Tickets for Aquaman already purchased and we'll be watching it tomorrow on opening day...

Tomorrow, December 21st. Besides being the kids last day of school and the start of the winter holidays in America. Tomorrow is also opening day for those of us in the USA. For the movie Aquaman! The kids and I have been eagerly waiting to see this since this summer. Seriously, we can barely wait. As, mentioned our nearest movie theater, you reserve seats too, same as Japan. I told the kids, as soon as the seats go on sale, I will go and buy them. Especially since we knew that opening day was also their last day of school too. Double celebration. I checked the website every morning and every night. Not sure if you can see this but, on the bottom it says when I bought the tickets. It says December 15th. I went to bed December 14th and checked and nope...Aquaman tickets were not for sale. I checked Saturday December 15th and yep! I already washed my face and had moisturizer on my face. I put on some foundation, a little concealer and powder. Anastasia brow wiz in medium (ash brown) and some Dr. Pepper Lipsmacker and in about 7 minutes, I left, went to get the tickets. And was on my way home. Tickets bought. Phew...relief. Seats saved. No worries. And yep. Cool! Everyone I know...is eagerly waiting for this movie to come out too. My friends, who are..the parents of my kids friends. I usually chit chat daily with a group when I pick up Noah in the afternoons. LOL. : ) 

Gray means the ticket was purchased. When I got to the movie theater. 4 tickets were bought by the time I got there. And this is the pic, I snapped as of this Monday. And, I just checked right now and even more tickets and seats are turned gray...meaning someone bought the ticket. We're sitting, last farthest row, far left. Those are our 3 seats, I picked. We love those seats...those are the seats that are our favorites. Bran is lucky in that nobody is sitting directly right next to him. There's that heavenly buffer seat. It's going to be in their premium theater which is like surround sound and the seats vibrate and stuff during action scenes. It's how those movie theaters are called here in the U.S. Which is why the tickets say PLF, short for premium large format. Technology is amazing is this type of movie theater....really enjoyable to see a movie like this.

I made a pot of beans this morning. They're done. I am making pork green chili tonight. It's 89% done right now and it's barely 2:53pm. And why am I mentioning this now? Because I made enough for 2 dinners. Smartly, I know that after school tomorrow. Kids will be excited and so will I. And so...dinner for tomorrow night is in the bag. Dinners done for tomorrow too. We'll have big warm bowls of homemade beans and green chili. Be super filled up, before heading to the movies. I also bought movie snacks at Target on Monday. Bran asked for Swedish Fish, Noah asked for Skittles and I picked a box of Raisinets for me. All were 90 cents a box. Which the price is appreciated. : ) I will be buying a large freshly popped popcorn tomorrow at the movie theater and 2 large sodas, which are free refills. And we'll be enjoying Aquaman as a family. And just happy that the winter holidays have started.

Noboru will be here next Month. Super soon actually. He arrives towards near the first week of January and will be here until the end of the month. So for about 3 full weeks. We're all super happy about that.  Happy holidays everyone.

Happy Birthday Branden...

Branden turned age 17, October 26th! Considering, I started blogging in the year 2005! You all have virtually watched Bran grow up, since age 4!!! And ya'll have seen Noah grow up his *entire* life, since he was born in 2005! It's no wonder that for many of you. You feel that we're family or a close friend that you get to keep an eye on virtually. You've seen all our ups and all our downs. And all the bumps in between. But seriously, can you guys believe B is 17 years old? Sincerely, thank you for always reading and caring about us. Branden needed more sweatshirts with the cooler weather coming. And so, I drove Bran to Marshalls and also to the shopping mall and he picked out stuff in his style and stuff he liked.  

Bran picked up this Japanese style sweatshirt at Marshalls. I think it was $14. He loved it. At the mall, we hit Old Navy and he went straight for these super warm fleece men's cardigans. They were around $35 bucks each, but on sale, I think originally $40. They look... sorta like a "grandpa sweater", dykwim? But it's updated...and this is modern now...I have seen many stylish young dudes wearing this style now days and plus they're not like itchy wool, that means hand washing and stuff. It's fleece, so super easy toss in the washing machine. So a modern update for this men's cardi. He picked navy and gray. So 3 new sweatshirts for his birthday. 

Plus, please consider he got a huge birthday gift of getting to go to driving school and considering driving school costs $400. Yeah that price tag shocked us, as parents. But, he was super happy about getting to be in driving school. Apparently mostly every state now days makes you... take drivers ed. Granted back in my day? You could take drivers ed at school. But it was optional. It gave you a cheaper insurance rate for your car. But drivers ed was not mandatory. And you could pay $5 bucks to get a drivers permit in Colorado back in the day, if you passed the written test and then 6 month's later, pass the drivers test and pay a small fee of $20 dollars for a drivers license. So considering it was *so* cheap in my day...this $400 stuff, shocks me. But maybe that's just how it's done now days. Also, we purchased Bran's homecoming outfit too. Which was a shocking $165 dollars. I went to homecoming all 4 years back in the day, myself. I bought a dress for $60 dollars, maybe some accessories and that was basically it. Homecoming is supposed to be cheaper than prom. I never realized sons/boys have such expensive stuff to buy. Bow tie was $40!!! Plus dress shoes, dress socks. Vest. Dress pants, dress shirt. OMG! Thank goodness Noboru was here for that, to help us shop for teen guy stuff. Let's just say, October, with homecoming, plus a birthday, plus driving school. Holy crap! Glad October is done. Let's put it nicely like that. 

Noboru told Bran, he could pick any restaurant for his birthday. That we could go and eat as a family of 4, before Noboru went back to Japan. B picked the Red Lobster. Noboru and I were secretly hoping he'd pick The Outback Steakhouse. But he picked The Red Lobster. Which is fine. It's his birthday. 

The 3 of us picked the Endless Shrimp. Noah.... disliking seafood completely had the chicken strip meal. 

Our server was amazing, he was a high school boy/guy and so funny. He had us all laughing. He kept bring out more and more endless cheddar bay biscuits. We all enjoyed our salads. Our sodas, which he refilled them so many times.

The first plate of shrimp wiped me out. I was done. I enjoyed my baked potato and shrimp (fried and scampi). Noah finished his meal and we both munched cheddar garlic biscuits. While we watched Noboru and Branden get refills of more shrimp. They both have such hearty appetites. It was actually funny to watch.

You can pick different types of shrimp, after you finish your original choices you picked. Bran picked the shrimp fettuccine and the panko shrimp as his refill picks. Noboru had the same as his first plate. It was a wonderful birthday dinner, best enjoyed together, as our family of 4. 

October 26th landed on a Friday, this year. Branden had expected dinner at home. Since he had a Drivers Ed driving lesson at 6:30pm that night. And since he knew we celebrated and went out to eat... when his dad was here. But, I had something up my sleeve. You know me. : ) Friday's the kids get out early. And our plan was to go pick up a birthday cake from Walmart and to buy our movie tickets for the next day. I had asked B, where do you want your birthday cake from? Baskin Robbins? DQ? Safeway? Where? We looked all month. The DQ cakes don't have actual sponge cake, just crumbles. So, Bran wanted the cake from Walmart. And I agreed, it looked best. But, before we went to get movie tickets or cake, I made a detour to DQ and we 3 had a quick meal of the $5 buck combo. It was just a little thing, but they were both pleasantly surprised. Which made me happy. They came with free sundaes too. So we were stuffed. Then we went to get the movie tickets, for the next day. And then we went to get his birthday cake. Many different flavors and choices and he picked the one he wanted.

Two layers of actual cake. And it was fresh and soft sponge cake...not...it's been in the freezer for centuries. It was super fresh. The frosting was really delicious light whipped cream. 

The cake was gorgeous. And the best part... it was only $14.99. A perfect price and we each had a slice Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I would definitely buy this cake again. Loved the freshness, loved the flavor, loved the price. When the time came, I zipped Bran to driving school for his lesson and he drove himself back home. It was a quiet birthday. Low key... which as you know, has always been our style. Stress-free birthday. But a nice one. Grandpa in Denver sent birthday money. And Noboru left him some birthday money before he left too. This kid feels loved, there's no doubt about that.

The next day, the 3 of us went to go and see Venom. This movie has been out in the United States for a full month already. I wanted to see it while Noboru was here. But Noboru was like.."it has horrible reviews" And so we didn't see it. As for me, I wanted to see it. Not every review on a movie, I agree with anyways. The kids wanted to see this too. How did we like this movie? We loved it! My kids were even still talking about it the next day. Granted, would I buy the DVD? Probably not. But, I'd see it again in the airplane. We had popcorn with extra butter and movie theater salt. We had large sodas and chocolate bars. We truly had a nice time at the movies. I would have taken them to the movie on his actual birthday but, B had a driving lesson. But yep, a great movie. And a perfect low key relaxing....super chill birthday. 

Four movies we've seen recently. Slender Man. Crazy Rich Asians. Searching. And The Nun...

Besides all the "back to school clothes shopping" And school supplies shopping we did. We also did a lot of other fun things after we got back from Japan too. Like going to 4 different movies. I personally absolutely have *always* loved going to the movies, since I was a little girl. And my kids love going to the movies too. The first movie we saw as soon as we got back from Japan was Slender Man. Branden *really* wanted to go see this movie. And so, we went to check it out. 

How was Slender Man? An absolutely horrible grade B movie. Would, I buy the DVD? Absolutely not! Would, I watch it in the airplane, if I were on my way back to Japan? Nope, I'd pick something else to watch. It wasn't scary at all. Like on a scale from 1-10. It was a zero on the scare factor. The story itself? Dumb. However the bright side is, it was a great way for us to spend an afternoon as a family. And another positive is...at least Bran got to see it. Noah and I thought it was absolutely terrible though. And Bran agreed too. 

We went to see Crazy Rich Asians on opening day! I had been waiting all summer for this movie to finally be released!!! I had preordered the tickets the week before. We were ready! 

We had our freshly popped popcorn, large sodas that are free refills. And movie snacks. What did we think of Crazy Rich Asians??? This movie was amazing! This movie is legit hands down, my favorite movie of summer 2018!!! I had been hearing that there hasn't been a movie, with an all Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club, 25 years ago!!! Which I *love* The Joy Luck Club too, by the way and own the DVD. Would, I buy the DVD for Crazy Rich Asians? Of course and I will!!! The story line of Crazy Rich Asians. Is of course all over the internet anyways, unless you're living under a rock. But basically, an Asian American college professor has been in a long term relationship with an Asian guy from Singapore. He has absolutely never talked about his family. She's never met them. She even mentions to her own friends. "Maybe he's from a very poor family and he's embarrassed so that's why he's never mentioned them." It's actually the opposite. Anyways, he ends up needing to go back to Singapore for a wedding that he has to attend and he decides to bring his girlfriend. Turns out he's beyond super mega rich. But of course she fell in love with him.. for him and truly had zero idea he even had 2 nickels to rub together. As she told him, "you use my login information to use my Netflix account!!!" Meaning she thought he couldn't afford his own account. However, once they land in Singapore. His mom hates her, the girlfriend. Says mean little digs to her every chance she can get. Little verbal jabs here and there. Other girls who wish to date him too. Treat her horribly, like go and jack up her hotel room etc. She's basically treated like complete crap!!! This movie made me have all sorts of feels. It made me angry when she was being bullied. It made me laugh so many times during the funny parts. It also made me cry once. At this one scene where his mom tells her on the stairs..."You will *never* be good enough for him!!!" And you can see on her face...watery eyes and she's just so defeated. So freaking defeated. Also that pivotal mahjong scene was killer!!! Amazing! I won't tell you how it ends or anything. But OMG! Best movie ever! A real must see!!! Both my kids absolutely loved Crazy Rich Asians too!!! I am also so happy that in America, Crazy Rich Asians did *so* well at the box office. It crushed all other movies that opened at the same time too. It doesn't matter if you're Asian, married to an Asian or not. I think if you're just a human period! Point blank... with a big sentimental heart. This movie will be for you!!! You will love this movie. This is a story that everyone and anyone can relate to. You will be rooting for "Rachel!!!"  Who was played by Constance Wu. And for what it's worth, Michelle Yeoh who played the mother of her boyfriend, was phenomenal. You will *not* hate her character that she plays, granted you will be frustrated with her behavior yes, but you will also understand where they're both coming from too, both their point of views. They really are amazing actresses the both of them. Oh, I'm sorry, but 1 more thing, I loved the way this movie first started. It was shown in the old days. When the "boyfriend" Was a little boy and it was night time. And he and his mom (Michelle Yeoh) walked into a fancy ritzy hotel in London England. And she was treated horribly. It was racism point blank, because they were Asian. She said, politely "we have a reservation and my name is" And they wouldn't even look or check. Just said, sorry you don't have a reservation here. They told her to go and try a hotel in China Town!!! How rude right? She left the hotel in the pouring rain and called her husband back in Singapore from a phone booth, since this was the... before cellphone era. In a nutshell, her husband was so mad at their racial discrimination, he bought the hotel, right then and there!!! She went back inside the hotel. The owner an old Englishman came down the elevator who was just woken by her husband. Told the manager and staff who just treated her so badly... this is the new owner of the hotel!!! That's how the movie started! It was such a...right on!!! Type of moment! Definitely go see this movie if you haven't already. You will feel for both of the 2 main ladies, I did. There's also another character named Astrid and you will feel for her too. She's married and mega rich but her husband isn't. She loves him but she's embarassed that she's the richer in the marriage, so she hides the things she buys and pays for herself around the house. He's cheating on Astrid. She's so nice. Anyways, enough of me, gushing about this movie. It's a fantastic movie though!!!   

Searching. A cliffhanger. Mystery type movie. Again the main cast are Asian in this one. The actor who played Harold, in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. John Cho. He's a dad and his daughter goes missing. Debra Messing is also in this too. This movie is good. Would I buy the DVD? Nope. Am, I glad I saw it? Yes! The ending? Completely unexpected. And I can always figure movies like this out. Way before the end. But this one really will throw you for a loop. I figured it out about 15 minutes before it ended. But before that? Not a clue. 

The last movie we saw was The Nun. Again we saw this on opening day. And again, I prebought the tickets the week beforehand. Commercials in the U.S. have been running all August for this one. It came out the beginning of September, but by then everyone who's into scary movies went to see it. My kids love scary movies. They have always understood it's a movie, it's for entertainment, it's fake. Duh, so... With drinks and popcorn in hand and snacks in our pockets. We went and enjoyed The Nun. How was The Nun? It was so scary! Like a 10 out of 10 on the scare factor. I usually cover my eyes during the scary parts. But, I didn't for this movie. And I mean, I was scared too many times to count. From beginning to end. Would, I buy the DVD? Yes, I would! Would, I watch this on an airplane back to Japan? Yes, I would. Not a waste of time. Very entertaining. 

A week from now, Noboru will already be here. And he'll be here for a few weeks. I wonder what movies we will go and see while he's here. : )

Just a fast little catch up...

Last Saturday, Branden, Noah and I went to go and see Deadpool 2. How was it? It was amazing!!! We have tickets to go and see Solo, this Saturday. We can't wait! We have had tickets for Solo for a few weeks now, just like we had for Deadpool too. So needless to say we can't wait for the movie.

Watched a repeat of the Royal Wedding. Americans absolutely love Megan Markle. I know, I sure do. There was a Lifetime movie about how her and Prince harry got together. Blind date and the whole bit and I must say, that Lifetime movie that ran 1 week before the wedding was amazing and I could barely wait for them to tie the knot! I think Megan is extremely down to earth. Intelligent and funny! She's flat out gorgeous. And yes she does have that "Markle Sparkle" as we say here in America. : ) I think she makes Prince Harry incredibly happy. And I think he makes her... incredibly happy too. Like soul mates. I wish them a lifetime of happiness. I loved her makeup on the wedding day, I felt her dress was perfect. Simple, chic and elegant. The neckline which was of course a graceful boatneck was extremely feminine on her. She just absolutely shined the day of her wedding. They truly look so in love.

Anything new to add? Today's Thursday right now and it's Bran and Noah's last day of school until next Tuesday. 4 day weekend here in the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. So no school tomorrow/Friday and no school on Monday.

Mother's Day 2018...

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day and spent it with your loved ones. I had a very low key Mother's Day as always, which is totally our style, to begin with anyways. I spent it with my 2 amazing sons who I adore to pieces. We 3 went to the movies on Mother's Day. One of my favorite movies growing up was the original Overboard movie with the amazing Goldie Hawn and her longtime beau Kurt Russell. Just always loved that movie. And so when I saw they were making a remake last year. I figured I would have to see it, whether good or bad. I wasn't expecting to like it. But, I really liked this remake. So seeing a movie that I loved. With my 2 sons, honestly nothing could have been better than that for me. : )

The boys had their own nachos as usual, we had 2 large sodas (cherry cokes) I wasn't hungry at the movies this time at all... so just had soda. After the movie, we 3 went to Dairy Queen, where they have this amazing deal. A $5 buck meal, you get chicken strips, fries, a drink and a sundae all for just 5 bucks, you can upgrade to a small blizzard for a dollar extra, if you want and we 3 did that. So a movie and an early-ish dinner. Anyway, I sure hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day too. 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opening day...

Last night our family went to go and see the Last Jedi on opening day at 6pm. Everything went off without a hitch. Dinner was finished baking by the time I brought Noah home from school. We 4 all ate. Baked ravioli. I quickly put everything into the dishwasher. From 3:20-5pm we were home eating or relaxing before the movie. And at 5pm we left to the small city nearest our tiny town and we arrived there around 5:40pm. Folks were buying tickets for various movies. Thank goodness I already did that...that morning. So the males all went to the restroom, the 3 of them and I went to the girl restroom by myself. And we all met up in front of the concession stand. We quickly got all our movie theater stuff. Popcorn and sodas. And we went and got ourselves seated. There were only about 25-30 people watching Star Wars the Last Jedi and that was so awesome. A total bonus and plus for living way out in the inaka/countryside. And most folks were sitting in the center/middle seats/section. So nobody even remotely sat near us. So super nice.Look how happy the kids were in this picture!!! Branden, omg you guys....all Friday he kept saying...I can't wait for The Last Jedi....I can't wait. Clearly he was super happy about seeing it. So were the rest of us too. : )

In our seats. Everyone already turned their cell phone volumes way down and Noboru was doing that in this picture too. Yay...in a couple minutes we will be having our minds blown...by the Last Jedi!!!!

Got snacks...check! So anyway....what did we think of Star Wars the Last Jedi? Oh my freaking gosh you guys!!! It was amazing! And no we did not find out who her parents were. Someone very important dies in this movie. I will NOT say who, no spoilers from me. THIS movie was so good. In the Star Wars The Force Awakens. My feelings were...I hate or dislike Kylo Ren a.k.a. Ben Solo. Why would he kill Hans Solo? When Hans clearly loved him so much. So yes my feelings were from the last movie. Kylo Ren... strong intense dislike. But this movie.I liked Kylo in this new movie 90% of the time...and then disliked him very much 10% of this movie. He seemed much more human in this and I could see the inner conflict in him. So a definite improvement from the last movie. Rey, I lovelovelove her. She is so freaking amazing. Other characters. Were lovely, like Rose. Also, loved seeing Carrie Fisher's real life daughter have a small role in this. I like Billie Lourd a lot. Just finished watching her on American Horror Story Cult this season. She is amazing and talented all on her own. So yep...loved seeing her in this. And loved that she wore her mom's princess Leia cinnamon bun hair-do from the 70's. Loved it!!!Didn't say who dies. Didn't say how it ends. Didn't say what happens. Only said that I liked both Rey and Kylo in this. And this movie was freaking fantastic. If you do get the chance and you like the Star Wars franchise at all. Definitely go and check this out. We will most definitely be buying this on DVD whenever it comes out. 

After leaving the movie theater in the small city nearest us, we drove back to the rural town we live. This is a tad blurry but it's so funny. Because it's honest and it's true. A train was running through our town and as you can see, there is no convenience store or building or bright buildings around. It's pure dark rural town lit up by 1 lone train. Noboru *always* says...the trains in our town remind him of the cat bus in Totoro at night that went looking for Mei in the movie. LOL. : )  Anyway Star Wars the Last Jedi? Two thumbs way up from us. : ) Have a fantastic weekend everyone. : )

Tickets have already been bought for tonight's movie...

Today is Friday, December 15th for us in Japan. I know it's only December 14th in the U.S. mainland. But for us it's already the 15th. And you know what that means. Today is opening day for Star Wars The Last Jedi. Now you all know... our family loveslovesloves Star Wars movies. And we have been on opening day the last 2 years. And obviously today would be no exception. Usually we will buy our movie tickets... online a few days earlier. However....Noboru had enough points for a free movie. And so the rules for our specific movie theater nearest us.... using your points to redeem a free movie ticket. #1 you can't buy online if that's the case. and #2 you can't even buy the day before... if you will redeem a free movie ticket. They will ONLY let you redeem the free movie ticket the same day you plan to see the movie. So that's fine....to save 1500 yen....of course I do not mind.. 1 tiny bit to wait until Friday morning. So sure enough the second after Noah was driven to school at 7:30am. The movie theater opened today at 8am because some movie was starting at 8:30am. I checked last night, so I would be prepared. So...the second I drove Noah to school. I immediately drove to the small city nearest our tiny town. And I went inside. And got 4 movie tickets for tonight showing of The Last Jedi at 6pm. Paid for only 3 movie tickets. Redeemed the one free movie ticket. Picked our seats and everything. I see that 8 other people have already picked seats for tonight's 6pm showing.

Branden finished his semester tests yesterday/Thursday. He crushed all his tests... this week. He did so good. Bran has NO school today. He got to sleep in this morning. And by the time he woke up, I had already taken his brother to school. And also came back with tonight's movie tickets. Noboru is so cute...he watched the last Star Wars yesterday on DVD here at home... so he would be reminded of what happened last time. The kids and I did that a few days before. So we're all ready. We're all set. So super excited for tonight. 6pm. Noah gets out of school today at 3:15pm. And I already told Noah, Mommy will be in the parking lot from 3pm. No worries. Just walk down the hill with your class. And we'll go home. Ready to start our weekend. And ready to enjoy the Last Jedi. We have all seen about 20 YouTube conspiracy theories about...who is Rey? Is she Luke's daughter? Or Leia and Han's daughter and therefore Kylo Ren's sister? Or is she his cousin meaning....Luke's daughter? Or is she a Palpatine? Who is Rey. That is like the biggest mysterious question we all have. And of course I will not tell ya'll who read my blog. I will not ruin it or tell.

Tonight's supper? I am making a baked ravioli. Like a layered lasagna, but with ravioli. It's so good. But most importantly it is so quick...so fast and easy peasy clean up with just 1 baking dish and plates involved. I will prep dinner at 2pm. And I will whack it in the oven when I leave to go and get Noah. I shouldn't be gone long..20 minutes most and both Noboru and Bran can be home with the baked ravioli as it bakes in the oven. We will start the drive to the movies around 5:10pm. Anyway...everyone have a wonderful weekend. If you also go and enjoy Star Wars the Last Jedi this weekend....right on!!! Enjoy it too! I know I have a few posts to get up still. But honestly with Christmas so close....and family time at it's most highest right now...I'm sure you all understand. : ) 

Going to the movies to see The Justice League...

There are just so many good movies out right now. I asked Branden and Noah on Thanksgiving, if you guys want to go and see the new Justice League movie, then let me know and I'll go and buy the tickets on Friday/the next day and we can go and see it, Saturday. Both the boys were like, yes!!!! We want to see that!!! I said okie dokie. And so Friday morning, as I was out running an errand (buying 2 more loaves of bread from the bakery, so we could finish up our turkey, which yes we did) and also bought some mugicha and also some jasmine tea. I did buy 3 movie tickets. And left the movies as soon as I purchased the tickets Friday morning. I showed the kids the tickets as soon as they got home Friday after school. And boy were they stoked for Saturday. I was too. Our movie started at 11:55am. Nearly/almost 12 noon. And we already had our tickets. We left our house at 11am. Because we live way out in the middle of the deep countryside. And have to drive up to the small city nearest us. To our nearest movie theater. We arrived around 11:30am. And everyone went to the restroom. And around 11:45am, I went up and ordered our snacks at the concession stand. Branden said, he wanted nachos and a large coke. Okay, got that for Mr. Dimples. And Noah said... he wanted a half caramel and half buttered and salt popcorn. Okie dokie, got that. And for myself, I picked a small caramel popcorn and a small drink. Both the kids shared the nachos and they both shared the large popcorn. They always share their movie snacks, with one another. : ) 

Hello Branden, hello Noah!!! A pic from our afternoon at the movies Saturday, November 25th. Branden and Noah were most excited to see Aquaman!!! I swear it must be all the swimming my kids did when they were little! LOL. 

We grabbed our snacks and entered the movies. We found our seats right away too.

Everyone turning their phones off.  What an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. At the movies as a family. I wish Noboru could have gone with us, but he had work. But he'll be at the next movie with us though. : )

Anyways, what did we think about The Justice League? It was so good!!!! Aquaman, the gorgeous Jason Momoa was amazing in this!!! Wonder Woman was so wonderful in this too. I love Gal Gadot. She's so super cool and gorgeous! Let's hear it for brunettes!!! Woohoo! But for me...I felt that The Flash stole the show. He was absolutely hilarious. He cracked me up a bunch of times. Possible spoilers now... so avoid or read at your own risk. But when they were thinking about bringing back Superman from the dead, they really needed him. The Flash said..."is he going to come back as Superman or more like Pet Cemetery?" LOL! And when Superman was brought back...at first he was discombobulated and attacking Wonder Woman and Batman and everyone.... and The Flash said..."ewww Pet Cemetery!" LOL.  The Flash was just very relatable.

The next movie we will go and see is, the new Star Wars. It comes out in Japan December 15th. Which I think.... that's the same date it comes out in America too. Our family is huge Star Wars fans. So we will go and see it immediately. We have watched every single trailer for this like a billion times already. We can barely wait!!! So super exciting. 

Bits from our weekend. Going to the movies and also hitting the outlet mall...

How was every one's weekend? Ours was pretty awesome! It was such a relief to have an actual full weekend to ourselves meaning...not having to go or attend a town undokai/sports day or an actual elementary school sports day or a Culture Day, YKWIM. It's important for kids and parents too...to be able to get 2 days off a week to refresh...recharge. And start the school week yet again. So yeah...while we will *always* attend these events if our kids are in them and with a smile. It is certainly best to actually get a 2 day weekend. And just chill and relax a bit. So that being said. For us having a normal weekend. Thank the lord. And yes!!! Nice to just chill. Anyways...2 of the 5 DVDs arrived to my house via Amazon.com on Wednesday, October 11th. I have yet to see Everything, Everything. We will be watching that this weekend. So I am completely looking forward to it. Last Friday, we were all happy the weekend started. And enjoyed a nice dinner here at home. However we were all sorta tired. So we decided it was best to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Saturday. By the way, it's been raining in our town since last Friday. And it's raining even right now as I type. So non stop rain since last Friday. Friday we all just rested after dinner. Watched The Orville on TV after everyone took showers. Saturday. I baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I made a nice supper. And Saturday evening, we all popped some popcorn on the stove. And we watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. How did we like it? We loved it. It was honestly better than the first movie. : ) 

Yep, Everything, Everything was indeed a #1 New York Times best seller. I can't wait to watch this with the family this coming Saturday evening. : ) 

Annabelle Creation. Not sure if you can see the date on top in white above the poster? And yes, this movie might be long gone from movie theaters in America. But it barely just came to movie theaters October 13th. Ahem...or should I say...Friday The 13th??? Dundundun!!!! So for Americans in the US, this movie might be old and crusty and just about to be released o DVD... but for us in Japan, it's brand spanking new. So, on Wednesday October 11th, Noboru bought the 4 of us our movie tickets online for Sunday's movie showing. You have to pick your seats. If you are in Japan, then you know this. You just can't sit randomly anywhere in a movie theater. : ) So yep...we have been eagerly awaiting this movie to come out here and as soon as the movie seats and tickets were made available to purchase online, we did. We picked the 12 noon showing, Sunday October 15th. It is also important to note this movie is only being played at 3 places in Chiba prefecture. And 1 place in Ibaraki. As you know we live on the edge/border of Chiba and Ibaraki. And actual Chiba city or Ibaraki city...Ibaraki city is tons closer for us. So we went to the movie theater in Tsukuba City, since that is tons closer for us than Chiba City is. So fwiw, our closer/closest movie theater is in rural Ibaraki and that's the one we mainly go to. This movie theater we went to on Sunday was a different movie theater...and located in the bustling city of Tsukuba at a shopping mall. There's a movie theater in the mall. 

Concession stand. 

We picked 2 large half and half popcorn's and 4 medium drinks. The popcorn's are half caramel and half buttery salt and there is a cardboard divider separating the two types of popcorn.

We love when there are 2 side seats. We also prefer and pick those 2 seats. That way the kids can sit in front of us and we know that nobody can sit near them and we sit directly right behind them and we know that no stranger will sit near us either. So we love those seats and always pick to sit there. Anyway the movie was awesome. And it ended around 2pm. After the movie our plan was to head to the Ami Premium outlet. We wanted to get some jeans and winter clothes for Branden. 

Gap...

These are slim fit.The style of jeans.

And these are slim stretch. Branden tried on many different styles on Sunday. But he prefers the slim style and so he got 2 pairs of Gap jeans on Sunday. 

Two different shades of blue. Bran wears a school uniform, 5 days a week. So, I am relieved at least that now he has enough for a weekend. I do want Branden to get another pair of pants or jeans. But I am relieved at least that he has 2 new pair that he loves. 

Branden also got a new pair of Gap sweatpants and a new Gap long sleeve top. 

Also...for whatever reason... an usually high amount of Japanese high school and college aged girls and ladies (stylish moms) were buying men's sweatpants and not women's and no none of these ladies were big girls either...so it wasn't a size issue at all. @_@ Perhaps the girls sweats were too pink and stuff. I don't know the reason, I can only tell ya what I saw. The boys were basic and gorgeous and preppy colors. They came in 2 styles of navy and 2 shades of gray (one lighter and the other more of a darker charcoal gray) there was also a charcoal black (was the name on the tag), it looked like a light black... were the choices. So very wearable color choices. Perhaps why the ladies preferred these versus a pink pair with hearts on them. Anyways...after seeing the 4th skinny girl pick a pair of men's sweats. And after seeing Bran just try them on and see how cute they were with the words down one of the legs. I said to Noboru and Noah...I'm gonna go try a pair on.  And...I'm sorry... but they were just too cute for words. I picked a smaller size than Bran. But yep...I asked Bran if he minded if we could be twinsies? And he said...I don't mind at all. These were so popular at the Gap outlet. Are we done winter clothes shopping for the kids yet? Not yet. And we're going shopping for Fall/Winter clothes again this coming weekend too. Hopefully we can be done and get it all over with...as soon as humanly possible. It's not fun for any of us, having to waste a day in the dressing rooms but...it's just something we gotta do.  But...the weather has switched to cold. Remember how last time I said...Noah was wearing sweatshirts, but not needing to wear his new pants yet? Well...Friday the 13th morning...the weather outside was so cold that...it was the first official day Noah wore jeans, and a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. He hasn't needed to wear a coat just yet...but you know... he he a new one. From Gap at 45% off too. Anyways...hopefully the kids can get sorted and finished with winter clothes soon. 

There are many Ohsho restaurants in Chiba prefecture, but only 1 in Ibaraki. After finishing with shopping at the Gap outlet. We were all starving by then. And so we went and had Chinese food at the Ohsho, in Ibaraki. We didn't get home to near 7pm. Everyone took turns showering. And Branden went to his room to chill for the rest of the night. Noah went to his room. And I kicked it on the couch until bedtime, Noboru kicked it in the living room with me, watching TV too. How was our weekend? Pretty nice. We saw 2 new to us movies. We saw Guardians of the Galaxy part 2. We saw Annabelle Creation and we even managed to get Branden 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve top too. His size in tops is still a size large at American stores like the Gap. So...same size in tops as last year. So...he still has about 5 long sleeves in size large from last year, that are practically brand new, though he's still getting new ones too. And his legs/height has changed a lot since last year, though he was still tall last year too...Branden grows like a weed. So...he needed new jeans, the ones from last year were highwaters. He's already 5 foot 10 *and* a half and he's only 15 years old and *still* growing!!!!! He'll more than likely be 5 foot 11 by Thanksgiving, at the rate he's going . All the teachers at his school ask Branden...do you play American football? And his gym teacher asked Branden when he first saw him, do you lift weights??? And at the movies to watch Annabelle Creation the lady taking our tickets... flat out asked to see Branden's high school ID because she thought he was an adult!!!! Branden has a very American body frame, tall, broad shoulders and muscular, where as in Japan... Japanese guys tend to have very petite narrow extremely thin body frames. And that's fine too. But Branden has a very different body type than most Japanese 15 years old's for living in Japan. @_@  Anyways...long story short. A fantastic weekend. We're getting there regarding Fall/Winter clothes shopping for the kids. And we're still going for more shopping this coming weekend too.

Today's Tuesday. I did my weekly grocery shopping yesterday. I also scrubbed toilets and also did a load of laundry yesterday too. The jeans and sweatpants Branden just got from Gap, I washed on the fast cycle and dried them so he can wear them anytime now. We had chicken chow mein last night (Monday). And tonight, I am making karaage (Tuesday). Tomorrow we're having curry soup (Wednesday) I prepare that like nabe in the center of the kitchen table, the family loves when we eat dinner like that. And the day after we're having tacos, ground beef and also chicken ones too (Thursday). Friday will be homemade cheeseburger night to kick off the start of the weekend.

I have a load of bath towels in the dryer as I type. And a load of clothes in the washer. I also washed both Branden and Noah's bedding on Saturday afternoon. I have been washing every one's bedding weekly now that my washing machine is big enough.