Bits and pieces...

Today the weather in Chiba and Ibaraki was crazy for our area. The elementary school warned yesterday, that there would be super strong winds and pouring rain today. Possible school delays this morning too. However, I know that our local elementary school did *NOT* want to delay the elementary aged kids school start time at all. When I woke up at 4:50am this morning, I could hear wild howling winds and pelting pouring rain. It frankly sounded like a typhoon out there. Looked like one too. But Branden went to school as planned, such dependable trains. I dropped him off at our usual time at the train station before 6:30am. The weather? Felt really warm. Freakishly so. But again pouring rain and outrageous winds. Dropped off Branden. Noboru wondered if Noah's school would be delayed? It was a fair question because... In the past 30 days Noah's school put all elementary kids on a delayed schedule twice for rain. And today's weather was *way* worse. But I knew....for a fact that the local shogakko was not going to cancel elementary school or even delay it under any circumstances. Why? Because our 1 and only JHS/chugakko in town had graduation today. Yes, and was this the.... worse weather day to ever have a graduation day in? Sadly...yes. But this was their celebration day. We have 2 ninth graders on our street, both boys. One has a 5th grade younger brother. And frankly if school was put on a storm schedule. How could they drive their 5th grade son to school at say 10am for example if graduation at the local JHS starts at 8:30am? Impossible and not everybody lives with extended family nearby. And Noah's classmate...a very good friend of Noah's...that friend...he has a 9th grade sister. So many graduating 9th graders in our town absolutely have younger siblings. And it would piss off all 9th grade parents with younger kids...if their younger kids could NOT start school on time at 7:30am. As a parent with 2 kids. I "get it" I know...how you love both kids and must keep track of both their schedules and not just 1 schedule. So yep....I know...hell or high water...the elementary school would be on their regular schedule. Because of the JHS graduation today. And if chickens and/or cows go flying in the air due to high winds... so be it. Exactly 7 days from now... 1 week from now it will be Noah who is graduating. And our family all dressed up and inside the elementary school for our final time...experiencing Noah's graduation. I hope the weather is better for us next Friday, than today. I really feel for the kids graduating today. Because the weather was just not cooperating today at all for them. : ) Anyway....This pic was from February 27th. After shopping around Costco. We decided to have lunch there, my husband and I. He had 2 hot dogs. I had 1 slice of cheese pizza and we shared this caramel pecan soft serve ice cream. 

Spring break is happening soon. Noah will not have school after next Friday and neither will Branden. So lunches at home are necessary. Mac and Cheese and 4 frozen cheese pizzas. We also always have instant ramen and/or yakisoba UFO type things, quick fast things for lunch. What else is in this cart? Pasta sauce. Mozzarella cheese and great big hunk of Colby/Jack cheese. 

I baked the family a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, last Saturday. They loved it. 

All this week Bran has been getting out of school between 10:30-11:30am. And gets home around 12 or 1pm... depending on when he catches his train or if he's going to grab a Starbucks with his friends on the way home or make a MickeyD's stop along the way too. So, this week...I had a hard time doing the weekly grocery run. Because I drive 50 minutes to Inzai. One way. So, I have to be *extremely* careful with my time. Which lucky for me.... the one thing I really really excel at... is time management. I left my house by 8am March 7th. Made sure I was at Japan Meat/Joyful Honda by 9am. On the elevator to the first floor. I park on the roof because they have free charging for my electric car. I bought all the weekly meat. Checked out and was back in the car after 21 minutes. I then popped into Cainz, bought toilet paper and shampoo. And had enough time to zip across the street to Costco before opening. I was there before the Costco doors rolled up. I grabbed my cart and picked up these 2 items. Tortillas and dinner rolls. Noboru threw the other quick meal thing in my cart and we were in the car super fast. 

I snapped this pic after we loaded the things in my car. This pic is date stamped March 7th 10:16am. basically I was in and out within 16 minutes. Damn! I crushed it!!! Super crushed it! Told ya...my time management skills are amazing. I truly zip in and out ....get my list scratched off and leave. I was home around 11:40am. Noboru said..."I can't believe you did all that and got back to town with so much time to spare." 

Noah's 2 besties waiting for Noah to grab his bike. I snapped this pic on my security cam/ monitor. There are only 36 kids in Noah's grade/class. And in that only half are boys. However only like 7 live in our housing community and these 7 play together *all* the time. And I do mean all the time. Every day that the weather is nice. No rain, no snow. They're off riding bikes. These rural Japan kids... play like kids in the 70's and 80's played. They ride bikes. They play soccer. They go to the playground. They go fishing or zarigani/crawdad hunting in warmer weather. They're all Line friends too. This specific day they went to one of their friends house to play Nintendo Switch. LOL. : ) 

You can see Noah's green Gap sweatshirt in front of his friend in the right. He grabbed his bike and the 3 of them rode off to go and play Nintendo Switch. : )

Anyway, it's Friday here. Obviously... I already said that. : ) I'm so glad the weekend is here. What have I done today? I washed all the cozy fuzzy warm couch blankets on the couch and then tossed them in my dryer. They're now all nicely fresh. And all fluffy and on the couch waiting for 2 kiddos to chill and relax in them later this evening. I washed everyone's bath towels last night and just tossed them in my dryer before bed and yesterday in the daytime, I did 2 loads of clothes (lights and dark clothing) and don't have enough for a full load yet. So laundry is done for today. And you know Saturday is the day I wash both the boys bedding, sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases etc. I'm also planning to bake some cookies tomorrow too. I made a double batch of pork green chili and beans yesterday, so tonight we'll have bowls of pork green chili, with some beans, some tortillas. It's going to be delicious and awesome since I made it all yesterday. Phew. So no dinner for me to cook tonight. : )

Yesterday Branden had high school tests. Geography and music and French. Branden loves his French class. And today he has 3 other tests. Today he has Japanese (his final Japanese test ever ever ever) and he had an English test (not his final English test, not by a long shot) Hahaha. And some other test. I'm completely drawing a black on what the 3rd subject was for today, oh well, sorry about that. Branden just messaged me and he and his 2 besties are at McDonald's right now. Having combos and celebrating getting through their tests for the week. They have more tests next week too, but just on Monday and Tuesday.  Have a good weekend. We're just going to relax at home this weekend.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving...

So far, I have only been to Costco this month (November) twice. This particular cart pic was taken on November 6th. I bought a huge pack of lean 100% ground beef because I made fully loaded nachos that night. I also made, homemade cheeseburger night at home and I also made a huge pot of chili beans and skillet fried up some lean ground beef and whoever wanted their chili beans with beef could add it. Everyone but me, had their big bowls of chili with ground beef and beans and sour cream and toppings. I had mine with everything except the beef. The salsa and tortilla chips were also for the nachos too. And the cinnamon rolls were for a couple mornings worth of quick weekday breakfasts with huge glass of milk for the kids and coffee for us adults. The peanut butter is because cookie season is upon us. : )

Okay fellow Americans...it seems  Costco has us covered as always. Thanks Costco. Costco Inzai has a huge amount of turkeys for sale. And I am sure that is the same for all the other locations throughout Japan too.  I made sure to buy my bird on...November 17th. And he has been defrosting in the fridge since this Sunday afternoon. And I flip him over daily so he can slowly defrost on both sides. Gobble gobble gobble. I can hardly wait until this coming Thursday. And as luck would have it. It seems it's a holiday in Japan??? Because both my kids do not have school this Thursday...which is Thanksgiving for us Americans. So...this is so awesome to be able to have my kids home on Thanksgiving. Super excited about that!

And my final pic of this post is a cart pic from last Friday. November 17th. What's in my cart? A 15.8 pound turkey. I usually go for a 20 pounder but since my dad will be on vacation for Thanksgiving this year. I went for a tad smaller bird. Another pack of ground beef. I made spaghetti and meatballs. Tacos. And cheeseburgers. The big hunk of orange cheese Colby/Jack is because they had no shredded Mexican style cheese at my Costco and so I bought this...and just shredded it myself for taco night. The sliced Tillamook is for turkey sandwiches. The black olives is for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And the huge box of potatoes are for mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. The dinner rolls. I freeze them in freezer bags. Some went for garlic bread with the spaghetti and meatballs we had. Some will be dinner rolls for Thanksgiving, although I am also making cornbread for Thanksgiving too. The pasta sauce 3 pack. Only 1 was used for spaghetti and meatball night. That's it really.

Anything else to add? Plain regular salt Lay chips in the yellow bag is now available at Costco again like they used to sell them years ago. However...I forgot to buy them while at Costco last week. But no worries I bought them at the store in the small town near me which sells them for super cheap. I bought 2 bags of Lay's for the leftover turkey sandwiches. I will be baking 2 pumpkin pies on Wednesday from scratch and also running to the bakery to buy 2 loaves of bread for sandwiches, some lettuce and tomatoes also for the leftover sandwiches too. And I am sure I'll go back on Friday too and buy 3 loaves. Loaves in Japan are small...just 6-8 slices. So...it's not like 24 slices a loaf or anything. : )

Weather... how's the weather? It hasn't snowed in my town yet. But every morning when I drive Branden to the train station... the weather has been between 34F and 36F degrees. Every single morning at 6:20am. I have had actual frost on my windshield the past 2 mornings. It is hella freaking cold at that time. The sun starts shining after 7am-ish. But at 6:20am...total gray skies and freaking hella cold. Anyways...if I don't get the chance to say it...since today is already Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Bits and Pieces...

Holy smokes! I haven't posted in about 5-6 days. I know that I haven't had the chance to blog about Branden's birthday yet. I will be doing that soon. I haven't posted about Halloween. Or when we went to Ikspiari or anything. My sister in law in Narita had her 3rd baby. Very exciting. I went out to lunch with my besties last Friday. And I have been getting Noah ready for his 6th grade class trip. It's a 1 over night trip. Noah's actually on that *right* now. And so sorry for the quiet...it's just...regular life happening. As you all know...I'm just a regular mom. Doing mom type things. And sometimes life gets busy. I have a free hour right now. And so, I figured better go for it. I know today is November 1st. However...I didn't do a Costco cart pics post for October. I know I was there 3 times in October. So will post pics of those times now. The 3rd trip was when I just bought toilet paper so I won't post a pic of that. I showed that already. Anyway this was taken October 9th. A rotisserie chicken. Simple healthy roasted chicken. Can turn this into anything. Sandwiches. Or anything. I often bring back a rotisserie. A big pack of eggs. Weekend breakfasts. Baking season now too. So I need eggs. Tortillas. 2 types of cheese... Mexican and mozzarella. A huge honkin thing of 100% ground beef. We have had tacos. Cheeseburgers. Beef enchiladas. I like buying ground beef in bulk because I can get 3-4 different meals from it. And a huge tub of American cinnamon rolls. Holy crap are these *so* good. I know there's super so much buzz and hype right now about the hot ooey gooey Cinna- melt thing at Mickey D's. Right now and that's so hot and delicious and good. But these are good too.

Two layers of these. For many a quick breakfasts with a cup of coffee for adults or with milks for my 2 kiddos. Oh yes. 

And if they taste *really* American to you...#comfortfood...it's because they were baked in California. They're so delicious. My kids love these. 

This pic you've seen before....let's see tortillas again. Cheese again. I make chicken parmesan from scratch, hence need the cheese. Homemade pizza from scratch too, again need more cheese for that too. I make enchiladas, cheese. Tacos, so cheese is necessary and it's frankly tons cheaper at Costco than anywhere else in Japan.  I also make homemade cheese gratin potatoes. Homemade mac and cheese too. 

There are 2 huge tubs of ice cream inside this big one. And we have a half of one and 1 tub that's not even opened yet. It's in our freezer.

All October...I have loved that my morning walks now sound like crunch crunch crunch as I walk over all the Fall leaves...crispy leaves of different shades of red, orange and gold.

Noboru's brother. My brother in law Jun and his amazing wife welcomed their 3rd baby into the world. We went to the hospital to visit them October 10th. She's very small and so lovely. And we all loved getting a turn to hold cuddle and love on her. Branden held her. Noah held and cuddled her. I hugged and cuddled my newest niece and Noboru did too. We also chatted and talked with my sister in law. My brother in law was there too and so were their other 2 kiddos. My niece, who is their oldest daughter is 1 year younger than Noah. And then my nephew is just 3 years old and then the new baby too. 

I don't think it's a big secret but I flat out...love my nephew! He's fantastic. I love him. I adore him. And he used to be the youngest child. and he is now the middle child. I could see he noticed all the focus was on his newest adorable sister. And I could understand his sweet feelings. And again he's only 3. Everyone so focused on the new baby. Branden clicking pics of the new baby. And all of us too. And so I spent a good 7 minutes just focusing on my nephew. I turned to my nephew. And I said..."since everyone is taking pictures of your very beautiful new sister. Can I take some pictures of your cool cars?" And boy did he light up! Immediately. Oh yes! He said. And so auntie Gina clicked. And clicked some more. I took a picture of his red truck and then I showed him the pic. And my nephew said, "that's pretty good." I asked him...should I take a pic of your monster truck too? "Oh yes auntie!" And so I clicked and I clicked. And I asked him. Which of these cars is your #1 most favorite and #2 second favorite and so on? And after he answered. He was on cloud nine answering all this by the way. I answered too. I told my nephew K... this one is aunties #1 favorite, I said...oh and this red one is aunties #2 favorite. He loved this so he asked..."And which one is your 3rd favorite auntie?" It may seem like nothing. But believe me...if you have more than 1 kid...you will understand...how older kids don't want to feel left out either. Granted I was an only child growing up, but I can see and tell. And I am a mom of 2 kids. So, I do know. And so while I did love all the newborn baby cuddles. And snuggles, with my sweetest newest niece. I made sure to give equal attention to my nephew. And my older niece...she's amazing too but she's going through a shy phase. And that's okay. She would listen to me and her brother talking and shyly smile a few times. And that's okay. We only stayed for 15 minutes. We did give them 30,000 yen. Which is standard in Japan to give to a sibling who has just had a baby. So we visited. Gave the appropriate gift money. And we headed home. It was a school night. And Branden tried to come home as quickly as he could via the trains from the city. He changed clothes ASAP. And ate so fast...he barely tasted it. Haha. Then we raced from our town to Narita as fast as we could get there to make it in time. And at the same time...visiting time at that maternity clinic was quite limited in the evenings. We heard over the loud speaker...visiting hours were coming to a close. So...that's why we couldn't stay too long. But it was very important for our family to go. Which is why we made it a priority in going... even if it was a school night. Gotta always take the time to celebrate with family. Especially on such a happy occasion. 

I met up with my 2 favorite friends, last Friday. Friends I have been friends with for about 9-12 years. One I met during Bran's yochien years and one I met through Noah's yochien years. So we 3 have been friends for ages. We met up for lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant. And after that we went to Starbucks. It was from 11:30am until 2:50pm-ish. It is so important to have a really good solid set of friends in your real life. Friends you can laugh with and have a good time with, but also...talk seriously at times with too. Their oldest daughters are in their final years of high school and are now thinking about university, such smart girls. So happy to have such good friends.

Also, yes my husband and I have been going on our weekly dates as usual.This week Noboru and I went to Saizeriya. It's so super nice to talk and chit chat and enjoy each others company. This is something we both look forward to a lot.  

I went and replaced the kids and my body scrubbing towels for taking a shower with. Noboru never wants to replace his ever. I know that. So what I do is...a lot of the times...for Noboru I buy the identical one he was last using and replace his a week before I replace ours. And that way he won't really notice. And then the kids and I...I just picked out different ones. Branden prefers using a coarse scrubby towel. These scrub and clean your body really well and also make a lot of foam and you just feel really exfoliated and super clean. But Branden prefers a harsher scrubby feeling, so I picked Bran the longer length coarse shower towel on the right in this pic. And I prefer a normal/average scrub...I don't want to feel like I grated my skin personally...so I also pick normal scrubby levels for myself. And so I picked the middle one for myself and Noah suffers *extremely* dry skin. He legit goes to the dermatologist every winter for his severe dry skin and gets special ointments and creams and the doctor flat out said...do NOT use a body scrubby towel every day...only twice a week in winter, however the doctor says he can use one daily in summer though. And even last year the doctor said for Noah to use a child's strength of scrubby power...because of his severe dry skin. I do let Noah use this 3 times a week in winter, he uses it everyday in summer though, the rest of the week he just washes his body with his hands in winter because his skin is so dry and that's what the doctor recommends for Noah. So...given the fact he's a 6th grader....Pooh may not be cool...according to Noah...but Pooh it is...it's just because his skin is already getting drier by the second now that it's Fall. Noah needs a gentle scrubby in Fall and winter.

Any last minute thoughts? Noah's on his over night trip right now as I already said. Noboru will not be home until 9pm tonight. Bran will be home somewhere between 5 and 5:30pm. And we're having chicken fettucini tonight and garlic bread, just Bran and I. I have a Ginger Ale in the freezer getting cold for supper. Hmm, I should take that out of the freezer soon. Anyways, that's it for now.

I baked a banana bread yesterday. Also, no school for kids this Friday. So no school for Branden and no school for Noah this Friday. And since Wednesday and Thursday...today and tomorrow is Noah's over night 6th grade trip.... Noah gets back tomorrow evening from his over night trip. Noah won't have school until next Monday. And Bran's last day of school is tomorrow. 3 day weekend yet again. So right on!!! : )

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. 

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. : )