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. : )  

Bits and pieces from Summer break so far!

Here's a picture of Noah cleaning the back patio sliding door one morning. Wiping down any fingers prints or smudges. He's been wiping down the 2 big back patio sliding glass doors every week since going on Summer break. Branden's been vacuuming the stairs for me every week, twice a week by the way. They of course empty the dishwasher every morning together. Noah's always in charge of the shoes in the genkan and to make sure nobody has more then 1 pair out at a time otherwise he puts them into the shoe closet. : ) Good kid...good kid! Branden scours the upstairs toilet once a week for us. And I meanwhile clean the downstairs toilet once daily as it's the most used toilet in the house. : ) And I also swish the toilet upstairs a time or two myself during the week anyway. But in short the kids have been so helpful. They've honestly cut my housework in half. They're always a big help to me when they are home in the day during the Summer. They also help with dinner. Even if it's just a simple task like...getting all the veggies out of the fridge for me for curry one night...at least help is help, you know. And they do love helping. I in return will take them to my favorite tantanmen.... ramen place for lunch..or go and buy them dessert from the local Ministop. You know...just small stuff to say...thanks for all the help. : )

What else...the boys, both had their dental cleanings and check ups at the end of July. They both passed with flying colors and got a good thorough cleaning. So that's also been done. Don't have to think about that for the next 6 month's now, phew. : )
Summer's homework has all been done. Branden was given this packet with 19 pages of work to complete. His last day of school was a Wednesday and so he told us..he would do 5 pages each day. And so Thursday he did 5 pages, and Friday 5 pages, Saturday we flew to Guam but he took his Summer homework packet with him and a pencil box and did 5 pages on the plane ride there. Did 5 pages while we were waiting for the plane back to Narita the following day and so, in short his 19 page Summer homework packet were done like 4 days after Summer vacation had started. I'm glad he's like that with his homework, every year. He also had a 3 page book report to do, he read a book on mineral water...what makes mineral water...mineral water. He found the book interesting and Noboru did too, so they talked about the book and Noboru read it after. And Branden wrote that book report after we got back from Guam in July. He also had 2 diaries this year to write, one he wrote about the trip to Guam right after we got back and the other he saved because he wanted to write it about the Summer festival in our housing community last week. So, he wrote that last week that was the last thing he had to complete. Oh he also had a poster to make and he made one on traffic safety, but he did that in July after we got back from Guam. : ) Here is a look of the type of homework a 4th grader in Japan gets. Thought it might be interesting for those of you that live outside of Japan. : )



Division. Math here goes really slow and very thorough. One of Branden's favorite subjects is math.
Geography. Since August 1st well since the day after the Summer festival in our housing community, when he wrote that last diary. He has felt completely relaxed. All homework done. And for what it's worth...all the kids in the community we live...also seem to all be done too. It's not just Branden. : ) When we were all at the Summer dashi pull that morning many of us parents asked the other mom's...did your kid finish the Summer homework? Everyone said yes. Genki and everyone. We also said yes too because he had everything complete...except he was wanting to save that last diary to write about that particular day and I did mention that as well. But the rest done. Branden still has Kumon homework though. : ) And same for Noah. So, but they love that though.
What else have we been up to? I went and washed all the bedding at the laundry mat last week. The sheets and pillow cases I wash at home twice a week. But the whole thing..comforter and all...I run down every other week.
Still renting 4 DVD's a month from Tsutaya. These were rented the last week of June. WallStreet 2 (sorry too lazy to find the proper title) And the other is Karigurashi no Arietty (The Borrower Arietty). I seriously *loved* the Borrowers books as a child and then the Borrowers movie. And I even loved the cartoon called The Littles. : ) So, I was quite excited to see this movie..... didn't get to see it at the movie theater last Summer when it first came out....but when I saw it was available to rent, I rented it right away. I really enjoyed it quite a lot. I forgot to take pics of the 4 movies we rented in July, but I'll remember to take pics when the ones for August get here.
Summer for us means, we've been keeping ourselves cool with plenty of lemonade.
First week of Summer break for the kids, we had lasagna, salad, they ate theirs first while I was buttering the fresh loaf of bread pictured sliced on the plate in this pic. It was a baguette from the bakery that I sliced and buttered, fresh bread is so good. We also had some very sweet watermelon to enjoy after dinner, also pictured.
Another misc. night. We had a pasta dish, with chicken breast and broccoli. We also had fresh bread sliced from the bakery that night as well. And we have been having fresh watermelon or fresh cantaloupe every week, since it's in season. This particular night we had fresh cantaloupe.
This night of a different week but again still during the break this far, I made chicken parmesan. I dipped in egg first then rolled in Italian style breadcrumbs. Fried in a shallow skillet with olive oil. Then drained really well and baked the chicken with sauce and the final 10 minutes sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.
Placed on top of some pasta. We had yet another fresh crusty loaf of bread from the bakery again. No salads, this night. : )
And about every other week, I make miso pork. Noboru loves this, and so do the kids. So, I make this often. Usually with rice, potato salad and a simple salad to go with. And of course some fresh sweet watermelon for dessert.
Last Friday, we had fajita Friday yet again.
It's so nice to just relax at home in our comfy clothes and enjoy a good meal together.
The grandma next door and family went to Nagano last week, for a few day trip. She said they went to onsen and really enjoyed themselves. She brought us back this. It said..eclair cakes. I know what eclairs are obviously but eclair cakes? I was intrigued. : )
Half filled with chocolate and half filled with cream. These were fantastic. We had these last Friday after we enjoyed the fajitas. : )
What else have we been doing this Summer....well I ordered that book about Jaycee Dugard. And 2 dvd's from Amazon.com.
The book is very good read. Heartbreaking of course, but a well written book nonetheless. She is such a survivor. I wish her nothing but the best, she really deserves it. The other movie...From Prada to Nada. This was a great movie, I'm glad I bought this. And Arthur. I seriously....*loved* the original Arthur movie....with Dudley Moore. The whole..Christopher Cross song "Arthur's theme"....just the whole movie so fantastic. When I saw the previews to this.... I admit I was a little surprised. A bit skeptical. My mom also loved the movie....the original. I asked her back in July on Skype, what did she think of the remake? She said...it's cute but not nearly as good as the original. Not even close. But she said...you should rent it at least. I had been patiently waiting to rent it...but not really knowing how long of a delay that could be for me in Japan. And since I had the Jaycee Dugard book in my cart anyway. I said..you know what...I loved the original...I'd like to see this one. If I lived in the US...I'd had just rented it. And usually I don't just buy any dvd. But considering I did like the original so much...I purchased this one. What did I think? I honestly think.....my mom was right. This is a cute version. But definitely not as good as the original one with Dudley Moore. I am glad I have it though. Anyway there you have it...some of the misc. bits and pieces and things that have also been happening during this fine Summer. ; )