Noah's 5th grade class trip to the Nissan factory and Bandai museum in Tochigi prefecture. More homemade cookies from scratch. And a Jenga night...

Noah had a class field trip to a totally different prefecture. To Tochigi prefecture. Utsunomiya, Tochigi. It was a 2 hour limousine bus ride there and 2 hours back. That's pretty far away, for a field trip. : ) But the 5th graders were looking forward to it. They went to the Nissan factory. And yes that picture on the booklet is Olive's sister! Hahaha. : ) It is a Nissan Leaf, same car, as my car, except my car is black! Noah said the Nissan tour guide asked...does anyone own a Nissan Leaf? Noah's entire class including his sensei know what I drive, so they all looked at Noah. And a blushing Noah raised his hand and said, "yes my mom has one!" And the sensei and class chimed in and said, "yes she does!" And yes, I do, and heck...even ya'll can confirm that one! : ) Hahaha. Anyway Noah said the Nissan factory tour was very nice. And then they went to the Bandai Museum. They had lunch at the Bandai museum, somewhere inside the building. : ) I made sure to pack Noah a very nice and big lunch that day. 

This is what our kitchen/dining table looked like last Friday. I baked yet another batch of homemade chocolate chip with walnut cookies. And of course in Japan all Fall and Winter long we eat mikan. These ones are so sweet. And we have gone through 2 more bags of mikan since this picture was taken. : )

Noboru, Branden and Noah all read my blog. And after seeing the TBT last week, they all mentioned Friday at breakfast, "let's play Jenga tonight!" I said, "I'm down!" And everyone else was down too! So after a filling supper. Some chocolate chip cookies and showers last Friday, we whipped out the Jenga game and got down to business! We played 3 rounds! Noboru smiling! Branden taking a turn!

Noah smiling and Noboru flat out laughing! So...who won? Noah knocked them all down the first and 3rd time. Noboru knocked them down the 2nd round. And Branden and I managed to somehow...not lose this time. However....we were just lucky. : ) It was a whole lot of fun! What else did we do last weekend? We watched the DVD Home Alone! : )

This coming Friday as you know, we have Star Wars Rogue One... that we're going to watch. I already have the movie snacks. And our "family home weekend movie" will be Elf on Saturday night! : )  Japan's been super cold! So stay toasty warm everyone! And stay safe.

What's for dinner tonight? Well...Noboru is taking the boys to the barber as we speak. And I have had karaage marinating all day, since 12 noon. So it is so gingery and marinated, I am sure. We will be having, karaage tonight, with broccoli, macaroni salad and a side of rice. The boys will be taking the same thing inside their packed school lunch tomorrow along with a mikan each. And tomorrow night we will be having curry nabe, yum, I bought all the ingredients today. And on Friday, we will be having family cheeseburger night at home with fries. I figure a little fun meal before we go and watch Rogue One! And Saturday night will be...homemade pizza night when we have family movie night! And Sunday night will be Chili concarne (Wendy's type of chili, you know what I mean? Like a Texas style of chili beans) We will be having sour cream and shredded cheese and I have that bag of Fritos that my dad kindly brought us, so I am thinking it will be more along the lines of ...chili beans on top of Fritos. It's a dish in New Mexico. And we had that at school lunch in Denver too. I will have a side of lean ground beef...so if you want to add some ground beef fine and if not fine too. : )  So anyways...that's some of the meals we will be having for supper the next couple nights. Anyway...I am about to go and turn the TV on and see what's on. Noboru already knows to message me as soon as they leave the barber so I can start frying up the chicken before they even get home. : ) Have a good night everyone! : ) 

Noah's 5th grade class camping trip...

Immediately the day right after Noah and I got back from Guam. We got back Wednesday June 15th. Early evening. The following morning was Noah's 5th grade class camping trip! That just meant 2 things. #1, I had to make sure Noah was ready 100% and fully packed to go on his camping trip *before* he and I went to Guam. And #2, that airplane better not break down and stuff because we 100% absolutely needed to get back to Japan June 15th or else...Noah would miss his camping trip. So packing ahead of schedule absolutely no problems with that. The airplane being on time and not breaking down was out of our hands though. Needless to say when I heard it was going to be a 1 hour delay. I was nervous as heck... but didn't mind as long as Noah and I made it back to Japan! So glad we arrived in Japan. And Noah was all ready for his camping trip! I snapped a few pics right before I drove him to school at regular time, the morning of his camping trip. In the yellow Spongebob bag was Noah's bath kit/set. Towel... toiletries, chisai towel, scrubby nylon mesh. That sorta thing. A thermos in his hand. And in his stripey bag/backpack, he had to have 2 days worth of underwear, socks, 2 sets of school gym clothes (uniform) and an mini umbrella and raincoat. Handkerchiefs etc. : ) 

I'm sure going to miss you...my little snuggle bunny! But, I know you need to go. Have fun okay!

Noah usually gets 2 new gym shorts and shirts every year. His shirts he will get right before undokai. However the shorts he needed now. Height wise, he needed to switch from his 140cm shorts to these 150cm length shorts. I made sure and bought them a week before his camping trip and our trip to Guam. I cut off all the tags and washed them on the fast/quick wash cycle. Before he wears them. I made sure they were all nicely dried and then I packed them up in his striped backpack. And Noah has 3 gym shirts right now, so that's why I didn't rush right out and replace them. However like I said...I will add 2 new shirts towards undokai. But I did pack Noah 2 freshly cleaned gym shirts and packed them away in his striped backpack too. Also, no snacks of any kind were not allowed. So that was a difference from when Bran had this camping trip. 

Shampoo and conditoner was the Shiseido Super Mild. The Biore face wash and body wash was just bought 1 month before for Bran's Kyoto trip, which is why that particular set has Bran's name on it and not Noah's. But everything else was bought for Noah. Toothbrush kit and a brush for brushing his hair the next day. Inside that Biore kit has a mini nylon mesh for scrubbing your body with in the shower. 

The note said to bring 2 chisai towels, so I made sure to pack them. The note also said to pack 2 handkerchiefs. And so I did that too. And the note also said 2 packs of tissue and I packed those too. The note also said, apron, face mask and bandana for cooking. And sure enough I made sure everything was clean and folded. I had everything packed up the Saturday...a few days before we went to Guam. So, I was a bit busy that weekend before.

The bath kit I kept in the Spongebob bag. And this was everything Noah needed for cooking specifically which is why I placed it all together...which means easier to find and I placed it all in a disposable waterproof bag. I did this with everything I packed for him. The 2 sets of gym clothes were not packed in a ziplock though obviously. They were put into his handmade gym bag. But everything that went together...was indeed lumped together. Just makes things easier for my boys to find. Yes I know, I am freakishly organized. @_@ Hahaha. : )

And the note did ask for everything to have your child's name on it. However... since this is clearly not my first rodeo to to speak. I made sure that yes everything had Noah's name on it. Meanwhile...the limousine bus that brought all the kids home. Made 3 stops in our town the day the 5th graders came back, and it was just a...1 over night trip for what it's worth. All the kids that live in our housing community. Got dropped off at the entrance of our housing community. And another stop and a final stop was at the plaza. Bran and I were waiting for Noah. He had a lot of fun. Noah had a bunch of exciting stories from his camping trip. They sang and danced around the campfire. They ate all their meals together. Went on a long nature walk. They kids made curry on an open fire outside in the great outdoors. They showered and bathed...in a huge community style Japanese style bathing shower area... which is so fun. The tubs are like huge huge hot tubs All the girls showered and bathed together in the girls side and all the boys showered and bathed together. With their teachers supervision of course. They had a ton of fun! 

I made Branden a special meal/dinner the night he got back from Kyoto. And the same for Noah too. I treat them "Even Stevens." So, I made a special meal I know Noah really loves. And I made a great big tray of cheesy gratin potatoes from scratch. Pictured here. 

Everyone had salads, American style fried pork chops, gratin potatoes, fresh corn on the cob with butter, salt and pepper and for dessert we had some fresh sliced up cantaloupe. I clearly wasn't planning to take pics of the meal hence the pic of an eaten corn on the cob and potatoes missing from the gratin pic. It happens. : )  Noah took a nice hot shower and I immediately threw every clothing item that were inside his bags into the washing machine because all his clothes smelled like camping. LOL. : ) And his backpack aired out the entire day afterwards, outside on the laundry pole to get the campfire scent off. : ) Noah had fun but he was so happy to be home! And we were so happy he was home. We missed him! : )

Branden's 9th grade class trip to Kyoto...

Branden on his way to Kyoto! It was his 3 day trip. In Japan 9th graders take a 3 day trip. Most every junior high school in Chiba prefecture sends their 9th graders to Kyoto and Nara. Nara is just a day trip but they sleep in Kyoto for the 2 nights. Noboru meanwhile grew up in the big bustling city of Osaka, so his city school took their 9th graders to Nagano (countryside, very gorgeous rural parts of Japan with beautiful mountains) and they loved their trip because they were seeing something different than what they were used to seeing coming from the city of Osaka. And vice versa. Branden's class is from rural Japan, so they enjoyed spending their 3 day trip in the big city of Kyoto. And plus there is so much to see there. Many touristy areas. So in a nutshell, either country mouse goes and plays city mouse for 3 days or city mouse goes and plays country mouse for 3 days. Just depends which part of Japan you live. : ) 

Visiting the deer in Nara!

Branden said he and his classmates said this reminded them of the movie Spirited Away. 

This is a funny story! A month ago, there was a note saying how the school would be sending all the kids suitcases to Kyoto by Kuroneko...for those of you outside of Japan a better explanation would be... think along the lines of UPS or FedEx. That way the kids could be more hands-free and be able to sight-see without having to lug their suitcases all the way to Kyoto and back. Noboru jokingly said..."the kids today are so pampered, in my day we lugged all our suitcases to and from Nagano by ourselves... it would be unheard of in those days to ask anyone to ship/mail them!" Hahaha. That cracked me up! : ) And look at this pic, how Kuroneko delivered it back to us. All nicely wrapped by Kuroneko in plastic...so Branden's suitcase would not get dirty or get any rain drops on it. Hahaha. : ) Kids from today ne~ It's a different generation now days from Noboru's days.  

Some of the souvenirs Branden brought back! : ) 

Branden bought me this cosmetics bag. He brought back everyone in our family a gift. One for Noboru and also one for Noah too. : ) 

As a 9th grader, final year in middle school/ JHS.  All the kids bought these. You can read what it's for on the paper in English. One says for "passing examination" and the other says for "successful study" Awww. : ) Branden being in his final year at JHS has been studying tons and he had a big exam the other day and he told me that he kept these in his pocket during his exam for luck! : ) 

He bought this for Noah. He told Noah, "you're too young and don't need to pass any entrance exams, so I didn't buy you the charms I bought for myself. But I didn't want to leave you out either so I bought you this one, it says "victory"." I imagine this is what most tourists....foreigners purchase. Because it's a safe charm to buy (not many American tourists would need a "hope to get into high school charm" since we don't have that system") I thought it was very thoughtful..and it was cute he bought this for Noah. Because as he said....Noah being a 5th grader doesn't have a huge exam to take. So this was the "safest" charm to buy for Noah. Noah was so happy to just receive anything. And he did love the colors of it...a beautiful purple and green on this victory charm. And it's now hanging on Noah's randoseru (elementary school backpack) They are both good brothers to one another. : )

Cheesecake for us all to share. The senbei (rice crackers) up above were so hot. Hotter than jalapenos even! The hottest curry senbei we have ever eaten hands down. We ate them and they were so super tasty... but geeze louise were they hot! : )  So good... but beware... super hot. : ) 

Noboru's gift. Bran bought him green tea cookies. Noboru likes green tea. 

Various other things, inside the tiny brown paper bag is a necklace he had engraved with something written on it. All of his classmates had bought engraved necklaces this trip.

Noboru enjoyed these green tea cookies so much. All in all... Branden had a fantastic time. He said the kids all barely slept. They just talked and talked and had such fun. He took so many pictures. He took so many videos. He had just the best *best* time. : ) 

Noah and I picked up Branden the day he arrived. He arrived around 4:45pm that Tuesday. He was happy...happy he went... but also happy to be home too... he told us all his stories. And I also knew he would be missing "mom's home cooking!" So I made sure to make one of his favorite meals Tuesday. I made a huge pot roast and it was fall apart tender and so juicy and flavorful. I made a bunch of mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. The 4 of us ate supper. Branden had 2nds! He was definitely hungry. : ) Which made me happy.

He ate right away and then took a very long hot shower. Though they did shower obviously during their trip nightly at their hotel. But after his shower... he put on his pajamas and he went to sleep. He crashed right away... he was so exhausted. The kid... went to sleep by 6:50pm. And he didn't have school the next day. The 9th graders had the next day off. And he slept until 9:30am! Noah meanwhile had school. But Bran woke up, he came down. he ate breakfast. He brushed his teeth. I offered him McD's or a pot roast sandwich for lunch, we didn't eat it at that time we just barely finished breakfast... but I wanted to plan....if we were gonna stay home or if I should get ready to go out. He picked a pot roast sandwich. I picked that too. 

I packed Noah to school that day with a delicious tender pot roast sandwich on bakery bread, lettuce, tomato and provolone cheese too and some fresh fruit. So while Noah had a pot roast sandwich at school. With some delicious fresh fruit for lunch. Branden and I did have lunch around noon. And we had pot roast sandwiches and some chips. After lunch his friends Line messaged him and Bran went over to Genki's house. Where he and 2 other friends just hung out (4 in total). He came back home around 3pm and he and I went and picked up Noah from school. : )  Anyway that is Branden's 9th grade trip in a nutshell. : ) 

Getting Branden ready for his Kyoto trip. And a few other bits and pieces for good measure...

April 29th the 4 of us went to spend the day in a city we have never gotten the chance to hang out in before. We went to Kashiwa! A very nice city! And we had a lot of fun walking around and exploring that day! Anyways one of our stops was to Lalaport. To get a new backpack for Bran and a new pair of Crocs for Noah!

Branden picked up the backpack he wanted. In the style and color he wanted. He said even before getting to Kashiwa he was looking for a rectangular backpack. After checking out many different shops and stores he found this bag! He was very happy about this backpack for his final trip in JHS. : ) 

Crocs Crocs who's got the Crocs. : ) 

One thing that surprised me about this trip to the Crocs store was as we were making our way to the junior department for Noah. A *very* nice man working there. Young stylish mid 20's. Asked if he could help us. We said we were looking for a new pair of Crocs for Noah. And he pointed us to the men's department. My first thought was..."is this man on crack?" "He's only 10 freaking years old!" Not 15 or so! @_@ However, I kept an open mind though and thought..he works here. He must know better than us. So let's follow this young man to the men's department for my 10 year old. Hey, I have an open mind, like I just said... plus it was the start of GW and we had the whole day to browse. And yes he was right. Let me say that once again. He was 100% right. We had Noah try on the size men's 4/Japanese size 22cm (which yes Noah is wearing 22.5 and 23cm sneakers, so I guess it wasn't absurd to think he could wear a men's Croc now afterall). And while it is a tad big with a spot to grow. The man was saying...kids grow like weeds and there's a bit of room but not like overly too much room. And he further added...and I will forever remember this. He said "as long as the band at the back is on tight and isn't slipping he can wear them!" I was now 98% convinced. I did say...let's just try their size 21cm meaning the junior size to just ease my mind though...but adding. I do think you are right... but just to ease my mind. He didn't mind in the least in fact he ran...actually ran back there grabbed the 1 size smaller and it fit Noah exactly right with zero room to grow. And right then...I was now 100% convinced. Oh and btw these Crocs sizes do run bigger...bigger than sneaker sizes. I told him.."you're clearly the expert, you know what you are talking about!" You were right from the start. and wow...can't believe my 10 year old is wearing a smaller size men's Crocs now. We all were laughing and nodding right to the check out counter. He was so nice! He wanted us to feel totally sure. He was so helpful. And yeah...really truly appreciated that awesome Crocs guy! So yep...Noah is now a men's size 4! Holy crap you guys! : ) 

New Crocs for Noah. Now he's all set for when summer gets here! : )

Since we were in Kashiwa already we hit up Don Quixote for snacks for Bran's Kyoto trip.

We needed snacks for both ways...round trip! : )

On the way there...

On the way back...

The snacks for the way back home... went into his suitcase and our school mailed all the kids suitcases to Kyoto ahead of time. They shipped them via Kuroneko on the Friday, 2 days before they left to Kyoto. So their suitcases were already waiting at the hotel for them. : ) 

Don Quixote has some items that are so dirt cheap. A case of mugicha, name brand not brand X. 500 yen for the box. So we bought 2. 

For school trips electronics aren't allowed, which I think is a good idea. Like no Kindle, Ipad or tablets allowed. But the suggestion is for kids to bring card games and they mentioned Uno by name. So, I made sure to pack up the regular sized Uno cards and the mini sized ones too. They played a round while on the Shinkansen (bullet train)

I did buy a 3 pack of school socks for Bran's trip. And a new wallet for his trip too. And the sneaker socks. I bought Bran 1 pair and myself a pair. Those sneakers socks were 180 yen a pair and on sale. I will be going back for more of those super short sneaker socks. They're perfect and you can't even tell you are wearing them.  

While at Paseos getting Bran's school socks for his school trip. We found 2 pair of shorts for Noah. The price was perfect 980 yen about US$9 a pair. 

Comfy band and one band is orange and green and the other band is blue and red. 

Sanki has the best towels (cute and cheap). They just do, if you live in Japan. Love Sanki for towels.

While Bran uses his Hawaiian Spongebob towel here at home. He loves it because it's giant sized and comfy. However, I know he wouldn't want his friends to see his Spongebob towel either though. So no worries I picked up this ...more adult looking/ teenage boy cool...Hawaiian towel with sea turtles and hibiscus flowers on it!

I packed his suitcase all up on that Thursday because every 9th grader would be going to school Friday with their suitcases and Kuroneko would be picking up about 51 suitcases that morning. Good bye Hawaiian bath towel...fishy chisai towel. Toiletries. Underwear... new JHS white socks, spare uniforms and snacks for the way back home! Farewell packed up suitcase! : ) 

I also washed Bran's JHS white shoes super good and they dried out on Saturday, the day before his trip! I just wanted to send him off properly, you know! : ) Also washed up Noah shoes and Bran's shoes that they did the backyard yardwork with. Because there was so much dirt on their shoes. So, I washed those too. : ) 

Saturday evening, after supper... the night before Branden was set to leave to Kyoto. I baked blueberry muffins. That way... Sunday morning, he would have a quick breakfast already made and ready for him! : ) Yep, I thought of everything! Good mama Good mama! : ) 

The kids were all set to meet at the train station between 6-6:15am. The train was set to leave our train station at 6:30am. I woke up at 5:15am that morning. Noah was sleeping, Noboru was sleeping. I went in and woke up BrannyMcB. He woke up right away. He was so excited you guys! All kids could bring up to 15,000 yen /US$150. He had that all packed up in his wallet. And I also gave him 140yen x3. That way I said...he could buy drinks along the way to Kyoto or for the next day for drinks... without spending any bills yet. I also froze him one 600ml of mugicha and another 600ml of mugicha was just fridge type cold... for immediate drinking. So his drinks for that first day were already in his backpack. He had his camera, kids were allowed to take cameras. Kids were allowed to buy drinks from anywhere along the way. They ordered obento lunch to be eaten in the Skinkansen. Branden ate 3 blueberry muffins and had a glass of orange juice. And then I dropped off my Bran at the train station. However I wanted to snap these 2 pics before we left.  : ) 

I dropped off Branden and he was the first kid to arrive, lol. It wasn't my intention for him to be first. All I knew was...I didn't want him to miss that train! Hahaha. So we left our house at 5:55am. We were there at 6am on the nose and I saw the two 9th grade teachers sitting and waiting and I head bowed them... while I was pulling into the train station. Branden got out of my car and I watched him walk to his teachers for a half of second and I drove off. I was super happy he made it to the train station. I knew he was going to have such a fun trip.  I wasn't worried or nervous or dokidoki at all. Because I know he's a smart kid, a good kid. He would be with 51 kids and a bunch of teachers and they'd all be safe and basically just having a fantastic time! So, I was very happy Branden was having such a great opportunity to take such a trip! I went home. As I was driving back home from the train station, I saw so many parents of Bran's classmates. I saw Kouta's mom driving him. I saw Go-kun's mom driving him and Genki's dad driving him and more. I saw a whole bunch of kids and parents on their way to the train station that morning. Don't ask me why....but it was a nice feeling. Like we were all going through the same thing. Does that make sense? I hope so. Anyway I arrived home within 5 minutes and I had myself a hot coffee and a blueberry muffin. I sat downstairs...and heck... by now...I was wide awake and clearly not going to go back to bed. So, I read my emails and I think I was able to update my blog that morning while the two N's slept. : ) This was Mother's Day morning, the day Bran went to Kyoto. After both Noboru and Noah woke up they finished off the blueberry muffins and we had some omelettes and toast. Noboru left for work a bit later and Noah and I just had a really nice little day and evening here at home together. It was a nice day. I'll be making a Mother's Day post, so I don't want to mention what I got for Mother's Day yet. Anyway that's enough for now.  : )