Going to the movies with Noboru to see the new movie, Bridget Jones's Baby and going to lunch afterwards...

Yesterday, Friday, November 4th, Noboru had the day off work. And we had a husband and wife date planned. We would go to the movies and see Bridget Jones's Baby! The movie started at 9:50am. We went to the movie theater in Tsukuba, Ibaraki where the Old Navy is located. You know, the Aeon mall there, I've mentioned it a few times. All our closest movie theaters to our house are all located in Ibaraki prefecture. Versus Chiba prefecture. See...we really and truly do teeter totter the Chiba/Ibaraki border where our home is. Our closest Chiba movie theater is in Narita but that Bridget Jones's Baby didn't start until after 11am. I think 11:45am. And that wouldn't work for our schedule considering what time the kids got off school...I mean we'd make it...but it would be a rushed thing. And so...  not too fun if you feel rushed. So this just worked way better for us. The morning movie was best and Tsukuba is quite close for us. And absolutely no rush. : ) 

Has anyone seen the previews to that new movie by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? This looks pretty good and like a movie I will definitely be taking the boys to see, when it comes out. I think it comes out for us in Japan at the end of November. 

Hi, Brig! Can't wait to sit down and enjoy this movie! And yes that is...McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey!) He was such a sweetheart in this movie. : )

We went on ladies day and there were about a good 30 other folks in the movie with us. There were a handful of sweet husbands with wives. But the bulk of the folks were women. And a really nice middle aged ladies duo sat on the left of us but about a 3 seat space/gap from us and they were cracking up laughing too. So, was I. It was hilarious!

Noboru went to the restroom real quick and nobody was in here yet, so I quickly snapped a few pics. Our drinks and large popcorn (large sized for Japan and really fresh and delicious).

Seat numbers. Yes, if you live in Japan, you know this obviously. But for those in America, or Canada or elsewhere. You have to pick your seat, before the movie starts. So this is the spot for my soda and so there is never an issue with someone taking your soda holder etc. I actually sort of like this way. 

Each back of seat has a very high purse or bag holder, so you don't have to place your bag on the ground. Everything has a spot or place. And it's just very nice this way. : ) 

Somebody snuck in a couple Halloween treats! I did it, I did. I admit it. But considering the cost of a movie, the cost of concession stand popcorn and sodas, I actually feel okay sneaking in a few mini chocolate bars. : )  How did we like the movie? I love love loved it! But then I am a girl! I love romantic comedies! I also adore Bridget Jones! So, I am totally biased. I didn't care for the 2nd Bridget movie too much. But the original one I loved. And this one was excellent too. Would I buy the DVD for this? Honestly? I might. How did Noboru like it? To be fair. he doesn't like girly romance movies at all. But he loves me and he knows how much I wanted to see this, so he went with me. Best husband ever! So sweet. So thoughtful. And for what it's worth. There's a Japanese movie coming out soon that he wants to see. And I will definitely go with him and see it too. He seemed to enjoy Bridget Jones's Baby though. It was really a good movie. : )

We were deciding what to have for lunch. Subway Sandwiches or ramen. Subway or ramen? We both picked ramen. I picked my favorite spicy noodles. Tantanmen. And Noboru had a whole lunch combo/set. We had a nice leisurely lunch and we were home by 2pm. Considering the kids didn't even get out until 3:45pm (Noah) and Bran rode his bike and didn't get out until 4pm. We were home with plenty of time. We got home. I made and set the rice cooker. And at 3pm, I rolled the buffalo wings in their seasoning and baked in the oven. Cooked some broccoli. And by the time Branden rode in on his bike, dinner was set and on the table hot and freshly done. We all ate and enjoyed our night.

Anyway...today is Saturday. Tonight, I'm making homemade fully loaded nachos. Noboru is at work. : ( Tomorrow, both the boys have their second part of their Eiken to take. The interview part. Noboru and Branden will be in Tokyo taking the verbal/speaking interview. For the Eiken 1. And Noah and I will be in Narita City and Noah will be taking the Eiken 3 speaking interview. Noah got 100% on the entire Eiken 3. As in....Noah didn't miss or make 1 mistake the whole writing part of the Eiken 3. That's hilarious. We knew Noah would do fantastic and well. But 100%!?! Holy crap! Kid..you are smart as heck Noah!!! 100% super duper proud of you Noah! Branden did not get 100% obviously...considering it's the Eiken 1... but he slayed that test! So they're both rock stars. My only wish...is that I could be in 2 places at once tomorrow and be there in person for both kids. : ( However...I am only 1 person and I need to stay with our youngest kiddo. However Noboru is still going to go and protect and support our oldest kiddo. So...he will not be alone. : ) Of course. And they will go and have lunch at some amazing place in Tokyo, I am sure. I told them already...go and enjoy some delicious lunch you guys! Father and son lunch. Right now they're sort of leaning towards Shake Shack (famous burger place from NYC, 100% beef burgers, breaded chicken breast sandwiches and frozen custard, omg sounds so good) : ) As for Noah and I. We don't have too much in Narita City for lunch choices. : ) Hahaha. So we might go to a delicious Japanese bakery on the way home. Or maybe McD's.  Awww, okay...their lunch choices tomorrow totally beat the crap out of our lunch choices tomorrow. But that's quite alright. Because it's family and you always want the best for family. The bright side is, both kids will be getting their Eiken done tomorrow. Branden will now be totally done Eiken wise. Meaning he can go no further because he already reached the top. So there is a bright side. After tomorrow, as long as everything goes well we can scratch Branden off the Eiken list. And Noah is following in his big brothers Eiken footsteps. : )

And what's for supper tomorrow? I'm thinking miso chicken with a salad. And some rice and some steamed veggies. But, I am really in the mood for a salad. Which is why I said salad before rice or veggies. : ) Either that or...fried pork chops and Rice a Roni and some steamed corn or broccoli and a side salad. I have ingredients here at home for both. I can go either way. Whatever we don't have tomorrow night, we will have the next night. Also...Noah and I are driving to Narita City tomorrow. And about 10 of Bran's 9th grade classmates will also be taking the Eiken level 3 with Noah, which makes me happy. Because that means... there will be a whole bunch of our country/inaka kids from our town there too, which is so nice because Noah and I won't be alone, we will have many kiddos/friends of B's to talk with and stuff. All those kids are so nice, so if we have to wait in line we might as well have lots of good chatty friends to talk with. However, Noboru and Branden, I think are riding the train to Tokyo. So, I am unsure what time they'll pull back into our country town. Noah and I should be back home by 2pm tomorrow. And I will just start supper as soon as I get home. Make the salad. Steam the veggies. If it's pork chops, I can start frying them. If it's miso chicken, I can marinate the chicken and stick in the fridge in the morning before we leave. And have everything 100% ready to roll, for whenever they get home.  I told ya...time management is my super power. And time management regarding dinner...is my ultimate super power. I always have things ready to eat as soon as you come home. Not cold and stiff... like it's been sitting for eons. But fresh and ready. How do I manage it? Not sure, but it's fun for me...to make sure it's hot and freshly served when they walk through the door. I'm nerdy like that....: ) Hahaha. : )

Anyway...I am going to finish up this post and enjoy my night here at home. I think I have a load in my dryer upstairs that's just about to beep and be done. : ) Have an amazing weekend everyone. It's sure getting chilly in Japan lately isn't it?  : )

Lunch date with the hubster. Pizza Hut and enjoying the weekend. Potato and zucchini update. Upcoming...Observation Day, Big health exam and Oblivion at the movies, this coming Saturday

Last Thursday, May 23rd, 2013. Noboru and I went on a lunch date.  We went to Cocoichi curry. It was great. I had the basic pork curry (you can have a choice of pork or beef) and I had veggies. So pork and vegetable curry for me. And Noboru had tonkatsu curry. And fries were 100 yen and so we munched some while we waited. It was a nice lunch last Thursday. : )

The new Dexter seventh season was just released on DVD mid May and it was shipped to me as soon as possible. Quite happy to catch up with these. : )

Last Friday was trash day and so I decided to also clean the heck out of the trash can. : )

Rinsed the trash can, then I filled it up with about a half cup of Gain scented Mr. Clean and a whole lotta water, let it soak and then I rinsed it twice. I Clorox wiped the lid, Orange Cleaned the lid and then Clorox wiped the lid one more time for good measure. ; )

Let it dry on the back patio, then ran upstairs to wash my hands and get the laundry out of the washing machine.

First load from last Friday. Swimming towels and bath towels of Branden and Noah's. 1 pair of shorts each and 1 shirt/top each, basically what they wore from the day before.  The trash can was on the patio also at this time. After the trash can dried though, I brought it back into the kitchen.

Second and last load of last Friday. Every body's pillow case in the entire house, including the 2 pillows we keep on the couch. Noboru's bath towel (yellow stripe) my bath towel (blue stripe) and both Branden and Noah's swimming cap and swimming trunks (swim school uniform). And Noboru's gray house shorts with orange stripe on the bottom pole. House was cleaned and ready for the weekend.

Friday night, Noboru went to his Father's Club gathering. And the boys and I had the frozen lasagna, a simple salad and 1 baguette from the bakery, which I made into garlic bread. Meanwhile, Saturday, Noboru wanted to relax at home with us and have movie night, and we did too. So we decided what the heck. : ) And we ordered some Pizza Hut for dinner Saturday evening. Weekends are for relaxing, and I couldn't agree more. Monday through Friday I'll go back to the ol' grind and cooking regular meals and cleaning up. But yeah, a weekend for enjoying some pizza and whatnot. For sure. : )

We had a large order of baked fries.

We had 2 large pepperoni and mushroom pan pizzas. Japanese size large/ American size medium. And we even bought a couple bags of curry potatoes chips and we also had a nice sized bowl of fresh crunchy sweet grapes for movie night also, after everyone took turns showering and stuff of course. Saturday night was awesome. Very relaxing, very fun.

Sunday was a bit of a time crunch. From 9am-10am we did community street cleaning. Yet at 9:30am to 12 noon the boys had the kodomo kai (like a kids party for the kids that attend our town/local elementary school) at the plaza. So, I went out and pulled weeds in the empty lot next to us and swept the street, chatted with my neighbors etc from 8:50am. And then at 9:17, I left, went and dropped off Branden and Noah at the kodomo kai. And then I came back home. By now it was 9:45am-ish. And it was ending as I was pulling the car back into the drive way. The boy next door and his brother are quite shy in real life and so they prefer stay home inside most days, so their mom told us, her sons weren't going to the Kodomo kai, which is fine every kid is different and that's okay. And Rin's dad was dropping off their 2 boys, they're pretty out going. Branden and Noah wanted to go too. And you had to check it off on the kairanban weeks in advance, about the kodomo kai.  Meanwhile. Noboru being the hancho (block leader) and Fuku kaicho (community VP) he was busy so I was the only ride for Branden and Noah, so yeah I did have a 20 minute absence but all my neighbors understood. I was actually talking to my girlfriend on the next block last week and we both were both wondering about these 2 things, community cleanup and kodomo kai all happening on the same day virtually similar times, maybe someone didn't realize it until it was too late. I know many mom's could not street clean at all which is because they were working the kodomo kai. Anyway, not really a big deal really.... when you think about it, but yeah....it was just unusual both things fell on the same day. I'm lucky all my neighbors are cool and the grandma next door knew about the kodomo kai and they all said, "no we understand you go ahead and go, we'll take care of the rest" : ) So....I cruised there and back.  Anyway....this is Noah's stuff he brought back from the kodomo kai. Each child gets a card it has many spots to stamp, 1 is for  a free soda, when you get it they stamp your card. Free hot dog. Free balloon... fishing game and if you use it, they stamp your card. That type of thing. And at the end... everyone gets a bag of snacks. So this is Noah's. Corn and lemon eraser. There was also popped popcorn and everything for the kids to enjoy for free. The mom's handling this event always do a great job.

These were Branden's things he brought back. And his 2 erasers were a chocolate ice cream and grape eraser. Anyway the boys had themselves a blast. I went and picked them up, when it was over. And brought them home. : ) The Jinbei boy was at the kodomo kai event too. And around 12:30pm. After everyone ate lunch. he rang our doorbell. Jinbei boy and his little (5th grade) sister wanted to play tennis with Branden and Noah. They came with rackets. The boys were like, right on! They grabbed their hats and their tennis rackets also and cell phone and went to the tennis court area in our housing community. They played for the afternoon. I meanwhile watched a few episodes of Dexter. : )

The weekly potato progress report. hahaha. Update. ; ) They are pretty big. They flowered already. Their leaves look healthy and green.

Really tall.

Did the zucchini not double in size, since last week? I'm right, right? lol. I looked at that pic from last week and yeah it totally looks twice the size. And also look at the plant to the left, see a small yellow flower? : )  Yay.

Many teeny tiny zucchini on here already.

Anything else to add, hold on, let me rack my brain here for a second. : ) Ah!

I have my great big health check up this coming Thursday morning. Barium anyone? Blech. : ) Necessary of course, but still. Yuck. : ) Will be glad when it's done and won't have to think about the taste for another year. : )

Branden and Noah have observation day this coming Wednesday. And it's also disaster drill practice. Where all parents show up and walk the kiddos home. I will be there. : )

Our family is going to the movies this coming Saturday. We're going to see Oblivion with Tom Cruise. It looks good and like our cup of tea, as far as movies go. Anyway, that's what's up around here. : )

 

An update of sorts

Noah is at his ensoku/field trip today. He will be dropped off at the entrance of our housing community along with, the other kiddos who live in this housing community, so I will be walking down the ped path around 1:55pm today, his arrival time is at 2pm. But I know it takes me a couple minutes to walk the ped path and around and past the tennis courts etc. What else, their observation day on Saturday was awesome. So, expect an "observation post" coming next and then an ensoku post coming after that. : )  This is another "bits and pieces" post. Anyway, this pic is of lunch last Friday. Last Friday, Noboru and I went out, on our weekly lunch date. We went to our favorite ramen shop. Noboru had ramen and I had ramen also, I had the tantanmen, without meat. We shared gyoza and fries. And we both had melon sodas.  Anyway that was our lunch last Friday afternoon.

What else have I been up to lately? This pic is 2 fold really. ; )  All the Brat Pack movies have been on TV a lot lately and I love all these movies. All the John Hughes movies are great. So, the other night, I watched 16 candles (not pictured). Hilarious movie! And Jake Ryan!!!! I think many of us Gen X'ers had a huge crush on the character Jake Ryan. ; )  Anyway, flipped through the channels again another night and as luck would have it, Breakfast Club was playing with 16 Candles playing right behind it again. Didn't watch 16 Candles that night again granted, but I watched The Breakfast Club.  The jock/Sporto, the dweeb, Molly/Claire and her sushi obento, lol. : ) and Ally Sheedy and her dandruff hair, she put and shook onto her picture. : )And Judd Nelson. Oh yeah and I changed the furniture in the living room. You can tell a pinch by this pic, I think. So, I am kicking butt on the Spring cleaning so far too. ; )

The Yuka-sensei had brought gifts to her former students. Meaning Noah's class. She's teaching at a different school now.

A notebook and an eraser. And a good bye letter.

She had given everyone in her former class this letter with class picture and at the bottom right, a personal note to each child. The bigger bolder words above the picture says "thank you and I love you!" Awwww! : ) I think her giving this note to each of her former students was amazing. Noah for one, read the entire note and especially her words and special message to him. He asked me to put this in his school scrapbook and I did. : )

It basically says, she knows he will be a big help to the new ichinensei. And she asks him if he will play dodge ball with them? : ) And she says to Noah, that he is so good at sports. But, anyway, her message meant the absolute world to him. Our school will miss her and on a personal note, Branden and Noah will miss her. : )

I am always cooking something around here. It can be Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Italian, American, etc, I mean seriously you never know what you'll find if you show up for dinner at our house! Hahaha.  I had been dying to make pork carnitas for like...forever! Having eaten carnitas in many yummy restaurants in Colorado and California. I have been really wanting to eat some. However, I have never made them before in my entire life. Do I know what good ones taste like? Yes, for sure. But it doesn't mean I know how to cook them though. lol. ; ) So, I started a month ago, reading all over online. All recipes. Other websites. But basically the highest rated recipes I bookmarked and then I started to notice similarities in cooking the pork. Just similarities in the recipes. So, I finally decided I'm going to make them. And if they're great, they're great and if they suck, they'll suck! Hahaha. But they turned out amazing! I actually even surprised myself with how well they turned out. In this pic is seasoned pork. I just cut a good amount of fresh cilantro to add into the salsa. Grated some cheese.

I also boiled a little batch of beans and refried them easily. And dinner was pretty easy.

Bean, seasoned pork, lettuce, cheese, salsa with fresh cilantro. They were great. And Noboru ate about 5 of these. Branden had 4 and Noah had 3. I had 4 too. Very filling and I will definitely make these again for sure.

A common meal we often have here at our house is chicken parmesan. However I haven't made it in a while. Month and a half maybe. So, Noboru finally asked, can you make that again. : ) So, I did. I made this just a couple days ago. I had my Italian breadcrumbs. Dipped the chicken in egg then the Italian seasonings and breadcrumbs and then fried in a skillet of olive oil.  Then I baked them in the oven.

We are a family of 4 but I made 6 chicken parmesan. So Noboru could take obento the next day with salad and garlic bread. I also had 1 for lunch the next day also.

On top of a bed of pasta. It's filling, very filling. We had this with garlic bread and a simple salad with some vinaigrette.

Towels drying outside on another day. And also the thing on the front pole is the table cloth for the kitchen table. That day, I mopped the heck out of the kitchen floors and dusted and cleaned the windows in the kitchen and figured, might as well wash the table cloth. : )  So my Spring cleaning is indeed slowly but surely getting there.

My boys love to read! I made it a point to read to them at bed time each night, their entire lives and even now, I go into each of their rooms and let them read to me every night. Or sometimes we take turns reading pages. So needless to say, Branden and Noah needed some new reading material. : ) Nothing an order to Amazon.com can't help fix. : )

Two Shark books. I specifically picked the book on the left for Noah and the book on the right for Branden. But they can switch and share no doubt.

This is Noah's book. Slightly simpler reading since he's younger, but for his age group though, no doubt. And very big close up pictures which I know they both enjoy.

This one has a lot of fantastic pictures, but has a lot more text also because it is a book for an older aged child. And it answers a lot of questions Branden might have. And explain things a bit better for his age bracket.

For each shark it gives a "danger rating" and it's fun for Noah to read and to read to me. Noah will tell me, "mama this shark, right here, the Tiger shark, he's very dangerous" Hahaha, that type of thing. : )

Snake is for the both of them to share.

Excellent pictures and it shows where on the globe, each snake lives. What part of the world they come from, basically. And both of the boys ohhh and ahh over this one.

I am interested in the Titanic. I have a book for myself on it. And the boys enjoy looking at my Titanic book.  And they also enjoy watching the movie Titanic and watching Discovery stuff on the real Titanic too. And they often ask me a ton of questions. So, I went to Amazon.com and I checked in the kids and young adult section what Titanic books they offered. I would say out of these 2 books, though they are both great, the one on the right is way better. It answers a ton of questions and has so many facts.

Why are there 882 1/2 answers? Well because the boat was that length. ; ) Now if the boys ever end up on Jeopardy and the question ever comes up, of how long was Titanic they'll surely know! Hahaha. ; )

Random facts about the 2nd class accommodations. What they ate. What they did for fun.

Steerage, a peek inside. What their cups looked like right bottom of this picture.

Their beds had blankets and pillows but no sheets if you can read this. Again, just an interesting fact.

What did they eat in 3rd class? Well now Branden and Noah know. And sorta cool facts to learn. : )

Little tidbits about the rescue. Amazing facts actually. Yep the 882 1/2 Amazing Answers book is awesome!

What did a 1st class passenger do for fun, 2nd class, and 3rd class. I enjoy going upstairs to check on the boys and find Branden reading this book in bed, with his lamp on, even after I have tucked them in bed and said good night....hahaha...Branden will be in there with book in hand. And he says, "come here mama, did you know....." And I will lay down next to Branden and let him tell me all his new facts he's just read. Or listening at the dinner table, Branden and Noah giving new random facts to each other back and forth. They're excited. Excited about reading, excited about learning and I like talking to them about it too. So yeah this past week or two, we've been in random fact mode about Titanic here. : )

Did Titanic have their own newspaper? As you can see in this pic, yes, yes they did! : )

Was there anything to eat or drink on the lifeboats? I thought that was an excellent question and yes there was! However if you read this, most didn't know these were on the lifeboats. @_@ Oh my! But yeah again....this information the boys have gobbled up. They want to watch Titanic this coming weekend, so I think we'll do that now. : )

I also picked this picture book on Japan 1945.  Pictures from a Marine photographer. Branden is a 6th grader now and he's learning about WW2 at school. Our school is approaching the subject very carefully and I appreciate that.  I also picked up this book so he can see the pictures of the devastation. This particular picture it's a picture of a boy holding his dead brother on his back, he was walking him to a cremation place.

Just very sad.

Twice a week, I make a yogurt run and a run to the bakery.

The boys like to put the squeeze yogurt in the freezer. Anyway, it is now 3:25pm and Noah is now home from his ensoku/field trip, Noah says he had a blast. : ) And Branden gets off school today at 3:45pm. It's still raining here, so I better motor and get myself and Noah to the plaza to pick Branden up. Dinner tonight is curry. And fresh pineapple for dessert. : )