Summer break is almost here...last day of school tomorrow!

Branden and Noah’s last day of school is this Friday (tomorrow). They both get out at 11am this coming Friday, July 18th and will be on Summer break for almost 6 weeks.

This coming Saturday, July 19th is the firework celebration that we are hosting (us head mom's... “the kids club” leaders/heads/reps of our housing community, ykwim). We will be running this event personally, the prez and my fellow co vp and I and a few other members (treasurer, secretary etc.) I think the kids are going to have a fantastic time with this, we have planned and prepared so much beforehand for this that I think it’s going to end up being super fun for the kids! : ) It will be held right near the jinbei boy’s house, this coming Saturday. We will have drinks (sodas and stuff) for the kids and plenty of fireworks and buckets of water to put out said fireworks. : ) After the 19th, both Branden and Noah have less than a week to get their summer homework finished and done... because we will be packing up and getting ready to leave for California. Universal Studios here we come! : ) I know the kids usually get it done super early... so no worries about that part. : )

And the papa's, : )... the Father's Club, is once again hosting their annual  "haunted" night time at the school and fireworks celebration on July 25th. Add in 2 teacher conferences with both Branden and Noah's teachers (our talk with Noah's teacher... conference thing is the 24th, (I think) and it's for surely being done at the elementary school, that I know), and meanwhile Branden's teacher is swinging by our house on the 25th at 1:30pm or somewhere around that time, don't quote me on those times 100% sure because I don't have my datebook near me but something like that. : ) It's the end of the term so it's just time, they're both really good students and get really good grades, so I don't think it's gonna be anything major or earth shattering or anything...it just has to be done. : )

And last but not least...: ) 1 more hoop to jump through before that : )...the summer festival for our housing community is on July 26. I will work the entire summer festival in the kids club booth, selling idol cards (AKB and stuff) and flashing Mickey ears and glowing swords and water guns. : ) Junk basically... but summer junk that kids love to buy at a summer festival basically and the proceeds go right back to the kids club events anyway. : ) It will be work yes...but it will also be social and fun too. Greeting and talking to tons of kids and folks who drop by our booth. We leave pretty much less than 24 hours later after this event to California.

So for now...the in between time...the time between July18th and July 26th, the kids will be doing and finishing their summer packet of homework. And I will be super busy packing for the whole family making sure we have everything we’ll need for our trip to California. Making sure my shopping list isn’t missing anything crucial, written on it. You know what I mean, I hope. : )

The boys are at swim school right now. I went to Costco today, so we will have an easy dinner of a rotisserie chicken and sides as soon as they get back home. They each had a ham and cheese sandwich as soon as they got out of school, to tide them over until they get back from swimming because they come back from swimming starving! Hahaha. : ) Alrighty, enough from me for now. : )

Summer festival fun and the dashi pull!

July 27th, was going to be a very fun day and night for Branden and Noah and Noboru and myself. Slightly busy for Noboru and I, as well, but the fun totally outweighed the busy so it was all good! : ) So, Saturday July 27th, I woke up, the boys and I had toast and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast. Then we all got dressed. The dashi pull was to start at 10am, however us 6th grade mom's/kodomo kai heads, which is me included. All had to be there at 9:30am. The feeling was very fun, all of us mom's all know each other. We already knew way in advance who was doing what job. We all brought our kids with us early, so the kids were playing with their classmates.

The older classes hold this. That's Saya-chan in the hat and pink shirt. She is such a cutie pie. : ) And a very sweet kind girl. And this is the last year the 6th grade class will get to participate in this.  So they made sure to have a lot of fun, so they chanted and cheered extra loud as they walked.

The younger classes pulling the dashi.

You can see the white tarps in the background, one was set to be our food booth already, for the summer festival later that evening.

The boy next door in the gray and green shirt, then Branden, then G-kun, then K-kun. Excellent job guys! : )

So the Jinbei Boy's mom and I were walking with the crowd. Happily shouting, "wasshoi" (sp) we had been asked to make sure, that no kids fell or looked like they had heat exhaustion, ykwim, that type of stuff. But, honestly all the kids looked fine and happy. So her and I got a good little work out, we walked along the path and got the kids pumped! Hahaha. Then when we were about half a block from the drink station her and I would haul booty/run to the drink station. And her and I would be filling all these paper cups as fast as humanly possible before the kids got here. Poor Kouki/Kaito's mom, she was cruising her little red car from drink station to next drink station, unfolding this undokai/camping table, she packed and unpacked this table so many times that morning.... she'd throw all the used cups in a trash bag and zip to drink spot #2 and so on!!! We did this about 4 times. We'd walk happily, then when we knew we were getting close, we'd run... her and I quickly fill the cups. 77 kids, plus parents, we took head count that morning and it matched the count we all got from the keiran ban numbers we took weeks before.... we were filling over 100 cups easy, each stop. And most wanted a refill. However it was not in anyway stressful or exhausting in anyway. We mom's actually had a blast. We were flat out laughing by the time we got to drink station, 2, 3 and 4. It was fun for us mom's. It was so funny. On 1 of our stops, we nearly arrived before K's mom's red car did. And she was like....OMG! You guys are here almost before me. She was laughing and unfolding this table lightning speed. Jinbei Boy's mom and I were cracking up laughing! All us mom's had a fantastic morning. It in all honesty, it was as much a blast for the kids and us!

Now we were nearing the end and her and I once again,  hauled booty back to the start/finish area, I mean we literally ran as if we were running in a sporting event, lol.... meanwhile the mom's had set up everything there and were waiting for us. We quickly got behind the tables. Boy next door's mom said to everyone, if you turn in the bells and stuff you will get a snack bag. So everyone lined up to return the bells.  Jinbei boy's mom and I, handed out the snack bags and the boy next door's mom and K's mom passed out the Coolish ice cream.

This is what each person brought back. Branden and Noah each got one. : ) Then us mom's cleaned up and we headed home. I got home around 11:30am. The boys rested and I rested. And at 2pm, we started to get ready to go and get ready for the summer festival for later that night. The summer festival started for folks around 4pm. But for us who had booths we started setting up around 2:30pm. And why did we decide to have a booth this year? Well, Noboru being the fuku kaicho this year , all the heads were expected to have or work in a booth. Or you could have your own booth. But they wanted the heads visible to the community this year. Meanwhile, the kodomo kai has a booth for all 6th grade mom's also. Again unless you have your own booth, which that counts too. But again they want all 6th grade mom's visible to the community, that's all. Just be visible. So since Noboru and I were both needing to be out and about and visible this year. We decided, why not just do it together and have our own family booth? That way, we're both visible this year. It just made sense. And at least we can stay together as a family. Plus Branden and Noah would be able to sit under the shade. Yadayadayada. It just made sense. So, we had made this decision back in June. Way before we went to Hawaii. We were already written down... that we were indeed having a booth. Then Noboru and I started to come up with a loose time table/plan....for example, what day should we go and buy the hot dogs? When should we go and buy the buns? I have to fly to Guam and buy lemonade. No worries though, because, we can see movies at the same time. Just so much planning. It actually turned out very awesome though! Everyone loved our stand! : )

Two of our signs. We had 1 more sign pictured below somewhere. Branden made the signs. I think his signs came out awesome!

Sign close up! It was colorful and a few people actually took pictures of us behind our stand and of the sign! One older man actually came up and asked Noboru, if he could take some pictures and he wanted me standing behind the stand. We think he works for the town, so we might end up in the town bulletin now, hahaha.  He was quite happy! @.@ Hahaha.  We kept our stand super simple, we sold only 3 items. We sold out of everything! But the hot dogs were first to be sold out! : )  We saw many classmates of Branden's and Noah's, many of my kodomo kai mom friends, so many parents of the boys classmates came to wave or say hello and to also buy! And neighborhood friends. We also got a lot of people coming up saying...their daughter or son studied in America. Or they visited America once and they'd reminisce with us for a minute or two. : ) For whatever reason...they just liked our stand. They wanted to talk and relate and share some story about America, and that's cool, that's fine. It was seriously such a cool day, you guys. We were smiling non stop all day. Greeting people. Selling hot dogs. Lemonade. Etc. And it is true, I am very involved in my community and town. And I really enjoy being involved also. : )

Branden also made this sign also. Everything he drew free hand. The American flags were from leftover napkins from the 4th of July! : )

You know what's in those 2 Costco bags already, the hot dog buns!, And only you reading know we got that cooler cheaply at Kmart this year, hahaha. And if you read regularly you know that Crock Pot from this blog, I use this a lot in Fall and winter. : )

The head of the community was about to speak giving his...please have fun and enjoy the summer festival speech (which is Noboru, since the actual kaicho is away doing tanshinfunin, though he tried to be here, he couldn't). The man just about to announce the fuku kaicho 2013, Noboru. He also announced the fuku kaicho had a stand and to please go there and buy! @.@ Hahaha. : )

Branden and Kouki going up there.

Branden smiling and answering all of this guys questions! : )

His mom was driving her red car from drink spot to drink spot and unfolding the table earlier that morning. : ) His dad came and bought hot dogs from us later that evening and K-kun, came and bought chips and salsa from us right after being on stage. : )

A smiley Noboru. He's irl very smiley, unless you point a camera near him and he sees it, then he gets a very serious face. But he's a very funny guy irl. Very funny! : ) See the American garland? It had stars on it too. I bought a blue one and a red one. Oh and the chips and salsa on the table were free samples, lol! How funny! : )

Aha, there's the red garland. The garland was found at the Daiso. We had a relish, mustard and ketchup station/area. We were ready! Ready to interact with the folks from our neighborhood and town. That way they know us and we know them. Though we know them already of course, but it was just a cool thing to do. I didn't take too many pics this time, usually I am pretty good about it. I usually try to take pics first 10 minutes or so and then enjoy the rest of the time camera free pretty much, unless it's a quick pic, important enough I want to capture it iykwim.. However, we did get so busy with customers that my chance or opportunity to take pics were very slim.

One of Noah's best friends, who doesn't live in our housing community (doesn't matter just giving you the info) but he does live in our town. Anyway, he came with his mom and sister to our housing community's summer festival. He was so happy to see and play with Noah. So happy! And he was also happy we were selling chips and salsa. lol. He bought a chips and salsa. They went across the street from our stand, which was blocked off to cars. And they enjoyed chips and salsa together. He bought them and he shared with Noah. Which was very kind and I took notice. So when I saw he was running low, I called Noah back and had him refill the boys chips and salsa for free and I also gave Noah a chips and salsa for himself. : ) The boys were so happy! These 2 boys played for the majority of the festival together. They'd go and buy shave ice together, each buying their own. And they kept sitting in front of our stand the whole evening. It was so cute!

Any friend of Noah's, is a friend of ours! : ) There were more people around, I just zoomed up in this pic.

Once the hot dogs sold out, we were way less busy and we sorta enjoyed the less busy time. It was cooling off temp wise, warm but a nice cool breeze. Perfect weather for a summer festival. Noboru doesn't really drink, maybe 3-4 times a year at Father's Club dinner/gathering or something..... but he had a beer that night from the beer stand and he sat relaxing behind our booth, I also went and got myself a lemon shave ice. Both Branden and Noah had pocket money to buy treats at the various stands also of course.

Look at that empty jar of relish, yep we totally sold out of everything! Branden would go and play with friends then come back and chill with us some, then leave again. Noah meanwhile, in the background still eating chips and salsa with his friend. Hahaha.

Then the karaoke started getting good! And we did have a prime spot for watching it, from our booth! : ) So we invited Noah's friend to sit inside our booth. What are these 3 doing? Eating chips and salsa, listening to karaoke and getting ready for bingo! : )

Noah won something at bingo! Go figure. : )  Then we cleaned up and lugged everything ours back to our house. The festival ended at 9pm. We got home around 9:35-9:45pm, because we had to pack up our stuff and go home. The only stuff left were the tables and white tarps which were taken down the next morning. When we got home, we were exhausted. Was it fun? Yes!!! Totally fun! Next year though, we just want to be customers of this festival though. But the bright side is, we did what we were supposed to do. We were most certainly visible. Right?! : )  And also, another silver lining is we shouldn't have hancho/block leader duty until 14-15 years from now! So we are done for while. : ) When we got home... we all realized we were starving! None of us really ate. Noboru and I didn't eat all night. Not since lunch. Noah snacked on chips but he didn't eat a proper supper. And Branden was hungry also. So we phoned an order into Cocoichi Curry. The boys and I ordered the breaded chicken tenderloin curry, Noboru picked dinner from a beef bowl drive through and ordered a huge beef bowl, I drove but, he needed it... poor guy was so hungry. And we ate here at home at the kitchen table. Talking a mile a minute. "Wasn't it fun?" Yes! "Aren't you tired?" Totally!! : ) But bright side is, we did it...we were done! Nobody could ever say...they avoided doing their duty/job. It's done! So we felt so happy afterwards. We sent Branden and Noah to shower first right after they ate. They shampooed, washed their bodies and brushed their teeth. Went to bed. Noboru showered next. He said I should go, but I knew how tired he was, so I had him go first. He showered and felt tons better afterwards. I went and showered and shampooed and soaped up, rinsed, then dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel, put my night gown/tee on and came downstairs. The kids were in snoozeland. We stayed up sorta unwinding a bit from the day and about 20 minutes later we went upstairs and we crashed. We were all so exhausted. But boy were we happy! We did it! Job done.

Our curry's looked like this, this was mine from that night. : ) Anyway that's the morning dashi story and Summer festival story as well for July 27th, 2013. : )

I have a few more posts to get up and I am trying like heck to catch up. For example, my last task for the summer was having pool duty/watch and I did that already, I took good pics from that day too. And I'd also like to share the pics of what Costco Inzai looks like also. It's cool! However tomorrow, August 6th is Branden's swimming competition. I ran to Costco Inzai this afternoon in fact, my 2nd time going there...this time to get a rotisserie chicken and provolone cheese and those dinner rolls to make mini roasted chicken sandwiches to take to tomorrow's swim meet for part of our obento/lunch. Also, today I, zipped to my local shop to buy fresh grapes and fresh pineapple for fruit to also take to the swim meet tomorrow for our family lunch I'm packing. The note says every family is to bring their own lunch and drinks, fair enough and we did that last year also. Noboru is off tomorrow. I have a lot of drinks in the freezer, as I type. Branden NEEDS to be there by 7:40am tomorrow. It's 40 minutes away. And plus parking and setting up. We will probably leave around 6:10 am-ish-6:20am-ish tomorrow morning. But, Branden loves swimming. So as long as he loves this sport and he's having fun with it. We will be there to cheer him and the rest of the team on. Go little country school go! : )

Costco Makuhari run (stuff for the summer festival) A new level in swimming for Noah! Last week before going on summer break highlights

I think before posting about the Guam trip. I better post about the stuff that happened before the Guam trip. That way, hopefully I can get caught up a bit. And when I finally do, it will at least be semi in the right order. This pic, I took of the boys before school one morning. It's date stamped as July 11th. So this was taken July 11th.

Since we had to go to Chiba city anyway to go to Costco. We also went to immigration for me. The system changed and I received a letter a long time ago. To go and get a new card. But since we live pretty far from Chiba city and the traffic in the city is crazy. We held off. But perfect time to finally go and get it, since we had to be in the city anyway. We went July 11th same day as the pic up above of the boys. Also, since I was not changing my status since I've been a permanent resident for a while anyway, my line was quite short and we were in and out of the immigration in under 30 minutes.

Seems they are building a very big Aeon right next to Costco Makuhari.

When we pulled into Costco Makuhari, I said to Noboru, I wonder if this will be our last time going here or not. Since our closer Costco is opening soon. (It's open now of course, but not at the time of this pic or when we were there). We quickly grabbed what we needed, paid and checked out of course and grabbed something for lunch and headed back to our neck of the woods. Before the boys let out of school.

I had a hot sandwich, a delicious provolone and chicken sandwich. This was so good!

Blurry pic of my pineapple smoothie.

This says, July 8th. 1 day after Noah's birthday he was tested at swim school and he passed! I think that's pretty great and deserves to be posted no doubt! Congratulations Noah on becoming a level 3! We are very proud of you baby! : )

Salsa and chips. For our Summer festival booth, our family had planned to have.

Pizza and dinner rolls. The pizza was for dinner the night of July 11th. And the dinner rolls were just for our family since we love them, not for the booth or anything.

Cheese pizza.

Waffles for the boys for quick mornings before school. Or for Noboru or anyone who wants them in our family. Noboru really likes these also.

Mustard and ketchup and relish for the family stand for the summer festival. The extra pack of ketchup is for our family usage though, we go through lots of ketchup around here. And the hot dog buns were for Noboru because he bought an extra pack of hot dogs to enjoy.

Bowl for the chips. Summer festival.

Just basic great cleansers. The Kirkland wipes always rock! And the toilet Duck super rocks also! The marine scent is my fave.

Pork hot dogs. We bought a lot. Total we bought for the month of July was 140 hot dogs. These were for the sale for the upcoming summer festival for our booth.

Cheese not for our booth hahaha. But for our house usage.

Weather wise, it's been a cool Summer so far. It's had super hot days don't get me wrong, but we've also had cloudy overcast days and cool breezy days and cool breezy nights.  Usually it's just hot and sauna like. This summer's been a bit mild. Anyway on the hot days we've been drinking this. It really quenches our thirst. Hits the spot on hot days.

One day, I decided to make karaage for supper. We hadn't had it in forever. So, I cut the chicken and had it marinate all day long. Rolled in plain flour after and then fried it up.

Super sweet fresh corn on the cob. Sweet cantaloupe. Karaage, I had more frying, I make tons this is just the first batch, we also had macaroni salad and potato salad. And the rice was about to be served. When suddenly the doorbell rang.....

A gift for the fuku kaicho. Meaning vice president of our housing community since the kaicho is off doing tanshin funin in Thailand. : ) So Noboru is handling everything. Anyway about a 1 minute walk from our house a new lady moved in. Let me give you a visual, late 30's to mid 40's maybe... short in height and slightly plus sized (again, not meant to be in a mean or unkind type of way, just trying to give you a visual, is all and she is very nice) She has a 4th or 5th grade daughter. And a set of 2nd grade twins (boy and girl twins, how cool!) Which means Noah will get 2 new classmates when Summer break is over. We think, Noboru and I, think she's probably divorced. Because she's handling all the stuff. The name registering to be in the community was hers. No mention of husband. And also she asked Noboru if he knew how to turn her power on. : ) How cute! So if she's divorced we'll have to help her if we can. She seems really nice. Also, this makes me wonder if Noah's class will now be split into 2 classes now? Remember how Noah's class is bursting with kids and they said, if they get 1 or 2 more kids they'd be forced to split it in two classes. So....I am hoping this means Noah's class will be split in 2 now.

This was inside.

Noah meanwhile had been bringing home fresh veggies from the school veggie patch and also from his plant all July. Branden too. Needless to say, we've been having salad city here at our house. : ) I just buy a lettuce and chop the veggies the boys would bring.

This was taken July 14th because it says it on the pic. : )  Just to let you know how the weather was near-ish where we live. Not our actual town of course. But gives you an idea of our weather. It was 88 F that day, but if you look at it under it says, what it feels like considering humidity etc. felt more like 94 F. Yep, I agree. : )

I go to Trial, a chain store about once every 2 months or so. Anyway, I went in there in July and picked up an inner tube for the pools this summer. Keep in mind, when we first moved here, I bought a similar inner tube at Aeon for 1900 yen. But Trial is pretty cheap and this was about 500 yen. 450 or 550 yen. When I saw it, I bought it right away. Just way too good a deal to pass up. In fact I should have bought 2 actually. And they had this obento 3 tier for 500 yen. Couldn't believe it. And plus green really makes food pop/look good. So, I picked this. It was the last one at the Trial near us.

I like the yellow obento boxes we already have, but these are a nice addition too.

A fairly nice sized pack of fireworks for 149 yen, also from Trial.  That way we can do these this Summer.

The actual last week of school for the boys, I kicked butt cleaning house. I wanted the house spic and span by the time they went on break. I wiped down the kitchen counters. I had music playing in the background. An 80's radio station.

A bleaching spray less then 100 yen or 100 yen, but a great price. I use this tons in the kitchen.

Vacuumed the heck out of the downstairs. Kitchen, living room, genkan and toilet.

The Duck did her thang! : ) She and I scrubbed both toilets and they were sparkly and marine smelling. All that last week, I just wanted to get the house in order and clean. I also didn't want to leave for Guam and leave Noboru with a messy house. I wanted to leave the house in perfect order while we were gone for a few days.

Mopped the floors, really put some elbow grease into it!

Kajagoogoo. Too Shy shy hush hush! lol! I was working hard. Jamming also listening to the music which helps me clean.

Geeze vacuuming corners of walls, baseboards. I tell ya! I needed a hot soapy shower after I cleaned. I was a sweaty mess. : )

Vacuumed the area rug in the living room.

Shoot, I even vacuumed under the couch, under the couch cushions. You name it...I cleaned it! lol.

Thank goodness for time stamps, this pic was taken July 17th. One of the days of the last week of school for the boys. We wanted Branden and Noah to thoroughly enjoy their last week of school. So we bbq'ed one night. It was a simple bbq but good.

The weather was cloudy but no worries, it was fine. : )

Yakiniku, lettuce for wrapping our meat with. And fresh corn on the cob again. Just typical summer eats. : ) At this time, behind the scenes. Noboru had about 2 meetings a week. Fuku kaicho stuff. Since the summer festival was CLOSE. And so many things had to be done. When to ask the landscaper to come and mow the lawn before the summer festival day. Whose booth goes where. What hula act to book. One hula group charged 50,000 yen. And the other group is free. Needless to say Noboru booked the free hula group. Just details details details up to your eyeballs basically. Meanwhile me, I am a 6th grade mom this year so we're heading the kodomo kai stuff. And the summer dashi stuff. And which mom is doing what job? My keitai went off every other day with details about it. The Jinbei boy's mom and I were to be partners, which is best since we're closest out of the 6th grade mom's. Although I'm close with them all, we're closer her and I. So we were glad to be working that together as a team. Plus Noboru and our family's stand. Which day should we go and buy the buns? We want them fresh. Yadayadayada. Again so many minute details, that needed to be sorted. Plus it was the boys last week of school. Plus again since I'm a 6th grade mom, I am life guarding at the school pool on July 30th. So like infinity amounts of stuff to do, think about, plan about. Which is why, Noah's birthday blog was delayed. And everything else is a bit delayed. Sorry. : )

Two weeks before Noah brought home a note. It said, the last week of school, Noah's sensei was taking the whole class fishing right behind the school at a little creek. And they each need to bring 1 homemade fishing pole. Not a store bought fishing pole. Again she wants them to think outside the box. And also it shouldn't cost a lot of money. Noboru loves fishing. And so he made Noah's fishing pole no problem. This is what he used as Noah's hook. Noboru taped down the hook and line so Noah could get it to school easier.

Do you remember when Noah needed a gardening stick for his bell peppers a month or two ago? Well, they were sold in sets of 2 at the Daiso. Anyway this stick was not being used for anything so Noboru turned it into a fishing pole, perfect height btw for a 2nd grader! : )

Noboru used 2 rubber bands to keep the line there and Noah's teacher loved Noah's fishing pole! : )

Last week of school, one of the days. First pic on this post, Noah had a swimming bag because he swam one of the days on his last week and this day, he went to school with a homemade fishing pole and a bug box to keep anything he caught. Noah brought back 2 zarigani and he loved fishing with his class. : )

The absolute last last day of school. The boys let out at 11am. I went to pick them up. I was waiting at the plaza from 10:45am, just reading a magazine. And we left. My first plan was to go directly to the city near us to get lunch. But, I saw Genki walking with a massive amount of stuff. His mom doesn't drive fwiw. Everyone else basically seemed to be getting a ride. So, I had Branden go get Genki. And he was so happy and jumped into my car. He went to yochien with Branden and our 2 family's have been good friends forever. It was super hot that day. Plus, I know me and I know I wouldn't feel right knowing he was walking lugging a mountain of stuff all the way home. I just wouldn't feel comfortable. And my heart wouldn't feel right. So we had to take him home. : )  Meanwhile, after dropping him off, Branden and Noah and I headed to Mister Donut. I bought 4 donuts. 1 for each of us in our family. The boys ate it while driving, and then after that I took them to lunch. I did this because I always like to celebrate their last day of school with something fun or yummy. : )

These KFC lunch boxes are super cute. And only 500 yen. The deal is awesome. It's for lunch only, I think ends everyday at 2pm. The box looks like a cute little picnic basket.

Comes with a chicken fillet sandwich and fries and a drink. However it says the drink can be changed/switched to a biscuit or a crispy strip. We have drinks at home so we switch the drink to biscuit or chicken strip. 500 yen. Which for Japan this is an excellent value. I like biscuits with honey, so switched mine to that versus a drink. The boys each picked the chicken strip. Very filling. Anyway we went home and enjoyed our lunch. Around 2pm a group of Branden and Noah's friends came and they went and played soccer until 5pm. I meanwhile started supper around 3pm-ish.

We had fajitas. This was Noah's serving. A very nice and very filling last day of school, celebration meal. : )

We were so glad to be on Summer break, finally! : )

Saturday, the day after going on Summer break. The boys and I made some of those Reese's peanut butter, oatmeal chocolate chip bars.

That same Saturday, after we all had supper and showers. We had a family movie night, we popped some popcorn. And watched some movies. It was nice to relax. Anyway...that's the long and short of it. : ) Of everything we have been up to before leaving to Guam. : )