Both Branden and Noah both go back to school September 1st. Branden finished all his high school summer homework, before we even left to Denver. Noah finished his main summer booklet they give out at our school in our town with Japanese and math before we left to Denver too. He has those daily "tweets" elementary school kids in Japan have to do daily. He does those everyday. He did his shuji already, as soon as we got back to Japan. Which is calligraphy. And he did his drawing/poster as soon as we got back to Japan too. Same for his science experiment. So both my kids are done homework-wise. Except for Noah's daily "tweets" that's... just say 1 or 2 sentences of what you did each day. For example. "Today I went to the beach" Done. Or. "Today I went to the movies" Super simple daily things, you must log everyday. I have been calling them tweets since Bran was in elementary school. I love that I call them that. And I have never heard *anyone* call them that, before me. Super cute way to call his daily update..."tweets" lol. So homework is done. Minus the daily tweets, but then...they have to be done on the daily anyway.

We've just been enjoying the rest of our summer break. Lots of family time. I made karaage last night, we had macaroni salad, a delicious garden/green salad. Rice. And we had mikan shave ice for dessert. Tonight's dinner will be ginger pork, salad, fresh corn on the cob and rice.

We've been watching good TV. The kids and I watched on American cable. Kingsman: The Secret Service. My kids love this movie and so do I. We watched Terminator 2, that was on cable the other night too. Branden and I also watched Superbad it was on later in the evening one night, Noah zonked out. Noboru was at work and it just started and we popped some popcorn and watched it. It's about high school boys. A coming of age film and super funny. We laughed *so* hard watching this. As for TV shows, 90 Day Fiance. Holy goodness. It ended for this season yesterday. Granted next week is the reunion special that I will be watching. 

Bits and Pieces...

Hi you guys! Today is Friday. As usual, I have about 100 different things to tell you. Of course I don't have time to tell you everything and anything. But, I have a free 30 minutes. And so, I will fill you all in... as much as I can. Do you remember back when Bran started his English (speaking) high school. That they asked all of the English (speaking) kids in that program to buy lap tops. They do that... because the western teachers will send the class a group video asking them something. And for instance whoever can reply and answer the fastest wins a small prize. Such as a pack of gummy bears or a pack of erasers. Something small, you know. : ) But enough to make the kids want to get on and answer immediately!!! Anyway Bran and the rest of the freshman English kids... did receive their laptops. And they have been using them ever since. It's also perfect for writing class papers or school assignments too. So long story short, Branden did receive it and this is a picture of his. 

I bought Noah 2 pair jean shorts from Shimamura. He has 2 pair exactly like this, except one is this color/shade of blue and the other pair is a darker shade of denim. So 2 pair of shorts in size 160cm except one is a lighter denim and one is a darker blue denim. This being the lighter pair. They were only 980 yen each. A really great price and super comfy. The darker pair, I bought the week beforehand and forgot to take a pic before I cut the tags off and washed, but they look exactly the same as this, except darker. 

Since Branden wears a uniform, he always wears an undershirt under his dress shirt. But, I did switch to the cooler (temp-wise) ones for summer. They're sold in a 2 pack. And so he has 4 of these now and they were on sale for 500 yen each pack. They keep Bran very cool and dry in the summer heat especially during his commute. 

Apparently you will stay cooler and drier in these than in cotton, go figure.

The last Old Navy order for Summer 2017 arrived 2 weeks ago. Our $5 US American flag tee shirts arrived before American Independence Day/the 4th of July. And so we enjoy these shirts very much, all year round. And for Women, they also sold a gray American flag sweatshirt this year. First time for them to sell this logo as a sweatshirt. And it's awesome. And that way, I can share my love for my country in both summer and winter! Hahaha. 

Pizza happened last Saturday. Yep that is correct. We had Italian 3 nights in a row. But that's how we roll around here. : ) Let's see, Thursday a day earlier than Noah's birthday... we went to that Italian buffet. And then Noah's actual birthday we had chicken parmesan on top of pasta, with salad and garlic bread. And then the next day I made homemade pizza from scratch. My crust is always so crispy. Not ever limp at all. Baked in my oven at 450 degrees. This was the kids pizza. Noboru was at work, so he sadly missed pizza night with us. 

I meanwhile had a pepperoni, mushroom, onion and jalapeno pizza. 

Yesterday morning, I ran to Costco Inzai. I bought a rotisserie chicken for last nights supper. A big bottle of Yoshida's sauce. My kids *love* when I make a fast chicken veggie stir fry with this! My husband does too. 

Also bought a huge bag of frozen shrimp. The largest size they carry and it's all deveined (de-pooped) and cleaned up. I will be making some fried shrimp soon. Tonight, I am making a healthy yummy chicken veggie stir-fry with that sauce up above. I also bought 4 super cups (individual sized servings of ice-cream) today at my local store so we will be having chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with vanilla ice-cream. The cake is in the oven baking in the kitchen as I type. Thank gawd for central air-conditioning because our house is a cool and extremely dry 69 degrees. Plus with the solar panels we get zero bill. We actually make money with the solar panels and still get a nice cool house. Anyways.  Anything else to add? Yes I have tons to add!!!

This Monday... I had met up with 2 very good friends of mine. We met up Monday, May 10th at 11am at Coco's restaurant. It was as always... so nice to meet up and catch up. I don't have to tell you...how very important it is to have friends. How important it is to socialize. And have an actual life. I love getting together with my friends. I'm lucky in that I have some truly amazing friends. I did have to leave earlier then they did. You see...the week beforehand. Branden had half days the week before. Last week....he had half days because he had tests. However...I had a friend lunch planned for this Monday. Planned since last Friday. So...I had asked Bran Saturday..."are you sure you have a full day of school on Monday?" Yes mom. I asked Sunday again..."Bran, are you sure you have a full day of school Monday?" Yes mom. I even asked Bran on Monday morning... as I was driving him to the train station..."Bran...I have a lunch planned with my friends today...I really don't want any surprises...so umm do you have a full day at school?" Yes of course. So...it should come as a huge surprise when my cell phone chimed and I read my Line messages and it said..."hi mom pick me up soon!" @_@  Umm, I was really caught off guard. Because I had asked before so many times. And assured so many times that... it was indeed a full day at school. So...umm yeah. I did leave early. But at least I got a good 90 minutes with my friends. I felt super bad to leave. But I do know...that since they're moms too...they also understand that yes...sometime stuff comes up and yes...sometimes sh*t happens... and it just can't be avoided. So, I headed as fast as lightning to the train station. I was driving the speed limit...mind you...but you know what I mean.

What else? Noah. You know how kids in Japan have school in July. Where as in America... kids don't. Well...all July Noah has been on his summer schedule. This Monday Noah swam at school and went on a nature walk around the school grounds and sketched/drew what they saw and wanted to. Came back to class and read books and went home. Tuesday Noah swam and his class made curry in the huge cooking room our school has. It's an *enormous* cooking room. They then ate and then had free time...where they played on the swings and playground equipment and then went home. The next day they swam and then they sewed. They sewed cleaning rags, which just gives the kids more experience using sewing machines and the kids enjoy this a lot. They sewed a few more fun things too. The next day they swam and made something in Japan called "fruit punch" which is much different than American fruit punch. But...basically every day is just swimming and other fun activities for them. So that's what the kids do in our elementary school in July, just try to enjoy July.  And today for Noah's class...today is Friday...and they took the town-owned great big limousine bus and are currently on a class field trip right now, they should be heading towards our tiny town any minute... and should be dropped off to our housing community by 5pm, the bus makes 2 stops plus a final stop... at the school if you prefer just walk home from school, in case you live near the school. And they ate out at a buffet since they're out and about today, which sounds like such fun for the 6th graders. @_@ Hahaha. So umm yeah. Our particular specific elementary school in July does have school too...but July is more so... a break for the kids...but they're technically at school. Not sure what other elementary schools in Japan do in July...if they are hitting the books or if they're chillin' a bit more too. I like that our school lets the kids relax a bit more in July. The kids need it. : )

This coming Monday is a holiday in Japan... so kids do not have school. Branden's final day of school was today!!! Although he does have summer camp next week for a few days. Noah's final day of school is next week. And things are just superly winding down. Everyone is super ready and happy to be going on summer break soon. The break from school. And making school lunches will be nice. The break from me waking up at 4:15am every morning Monday-Friday will be nice. I usually wake up Bran at 5:30 and Noah at 5:50am. But I get up earlier to have 20 minutes to go through my emails and computer stuff... read the American news and to also start making lunch, finishing lunch and starting on a quick breakfast too. So yes...for me to sleep in...as soon as summer break starts...omg sounds like *bliss*. Sounds like a dream.

Anyway today is Friday. You all have a nice weekend. Hope you all stay cool, don't anybody melt. : ) Hahaha. Just relax and take it easy. What's our weekend plan? Staying home obviously. Resting and relaxing. Tonight the Gong Show comes on. Last night I watched the Little Women LA reunion. OMG...do those girls argue or what?!! They fight like crazy!  So I better end this soon. So I can get ready for Noah to be home. Bran has been home since this afternoon. He's showered and in his comfy clothes relaxing now. I have the chicken chopped, veggies chopped for the stir fry. The rice maker is set. And the ice-cream is in the freezer and the cake is about to beep any minute. Cake and icecream is such a great way to start the weekend. As soon as supper is finished. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. And catch up a bit. 

My Costco cart pic from last week...

When was it? I think it was 1 week before Spring break started for us. So maybe the 3rd week of March? Somewhere around there. Anyways, remember I had bought that really fabulous red plaid tote bag first week of January at Sony Plaza in Ikspiari shopping mall. I think we took the kids to a movie and to some Kua' Aina for burgers afterwards. I was happy because I wanted a tote bag that looked like a nice classy red scarf material but sturdy and nice and big. My bags *have* to be big! Because I lug a lot of stuff with me everywhere I go. : ) I got it on sale too and I was happy. I think I got it for like 6,000 yen or so, right? I blogged about it, so I am sure some of y'all remember. Anyways, when mid March was here I kept thinking to myself...soon this nice wintry red plaid bag will look too hot to use, now that Spring has sprung. Anyways...I sorta filed it in the back of my mind. And anyways...so I was at Costco we were stocking up because we knew we would avoid Costco during Spring break. Because of the crowds. So...anyway...I saw a perfect sized Ralph Lauren tote bag in a nice preppy navy blue. Now you know...like I have said a hundred times on here. If you see it at Costco...and you *love* it...you better snatch it up, because next time you go it may be gone or sold out. So many bags and shoes are like...they get 1 shipment in and that's it type deal! And I should have bought that navy blue Polo tote. But...I was so busy looking for lean ground beef. packs of chicken breasts. 2 types of cheese. Eggs. You name it, we stocked up on it. And I did not take my own advice. I told myself..."oh they have thousands of those polo bags they will survive 1 week of Spring break. I'll catch it next time. So, I went back the second that Spring break was over and they were gone 100%. I was so pissed off at myself. Why did I *not* take my own advice. OMG! All April, nothing. I screwed up so bad you guys! Now what?! It's not like I live in the US, where I can just zip to Target. Or to my nearest outlet mall. Outlet malls in Japan are super pricey in comparison to American outlet malls in the states. Double sigh. So...I started to think...of a back up. I can check Gap at the malls here in Japan for a summer bag? I can check Old Navy online. I can look locally at the small city nearest me? However...for my day to day type bag. I want my bag to be good quality *but* not over $100. Sure I have fancy bags for important occasions. But I'm talking a normal just run to the town store... to buy a carton of milk type everyday bag. Last week, I was telling Noboru...he knew all about my bag fiasco and how mad I was at myself for not buying it in March like I should have and yada yada. So anyways....I told him last week. You know what...way in the back...where nobody walks...lol...past the washing machines. They used to keep like...computer bags and stuff there. Maybe they're there. Meaning the Ralph Lauren bags. Noboru was like. @_@ I don't think so. @_@ But yeah...we can check if you want. So we had 3 grocery stores to shop at that day and so I snapped this pic at 9:58am that day! May 18th! Considering they had a huge towering stack now they have this tiny puny amount. I was just so overjoyed. I was practically giddy to find them! And the price...sure enough it was under my budget for what I want my everyday bag to be priced at. So awesome! : )  This is about $80 US! So an acceptable price. 

Clearly navy blue is the most popular color, because they had only about 7-9 left in the whole selection of bags. And yes I compared all the navy and found the best of the bunch. And I zipped and unzipped the zipper a couple times... to test it and to make sure it ran smooth back and forth. And when I knew it was a keeper... I threw the bag into my cart and was tremendously relieved. Phew! I have since nicely packed away my red plaid warm winter bag away for next winter. And have been using this one since I brought it home. 

Just so relieved to have found them again. : ) 

We had some lunch and then we headed to Besia and then to Joyful Honda. Then we headed to our town.

Cart pic from last week. 1 navy blue Ralph Lauren Polo tote bag. 1 huge pack of eggs, black pepper, shredded cheese, milk, tortillas and I often spend 35 yen to buy a water, so I can drink it with my lunch and also to and from the stores along the way and for the drive home. Anyway, this is what my Costco cart pic looked like last week. : ) 

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.