We're back...

Hi you guys! Hope you guys have missed me, I have certainly missed all of you! We are indeed back home in Japan.

We got back to Japan Saturday early evening, which means we left Denver Friday morning at 6am Denver, Colorado time (mountain time). We flew back 1 day earlier than expected because #1 the flight leaving Denver Friday had plenty of seats and meant we'd fly back first class for free all the way back to Japan no problem. Versus, if we left Saturday Denver time as originally planned we'd be in economy for free all the way back to Japan. Also to add to that...we kept hearing about a typhoon hitting Japan somewhere between Saturday and Tuesday. It now appears to be coming Tuesday maybe even Wednesday and maybe even downgraded to just a storm? However we didn't know that days ago. And as you know weather changes daily and in a blink of an eye. So it was hard to determine and we felt safer flying back to Japan while the window to travel easier... was wide open and the flight looked good and the weather looked good too.

I did transfer my pics online already. But to be honest...I haven't had the chance to look through them 100% yet...just a quick look through. 780 pics taken from our Denver 2016 trip. Wowsa, is that a lot of mama picture taking or what?

The kids go back to school September 1st. So not until Thursday. So very nice that the kids get a few days of just relaxing and just enjoying until Thursday. Their homework is all 100% done but gosh...summer homework sure sucks doesn't it? Hahaha. : )  I am not sure if I will get my Denver post up before September first or not.

We purposely left the fridge bare when we left to Denver because well we didn't want milk or fresh veggies or eggs that type of thing... going funky while we were away. So when we got back Saturday evening. We had zero in the fridge at all. Which was fine because we went to Coco Ichi for dinner Saturday night. We all showered and crashed hard. And we all had jet lag and woke up around 4am Sunday morning. LOL. : )

Yesterday, Sunday we drove to Inzai/Chiba New Town and we went to Costco on a Sunday. Which you know... I hate to go to Costco on the weekends but it frankly couldn't be helped with the fear of the typhoon coming. So we went to Costco. Didn't buy too much. Didn't even take a pic. @_@ I blame the jet lag because I always take pics. : ) I bought 2 packs of chicken breasts, so about 2kg of chicken breasts. Shredded mozzarella cheese. Eggs, pasta sauce. A rotisserie chicken. We had for dinner last night. We then hit Besia and Cainz Home. We just bought veggies and misc there. And then we made 1 final pit stop at Japan Meat at Joyful Honda and bought a beautiful pork for pork curry and a beef roast for beef stew. Menu is as follows this week. Sunday, rotisserie chicken (that was yesterday) Monday (today) chicken chow mein (sara udon) we are all craving veggies...Tuesday tomorrow Beef stew perfect if it is rainy tomorrow, Wednesday teriyaki bowl, Thursday chicken cutlet, Friday pork curry and Saturday niku jaga.

If the typhoon hits us, we are safe and have plenty of food. Tons of drinks. So that's the good and positive there. : ) Also hopefully it downgrades to just storm or just rain. We'll see. : )

Umm, Saturday, the day we got back...good thing I was thinking clearly because...I called the hair salon to book my hair appointment. I hadn't been since July. @_@ Boy was I looking like I sure needed a hair appointment. : ) I went this morning at 9:30am. I got a cut and a color. An all one length lob. And my hair is a nice chocolate brown color. Pretty much my natural hair color spot on. Wow, hasn't been this color is forever. Hahaha. : )  I keep surprising myself every time I look in the mirror, I'm thinking...who in the heck is that?? Oh yeah that's right...it's me. LOL. : )  I should be used to it in a day or two. : )  She also said it should fade out a shade lighter. So we'll see. I am so grateful for the cut. It's slightly longer at the front of my hair so it looks...edgy and stylish.

Denver...how was it? Amazing! No tears at all. No tears at the landing and no tears when we flew away Friday either. I just appreciated every day while I was there. We did so much in the short week we were there. We spent most of our time in Denver. Arvada. Westminster, Broomfield and Boulder. And Wheatridge. But we also went to the mountains and went and enjoyed the hot springs (onsen)...we soaked. It was chilly in the mountains. And we ate Dairy Queen twice. We ate so many wonderful things (ravioli, pasta, chili rellenos and green chili cheese tamales, Chik Fil A, Arby's etc etc). Noah comes back to Japan with 4 new pair of jeans for when fall and winter hits. Since he wears regular clothes to school. And Branden picked 2 pair of jeans from the Levi's outlet in Silverthorne, slim fit 1 jean color and 1 black jeans. He also picked 2 sweatshirts from the Gap outlet too at the Colorado Mills the outlet there too. Noah got 1 Gap sweatshirt from the outlet too. We brought back food to help us ring in the Fall and cooler weather. My favorite cinnamon coffee creamer from King Soopers. tastes like a cinnamon roll and really makes me happy having this creamer... in Fall and Winter. And yes...I did locate the limited edition... Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and the Pumpkin Spice Life cereal. And the Pumpkin Spice Poptarts and the Pumpkin Spice hot cereal. Do we Americans love anything and everything pumpkin spice flavored or what? Hahaha. : ) I didn't buy tons... but we brought back 3 large suitcases filled with stuff. I also brought back Olay moisturizers from Costco. My fave products. So yay for that. I did bring back 1 foundation from Sephora. And 1 new MAC face powder from MAC. And I did also bring back 2 cheaper foundations bought at Target, that I really wanted to try. The Loreal Pro Glow that everyone is talking about on YouTube, I brought back one of those. And another brand too. Plus 3 brow mascaras. 2 micellar waters for me to try. Rice a roni. Corn tortillas (60 of them)... I'll be more specific in another post. Branden also got a nice Jansport backpack while at the Flatirons shopping center too. And I brought back necessary basics too like... cute cotton undies from Target, like 20 of them or so lol. And 2 nice bras from Dillards. Walcoal bras (yes I know that's a Japanese brand, lol). Their best seller in the US. The lady went in the changing room with me, she's near my mom's age...she had a very nice relaxing voice and she was so helpful. $68 US each @_@... so super nice bras, they better be....for that price. And very comfy. No wonder it's a best seller. Anyways...we're all a bit jet lagged still. Nothing major. But...just a tad.

I'm going to run upstairs as soon as I post this. Wash my makeup off my face. I hate the feeling of makeup on my face. Go figure. : ) lol. And I want to get on a comfy t-shirt and some house shorts..my hairs too short now for a pony tail...so maybe just a little clip to the front to pull it out of my face. I want to get stared on dinner early. Because we have been crashing dead asleep by 8-8:30pm since we got back. : ) But I did want to touch bases with you. Yes, we are home. We are alive and well. Just terribly jet lagged. I'm actually starting to feel a little zombie-ish right now. : ) Ugh...I need rest. But first dinner. Anyway...talk with ya later. : )

Hi you guys, we're back...

 Hi you guys, we're back! : ) It's so nice to be catching up with you all, right now. Let's see, where to start...where to start. We got back from Honolulu, Sunday night, July 26th Japan time. Monday, Noah had swimming at the local elementary school from 10am to 11am and then everyone goes home... but/except the swim team, stays and has practice until noon. At public schools around our area of Japan, from 4th grade to 6th grade if you're fast, they will ask you to be on the school swim team. They could not ask Noah until this year, since he started the 4th grade this April. Branden swam for our elementary school, when he was in elementary school too. Noah didn't raise his hand or apply, just....during regular swimming during PE, before summer break the swimming teachers and head teacher saw Noah swimming. They called a handful of kids from 4th-6th grade over the intercom to go to the gym. And from there... they were asked to join the swim team. Noah brought home a parental consent form, before we left to Hawaii and we asked Noah...most important..."do you want to do it?" If not...no worries. Noah, said he wants to. So, we signed it. He missed the first 2 practices since we were in Hawaii. But he went on this Monday right away.  So...yep, that's what Noah's been up to since we got back. Monday we also went to the regular grocery store and to Costco to fill up the pantry and fridge. Noboru meanwhile...has the haunted night at the school this Friday, July 31st, and he and the Father's Club dad's are preparing for that. The dad's are also thinking about staying the night in the gymnasium Friday night too. Hahaha, if he stays... which I think he should...the dad's will probably have a lot of fun! Branden and I are taking Noah to that, this Friday.

What else...the trip to Honolulu was so nice, you guys. We went to the beach. I took 650 photos? Seriously....that's an awful lot of pics! Hahaha. But then in my defense, I am the keeper of memories. : ) We did see 3 movies...The new Terminator. Inside Out, and the new Minions movie. We bought some stuff, but not tons. We just mostly....relaxed. Spent our days at the beach, eating shrimp twice, going to 3 movies. Just recharging the ol' batteries and enjoying some much needed family time. I barely put the pictures on my external hard drive today. So, I'll get it up and posted. But honestly...I don't think it'll be up for a few days at least. I've just been enjoying my quiet time here at home with the family. Oh guess what...while we were in Honolulu, I made a point...to be unplugged the entire trip. I didn't check my email, not even once the entire week. Didn't get online at all. Noboru checks his mail daily and stuff, even while on vacation, which is fine... but I can honestly go without it. So that was really nice for me. To go on vacation and just concentrate on my kids...and just concentrate on my husband/best friend, does that make sense at all. Hopefully some of you "get that"....or know what I mean. : ) Anyway...so we are back. I'm not moving a whole lot...online, because I'm enjoying my time irl (in real life) with the family at the moment. But I am around. : ) The Honolulu post maybe by Monday? And I might have to break it up in smaller parts/posts...if that's okay with you all too. That's just a little easier on me.  : )

Oh...we had a very nice simple backyard BBQ last night. That was so nice. Everyone had kalbi beef and I had 2 chicken breasts with the same type a sauce. For dessert we had the sweetest fresh cut up pineapple from the store...it was so good...yesterdays pineapple. Hahaha. : ) Anyway...I better end this for now. Just wanted to say...hey and hello! : )

We're back!

We’re back from Honolulu! It was amazing!!! We had the best time you guys and boy did we all need it, we spent 6 fantastic nights there and 7 amazing days there! I took so many pics, but haven’t even got around to deciding which ones to put up yet on here.  Arrived back in Japan August 3rd and we have had a backyard BBQ since getting back home, also have been relaxing, the boys and I went to Costco yesterday and had lunch there after picking up a few things and now the kids are I are about to be going to Guam in a couple days to spend some time with my dad, and go to the movies. : )

Also, I didn’t have time to blog about the haunted night at the school thing. The potato haul this year (puny compared to last years potato haul) or the summer festival. So, if it’s okay, I’ll post those up first before getting the Honolulu post up.  So the plan for now, is I’ll try and blog as fast as I can...while still trying to enjoy my summer too and hopefully I can get a good amount up before we leave for Guam in a short couple days. 

We’re back

We’re back. We arrived in Japan, late last night, around 11:30pm Japan time is when our plane touched down, we flew into Haneda, so by the time we got home it was 1:30am, so super early this morning. We went straight to bed, we are all awake now. Anyway we have yet to unpack, and I have to unpack us all today and do laundry. Also, we have to go to Costco to get Thanksgiving stuff and also the regular store to get the weekly groceries. I also bought Thanksgiving stuff while in Denver also though. Anyway just wanted to say we’re back, but it may take a few days to get the post up. Especially now that the boys have school tomorrow and I have to get us slowly ready for Thanksgiving for next week. : )

We’re back!

Hi everyone. We are back. We got back yesterday from Honolulu. Our flight arrived in Narita about 2pm-ish. And we were home by 3:30-ish pm. It was a wonderful week and wonderful trip. My mom flew out to Honolulu, from California to spend time with us and that was amazing and awesome and fun. Anyway, I just wanted to touch bases here really quick. We are indeed back. And I have about a zillion pictures to go through, and back up first. I have laundry to do (from our trip) boogie boards to put away upstairs still. The trip was so fun and relaxing and we really enjoyed our down time (relax time), and our beach time and family time.... we come back feeling energized and ready! : )

Branden came back with 2 new pair of shoes (1 sneakers and 1 Crocs), Noah with 3.... only because he was in between sizes with 1 particular pair (2 Crocs, 1 pair of sneakers). Noboru came back with a new pair of Crocs. And I came back with 7 new pairs of shoes for myself ( to be fair, it's harder for me to get shoes in Japan for myself where as the rest of my family have no trouble buying shoes in Japan for themselves while I do, so while I had the chance I had to stock up, just made sense). They just have great shoes, amazing quality in America and fair prices. So, I came back with a pair of flip flops from Nordstrom, a pair of super cute with big floppy bow sandals from Macy’s, 3 pair of shoes from Famous Footwear. And 1 from the Croc store (not typical Crocs, more like ballet flats type but different) and a pair of sneakers. So yeah 7 total. But, I needed new shoes anyways.... Anyway, I’ll share pics and stuff later. But....will definitely take me a few days still to upload pics and go through everything first. Just so much stuff to unpack and put away and stuff.

Umm, what else. Oh yeah I did go to The Face Shop (it was fantastic and fun to be in there, the ladies working there were so nice and friendly) picked up 2 tubes of face wash from The Face Shop, 2 different types to try and one exfoliator and 1 pack of cleansing wipes and some masks, and they gave me about 5 free samples on top of that. And I did get to Tony Moly (bought 2 things from Tony Moly and they gave me 2 whitening masks for free). Anyway, I don’t want this tiny blurb update to get too overly long. So I’ll just end it here for now. : )

PS, we saw Monsters University, it was great!  Oh well, I have about a million things to tell you guys and funny stories to share, but like I said, this is getting a little too long already, so I'll end this for now. But posts coming soon, I promise but yes, we are indeed back home in Japan. Later alligators!  : )

Cold Stone Creamery ice cream spotted at 7-11 in Japan. And we’re back

 I live way out in the country side/inaka, so finding this was kind of a surprise, nice surprise but a surprise nonetheless. ; ) However, yesterday when I ran into the 7-11 to pick up a carton of yuzu water. I was surprised to see Cold Stone being sold at my local 7-11 in my tiny town here in Japan. So, just wanted to share this info anyway. Not sure if any of you have spotted it yet. If so then this info will be old news for you then. However this info could hopefully help someone. My particular 7-11 had this chocolate one and a strawberry one. Not sure if they will eventually come out with the specialty flavors or not. Would love to find the flavor/combo, "This Is How I Roll" the cinnamon roll flavor one.  But anyway, hope this info can be of help to someone. : )

Size wise, it's about the same type of sizing as those teeny tiny Haagen Dazs ones, if you know what I mean, if you live in Japan, you'll for surely kwim. Cost 270 yen or around there. So a tad expensive/high. I'd probably never buy one again, unless they came out with the signature flavors like the cinnamon roll one. But anyway, just thought I'd pass this info on at least. : )

Other then that, we are home. We arrived back home Tuesday evening. We arrived around 7:20pm-ish. And by the time we got out of the plane, walked through all those immigrations etc type things. And plus we went through the quarantine area for the Christmas ham we brought back and the rice, so that took extra time. And then we went home so by the time we got home it was nearing 9pm-ish. The boys took fast 5 minute showers and went straight to sleep since they had school the next day, Wednesday/yesterday. I unpacked yesterday and did 3 loads of laundry. Load 1, swim suits. Load 2, Guam clothes minus the swimsuit load done first and Load 3.... load of socks of everyone's and underwear of everyone's and any misc t-shirts or polo type tops. I also ran to the bakery for fresh bread and to 7-11 for yuzu water (where I found the Cold Stone.)

All this week the boys have a shortened school schedule so they get off at 2:20pm all this week. Next week is their last week of school and then they begin Winter break. I also have that Christmas cake baking with Noah next week at school for cooking class for the ichinensei. I have about 2-3 posts pre Guam to get up. Hopefully I can get up the observation post next. Then the marathon one will hopefully follow. The actual Guam trip post maybe Monday? Gee, not sure. But, I better get started on the pre Guam posts now. But...yep we are home. We did get here December 11th, Tuesday evening/night.

The flight back to Japan from Honolulu

Delta kids can not fly in first class, unless they are 6 years or older. Regular paying passengers can, but you know what I mean. With having 2 children. We just never really got the chance of ever being able to sit in first class. Not that we're hoity toity fancy shmancy types anyway. When Noah became 4 years old. Noboru and Branden started to get really antsy. They kept saying 2 more years. Only 2 more years Noah. And then last year when Noah turned 5. Noboru even said it on Noah's 5th birthday...just think next year at this time, you'll finally be able to sit in the bigger seats on the airplane. Poor kid, talk about people waiting with baited breath for Noah to turn 6! ; ) This was honestly the most anticipated birthday of Noah's ever! Everyone practically bursting at the seams for Noah to turn 6. In fact I am not sure if Noah or Noboru was more thrilled the day of his birthday. : ) So much so, Noboru cancelled our original flight back to Japan that was booked before he turned age 6 so it automatically put Noah in economy. But on July 7th Noboru got onto his lap top and booked us a new flight...the Delta system automatically keeps all family and people listed in the system with birthdays so it automatically knew Noah was age 6 and so it listed him in first class. Finally. One heck of a wait...but worth it totally. The seats are so big and fold out to a cocoon type bed. So Noboru and Branden sat together. And Noah being younger and needing me to walk him to the bathroom and probably help to cut his meal, I sat with Noah. Champagne or orange juice while the rest of the airplane boarded. I'm not a drinker, just never have been, so I just had the orange juice. We had a nice meal you could choose, chicken breast, beef or seafood. Choice of dressings etc. And then, the flight attendant came around and asked, if you'd like a strawberry sundae or hot fudge. I said hot fudge please. Poor Noah just sat there gobsmacked.....@_@ She waited for an answer, I said do you want to pick or do you want me to pick? He snapped out of it and said...hot fudge please. : ) Then she said..do you want whipped cream and nuts? We both said yes please. So, I sat enjoying my hot fudge sundae and hot coffee watching that new movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston. "Just Go With It", I also watched..Unknown with Liam Neeson and The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon. After that I must have drifted off to sleep for a bit and next thing you know the lady was gently touching my hand asking me if I had wanted breakfast.
Noah looking at all the cutlery they gave him for an icecream sundae. Look mommy they gave me a fork and a knife too. : ) Just don't use them then honey and use the spoon. : ) Noah watched Paul (we saw that at the movies in Guam in March but it's funny), and he also saw, Diary of a Wimpy Kid part 2, Roderick Rules. And watched another movie and I also caught him watching Nickelodeon, Phinneas and Ferb.
Branden and Noboru sat in the seats in front of us. They also had 2 snack areas, with all sorts of fruits, bananas, apples, oranges and chips and nuts all laid out, you could just pick what you wanted. Once while walking back from the bathroom, I picked a banana. And ate it at my seat/bed.
Breakfast was really great. Actually dinner was pretty delicious too. But breakfast was, scrambled egg and cheese on top a wheat english muffin, grilled ham and also some bread on the side with some butter, and a mini jam. And yummy fresh fruit and orange juice and I also had some coffee.
They kept passing us water so we could stay hydrated. : )
Noah eating his breakfast, I didn't use the flash because I didn't want to wake other passengers. : )

The day we arrived and my thoughts about getting through the new line at immigration.

I know there has been great discussions in the gaijin community about the new entry into Japan. I can only tell you my first experience of going through the new way, this past week. And my thoughts on my experience on going through. For everyone it's different but for me, here's my thoughts. : ) In a nut shell, it was awesome. So totally not what I was expecting in a long shot! Before the new system was put into effect, I went through the Japanese line, because I have a reentry permit and my husband is Japanese and my 2 small sons are dual citizens. When we were in the airplane, they passed out these forms to everyone. Apparently everyone has to fill these out. However, the flight attendant, said 1 per family. There would have been no worry if this happened say last year because we woulda went through the same line together but with the new way, I wondered. I had a moment of hesitation because, since I would be going through a line all by myself, perhaps I needed a whole other form, so my immigration officer could see my own form? I wondered. My husband assured me, only 1 form per family. And again, I thought, how would they know if we were a family, if we went through 2 different lines. Okay, so that was the only question mark moment I had during our flight. The flight back was awesome, Branden was perfect as always in the airplane, the kid doesn't need to be entertained, because he can entertain himself and thank god about that! Also, Noah is nearly at that age himself. He watched some DVD's with his brother and played with his sticker book and slept, so he was no trouble either. Phew, knocking on wood about that, because with Noah, we can never be too sure.: ) Okay, so the flight lands, and we follow the arrow/colored line to follow our way down to immigration. And Noboru took both Branden and Noah through the Japanese line. And I had this big question mark. Would I be sent to the foreigner line? Would it be miles long? My answered was just around the corner and the answer was no. They had a separate aisle/lane for reentry permit holders/permanent residents etc. And the line had *zero* people in it. The Japanese lines, where my husband and kids were, were quite full, obviously since most of the flight was Japanese tourists. The gaijin line had a good amount of people in it as well, seriously were they on the plane with me? I didn't notice, ha ha ha. And my teeny tiny 1 single line smack dab, in the middle between the Japanese lines and the visitors lines in Japan, I tell ya, it was truly placed in a fitting spot, ha ha ha. Was empty, I flashed the guy, my gaijin card of Japan, I got into the line ASAP, they were extremely polite. He asked me, if I could place my fingers in the place for my 2 index fingers, it took about all of 2 seconds. He said, thank you. He said, look up, and my picture was taken so fast, I didn't even get a chance to smile or fix my hair yet either, sheesh, ha ha ha, seriously though, I didn't see my pic, which was good, I must've looked like crap. Ha ha ha. But it was so polite, so fast and efficient. I zipped through, and would you believe, I actually beat Noboru and the kids? I kid you not. I was waiting for the hubby, he saw me on the other side, I smiled and waved. He was upset/angry about me going through alone, he was upset about me having to go through. He was pissed actually, he actually gave me an ear full about it on the escaltors on the way down to immigration! But when he came out, he said, "how are you honey" I said, I'm fine, it wasn't so bad actually. Okay, he was clearly more pissed about it then I was. I am glad they have the line separated the way they do, for us foreign wives at least, our wait is shorter at least. Anyway, that was my experience with the line, it wasn't so bad. And heck, do I wish it was the way it was before? Of course, I do. But to be fair, we fingerprint and take pics in the US, like this too in immigration, when people fly into the US now, have since it has been changed since the 9-11 tragedy, for anyone who isn't American or who doesn't have a green card. Noboru doesn't need to go through it, because he has a US green card. But Jun and his wife and my niece for example had to get fingerprinted and pics taken when they were in Hawaii last November or whenever. So it's not just like only Japan. And I don't feel like I am singled out at all. I guess, I must just be really laid back, because I am fine with taking it. And my line is shortest of them all, so yay for me and the re-entry permit line. Ha ha ha. But yeah, do I wish it would go back to the way it was before? Obviously, yes, but again I said that, but this isn't so bad for me either really. Anyways, that was my experience with it at least. : )

We had a a whole heap of luggage to lug back to Japan. So much food. Plus Noah's spare car seat.

It was raining, and bitterly cold. What a greeting back to Japan, huh? ha ha ha! : )

Yup, I packed some sweatshirts in the Carry-on suitcase and jeans or overalls, for the boys to be warm, when we arrived in Japan, however we were still freezing our ever lovin' butts off. Oh yeah, big time! : ) But, as you can tell by the smile on B's face, we were all happy! Happy to be together and happy to be home, back in Japan! : ) PS, and that form, I wondered about. It wasn't needed until we go through customs and we were already together at that point anyway. : )

Getting there and our first day in Portland Oregon! : )

In between watching some movies on our own personal little screens in front of our seats, I also would glance at the map every once in a while to see our progress. Basically how much longer do we have to be stuck in the ol' airplane, basically was my main question I had. Ha ha ha.

At this point, we had 3 hours and 22 minutes left. Clearly I had gotten used to the short 3 hour flight to Guam, because 8 long hours was just a killer! : ( Ha ha ha.

Noah watched both of the Nickelodeon channels. And Branden watched Cars, and the Emperors New Groove and the ton of other Disney kids movies that were available. What did I watch? Well, I got to watch the movie "Waitress" with Keri Russell, you know the girl who played Felicity? The movie was so good! I really liked it a lot. I also watched an absolutely hilarious movie, called "The Ex" with Justin Batemen and Amanda Peet, and Mia Farrow, the lead guys name was Zach (sorry forgot his last name). Anyways this is/was so good. Justin Batemen is the ex boyfriend of the lead guy (the Zach guy). And the Justin Batemen (JB) character is in a wheelchair (he is just faking btw), he tortures the poor hubby without mercy. They work together, the guy gets all screwed up at work.JB messes with this guys poor desk. Steals a pic of him and his wife. It sounds horrible but it's hilarious the way they made this movie. And at one point, the lead guy, sorry I can't recall his entire name. Tells everyone, Justin's character is NOT handicapped. And he throws him down the stairs to prove he can indeed walk. However Justin Batemen's character is so savvy and smart, he lays flat on the floor after toppling down the stairs and moans in agony and pain. Everyone thinks that the hubby guy is a real jerk, hurting JB's character like that! They all look at him in disgust and throw him out of the house. And when no one is looking and they were outside, he gets up and walks. It's just so funny, so incredible. I won't ruin the end. But OMG, if anyone likes a killer comedy, please see this! I was laughing hysterically in my seat.

Everyone in our family of four, was into their own movie, their own show. Half the time Noah watched with headphones on, other times he watched without headphones. And other times he slept, which was nice though only about an hour and a half max. Branden is at the easy peasy age. We don't even worry about how he will act on an airplane, he's fine. Meanwhile Noah is passed the crying on the airplane stage. And I thank goodness for that part and I do feel the pain of that stage believe me. He is at the stage where we need to keep him occupied. Lucky the TV worked and helped a bunch. But sticker books helped, coloring books. A walk around the cabin quietly helped. Going to bathroom with each of us, to mix things up. Just trying to keep him occupied basically. And we needed that especially since the flight is like super long and no we were not looking forward to the 11 hour flight back to Narita. The thought of that mixed with a 2 year old, did cause me to worry some. But lucky for us, we were fine, and I will write about that more later. But basically Branden was a typical star on both flights as usual, he is a good kiddo though, he really is. And Noah, was behaved back and forth. He was awake most of the flight to Oregon, but he made no annoying to other passengers type noise and was not obnoxious or loud or anything. We just stood awake and kept him occupied the entire flight and yes, it is/was work. However Noah slept the entire way back to Narita and that was the long 11 hour flight. How did we luck out? I don't know. We didn't even have to entertain him a bit. Or go through the new sticker books we bought for him at Target. He slept the entire and I do mean the entire way back to Japan. We were like, woo hoo! LOL!

Oh Noah, you beautiful little dickens, you!!! Once you hit age 3 and age 4, you will start to mellow out a bit. Phew! Ha ha ha! : ) And once you hit age 5, like B, we will be on easy street. Then we can travel all over the place with ease. We do love you so much though! : )

And you can see by now on the map, we were right over the US at this point. About to land within 20 minutes or so. We made it!!! We survived, oh how ever did we survive this long of a flight with a 2 year old? I'll never know! It was work for us 2 parents to make sure he was quiet and well behaved in the airplane for the entire 8 hours. As soon as we get off the airplane, we will be like, yay! Hip hip horray! Get us off this airplane please, will ya??? : )

Yup only 26 more minutes until we land in Portland. Hmm and 11:02 pm in Japan. Meanwhile it's only 7:28 am in Oregon. My stomach and body was on Japan time. Yet I was just given an omelet breakfast in the airplane. My mind thought late dinner *maybe*, yet we just ate breakfast. Meanwhile our internal clocks think it's time for sleep, yet it's broad daylight outside. Yup, jet lag! Boy were we all mixed up! Ha ha ha.

We stayed at the Best Western, in Troutdale. We knew we wanted to spend under 100 bucks a night, no doubt. This was not a *vacation* vacation. Fancy shmancy vacations only happen for our family once a year, otherwise we affordable vacation, it! Ha ha ha. And yet we knew we didn't want a $20.00 a night roach motel either. Something, clean, safe, preferably in the suburbs, that had a good rating. This is the place that came up. Everyone who commented on Expedia and yahoo, rec'd this place. They were right. It was excellent. And they were so friendly, the rooms were immaculately clean as everyone who commented said they were. The free breakfast was sausage patties, hash browns, cheese omelets buffet every morning, yogurt, waffles, fresh fruit, cereals galore. They had actual Tully's coffee and 6 different kinds and flavors of it anytime of day or night always ready for guests. And it was normally 89 bucks a night for the deluxe room with living room too. But we got it on special for $79.00 a night.The room with no living room was even 10 bucks cheaper even, so a good deal. We really lucked out. And we would totally stay at this hotel again. In fact, after we got our rental car at PDX, and everyone was starved so we went to Mc D's drive thru for breakfast and drove to the hotel. We knew check in was at 3:00 pm. Noboru went in to tell them we were there and from Japan, she said, please come in right away. She said they had a room available right then for us. She gave us the room at like 8:30 am or 9:00 am. How nice is that? She was that nice! And she also offered us the free for guests, breakfast, although we said we just ate. We got into our room at like 8:30 am, when we weren't even supposed to check in until 3:0o pm. And we all took a good nap. We needed it because we were just exhausted.

This was what our bedroom part of the room looked like. Again, really nice and unexpected for a Best Western. But the sign on this place said, Best Western Inn and suites, so maybe this was a better then the regular Best Western?, I don't know, and it doesn't really matter really. But it was awesome! And the beds were so comfortable. Noboru remarked about the comfort of this bed, so did I and even Branden said how comfy the bed was. They were nice beds! And the bathroom shower nozzle was huge, it was Kholer, this place was just really nice. Again, no Ritz by any means, but very exceptional for an affordable family friendly place to spend our time in Oregon.

Here was the living room part of it. We got the bigger room because we know we typically eat a lot of our meals in our room and we also needed the extra space for whatever we bought.

It had this second table, the bedroom also had a table, and dresser and TV etc. And you can see there is a microwave and good sized fridge. This stored all our meats and stuff we planned to bring back to Japan with us.

All four of us slept from about 9:00 am until about 1:00 pm. We all got a decent sized nap. Felt a bit recharged. Granted our timing still felt weird and wonky, but not much we could do about that. And with our limited time in the states, we didn't want to waste our first day there. I also wanna say the Fairview, Troutdale Gresham area where we stayed was lovely. It was a nice middle class suburb. Much like in an area where I grew up myself in Denver. Also there was a Target not more then a 5 minute drive from our hotel and in the opposite direction just 5 minutes away, there was a smallish but fully stocked outlet mall near there too. So for us, we did pick the best location and hotel. Very good location. Around 1:15 we headed to the Target. We just all brushed our teeth real quick and freshened up a bit first though. Now, again I will tell you the same thing, I always say before I share what was brought back with us. Read this part if you want, otherwise just skip it and no worries either way : ) And that is, some people will share what they brought back on trips. I love reading blogs that go into detail like that. And I also read blogs that don't share the skinny. Either way is fine. And again neither way is either right or wrong. It just boils down to personal choice. Personally when someone says they just got a new necklace for example or watch, I being a typical girl am curious, I'd like to see a pic, heck. And I dig getting to ohh and ahh for my gal pal/friends new cool thing she just got. Ha ha ha. Diaper bag, new flippies, new stroller, what have you. Again some might not wanna share or see. To each there own. But again as a typical girl, I like to look. It gives us all good ideas, a good visual. I don't take it as a....look what they got type thing. Or a nanny nanny I got it, type thing. It's just a girl passing along some girl type info. Granted might bore the heck outta a guy. But then, that's okay. Also, I got a lot of people who read in the US who are not expats. I am sure they are curious, what does a typical expat bring back to Japan with them. Granted I might not be a typical expat since I do travel a lot (I really am sorry about that guys : (, but it's an interesting looksee. And even for those of you not living an expat life. Imagine for fun, if you couldn't go home for the next year and think of all the fun and quirky things you'd bring back to your host country with you. What would be in your suitcases? Ha ha ha. Anyway, I do for the most part share what I bring back with me. It's just how I blog, I guess, my blog really gives you a chance to get to know me a bit better and yes even all the silly and dorky things I lug back with me too ha ha ha, I give you all the skinny and details that I would share with my best friend, that's all, nothing more, nothing less, I guess. : ) Most people find it interesting. Not braggy at all, most certainly *not*. Come on, I seriously doubt Target could ever be braggy in the first place, lol. Now granted maybe if I was lugging a Gucci and a few Chanel things back with me it would be different story, but just for your typical grocery store and Target and Outlet mall type thing, it isn't really a big deal really and certainly not something to get upset about really. Most certainly not. So, if you are one of my gal pals or family, and you are curious and such, please keep reading this post and enjoy it. And again if reading a girlie/mommy shopping type post isn't your cup of tea, again no worries in the least, please avoid these Oregon posts and check back with us next week. And as always if any of my expat girlfriends want me to bring back something for them, I will gladly do it. I have done that for years for many of you. Two of you in fact right now as a matter of fact, when I just went on this trip to Oregon actually, he he he. : )

This is sorta dumb, but the mini shampoos and conditioners we get at hotels are always so darn small. And the kids need tear free. So, no mater if I am in Guam, Saipan, Hawaii, whatever. I always go and buy a bottle of shampoo, conditioner for me right away, and a cheapie $1.68 bottle of kids tear free shampoo. And a smallish travel sized bar of green tea Dove soap. Whatever is leftover, we will just lug back to Japan. We got this obviously from Target.

Cheapest wipes possible. Luden cough drops for the kids. And the cheapest knock off brand of Riccola cough drops. We all still had a bit of a cough, so we used these for our trip and also brought back a few packs each to take back to Japan with us. And Noah used the potty in the hotel. But he used diapies when we went out. Now that we are back home, he has to jump on that potty training band wagon again ha ha ha.

Everything in this pic is from Target. Heck, I won't lie! : ) The bags I actually went back to Target on the last night we were in Oregon. I have designer bags. I have a really large Prada collection as a lot of you know. However, I needed and wanted an affordable bag, I could tote back and forth to the grocery store, swimming class and all my other momly places. I didn't want super expensive, I wanted something sorta cute, affordable and that I wouldn't mind if I didn't use it next year or not. I found these the first day but delayed buying until after I checked the outlets first. I checked the Gap, and Banana Republic outlet, Gap had just canvas bags with stripes or polka dots, they were okay, but I preferred these. Figures I ended up going back for the bags I found the first day at Target. And since I didn't buy any other bags, I knew I wanted to go back for these. The brown one was only $18.99 and the black one which was real leather btw, was only $19.00, really cheap and come on, the quality of Target is good, you guys. I love ballet flats, I even posted about the velvet pair I got at Banana Republic in Hawaii last December if any of you remember. I've loved ballet flats forever. These were on sale for only $10.00/1000 yen. A gigantic pair of sunglasses. I have my regular old and out of style Gucci pair (hey I am honest). However I often leave them at home, just plain forgetful. I am leaving these cheap Target sunglasses in my glove compartment and that way I will always have a pair when I need them and am being blinded by the sun while driving, ha ha ha. Oh yeah and 12 pairs of cheap undies, woo hoo. Can we possibly get any more boring then that, seriously? Ha ha ha. Wink, wink. I told ya, nothing really fabulous here you guys really! : )

2 different set of pins for my hair. I know, I was doing the thermal hair straightening thing for about 6 or 7 years to my hair, I must be over it for now or for a while at least. Because this year I am wearing it wavy. Natural. Sometimes I do a wide deep side part in the bang area and clip my front part with a few cute pins like this. It looks actualy sorta cute. Very girly and stylish, he he he. And so cheap, thanks Target. Bonks self! : )

Lot's of headbands. A thick black patent leather crocdile texture type one. I love that one. A dark brown one with metal rings and hardware type stuff. A super thick satiny brown one with gold necklaces printed on the headband, I love this one a lot too. A thick shiny red one. And a thick black one with white polka dots. I can just imagine wearing that thick polka dot headband with my matching polka dot ballet flats and maybe my black cardigan set and a pair of jeans. Simple but cute and girly. Really preppy.

If you read or recall when I bought my bedding for my bed last year in Guam, I said. I wasn't thrilled with my choice, but it was slim pickings when I got there. I knew since a year ago, I would be replacing my bedding. I ended up doing it super cheaply. This blue floral was perfect. It's a modern floral, sorta Hawaiian style, really cool, certainly not my grandma's old flower blanket from yester year, lol. Target really does have the coolest things don't they? It's a floral without looking all out of style and dated. It reminds me of the beach or something, I don't know why. The colors are soft and tranquil which is what I personally want outta my bedroom, lol. Okay I am really soudning like a dork-o supreme here, I better shut it. I'll just say, I loved it immediately and so did the hubby! : ) I also got the sheet set to match.

$19.98 US for a king sized comforter is an awesome deal. Although my bed is a queen. But it's a Japanese queen. It seems a pinch bigger then a standrd queen, even though the Target queen sized sheets have always fit perfectly. The problems I have is with the comforter or top blanket. The reason is because many say, comforter in size "full/queen" That errs on the pinch smaller then my bed. So I always have a problem with the widths on the blankets. Last year we again bought a queen. A straight queen at Kmart. And again it was a pinch too narrow. Night time always meant a pulling type tug o war for the blankets. So, this time, I saw this comforter, I fell in love, they had 3 queens, which were cheaper. And only 1 king. I said, I prefer get the king. So, that is what this is, it's a king size. No more having to worry if we will have a blanket tug o war anymore, phew! : )

The picture showed light blue sheets, I had to agree, so that's why I bought the light blue sheets as well. My sheets set were only $18.00 US. Good deals. No expensive spulrges here, sorry guys! I am by no means a Mrs. Fancy pants, he he. : )

The matching pillow shams were 4 or 5 bucks each. Add the fact my sheet set also has 2 light blue pillow cases, I got the whole bed thing completely finished and really cheaply. Phew. Really happy it came out so cheap, he he : )

Just a very few school supplies for Branden for next year when he enters elementary school in April. Again, nothing really terribly fascinating, ha ha ha. : )

Two pair of black opaque tights for winter time when I wanna wear a black or demin dress paired with a black cardigan or a khaki or black skirt. And black argyle knee high socks, these are going to go great with my denim gauchos and a black turtle neck and my black wool Gap pea coat (I just replaced my old Gap pea coat last year for a new black Gap pea coat last year, lol). And my black ballet flats. Yippy for long argyle warm socks for winter time. And again, not expensive or Gucci or 100 bucks a pair or anything. Just a few US dollars for a pair and from Target. Cheap as chips. And I am a cheapskate, ha ha ha. But, I still like to look cute though. : ) And just a bunch of cheap fashion white metal earrings. Again like 4 or 5 bucks each.

I was *so* hoping to find khaki cargo shorts for Branden at Target. At at $6.48 a pair, I was really happy, I did.

I bought him 2 pair in size 6. He will be age 6 at the very end of October. So he will be able to wear these a full year. And to get 2 pair at just 6 bucks and some odd change was a real steal. I also got 1 pair in size 7. Granted I might have to stick these in B's closet and hide them for a year but for that good of deal, I don't mind. And I woulda got another size 7, but they only had the one pair. Anyway I was just glad to find the 2 pairs of size 6. And yes, Noboru did ask me, which store I wanted to go first. I said, let's start the cheapest and best deals and work our way up. Which is why we hit Target first. Then the following day the outlets. But Target was my first choice for best deals, ha ha ha. And I got good deals too! Ballet flats, comforters, sheets, cargo shorts and all. : )

A pale lime green polo type top for 4 or 5 bucks for B. A size 7 but for the price, I'll sit on it for a year and save it for a year. Low cut sneaker socks and long crew socks all for B. A pair of long john's, in size 6/7. Otherwise I woulda got the size for next year but it was a 2 size, type size, lol. Oh and the other color they had for Branden's age was really a very dark army green yucky color. So I only got him the one pair. And 1 (3 pack) of Shrek the third underwear. And 1 (3 pack) of Spiderman 3 underwear. Ha ha ha. Again nothing hoity toity, just bargains nothing all too fab or anything.

Two nice thick quality rugby type shirts for Noah. And 2 pairs of long johns in size 2T and 2 pairs in 3T these were for Noah-chan. And Branden got a nicer long sleeve rugby but he got it at Gap. Ha ha ha. That way he wasn't left out at all. And yup they didn't have any rugby type tops at Target in his size that's why he lucked out getting the one from the Gap outlet, meanwhile the Gap outlet didn't have Noah's size. Oh well, they look pretty similiar, can't really tell the Gap and Target rugby apart from each other, ha ha ha.

Each of my boys get 2 turtle necks every winter, however Target didn't have B's size, so the things in this pic are Noah's. Great to wear under sweatshirts and all. These were a steal, when you see the price for them down below, I'll give you a hint, under 4 bucks. And the plain t shirts will go great for when Noah wears his overalls, again under 4 bucks. Just basics and very cheap basics as well. Again nothing fab. You know how when in the US every time before school hits in the fall, a parent takes their kids clothes shopping for the new school year? What I did wasn't any different then that really, pretty typical if you thik about it. Nothing all to shocking or out of the ordinary, just some winter clothes for the boys truly nothing too exciting here. Just got my chance to stock up on a few basics, is all. : )

So cheap. Cheaper then Nishimatsuya type cheap and the quality is way better!

My equally cheapie hubby got himself 2 packs of boxers on sale. I still get a good chuckle about that one, ha ha : )

A very few bags of candy for the boys. And I usually don't let them eat loads of candy but I figured with Halloween coming up, a few treats here and there and an extra long teeth brushing should be okay. Oh yeah and some gum and cough drops for me again. I have a few packs of those drops. I needed them.

You'd think we spent a hundred years in Target or something. But we didn't. In truth we spent a good hour and 45 minutes, to 2 hours tops. However after going to the boys department ASAP, I then slowly walked every aisle in Target and I do mean every aisle. Even the gosh darned tootin' automitive department, lol. And I certainly didn't need anything from there, lol! After that it was around 3:30 pm with 4 pm sneaking up on us. We coulda went someplace else to shop, but no way. I said. You know what guys? We are still tired. Let's just get some food. What we got was good for today. Let's go get some take out and head back to the hotel, take hot showers and just relax basically. Noboru totally agreed. Kids totally agreed too. So, we all got ourselves some Taco Bell the first night back there. Then after dinner we all took showers and then Noboru fell asleep probably within the first 5 minutes of his head hitting the pillow. Loud snores came his way. And he only snores when he is really tired. Ha ha ha. Both the kids fell asleep soon as well. Everyone was asleep by 8:30 pm. I was awake the latest, I stood awake until 10:00 pm. : )

I almost forgot, after eating Taco Bell in our room. Noboru went out to have his last cigarrette outside. Yup that's right you guys, he is back to smoking again, sigh not happy about that one. Anyway, he brought back 2 cups of Tully's irish cream coffee. And some homemade, yes from scratch, hot cookies that the lady does make every night. And she also makes a pot of homemade soup every night too. The soup changes everyday and our first night it was bean and bacon soup. So good! I had this small cup/bowl and shared it with Branden. Noboru shared a small cup with Noah. All in all, our first day was a good one. We didn't shop, our brains out, non stop full throttle, until we were all tired, run ragged and cranky and bitchy. We just shopped only one store the first day and relaxed the rest of the night. We kept it really light. The flight was good. We did manage to hit one store (Target) and get some decent amount of things knocked off our list, so it was a pretty good day all in all. : )