Summer Festival Fun...

Our housing community throws a beautiful and fun Summer festival every year! It's really nice for us who live here because we don't have to worry about parking or finding a parking space. We live right here. And so we can just walk up and enjoy the festival when we want and if we need to use the restroom or anything in 1 minute we can be home. It's so nice having a summer festival in our actual housing community every summer. Here was Branden walking up through our center park in our housing community. Our housing community has about 7 different park like areas throughout our housing community. This is the centeral and main one though. There is a tennis courts in this center one too. Notice the lights around the edging of the lawn too it is so gorgeous at night to have such a nice walking path where we live, especially with all the nice trees. 

Noah enjoying the summer festival. It's just a local festival. Mostly everyone who comes here is just residents of our housing community. However handfuls of folks from other parts of our town will come down and enjoy too. Basically just town people though. So it's really nice. Everyone knows everyone else here at this festival. : ) No real strangers to speak of here. : )  And as for our town other areas...also have festivals too. The older side of town has a festival earlier than ours every summer and the 1 other housing community will be having one too. But this one is nicest for us and I only say that... because we can literally just walk 1 minute from home and be here. : ) 

Branden enjoying the festival. He hung out with his best friend Genki and Noah. And talked to a ton of his friends and classmates from the local JHS/middle school. Noah also talked with his classmates but mainly he hung with his older brother Bran. : ) Noboru and I stood for a bit off and on. The kids stayed the entire time. It was just from 4pm-9pm. So not too long. And they did walk home for dinner. I made buffalo chicken wings, potato salad from the batch I made the day before and we had a side of rice with that and salads and watermelon. And then they went right back to the festival. They ate dinner in less than 30 minutes and went right back. : ) 

Here is the fabulous yakisoba stand. There was yakisoba. Hot dogs. Oden (not into that at all, I am so sorry...but lovely folks who make it every year though), kakigori (shave ice), homemade sembei, yakiniku rice balls, classmates of both my kids mom's make these yearly, lots of  really good food made by very good neighbors and friends. And the kids always have pocket money from Noboru to buy whatever they'd like. I also bought some Coolish and had it in the freezer a few days ahead of time and the kids walked it back after supper so they could enjoy that at the festival too. Yes, I totally plan ahead on stuff like this sorrynotsorry. But to make sure dinner-wise, I usually will always make a complete fairly-easy to make meal for us all at home. At night there is always a raffle. We won one year! We won 2 pasta/curry dishes. Hopefully we can win another time too. We always enter once a year and are hopeful each year. : ) All in all, it was a fantastic and fun summer festival. : )

A family backyard BBQ and the summer festival...

Saturday, August 29th, our family had wanted to do one more family backyard BBQ before school started, Tuesday Sept 1st. So that was the plan for Saturday. All week long Saturday had a 50% chance of rain, however yes it did end up raining off and on all Saturday, hahaha figures! : )  It ended up raining that day, but we didn't let that stop us, or our family BBQ! This same day, but that morning is the day we went and bought Noah's shoes and had pizza at Costco for lunch, this was later that same day, but it was around 3pm-ish when we had our backyard BBQ. : ) 

We grilled up 10 hot dogs, I had only 1. Bran and Noah, would you believe, ate the rest. And I am pretty glad about that! Because I had planned to have a grilled chicken teriyaki breast too. And Noboru had yakiniku, so much of it, that he was stuffed silly. : ) The grilled hot dogs were perfect for the boys! : ) The boys had store bought potato salad and chips to go with their hot dogs. I also made 2 and a half cups of rice in the rice cooker because I knew Noboru needed it. : )

Nothing beats a charcoal barbecue, propane just doesn't have that delicious flavor the way a charcoal bbq does! It's true. Chicken tastes so good being cooked this way and so do hot dogs. Everything tastes so good over charcoal. Corn..potatoes, you name it, if it's been cooked over charcoal, the flavor is like 10 fold! Yum! : ) So, anyways everyone ate. I ate half a chicken teriyaki breast and half of my hot dog (finished it when we came back from the festival). The kids had a few hot dogs but finished them all up too, after the summer festival! : )  Noboru, also knew he would have to be buying a lot of food at the festival. In the same vein of giri choco.Meaning along the same lines as giri choco (obligation chocolate) Noboru knew beforehand, that every Father's Club dad's booth that sold anything, he would be pretty much, as is custom....manner wise here, expected to buy something from your friend. I mean he's not forced to. But, it just makes everybody comfortable, if you do. Think along the lines if you live in America, if your coworker or neighbor was selling Girl Scout cookies or those $1 dollar chocolate bars. To be friendly, you may want to buy a chocolate bar or a box of cookies. It is just the nicer thing to do. It's great for a good relationship. I'm sure you all know what I mean. : ) 

Our housing community summer festival has always been, the last week of July. Like July 29th or something. However this year, it was changed to 1 month later. The grandma next door, told me, she didn't like the change of a month late, for the summer festival. As for me, I really don't mind either way, July or August, both work for me. It was a summer festival with light sprinkles here and there, but not a downpour by any means, however the bright side is, the weather was nice and cooler than if it had been in the melting July type of weather. Anyway, the summer festival in our housing community is always nice. Nice to see all our good friends, good neighbors and Bran and Noah's classmates. 

Noboru eating some sui gyoza. One of the Father's Club dad's and his family was selling this and right next to him, was another Father's Club dad, selling oden, so another delicious thing for Noboru to buy and eat. Hahaha. : ) Saya-chan's mom, Bran's classmate, her mom was selling hot dogs, so because I know we have a good relationship and because they bought lemonade from us, that one year, we had to "return the favor" and buy a hot dog. Again it's just good manners here to make that purchase. You just don't ever want to be the person who snubbed your friend's booth at a summer festival ne~. : )  As soon as Bran arrived at the festival, a bunch of his friends from JHS came running to B and he left with them. And hung out with his JHS friends the entire time. We gave Bran 500 yen though, for the festival and he knew where we were, in case he needed a few extra couple hundred yen, but he didn't. 

Noboru asked Noah to go and buy him a hot dog. So, Noah did and we walked over there too but we stood behind Noah and let him order. : ) Saya-chan's mom has known Noah since Bran and her daughter started 1st grade together, so she's known Noah since age 3. Noah was in line and her mom sold to customer after customer and then when she got to Noah she said..."Noah-chan!!!" And he ordered very politely. And she gave him 2 hot dogs, as you can see in this picture and said in Japanese..."you get 2 hot dogs because it is YOU Noah-chan!!!" The lady selling edamame next to Saya-chan's mom, started laughing. And the edamame lady said...what a gorgeous hafu he is. I never really know what my reaction should be when someone says something like that. So, I just bowed my head, like...thank you.  And Saya-chan's moms said, I know, right. So the 2 ladies chit chatted about Noah, which just made him embarrassed, since he's shy. Poor Noah, just blushed and didn't say anything about that, but he did tell Saya-chan's mom thank you for the 2 hot dogs, head bowed and left. 

Noboru purchased some edamame and a few other things, Noboru was so full by the time we got home. And we watched the dancers dance. Noah's really good friend K, meanwhile found Noah.  K, is the one who went trick or treating last year with Noah. And K, has 1 older brother also named K, in Bran's class. So we know that family so well. K, ran over to Noah, as soon as he saw him and gave Noah a big ol' hug! K's mom was selling some onigiri in another booth. : )  It was just a nice day Saturday, August 29th. We purchased Noah some sneakers for school. We had a family bbq. We walked and went to the summer festival in our housing community. We saw so many of our friends. So many of our friends were drunk and they're all so funny when they're drunk! Granted we're not drinkers, but it's so interesting to see our friends loosen up after they drink. One of our friends, this one papa was so drunk, he was stumbling, fell in a bush and kept asking where are the bathrooms, he grabbed an unused empty cooking pot, we all thought he was going to pee right in that pot, they had that pot because they were selling food earlier, but sold out. The mom lightly bonked him on a head with an empty 2 liter of tea! And then she nicely took him by the arm and walked him to the restroom in the building near the tennis courts. Everyone was laughing so hard! Maybe it was one of those, "you had to be there moments" but it was hysterical. The drunk papa was not K's dad, but he also has a son in Bran's class and a son in Noah's class. So everyone was just dying laughing at all those summer festival shenanigans. Life is so fun, when you have good friends! : ) Saturday August 29th was a very fun day! : )

Anyway, what's up right now? It's raining cats and dogs right now. It's Wednesday here. The boys are both at school, a full day for both of them today. Yesterday Noah got out at 11am and Bran got out yesterday at 2pm. Today Branden has a test, but a little one, but he still studied for it last night anyway. Tomorrow, I have a hair salon appointment. I am getting a hair cut, same hair cut, just a tad shorter. My hair is a lob right now, as in, long bob, past my shoulders and I want it slightly above my shoulders all one length, so I am getting a hair cut tomorrow and a color. Tonight, Scream is on MTV and it's the season finale, I think. Can't wait. Alrighty, talk with you all later. : )

Summer festival/Natsu matsuri 2014, for our housing community...and getting ourselves on the Honolulu bound flight

Saturday, July 26th, 2014 was our housing community's summer festival/natsu matsuri. Started from 4pm and went to 8-9pm. However since we had a booth and would be selling stuff we had to be there at 3pm. I taped up the signs of what we were selling, see the cardboard sign hanging on the tent corner behind Noah? That was a Coolish ice cream sign, I put up. Cookies and cream or plain vanilla Coolish for 100yen. I sold out of the cookies and cream probably within the first hour. The portable fridge is the metal thing near Noah's arm in this pic. I was selling the Coolish and my teammates one for example was selling the swords. Etc. I also sold a few other odds and ends. I was the busiest mom behind the tables...only because everyone wanted an ice cream...and it was superly hot outside and ice cream was a perfect idea. : )

This is also some stuff we sold too. 

Big turn out, the whole housing community loves this summer festival. Noboru missed the majority of the festival, he did come by and say hello, but he was very busy and understandably so...since we had just increased our stay in California by 1 day...meaning we were to arrive now a day early, he needed to alter our reservations at the hotel so he had to book by an extra day...the car rental place had to be added an extra day too. he had a lot on his plate. And to be fair to me...the week had also taken it's toll. I also had last minute stuff I'd like to be at home for... with regards to our flight that very night and yet I was stuck here working this event.  My phone said 97 degrees F but said it feels like 100 degrees F. This has been the absolute hottest July and August in years!!! June was quite cool and nice, but the end of July and start of August has been insanely hot. I did have fun working the event, I did enjoy talking and seeing many of my friends from the neighborhood. But honestly, I would have preferred be at home to prepare for our flight that night. The plan was I was to leave early at 5:30pm. So, I did make a point of working quite hard the time I was there. I handled absolutely every sale of the ice cream before I left. Also my co-VP, like I said in an earlier post...is the one around 5:10pm that said that Tokyo was having fireworks that night, so she told me to just go right then. And I did. : )  So, I did... fulfill my obligation of being fukukaicho/vp. And now...I think we have no kids club event until the Christmas party, so I am *so* totally over that hump regarding my year of Vice prez-dom, thank the lord! Hahaha. 

I snapped this pic while I was walking looking for the kids to tell them we were heading home to prepare for our flight, I found them and we raced home! Only a 2 minute walk to our house. : )  Last year, we were selling American food at the summer festival..this year I am VP and therefore had to work this whether I wanted to or not, hahaha. So it's fair to say the year of 2013 and year of 2014, I haven't really got to enjoy the actual summer festival at all...but next year! That's the silver lining there...next year I can go and enjoy and be a customer of the summer festival! : )  Versus working the summer festival. : )

Okay so the next post will be the Honolulu post...not sure if I should break them up in 2 or 3 parts. Because if I keep it to just 1 part...it might be absurdly overly long, you know what I mean. So, hmm, still thinking about that. However let me give you the last bit of Saturday July 26th stuff. The boys and I got home, I put my camera and charger into my bag. Made sure just last minute doodads were finished, packed and out in the suitcase. I then jumped in the shower, washed from neck down..truly had no time to wash my hair, blow dry and hot roller all over again. Just not even time for all that mess! : )  Besides I did wash it that morning anyways. I got dressed and we left...like by 6pm, we were in the car heading towards the airport. Took us hours. By the way...I had not eaten breakfast that day, not lunch or dinner. The kids ate all day and snacked and I made them stuff and they also bought food at the summer festival too. But, I was so busy all day...I was just running on pure adrenaline all day long. Since we live near-ish Narita and we had to now go all the way to Tokyo it took us hours. Hours of driving down skinny roads or there was some bad traffic jam...then the traffic would get better and then 10 minutes down the road it would get worse again. The highways were all red on the navigation so we avoided the highway. Probably the highway was like that... due to the fireworks. We arrived around 9pm or so. Parked the car, we each had our own carry-on, which had our clothes and stuff for the trip. And 2 empty suitcases for bringing stuff back. The line was so long, we checked in at the self check in. Then went to the bag drop off. At Narita and if you're stand-by they take your luggage and you get a standby pass so you can zip through the TSA and whatnot and be near your gate. Not at Haneda though. They won't even take your luggage if you're standby but that's because of their worry of flight weight restrictions. So we waited for hours. She said at 11pm go to lane 15 and there were a ton of standbys. That's when she said if we'd like 2 seats, not 4. Again...what if...the other 2 in our family can't get on the next day or the next after that. So we smartly stayed together. We did walk all the way back to the car put the luggage back in the car. The kids slept the whole way home. At some point while still in Tokyo we stopped at 7-11 and I picked up 1 iced coffee and 1 egg salad sandwich, by now I was starving! We debated...should we try for the mainland, should we cancel summer vacation 2014 altogether then? We finally decided let's just go to Hawaii. We know we can get on the flight for sure, and our priority on the standby list is quite high (not rubbing it in, just being for real) so we know we can get on. Another family did get bumped, trying to get to Honolulu because we got on the next day, we bumped them. Sorry, truly am sorry! : ( But we weren't sorry enough to cancel our trip and give them our seats, either though! The flight was full, not a seat on the plane and they wanted on and we wanted on too. Except our priority was higher, so...hope they got on the next day. I think the day before they were happy thinking... they were so getting on the flight, until we 4 listed on the flight. We also think they were hoping we weren't going to show up for the flight lol, of course we did though. But again this same crap happened with us the day before at Haneda when those 2 dead heads showed up last minute and bumped us. And we had that trip planned for months! So again it wasn't our intention and we didn't feel good about bumping another family of 4...but it just honestly was...what it was. If their priority was higher than ours, do you think they'd give us their seats? Hell no! So us neither.

The next worry was...you know how Japan is 1 day ahead the US, right. well, our next worry was...if we don't get home from our drive back from Haneda. we would potentially be charged for the hotel and car in California, we knew that the day would be changing shortly or had just changed...it was somewhere around 7-10am California time or somewhere around that and the hotel says 24 hours advance notice for cancellations... so we truly were down to the wire with regards to cancellation time. Yikes! And also another worry was...you can't make online reservations the day of...for say a hotel room or car rental. Not quite sure why you can't but hey. So we tried to get back home as fast as humanly possible without of course putting our lives in danger or Noboru in danger of getting a speeding ticket. We got home, the kids went to their bedrooms right away. And I turned on my computer...it was 2am or something. Noboru had his laptop on. And first he canceled the California reservations immediately! Next was find a hotel in Hawaii before the days change there. We started going through Trip Advisor rooms and Expedia rooms and he checked his private Delta employees discount thing online too. So yeah we used both computers in the living room. My favorite hotel in Honolulu is the Ala Moana Hotel. It's new or refurbished. I am comfortable staying there...it feels like you are on vacation staying there. Noboru meanwhile loves the Illima Hotel because they offer free parking and he likes that the rooms are huge. I meanwhile hate that place, because... while yes it is spic and span clean, it's stuck in the 70's, the rooms and hotel badly needs a revamping BIG TIME! And frankly I don't feel like I am on vacation staying there at all. Just being honest...not a fan of the Illima sorry! The Ala Moana was totally booked except for a room that allows up to 2 people and only had 1 king sized bed...just not enough room for the us 4 at all. We wanted a room with high reviews from fellow travelers (ie, clean, safe, friendly (not rude) staff) same stuff most people look for in a room. Also we wanted under $200 US a night. And some rooms in Honolulu can be around $400-$500 US. So, we wanted under $200. The good thing about us, is we don't have to pay for expensive airfares, so our flight getting there and back in free. And so all we have to worry about is, hotel and food and whatever things we bring back. So our expenses are much lower... than say the average Joe or Jane. So in that respect, we're pretty lucky.  And we have only been bumped once in all our years and that was the day before on the Haneda flight. Again though, if we had no obligations such as the summer festival or haunted school, we could have altered our travel dates..but since we had to physically be in Japan those certain dates, we were just stuck in a catch 22 regarding getting ourselves to California. Can't change days..because of the obligations... we had zero flexibility. So, no wonder it happened. Anyway we found a good hotel, with 2 full/double beds. The price was perfect...$125 US a night! Which was under our budget. They did charge $25 for a parking fee... but that's pretty much every hotel you pick in Hawaii unless of course you stay at the Illima. The reviews were excellent and it was newly refurbished. The only draw back was they were not available our last night. @.@ So we took the hotel for all our days except the final day/night...we found another hotel the final day. The final hotel we picked was slightly higher in price $150 US, and they charged $35 for parking. Again though...this is Hawaii and not the mainland US so hotels are gonna be higher and the parking fees while crazy are pretty common. Plus...again beggars can't be choosers...you know that old adage. I mean...we were leaving the following day and not like we had weeks to find a hotel, so we booked that room too. We turned out loving both hotels! I'd rec'd anyone to stay there and I'd definitely go back to either. If pushed...I'd say the 2nd hotel was my most favorite. But both were amazing. 2 thumbs way up on both the hotels. I'll give names of hotels and all details in the actual Honolulu post. After the hotel rooms were booked and rental car was booked in Hawaii. We both went to sleep. Absolute exhaustion. I washed my face and hit the hay.

Next morning we stayed home...we stayed home all day until 3pm, we were all freshly showered and ready for our flight. Our flight was to leave at 7pm. But of course we want to drive to Narita, park our car at the car baby sitters place and were shuttled to Narita International Airport, which is why we left the house at 3pm. Love Narita Airport, being stand by... they took our luggage gave us stand by tickets and we breezed through the TSA and downstairs and stuff quickly since we were early. We waited near the gate. I was skype messaging with my dad off and on some. Because he knew about the vacation switch. He worried if we'd get on. And Noboru was again...watching his employees page on his tablet. And he saw our seats as they were issued online and we just waited for them to call us. We got seats in first class. And about a minute later she called our last name and Noboru went and got our tickets. We boarded around 6pm-ish, Sunday July27th arrived Honolulu around 7-7:30am Sunday July 27th hahaha. They are the seats that lay flat like a bed, so I was in one seat, Noah was behind me, Branden was behind Noah and Noboru was last, we purposely "book-end" the kids in like that... so I am watching them from the front and Noboru is watching them from the back. Just to make sure they are okay and safe. When they closed the boarding doors...is when I felt this huge cloud of worry disappear. When we started rolling down the tarmac, I felt so relieved...let out a huge exhaling breath. I did message my dad as soon as we got our tickets so he wouldn't worry. I then shut my phone off and kept it off the entire trip...no email checks...no nothing. Noboru will check his emails while he's away, Line with his coworkers a couple times. LOL. I...am just different...I take a break from all internet. Huge meteor could be coming straight to planet earth....I'd not know...if I was on vacation. : ) It just helps me unwind by not being connected, I feel more connected to my family, more connected to the whole vacation experience, while not being connected online. So, I just don't connect online at all, while on vacation. You would think I slept the entire flight away. But I honestly didn't sleep a dot. I was just relieved...we were FINALLY on vacation. Also there were so many new movies that I hadn't seen yet so I watched 3 movies on the flight there. Branden also didn't sleep a wink. I periodically looked back and Noah was awake for a lot of the flight but I'd say he slept for about 3 hours of the 7 hour flight. Noboru slept about as much as Noah did also. But I'd wave at Bran 2 seats away and he'd wave back..or I'd have my eyes fixated on the bathroom door when the kids went to the toilet...just making sure...there's no creepy person lurking (just being protective is all). Of course there wasn't but...just makings sure. : ) I watched Divergent (I have this DVD on order since June but I wanted to badly see this, I saw this first)...The Other Woman (Cameron Diaz) and Labor Day (with Kate Winslet)..Divergent was excellent and I am so glad I ordered this! The Other Woman was so hilarious...I laughed quite a bit. Labor Day was so good but would you believe...because our flight was landing I missed the last 5 minutes. He was arrested and then what? Seriously then what? What happened? That has happened to me before on a flight...it was an excellent movie though. Would just love to find out how it ended. lol. : ) Alrighty, now... you are all caught up with everything except for the Hawaii trip. But as we are heading out to Guam today...I'll be a bit delayed again. Sorry. : ) 

Summer festival fun and the dashi pull!

July 27th, was going to be a very fun day and night for Branden and Noah and Noboru and myself. Slightly busy for Noboru and I, as well, but the fun totally outweighed the busy so it was all good! : ) So, Saturday July 27th, I woke up, the boys and I had toast and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast. Then we all got dressed. The dashi pull was to start at 10am, however us 6th grade mom's/kodomo kai heads, which is me included. All had to be there at 9:30am. The feeling was very fun, all of us mom's all know each other. We already knew way in advance who was doing what job. We all brought our kids with us early, so the kids were playing with their classmates.

The older classes hold this. That's Saya-chan in the hat and pink shirt. She is such a cutie pie. : ) And a very sweet kind girl. And this is the last year the 6th grade class will get to participate in this.  So they made sure to have a lot of fun, so they chanted and cheered extra loud as they walked.

The younger classes pulling the dashi.

You can see the white tarps in the background, one was set to be our food booth already, for the summer festival later that evening.

The boy next door in the gray and green shirt, then Branden, then G-kun, then K-kun. Excellent job guys! : )

So the Jinbei Boy's mom and I were walking with the crowd. Happily shouting, "wasshoi" (sp) we had been asked to make sure, that no kids fell or looked like they had heat exhaustion, ykwim, that type of stuff. But, honestly all the kids looked fine and happy. So her and I got a good little work out, we walked along the path and got the kids pumped! Hahaha. Then when we were about half a block from the drink station her and I would haul booty/run to the drink station. And her and I would be filling all these paper cups as fast as humanly possible before the kids got here. Poor Kouki/Kaito's mom, she was cruising her little red car from drink station to next drink station, unfolding this undokai/camping table, she packed and unpacked this table so many times that morning.... she'd throw all the used cups in a trash bag and zip to drink spot #2 and so on!!! We did this about 4 times. We'd walk happily, then when we knew we were getting close, we'd run... her and I quickly fill the cups. 77 kids, plus parents, we took head count that morning and it matched the count we all got from the keiran ban numbers we took weeks before.... we were filling over 100 cups easy, each stop. And most wanted a refill. However it was not in anyway stressful or exhausting in anyway. We mom's actually had a blast. We were flat out laughing by the time we got to drink station, 2, 3 and 4. It was fun for us mom's. It was so funny. On 1 of our stops, we nearly arrived before K's mom's red car did. And she was like....OMG! You guys are here almost before me. She was laughing and unfolding this table lightning speed. Jinbei Boy's mom and I were cracking up laughing! All us mom's had a fantastic morning. It in all honesty, it was as much a blast for the kids and us!

Now we were nearing the end and her and I once again,  hauled booty back to the start/finish area, I mean we literally ran as if we were running in a sporting event, lol.... meanwhile the mom's had set up everything there and were waiting for us. We quickly got behind the tables. Boy next door's mom said to everyone, if you turn in the bells and stuff you will get a snack bag. So everyone lined up to return the bells.  Jinbei boy's mom and I, handed out the snack bags and the boy next door's mom and K's mom passed out the Coolish ice cream.

This is what each person brought back. Branden and Noah each got one. : ) Then us mom's cleaned up and we headed home. I got home around 11:30am. The boys rested and I rested. And at 2pm, we started to get ready to go and get ready for the summer festival for later that night. The summer festival started for folks around 4pm. But for us who had booths we started setting up around 2:30pm. And why did we decide to have a booth this year? Well, Noboru being the fuku kaicho this year , all the heads were expected to have or work in a booth. Or you could have your own booth. But they wanted the heads visible to the community this year. Meanwhile, the kodomo kai has a booth for all 6th grade mom's also. Again unless you have your own booth, which that counts too. But again they want all 6th grade mom's visible to the community, that's all. Just be visible. So since Noboru and I were both needing to be out and about and visible this year. We decided, why not just do it together and have our own family booth? That way, we're both visible this year. It just made sense. And at least we can stay together as a family. Plus Branden and Noah would be able to sit under the shade. Yadayadayada. It just made sense. So, we had made this decision back in June. Way before we went to Hawaii. We were already written down... that we were indeed having a booth. Then Noboru and I started to come up with a loose time table/plan....for example, what day should we go and buy the hot dogs? When should we go and buy the buns? I have to fly to Guam and buy lemonade. No worries though, because, we can see movies at the same time. Just so much planning. It actually turned out very awesome though! Everyone loved our stand! : )

Two of our signs. We had 1 more sign pictured below somewhere. Branden made the signs. I think his signs came out awesome!

Sign close up! It was colorful and a few people actually took pictures of us behind our stand and of the sign! One older man actually came up and asked Noboru, if he could take some pictures and he wanted me standing behind the stand. We think he works for the town, so we might end up in the town bulletin now, hahaha.  He was quite happy! @.@ Hahaha.  We kept our stand super simple, we sold only 3 items. We sold out of everything! But the hot dogs were first to be sold out! : )  We saw many classmates of Branden's and Noah's, many of my kodomo kai mom friends, so many parents of the boys classmates came to wave or say hello and to also buy! And neighborhood friends. We also got a lot of people coming up saying...their daughter or son studied in America. Or they visited America once and they'd reminisce with us for a minute or two. : ) For whatever reason...they just liked our stand. They wanted to talk and relate and share some story about America, and that's cool, that's fine. It was seriously such a cool day, you guys. We were smiling non stop all day. Greeting people. Selling hot dogs. Lemonade. Etc. And it is true, I am very involved in my community and town. And I really enjoy being involved also. : )

Branden also made this sign also. Everything he drew free hand. The American flags were from leftover napkins from the 4th of July! : )

You know what's in those 2 Costco bags already, the hot dog buns!, And only you reading know we got that cooler cheaply at Kmart this year, hahaha. And if you read regularly you know that Crock Pot from this blog, I use this a lot in Fall and winter. : )

The head of the community was about to speak giving his...please have fun and enjoy the summer festival speech (which is Noboru, since the actual kaicho is away doing tanshinfunin, though he tried to be here, he couldn't). The man just about to announce the fuku kaicho 2013, Noboru. He also announced the fuku kaicho had a stand and to please go there and buy! @.@ Hahaha. : )

Branden and Kouki going up there.

Branden smiling and answering all of this guys questions! : )

His mom was driving her red car from drink spot to drink spot and unfolding the table earlier that morning. : ) His dad came and bought hot dogs from us later that evening and K-kun, came and bought chips and salsa from us right after being on stage. : )

A smiley Noboru. He's irl very smiley, unless you point a camera near him and he sees it, then he gets a very serious face. But he's a very funny guy irl. Very funny! : ) See the American garland? It had stars on it too. I bought a blue one and a red one. Oh and the chips and salsa on the table were free samples, lol! How funny! : )

Aha, there's the red garland. The garland was found at the Daiso. We had a relish, mustard and ketchup station/area. We were ready! Ready to interact with the folks from our neighborhood and town. That way they know us and we know them. Though we know them already of course, but it was just a cool thing to do. I didn't take too many pics this time, usually I am pretty good about it. I usually try to take pics first 10 minutes or so and then enjoy the rest of the time camera free pretty much, unless it's a quick pic, important enough I want to capture it iykwim.. However, we did get so busy with customers that my chance or opportunity to take pics were very slim.

One of Noah's best friends, who doesn't live in our housing community (doesn't matter just giving you the info) but he does live in our town. Anyway, he came with his mom and sister to our housing community's summer festival. He was so happy to see and play with Noah. So happy! And he was also happy we were selling chips and salsa. lol. He bought a chips and salsa. They went across the street from our stand, which was blocked off to cars. And they enjoyed chips and salsa together. He bought them and he shared with Noah. Which was very kind and I took notice. So when I saw he was running low, I called Noah back and had him refill the boys chips and salsa for free and I also gave Noah a chips and salsa for himself. : ) The boys were so happy! These 2 boys played for the majority of the festival together. They'd go and buy shave ice together, each buying their own. And they kept sitting in front of our stand the whole evening. It was so cute!

Any friend of Noah's, is a friend of ours! : ) There were more people around, I just zoomed up in this pic.

Once the hot dogs sold out, we were way less busy and we sorta enjoyed the less busy time. It was cooling off temp wise, warm but a nice cool breeze. Perfect weather for a summer festival. Noboru doesn't really drink, maybe 3-4 times a year at Father's Club dinner/gathering or something..... but he had a beer that night from the beer stand and he sat relaxing behind our booth, I also went and got myself a lemon shave ice. Both Branden and Noah had pocket money to buy treats at the various stands also of course.

Look at that empty jar of relish, yep we totally sold out of everything! Branden would go and play with friends then come back and chill with us some, then leave again. Noah meanwhile, in the background still eating chips and salsa with his friend. Hahaha.

Then the karaoke started getting good! And we did have a prime spot for watching it, from our booth! : ) So we invited Noah's friend to sit inside our booth. What are these 3 doing? Eating chips and salsa, listening to karaoke and getting ready for bingo! : )

Noah won something at bingo! Go figure. : )  Then we cleaned up and lugged everything ours back to our house. The festival ended at 9pm. We got home around 9:35-9:45pm, because we had to pack up our stuff and go home. The only stuff left were the tables and white tarps which were taken down the next morning. When we got home, we were exhausted. Was it fun? Yes!!! Totally fun! Next year though, we just want to be customers of this festival though. But the bright side is, we did what we were supposed to do. We were most certainly visible. Right?! : )  And also, another silver lining is we shouldn't have hancho/block leader duty until 14-15 years from now! So we are done for while. : ) When we got home... we all realized we were starving! None of us really ate. Noboru and I didn't eat all night. Not since lunch. Noah snacked on chips but he didn't eat a proper supper. And Branden was hungry also. So we phoned an order into Cocoichi Curry. The boys and I ordered the breaded chicken tenderloin curry, Noboru picked dinner from a beef bowl drive through and ordered a huge beef bowl, I drove but, he needed it... poor guy was so hungry. And we ate here at home at the kitchen table. Talking a mile a minute. "Wasn't it fun?" Yes! "Aren't you tired?" Totally!! : ) But bright side is, we did it...we were done! Nobody could ever say...they avoided doing their duty/job. It's done! So we felt so happy afterwards. We sent Branden and Noah to shower first right after they ate. They shampooed, washed their bodies and brushed their teeth. Went to bed. Noboru showered next. He said I should go, but I knew how tired he was, so I had him go first. He showered and felt tons better afterwards. I went and showered and shampooed and soaped up, rinsed, then dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel, put my night gown/tee on and came downstairs. The kids were in snoozeland. We stayed up sorta unwinding a bit from the day and about 20 minutes later we went upstairs and we crashed. We were all so exhausted. But boy were we happy! We did it! Job done.

Our curry's looked like this, this was mine from that night. : ) Anyway that's the morning dashi story and Summer festival story as well for July 27th, 2013. : )

I have a few more posts to get up and I am trying like heck to catch up. For example, my last task for the summer was having pool duty/watch and I did that already, I took good pics from that day too. And I'd also like to share the pics of what Costco Inzai looks like also. It's cool! However tomorrow, August 6th is Branden's swimming competition. I ran to Costco Inzai this afternoon in fact, my 2nd time going there...this time to get a rotisserie chicken and provolone cheese and those dinner rolls to make mini roasted chicken sandwiches to take to tomorrow's swim meet for part of our obento/lunch. Also, today I, zipped to my local shop to buy fresh grapes and fresh pineapple for fruit to also take to the swim meet tomorrow for our family lunch I'm packing. The note says every family is to bring their own lunch and drinks, fair enough and we did that last year also. Noboru is off tomorrow. I have a lot of drinks in the freezer, as I type. Branden NEEDS to be there by 7:40am tomorrow. It's 40 minutes away. And plus parking and setting up. We will probably leave around 6:10 am-ish-6:20am-ish tomorrow morning. But, Branden loves swimming. So as long as he loves this sport and he's having fun with it. We will be there to cheer him and the rest of the team on. Go little country school go! : )

Summer festival fun

Our housing community's Summer festival/natsumatsuri was last Saturday. It would start at 4pm and according to the kairanban would run until 9pm. Noboru couldn't make it this year to the summer festival because he had to work. However the boys and I went and we stayed the entire time, until 9pm! We had a fantastic time. Noah walking to the festival we could hear drums at this point.

Noah ready for some summer festival fun!

Branden ready for some summer festival fun too! : )

There was yakisoba, steamed butter potatoes (yum!) beer, cotton candy, kakigori/shave ice, hot dogs, oden. They also had a snack stand selling candy and toys. Quite a few toy stalls. Not sure if you can see her or not, but the woman working the beer stall way at the back wearing a purple shirt with a white chisai towel around her neck talking to a customer/neighbor. That is the grandma next door. She's the leader this year for our block/street. We think we will be the leaders next year? Either us or the boy next door's mom. But we think it will be us. Which means Noboru or I will have to work this event next year. But also one of us has to keep an eye on the kids. So we will have to decide who works it next year when the time comes. This summer festival is open for everyone. You don't have to live here to enjoy it. All are welcome. People who live in our town who don't live in our housing area come and it's great fun!

We all enjoyed a butter potato, these were delicious!

We had Chiba-kun here for the entire festival. He waved to kids and gave hugs when he first arrived. But at night when they had summer dancing and said everyone please join in. Chiba-kun started doing traditional summer dancing! Chiba-kun rocked the summer dancing! : )

Branden, Noah and I had shave ice each twice. One when we all first got there and one right before we left. Branden was off playing with his friends and classmates so it was hard to get a pic. But I was happy he was off having a great time with friends. Noah and I hung out the whole night though.

We had the dancing groups dance this year again, they were great as always.

We all had a blast, the weather cooled down in the evening and we had nice cool breezes, it was just a really good time, I wish Noboru could have been there and enjoyed it with us, but I know he couldn't. : ) Anyway there you have it, that's what we did last Saturday evening, just enjoying our second Summer festival of 2012. (the first one being at Noah's former yochien.)