Our annual summertime "Haunted Elementary School" and fireworks fun...

Friday, July 31st was our local elementary schools Haunted Elementary school, walk through at night. Our elementary school becomes a humongous haunted house for the 1 night, in summer! The kids look forward to this, all year long!  Hi kiddo...hi Noah. : )

All these kids were waiting for a scare of their life! By the way...one room on the 3rd floor, had the movie...The Juon/The Grudge playing. And of course, we also had the Grudge girl (in costume, it's really a papa) was also creeping around. Oh we had so many people in costumes... ready to give the kids all... mini heart attacks. : ) But the kids were ready and willing! The kids were so excited being there!

You have to go from scare room... to different scare room. On all 3 floors. And there are people in each room or around every turn or corner, we even had folks.... hiding on the stair wells. While the kids were busy stamping their stamp rally paper. Branden with this creepy mask popped out! Once....when Branden popped out...1 little girl started crying immediately. I felt so badly. But...you know...you go to a haunted house...you sorta expect to be scared. : ) And Bran was safely behind the desk so it's not like... he was near her at all. She just...burst into tears. But 99% of the rest got scared at first... but then got happy....and this kid pictured here. Actually smiled...recognized it was B and wanted to shake his hand! LOL. Which Bran did shake his hand. : ) And he said...hi! : ) 

Every kid brings a flashlight and a drink for themselves. And every kid is asked to bring 1 small pack of fireworks. You know...like a 200 yen/$2 US type pack (Trial, a chain store, even has packs for 89 yen). All the fireworks are all lumped together and every kid gets an equal amount. : )  There was also 1 room that was so scary... you could not enter... unless you were a 4th grader or older! @_@ Noah went through and said...it wasn't scary at all. : ) Hahaha. But then...my kids love scary movies and stuff like that. : )

Also, as you can see, by the chisai towel around Noah's neck. In Japan, in hot summer, people carry around chisai towels. Meaning small towels. To wipe the sweat from your face or forehead or neck. I made sure, I packed Noah his thermos with tons of ice and mugicha. 1 chisai towel with his name sewn on it, in case it gets lost (which is very normal in Japan). And his flash light. : ) I also packed Branden, a chisai towel and a thermos with tea and ice as well. And I brought my own small towel and a little can of anti-mosquito spray. I sprayed it onto the kids at the school parking lot, when we first arrived. And I resprayed the kids... right when we went outside to start lighting the fireworks. Mosquitoes in Japan are pretty aggressive. Oh yes...see Noah's inside shoes. I also made sure, not to forget his inside shoes, because in summer kids bring them home and Noah's were home...but I knew he needed them, so I packed them in his backpack as well. : )  Geeze Louise...was that one heck of a little list... of stuff to remember for 1 outing, or what. Hahaha. : ) 

Even though Branden, is in JHS now. And no longer a student at the local elementary school. He and 2 other boys from the local JHS and 1 girl. These 4 kids, including Bran, help out for this night and that's only because their dad's are in the Father's Club #1 and #2, they have younger siblings. Also...because I would never want anyone to get their nose out of joint and say. "Hey, that's not fair, her older son got some fireworks and he's not a student here!" Granted nobody has ever said that. But just because...I am a "think ahead" type gal. I buy 1 small set of fireworks for Noah to donate, same exact size as all the other kids bring too. And I buy a medium size package of fireworks for about 400 yen, for Branden and if Noah has run out of his fireworks, he can take some from that pack too (kids at the elementary can go back and get extra fireworks, but, Noah only gets 1 good handful from the school and no extras even though he could). That way if anyone ever says anything at all. I can say, as politely as possible..."I purchased these fireworks, for my own JHS child, thank you very much for your concern and for asking, but rest assured, these are indeed his." I always bring the bag they came in from the store and receipt with me too. Again, doubt anyone would ever dream of saying anything or even care, but then again...best to always be prepared. And again, the folks in my town are so nice and lovely, but I do bring the receipt, always just in case. : ) Anyways...I enjoy watching the boys light fireworks with their friends and with each other. : )

Enjoying the fireworks, in rural Japan. 

This is a night where so many families and kids have so much fun, in our tiny little town in the Japanese countryside! A haunted elementary school, plus some fireworks to end the evening with! : )

Noboru, spent the night in the gymnasium with the other Father's Club dad's and all male teachers and the head (male) teacher and (male) principal. He said, they all ordered food and everyone drank. Noboru said, the gymnasium was SO hot that night. They all slept on gym mats, but they all had an absolute blast. : ) I'm glad Noboru has close friendships like this and I'm glad he stayed the night! Because he needs to have fun too! The kids and I, ate supper before the haunted school began. We had baked chicken paremsan and pasta. We 3 left half of our meals, in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap and we just nuked the leftovers when we got home. We came home....we 3 took turns showering because we all smelled like fireworks, we all were sprayed down with mosquito spray, so we all needed a good soapy hot shower. Hahaha. After that...we all ate our leftover chicken parmesan and pasta. And watched TV. : )

Since, we have been back from Guam...our family has gone to the beach in Japan (last Friday), we had just the absolute best day at the beach, we brought a nice picnic lunch and everything and even went out to Jolly Pasta later, that same night. And today, I took the boys to the movie theater to see Jurassic World! Such a great movie! : ) I am trying my best to catch up the blog. But, we also want to enjoy summer too, I'm sure you all understand. : ) But, I am trying, my best. : )  Oh goodness, I think my favorite TV show comes on tonight, Scream, is the name of the show. Yay! And we're having karaage, rice, corn on the cob, a simple salad and fresh fruit for supper tonight, the fried chicken should be done shortly, so I better hurry and post this. Have a wonderful night everyone. : ) 

Summer fun in Japan... haunted school and fireworks

July 25th, was our local school's haunted house of horrors walk-thru! Noboru is the one who first started this at our local school years ago. Noboru was/is in the father's club and during one of their meetings years ago in May, Noboru mentioned that his/our kids love flashlights, sleep with them and like walking around upstairs with flashlights. He just said it, not thinking much about it and all the other father's said...OMG my kids love flashlights too, same same! So Noboru suggested wouldn't it be fun to have a haunted walk thru at our school and really give the kids a good scare. The head teacher, the principal and all the other dad's thought...let's do it this year! Noboru was like wow! @.@ He never thought it would be such a thing... and the dad's were so excited they wanted it that very summer. I think the first year 90 kids showed up and every year since it keeps growing. I think our school population is 200 or somewhere about that. And this year over 160 kids showed up with parents. How truly funny how things can snowball, hahaha. Anyway so that's how it all started at our local school anyway. : ) Just thought I'd share that. : ) All kids are separated by grade, the rectangular flags saying 1,2,3, you know what I mean... all the way to grade 6. : ) 

Noah and his fellow 3rd graders. The kiddo in orange right in front of Noah, that's S, the only kiddo from our same yochien. As I was parking my car at the plaza, S had just arrived with his grandma and he was waiting for Noah to get out of my car, so they could run up the hill together. : ) 

So much excitement in the air! And I knew it would be probably the best year yet... for this at our school! Through the years, everyone has learned and revised and we had all haunters or scarers in costume this year! I knew all the scary people and monsters and ghouls waiting for these kiddos! Hint...Sadako from The Ring/Ringu was waiting for them!!! A death type looking guy with mask and ax...evil clown (Branden) just everyone really upped their game this year! Oh these poor kids had no idea what scary stuff was waiting for them!!! 

Be brave kids, be strong!!! And good luck! : ) 

Noboru in his yellow Father's Club shirt right there...

Noboru helping a little girl... find her right row/line to be standing in...he's such a nice guy! : )

Before all the kids were allowed into the school, Noboru let me in the school and see where everyone was hiding. : ) All the kids and their parents had to wait in the gym until it was, go time! 

Noboru handles all the music, he prepares all the music in advance. You know the music those few piano keys that play when Michael Myers is after you on Halloween...he plays that...he plays all sorts of super creepy music!!!  The music is played throughout the entire school via the speakers they make their school announcements with.

After Noboru was sure everyone was ready, the music was right to press play...I went to stand and watch the crowd of kids swarm the school...you can see them all running towards me in this pic...

Flashlights and a huge crowd of running kids.

Noboru in the yellow walking thru making sure all kids were safe and all scarers were safe as well. Kids had maps and were going from room to room. Also the last 4-5 years, there were prizes for whoever completed it fastest...but I mentioned to Noboru a few months back the kids don't really get to enjoy each room fully with the time crunch and stress of trying to place first, second or third, and he agreed so no more prizes or 1st,2nd and 3rd. All kids truly enjoyed it this year! He asks me because...he is usually busy running things and has never walked it with kids...where as I have and I can give him the honest feedback, like what should be switched next time, etc. : )

This is Branden's scare room, the pumpkin lights would be visible and when or if you were brave enough to enter...be prepared for a real good scare! : ) 

Do you see the top of the colorful wig...These girls were so scared, they high tailed it... right outta there! This cracked me up to no end! I was laughing on the inside though. : )  Just smiling on the outside...

Boo! And that's 7th grade K, he somehow didn't realize he needed a costume...and had no time to find one, so he just used a school bucket and banged it while walking around. He did very good! 

You know these pumpkins...they usually hang on our front porch around Halloween time. Great job Bran!

This cutie in yukata, walked into the room, before realizing an evil clown was inside and she ran out immediately! Both kids smiling at me. : )

Watch out for the scary man with the ax!!! This was Akira's dad. : )  He's so awesome and so nice.

Okay so...I knew Sadako from The Ringu was there, I knew this! However, if you ever saw The Ring/Ringu you'll know how scary this character walks....well, I was walking alone somewhere between the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor and I came face to face with "Sadako" ...I just stopped dead in my tracks. It was really unnerving for about 5 seconds. Also between you and me...Sadako was played by a man in the Father's Club...he has a son in Noah's class and he is the absolute nicest man...so nice! The kids were freaked for days seeing Sadako and for the record so were all the parents too, who had no idea he was up on the upper levels/floors! Hahaha. 

The walk thru was supposed to last for 45 minutes and then fireworks outside...but the walk thru lasted over an hour...way over an hour, I'd say 75 minutes, if I were to guess! And the last 20 mins, Noboru went to each scarer and asked them to creepily walk thru all the floors, which that's what Branden was doing in this picture...walking from floor to floor. 

If you live in America or ever saw the movie Mr. Holland's Opus, you'll know teachers in the US can teach at the same school for decades...in fact they can even start at a particular school and retire from the same school. However in Japan, teachers are transferred out, every few years. Our head teacher who was amazing and born and raised in our town, and who still lives in our town was transferred to a totally different school. Anyway, we got a new head teacher, not from our town by the way. He was requested to wear a scary costume...he showed up with this bowling pin costume instead! Also, he didn't move around at all...he stood in that same spot the entire time! Which is okay. We are a very different school. I am sure he was pretty surprised at our haunted school. All the running kids, all the scary costumes. The positive is...he tried and hey, you can't knock a person who tries....not ever! And #2 he did show up in costume, right? : ) I was wondering if he went home that night and told his wife..."honey, I have been transferred to the *weirdest* school ever!!!" Hahaha. I am sure he will loosen up eventually. : ) And he is very nice. So our new head teacher...in his bowling pin outfit. : ) Not bad! : ) And he did try his best! : )

Brothers...Branden and Noah walking from floor to floor. : )

All of the kids had the best time!

When I look at this picture, the first thing that catches my eye is Sadako from The Ring. LOL. Noboru thought it would be a great idea for all of the scarers to come out, so everyone could give them a hand!!! They all did the best job! They made the night a success, well and Noboru too! : ) 

And we cannot forget our newest member...the bowling pin, *ahem* the new head teacher! He's trying very hard! : )

Smiling for me! : )

The 2 ladies in black and white stripes are both very young mothers, are very nice and both have kids in Noah's class/grade. The one with the pony tail is super nice! I could hear them talking, these mom's in particular loved the costumes, you can see her taking pics of Bran and the others. : ) Oh and fwiw, the only reason I know they're young mothers, not that it matters...but it is because last year the kids did a class project and the one with the pony tails son, wrote a paper how his mom was 17 years old when she gave birth to him. So both really young mom's. But awesome ladies, they always greet me and says hi and stuff (in Japanese of course). A couple of the 30's- to early 40's mom's seemed to snub her last year when we pulled the dashi and I was working that...they gave all other mom's drinks of Aquarius and such but not her...I can't stand bullying or purely being mean to anyone (hateful people age 10 times faster than nice ones, I believe that), so I walked over to her and gave her a nice big cup with a drink with ice, since I was working that event...and ever since then... she adores me and her 2 other young mom friends do too.  The one with the pony tail has 3 kiddos and lives in our housing community. : ) She greeted me at the fireworks in our housing community thing a few weeks back...and I do try and look out for her and I think it's vice versa, even though I do run with the alpha mom crew at the school and events. : ) It always pays to be nice though...karma ya'll. Whatever you put out into the world comes right back at ya 10 fold...I believe it. : ) 

Great job all you scarers! That's so Monsters Inc., of me to call them scarers.

Look at that smiling man just shooting the breeze with Sadako! Hahaha!

We all went outside and all the kids lit fireworks. Just sparkler type and every kid participating is asked to bring a small pack and they combine all gathered and dole them out fairly that way. 

So many places...buckets with water...another bucket with sand/dirt with a candle to light said fireworks. None of this costs the school a thing! But it's loads of fun for the parents, the kids, the teachers!

Second fireworks event for both Branden and Noah of summer 2014!

You did such a wonderful job Bran, you are such a good sport to help out the way, that you did! : ) Anyway, that was the haunted school event for 2014 in our neck of the woods. : )

Shave ice, zucchini from the garden, helpful kids and Noah's Ripstik fun!

We've been having shave ice (kakigori) nearly every day since summer break started. We usually use lemon, however, I was really pleasantly surprised to see mango flavored shave ice syrup at the chain store Trial. The usual flavors that can be found most anyplace, are lemon, blue Hawaii, strawberry and melon. But finding mango at a store...this was my first time seeing it... in all my time living here in Japan, so I was pretty happy. I will be going back to Trial and buying a few more bottles. The price was cheap/fair 198 yen or 220 yen something around there. Not a bad price. : ) And the flavor was so freaking good. : )

We have been getting zucchini in our backyard a couple times a week. Like every 2 days or so. It's nice. If you recall, we had bought 2 zucchini plants, but 1 died. So not bad for just 1 plant. Plus we are leaving on vacation soon and I appreciate a low maintenance garden. : ) 

Here he is...

The boys love going outside and picking a fresh zucchini every couple days. In fact we have 1 big one right now that I will have the boys go and get... as soon as I finish this post. : ) 

I don't know if it's just me or maybe I'm just weird... but I honestly really hate coming back from vacation to a dirty or messy house. So, I am really working hard this week to get the downstairs spic and span. And the upstairs clean too. I wet a cleaning rag with hot water put some creamy cleanser (generic 100 yen from Cainz/Beisia) and Branden went out there and kicked butt wiping the chairs super clean because, they do get grimy after a month. So, I appreciated he jumped right in and helped with that.

I had the table cloth already washed and hanging to dry outside in the sun, same for the rug runners, kitchen rugs.

Went outside and soaked the trash can. Noah antibacterial wiped all 3 of the trash can lids. 

I scrubbed/mopped the floor. I also scrubbed the heck out of the entrance way/genkan tiles.

A fresh clean table cloth. 

Perfectly clean tiles in the entry way. Shoes on the opposite side of when you open the door. Behind those 2 doors is a shoe closet. Windex-ed the mirror, dusted the table with pictures and plants. Gain Febreeze and mosquito spray near the door, in case I hear a car door close and a guest is approaching (our street is so super quiet it's noticable when a car goes down our street) or Branden and Noah are going outside to play and need a quick spritz of mosquito spray. : )

Brought the chairs back into the house, put the table back together. We also had Branden's teacher coming to our home Thursday for a conference. So, I just had 1 more reason to make sure it was tidy and ready for visitors. : )

The glasses and coasters waiting on the green counter waiting for the teacher. The teacher said he's 38 years old, he was married late and has an 11 month old baby (his first) he said Branden is an excellent student. He sat facing the backyard and jungle gym, he really enjoyed his visit and he stayed a whole hour, even though he was only to stay 15 minutes. Hahaha. : )  They do not have the conferences at the students house at our elementary school, but the JHS does. So a slight difference between Noah's school and Branden's regarding that. : )

I did take off the plastic table cloth that goes over the linen table cloth... but I did put it back on as soon as he left because, with kids you know how spills and accidents happen. : ) So just safer to put it back on. 

Three spic and span trash cans. That's where my mop usually goes, now it's laying down on the ground behind the trash cans though. 

In the summer it feels nice to lay on these huge beach towels on the couch. And maybe a towelket over at night to watch TV and get snuggly. : ) Ceiling fan going to keep you cool, plus the 24 hour central air is nice (and no bill since we have solar panels). It's hotter than hell outside, so it is nice to be inside and keep cool. : ) I think after we get back from California, I will take my couch stripey cushion covers off and go to the local laundry mat and wash them. The stripey covers unzip for easy cleaning and they haven't been washed in about a year, so they could use it. : ) It's always something...always something. Having a clean house is endless, it truly never ends, no matter how hard I try. But that's okay. : ) 

A quiet kitchen at night, squeaky clean floor. I went in the kitchen for a drink. 1 teacher conference down, 1 more to go. Noah's is on Friday/today 1:30pm at the school. 

The haunted night at the school is this Friday evening/tonight. Plus firework celebration. Since Branden is in JHS, and Noboru's running it, being in the Father's Club, he thought why not invite any JHS kid that would like to help "scare" or help in general and do so. : ) Only 3 or 4 kids would like to, Akira, K (he is the one we have a pic of during last weeks firework thing in our housing community and his little brother K is in Noah's class) Branden and maybe 1 more kid is coming too. Anyway Branden needed a costume. A scary one. And we didn't want to spend buku bucks because... we're just about to go on vacation so as affordable as possible. We went to Don Quijote and they didn't have as much stuff as we hoped for. : ( Also the prices on wigs were 2200 yen/$22 US. No way...for just a 30 minute- 1 hour thing, absurd. However we did buy this super creepy mask...smiling evil looking mask! It was 550-580 yen. And then we hit the Daiso, we purchased this rainbow wig for 200 yen and a tie in the costume section at Daiso. 

This is so scary...truly disturbing! Hahaha. Noah flat out said, "Branden you look really scary!" Even Branden looked in the mirror and said.."I'm frightening!" Noboru laughed. But yeah we were really creeped out... so I think the kids will get a good scare!!! : ) And he can keep this for next year's event too! : ) Branden will be in 1 dark room, nothing in there except for the 4 hanging pumpkin heads from our house that usually hang on our front porch at Halloween time. When the kids are distracted looking at the glowing pumpkins Branden will make a small noise and they will turn their heads and see this scary face!!! This is going to be so much fun! And I think Branden is such a good sport to offer to do this and help his dad out! : ) Good kid good kid! : )

Noboru went and set up the school last night. Thursday night. With his fellow Father's Club guys, the head teacher, a few guy teachers and the principal. 1 lone stuffed animal sitting in the hall waiting to creep out the kids. : )

Bones...

I shared pics of Noah's very cool, Japan only special edition Ripstik last month.... however, I forgot to share this pic of his matching helmet. He also got a 3 piece set of protective wear. You all know how nervous I was with Noah having a Ripstik in the first place : (...so needless to say, he was going to get safety equipment as well. Better to be safe than sorry. And when I was growing up, a boy my classmate at the Catholic elementary school I went to, he was a little blond Irish American kiddo he looked sorta like Thomas J from My Girl. He was 4 or 5 months older than me. Anyway, he rode on some body's back of their dirt bike. It didn't happen on our street it happened elsewhere. Anyway...long story short, he fell off or something, he was in the hospital. Skull fracture. And he had to wear a doctors helmet to protect his injury/head for a whole year after that. That just always scared me. So...while I might not be a complete nazi about helmets when the boys ride bikes (since we live in inaka-ville...and yes I know they should use it all the time, regardless but...), however with this Ripstik, I just feel better knowing he uses one. 

Noah rides this so well, so smoothly, he's a natural. Which is amazing because if I were to try, I know I'd kill myself for sures! : ) He has the elbow pads (which Noah hates, lol), hand guards (which he loves the hand guards/protectors) and he also has the knee pads which Noah loves too. 

My pale one, smiling and having a good old time. : ) 

Such a gorgeous happy boy! Love you Noah! : )

The knee protectors you really can't see, but I asked Noah to lift his pant leg and show..there they are. : )

Today's plan: teacher conference with Noah's teacher at 1:30pm. Make dinner immediately as soon as I get home after that, early is fine and we can eat it later. Dinner will be chicken parmesan and spaghetti. The haunted school fireworks thing is tonight. Come home have the kids take showers. Finish last minute packing items...though we are 90% packed for California already.

Saturday...day time I am free, but I will rest. Saturday evening I will be working the summer festival, we are eating Coco Ichiban curry Saturday night/tomorrow since I'll be busy working the festival all evening, chicken tenderloin curry here we come... this Saturday! : ). Sunday we're leaving. We are debating leaving via Narita or Haneda. Depending on how full the flight is, we might fly to like Portland or Seattle first and connect also...so that is also on the back burner too. Just superly busy these last few days. This might be the last post from me until after we get back form California. We all have Universal Studios on the brain. My list has been written and is done. I am so ready for Target and Sephora. And for lots of good foods, good eats. We have been running on fumes, running around like crazy... this whole past week, so if we can just get through until Sunday...we have made it! And we will be off...taking a break. I never blog while on vacation. I also do apologize that I have like 3 emails I have yet to reply to a few of you reading. I am so so sorry. I am a nice mom, nice wife, good yakuin/PTA leader... but I am a very bad email responder. I truly get an F minus minus on that! : ) I'll respond more than likely when we get back. Things have just been crazy town here. Boy oh boy... do we need this vacation. And boy oh boy.. do we need us some Universal Studios, Transformers ride, Minion ride, etc here we come. : )