Noah's observation day, The Fourth of July and a few other bits for good measure...

Alrighty, you guys, this is sort of a catch up, slash what we've been up to lately. Things I wanted to add here or there, but just didn't have the time to. So hopefully, I can get this up right here. A new mole has moved into the backyard. And Noboru's been trying to catch him this past week. If you remember Noboru has a mole trap and caught/killed the last mole that dared move into the backyard. Then you'll understand that this mole...for the sake of his safety, he really needs to skedaddle it... right out of our yard and take up residence elsewhere. Please mole...it is for your own good. : ) 

Every Monday there are sales at my cheap meat store. They also have cheap veggies too. Last Monday's specials were pictured here, melons from Ibaraki prefecture. Which, I took this picture in Ibaraki prefecture, since I live bordering Ibaraki and spend most of my day in Ibaraki unless of course, I am home. : ) These are cantaloupes and are 180 yen each. About $1.50 US right now with the exchange rate. Melons though are super cheap where we live anyways though, because melons are famous in Ibaraki and are quite plentiful for us. Usually the going rate for a big cantaloupe are 2 for 500 yen. That's the going rate, when not on sale. So, 180 yen for each whole big melon is quite the deal. I picked up 1 cantaloupe last Monday. 

Large size honey dew melons were also on sale, 298 yen. Usually these are 2 for 600 yen so not really a huge savings in my mind. But yep, where we live, groceries are super cheap. And vegetables and fruits super cheap as well. : )

I messed up here you guys and I'm sorry. I should have put the Costco pics *after* Noah's observation day pics. But, clearly I wasn't thinking when I put these pics up. I'm sorry. Noboru and I went to Costco last Friday. I wanted to pick up a rotisserie chicken for the boys and I, for the 4th of July. And ended up getting a few other things. Pasta sauce. Finally our Costco has pasta sauce. It's been out, for ages. Potatoes for mashed potatoes for the 4th of July. Frozen pizzas for an emergency meal or two. And Noboru wanted that Energizer electronic thing for his mini minivan. Some type of charging device. He loves it. : )

Special of the day at Costco. Dish soap.148 yen.

Decided, that was too good a deal to pass up. So picked one. 

White grape scented one.

After Costco, Noboru and I went to lunch at the Ohsho. It was pouring rain most of all last week and weekend.

Last Thursday July 2nd was Noah's observation day. This was the day before Costco. Noboru and I went in separate cars. Because #1 he's in the Father's Club and every summer observation day, the Father's Club dad's help all the 5th graders make scarecrows. They stuff the scarecrows, dress them. The kids love it and have so much fun and the Father's Club dad's love it too! Noboru has been doing this for years. So, Noboru had to be at the elementary school an hour before, I did, since he is a Father's Club dad and he had scarecrow duty that day. : ) Also, I know Noboru had to leave directly to work after observation day. So, that's reason 2, why we took separate cars. : ) Anyway, I arrived pretty early. Okay not too early, but about 10-15 minutes before I was supposed to be there. All kids in Noah's class are *really* big into arm wrestling right now and thumb wrestling right now. The teacher was arm wrestling a whole bunch of kids in the class, when I came into the class. And 2 little cutie patootie girls were arm wrestling one another. And so, as I entered, I saw that and so I joined in, right away, so I arm wrestled Noah. I knew beforehand I would let him win, but I did "try" to struggle a bit and stuff. He had 2 of his friends come to us and were cheering for Noah to gambatte! And defeat me on arm wrestling. Oh man...I had no one cheering for me. LOL. Hahaha. It's okay, I absolutely do not mind, it's all in fun. : )  So when he defeated me, they were cheering. I then arm wrestled 1 little boy and the girl who sat next to Noah, his desk partner. @_@ Yes, I let them both win. However...his desk mate beat me at thumb wrestling fair and square though! : ) Next thing you know, the class began and I stood up and stood at the back of the class as the other parents trickled in, one by one. : ) I really love the kids in Noah's class, all of them. I love how they always come and greet me and say hello. They're just very nice good kids! So many parents were there. Noboru arrived and came and stood next to me. It was nice to observe Noah's class with Noboru. What were the kids doing? The kids were deciding what their science experiment/project for this summer would be. Each child had to decide and put it in writing. 

Sorry, Noah, for taking such a bad picture. He has had the sniffles lately and so he was clearing his nose at the same time, I took this picture, he was sniffling, hahaha. Terrible picture, I know. But, I only snapped one. We took the boys for fresh new haircuts Monday after school so they'd both have nice clean haircuts. especially for Noah for observation day. : ) Just don't want either kiddo to look like a raggamuffin on observation day. : )

The Fourth of July! American Independence Day! Usually people BBQ. But it was raining buckets all Saturday and we knew by the weekly forecast it would be raining all weekend. Plus Noboru had work at 4pm anyway. So, while the kids and I still wanted to celebrate. We knew it would have to be inside the house given the weather. And plus...it's still a weekend and I'd like to relax on the weekends too. So, I thought a rotisserie chicken from Costco, bought the day before. Would be perfect, some mashed potatoes & gravy and some corn. Just a really easy simple meal. But really good. : )

Dessert for the Fourth of July. You know rocky road ice cream? We decided to make that except with pecans instead of walnuts (just what I had on hand). And we'd flavor ours with Nutella, so even yummier. The ice cream at Costco is 1900 yen. It's delicious and from America, but that's frankly too expensive. Then at Besia, there's a bigger container but it's not ice cream it's only 10% milk so it's called something else. But it's not called ice cream. And I was going to get that one. But, I really prefer actual real ice cream. Then I thought...duh! The grocery store in our town, sells super cheap real ice cream for 298 yen and it's delicious and it's real ice cream. How come this is so cheap? I don't know, because it's delicious and my store sells 3 different varieties/flavors of this brand, but we need the plain vanilla one, since we're making our own flavors. But it's perfect and the price is right up my alley. How did the ice cream come out? Amazeballs! And now the boys and I are planning to make peanut butter ice cream next. Maybe even peanut butter with grated chocolate, we'll see. And how much Nutella did we use, just a small spoonful was plenty for the amount of vanilla ice cream we had. That's why I bought the Nutella at Costco 2 weeks ago, we had been planning to make our own flavor of ice cream on the 4th of July. : )

We used 2 metal spoons to mix the Nutella in first then added the chopped nuts and marshmallows last and then we refroze the ice cream. The kids said...this was the best ice cream. We wondered...how come we haven't done this before? But now...all summer long we'll be making all sorts of cool new flavors of ice creams. Especially since we can get a little tub of vanilla near our house for such a great price. Three cheers for this ice cream, it rocks and the price superly rocks. : ) 

We purchased this at a local DIY the other day. This is a anti mosquito coil. There are a whole bunch of coils inside. And you take 1 out, light it with the lighter and then place it inside and it will burn slowly and they say the scent will keep mosquitoes away. We don't have heaps of mosquitoes. But the ones that we do, all seem to attack Noboru and not us. We heard something in Japan a few years back that mosquitoes prefer O blood. Again we're not sure if this is true or if this is just an old wives tale..the Japan version. But in any case, Noboru does have O blood, as does Noah. And they seem to prefer Noboru the most out of the entire family. Second choice would be Noah for the mosquitoes. However...Noboru hates mosquitoes. He's so nervous when it comes to mosquitoes. That if 1 should come into the house, he seriously can't relax unless the mosquito has been caught. Granted, I don't like mosquitoes either... but he's like...superly anti mosquito. So, this mosquito thing... every day in July through all of summer will burn on our front porch. Noboru lights them daily, and in the evening too. So, he's on high mosquito alert... for this season again. Hahaha. As for me, my thoughts? I actually enjoy the scent of the old school original mosquito coils. I have smelled the rose and lavender ones, but...I prefer the original scent. It really reminds me of Japan in summer time. 

Gap was having a huge sale a few weeks back. And with Noah's birthday in mind. And given the price of this swimsuit. Noah's rashguard on the top in this pic, size 10, because he's 10 today. And his swim trunks in size medium, because Noah's so skinny. Again, I checked the size chart online and Noah's weight, would put Noah in the size small, 6-7 size. If you just considered how much he weighs. However his height is of a 9/10 year old. Again according to the Gap size chart, the average American little boy who is 10 is, 80-90 pounds. @_@ Is that right? My kids like half that. He's 26kg, like 56 freaking pounds (I'll have to weigh him again today, to double make sure). He is light as a feather. But he's average height. Not overly tall granted, but average height. There's no way Noah can fit in a pair of shorts for an 80-90 pound kid. They'd fall to the floor those swim shorts. So that's why I made sure he got a size medium. Actually Branden is only 110-115 pounds and he's an 8th grader. Again, I'll have to weigh the both of them again. But yeah, when I saw the weight measurements for a 10 year old on the Gap chart, I was like...what? @_@  I wish Gap started making swimwear in slim sizes, because not everybody has an overweight kid. They do make slim shorts in some styles, but not all and I would love it if they made slim swimwear too. 

Anyway, liked this Heather pink shirt for Noah. And the 30% off was perfect timing.

I thought this was cool. Like a cute little outfit for his birthday. Matching shorts and shoes. And navy top. I bought the shorts size 10 because with swim shorts he's moving around a lot, but not with regular shorts as much, hopefully. Also some mother left a review on the website and said..these ran small for her child. So, I hope these are a slimmer fit. 

When you get almost $35 in savings and free shipping. It's a good day!

He will love unwrapping this Gap swimsuit, this evening. 

The matching cool outfit. I hope the shorts fit, waist wise, since they're size 10 or hope they have that adjustable waistband. 

I also picked up the following day, while the sale was still going on... 3 shirts for myself and a pair of comfy house shorts. 

Noah's shirt. This plus a pair of jean shorts and his floral hibiscus type shoes. 

I've been seeing a lot of tops for the past few months with lace on them. I have resisted for quite a while. And then, I saw this one...a bit more conservative with lace just on the arm in a thin line. 

This one was my most favorite though called a shark bite tee. I love this. 

And this one too, I received. It's a bit unusual, if you see it. The fits really cool. I liked the sleeves.

Anything else to add? I have a movie date this Thursday with 2 of my really good mama friends, We're going to see the Avengers. The movie starts before 10am. So that's a nice early movie. Also, today is Noah's birthday, 7/7... July 7th. And if you know Japanese years, you'll know the year 2005 is actually the year 17 in Japan, so he's actually a 7/7/7 baby. Noah was a very good luck baby and is a very good luck kiddo! He has really good luck. I'll be blogging about his actual birthday later so, I won't say anymore. Except his birthday cake arrived Sunday. And we're taking him out to dinner tonight, his choice. He said he's been deciding all weekend. Yakiniku, Capricciosa or Jolly Pasta. Those are his choices, he gave to himself and he's still deciding. : ) So where will we go to dinner tonight? We're not sure...Noah will let us know when he gets out of school today. Noah gets out at 2pm today. : )  Both boys are set to swim today. Noah was supposed to swim yesterday, but it rained yesterday, so it was postponed to today. And Bran is scheduled to swim today anyways. It's not raining here now. And says only 20% chance of rain for our town today, so I sort of think they'll both be swimming today. : )  Alrighty, you guys... have a wonderful day! And I'll catch up with you all soon. : ) EDITED TO ADD: I did weigh Noah and although I was a little off on his weight, I'm human and I said I wasn't 100% anyways...anyway I must say, I wasn't off by much! He weighs as of this morning before school 25-26kg and that's 56 pounds, which is quite slim compared to what GAP and Old Navy says the typical American kid weighs at age 10. 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a nice celebration, if you celebrate it! : ) Celebrating American holidays in Japan can be a bit tricky, but that's okay. I still do my best. Granted if we were living in the US, we'd surely be having a huge family BBQ. It would be summer and the boys would be on summer break already. However we live in Japan. And school is still in session. And given it's not a holiday here. So the boys had school and swimming school yesterday. Noboru was off work, which was nice. And get this, the weather forecast said yesterday would be thunderstorms where we live. : ( However it was *very* windy, but no real rains or thunder to speak of around here, so we lucked out. But, I still wanted to celebrate. Even if in a small way. So, I had decided while in Hawaii I would bake an American flag cake. You can google about a billion images for these...these were quite common growing up, You can even buy them at grocery stores etc. : ) But, I wanted to make one. I think it came out very pretty but I can tell you 1 thing. Strawberries are out of season, so I had to use frozen. And they melted and red color ran a bit, not huge amounts granted, but yes it did. It wasn't a huge deal in the long run. But perhaps next year I'll use a jar of maraschino cherries. : ) Anyway, no matter, I still think it came out cute. The cake mix used was white cake mix and whipped cream flavored frosting from Pillsbury. It was light tasting and pretty delicious.

It may just be the little things, but out of respect, I made sure to hang my flag outside all day yesterday. But took it down before supper though. : ) Didn't want my flag to get all gross in case it rained or anything.  : )

The boys came home from swimming school starving! I was happy because I had everything ready! So they ran upstairs and quickly changed into their comfy clothes.  We had buffalo wings with ranch dressing for dipping. We had potato salad and macaroni salad. Fresh cantaloupe. And there was corn steaming on the stove when I snapped this picture. It was a great meal. But weather appropriate also because a BBQ would have surely blown away in those heavy winds yesterday. I bought the meat a day before, I was deciding between bbq or wings but given the forecast...I went with the wings. Hahaha. It was crazy windy yesterday, I tell ya. : )

You can see a slight red run down on the side of the cake pictured here, but you know it's was okay. It tasted amazing. Everyone had a second slice... so that speaks volumes right there. : ) It means it was good. : ) lol. Aha, the corn makes an appearance. : ) And that extra plate of wings on the American flag plate was extra for whoever wanted more.

Branden enjoying his meal.

This was my meal. Some macaroni salad and potato salad. Noboru used extra tabasco on his and he said his was fire! He loved his. Hahaha. Ours wasn't so hot but flavorful though, really flavorful. Anyway, just wanted to say I hope everyone that celebrates it, had a nice 4th of July. And to share the small way our family celebrated ours here in Japan. : )

Today is Friday, July 5th. I have an observation day today. It's the last class type. @.@ Grrr, those are my least favorite kind! And Noboru will be at work, so I will go to half of Noah's and half of Branden's. : (  I wish I could duplicate myself or something, ykwim. Or do more. But what can ya do really, ykwim. I am only 1 person and must break up a 50 minute class between 2 kiddos. The bright side is.... it's Friday! I am so ready for the weekend.

I am still working on my Hawaii posts. But they'll be delayed and I didn't want my 4th of July post going on July 12th or 15th hahaha. : )

Also, Noah's birthday is this coming weekend. Yay! We had ordered him a gorgeous ice cream cake online. Nutella flavored ice cream, it says Italian chocolate with hazel nut flavor. So yumm-o! And maple walnut, is Noah's second layer choice. So his cake will surely be fantastic! It will get here tomorrow. A day before. And we also ordered him a very cool new bike. And a few other things. But....yeah we have a lot going on. Plus the Summer festival is coming for our housing community. And given our family is one of the heads this year. We're sorta... up to our eyeballs with details about that also at the moment. So....I better end this post now. Happy 4th of July if you celebrate it! And have a great weekend everyone! : )

Things we did, the first day we arrived in Honolulu! ; )

July 3rd at around 7am Honolulu time our family arrived in Honolulu. Yep we had July 3rd twice. ; ) The day we left Japan was also July 3rd. We picked up our rental car and headed to the hotel, check in time is usually around 1-3pm, but luckily they checked us in that morning. We had emailed them in advance telling them we'd be early and if it was okay, they said yes. : )
We stayed at the crew hotel. So all of our flight crew was also there checking in. They know we're also Delta folks, so we all waved at each other and smiled at check in. They know my husband.
A very nice marble sink area. This was totally redone this hotel a few short years ago. We stayed at the Ala Moana hotel this time. So convenient for shopping at the Ala Moana mall, there's a bridge from the hotel to the shopping mall.
Super clean. And tropical themed bedding which was perfect since we were in Honolulu. : )
Hi Noah kiddo! : ) Our flat screen TV hanging that could bend/move towards either bed or both. : ). I think these rooms were updated in 2005 or 2007... So not too long ago.
Newer type microwave and cute newer little silver room fridge. Frosted sliding glass closet where we stored the suitcases after we got ourselves settled. yep you can see the Jack in the Box cup we had breakfast before checking into the hotel.
Very nice clean shower area.
Kohler sink, we have that brand of kitchen sink in our home in Japan. We were really happy with our hotel choice. And the price we paid (getting a good deal) was what we liked the most about this hotel. : )
After everyone went to the restroom. And if anyone wanted to change clothes. The kids didn't want to, which was fine, besides they were in shorts already. I switched clothes though, from a dress which I wore for my flight, and switched to a comfy pair of khaki tan shorts, top and flip flops. Put my hair in a pony tail and we left the hotel. First thing we did was went and ordered Noah's birthday cake. Safeway makes great birthday cakes. As you can see from the glass it says gourmet cupcakes. They make really delicious cakes and cool character cakes to boot and are fair in price! We had a choice of butter cream frosting, whipped cream type frosting, all sorts of frosting flavors, cake flavors, chocolate, carrot, red velvet, white. We picked the cake Noah wanted and got all the flavors sorted as well. Said see you...July 7th and we left Safeway. We also bought a small cart of things we needed while there so we killed 2 birds with 1 stone being there. : )
We went to Costco, this took us about 10 minutes we had only 2 or 3 items to get from there and quickly paid and checked out. We also were a bit tired from the flight and knew the following day would be a full day swim day so we kept the arrival day, just knocking off a few places to shop, the birthday cake for Noah and we wanted to eat dinner some place and go back to the hotel. So no huge plans, we didn't want to over activity ourselves to death the first day or stress ourselves the first day at all. Which we didn't stress the whole trip...the whole trip was relax, relax and enjoy... everyday.
After Costco we headed to Target (one of my favorite American stores). I had my list printed already and Noboru and I had planned to get a new living room area rug at Target. We took measurements the week beforehand and everything. We needed/wanted a new area rug for the living room. We tried getting one from Nissen but didn't care for it. And so for us it was just cheaper buying at Target and bringing it back. We needed navy blue, found navy blue, the size we wanted as well and at the price we liked. So we threw it in the cart. We also got a few other things. And also some toiletries for our stay, you know like toothbrushes, toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner. Because those teeny tiny sizes of toothpaste and shampoos the hotels give are never large enough for a family of 4. : ) Between Safeway, Costco and Target we seemed to spend the most time at Target the first day. There's just too many things to look at in there.
It was still daylight out, but around dinner time actually the sun set while we were eating. This is not a fancy shmancy place at all. But then we're not really fancy shmancy people to begin with. ;P It's a simple plate lunch/plate dinner type place. They have meat, rice and macaroni salad type meals. The price is cheap and the quality is yumm-o! We used to come here all the time when we lived here.
Both Branden and Noah remembered this place from 2 years ago. : )
Just some things we used for the trip.
There was a huge banner saying there would be a pre 4th of July firework show July 3rd at 8:30pm. We saw the sign that morning, and we knew we wanted to watch it. So, we found a great place and parked along with a bunch of other American families trying to enjoy the pre 4th fireworks display. All the cars on the right of the pic were parked and the people were in lawn chairs. Cheering...ohhing and ahhing and clapping! It was fun! : )
I want the boys to know how fun the fourth of July is for us! A time for celebration!!! And great fireworks. : )
People sitting on the grassy area. There were about a thousand people there, if not more. You'll see a pic down below of the crowds of people crossing the street. Just crowds and bunches and bunches of people.
Branden and Noah watching on....
Pretty!
Look at those crowds of people! Such an excellent time to be in America! : )

PS, I have so many posts to get up. And today is my first day I actually have had a chance to blog. So, today hopefully I can get 2 posts up at least. And maybe tomorrow finish the last of the Honolulu/Oahu posts. I'm trying...working on it. : )