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! : )

Making ume jam from scratch

Yesterday, June 6th, 2013. Was another cooking day for Noah. Ume are in season right now in Japan. And if you're not living in Japan and are curious what they are, they're fruit and I'll link here right now and you can read about them here. Noah and the rest of his class had to show up yesterday, with an apron, a head scarf and a mask. Noah was very excited about making homemade ume jam all week.  On Wednesday his teacher brought a huge crate/box of them. And Noah kept saying, "we are getting ready for jam!" So a very excited 2nd grader. : )  And if you remember from when we decorated Christmas cakes last year, Noah does have the matching chef's hat to go with the apron. But, you know, I know kids do have a tendency to want to wear what their classmates do etc. Ykwim. And so since all of his class wears the head scarves and Branden does in his class also. So, I did give Noah a choice yesterday morning. I asked him, would you like to wear your matching chef hat that goes with your apron or would you like to wear a head scarf. Noah picked the head scarf, yellow head scarf. And that's more then fine. I understand no kid wants to stick out and wear big puffy chef hat while all his classmates are wearing head scarves. : )  I get it..I totally do. So head scarf it was. I packed this all up nicely and they left to school yesterday.

And when I picked both of the boys yesterday up at 3pm after school. A beaming Noah came running down the hill into my car, with this in hand. A small tupperware type plastic container wrapped inside a plastic bag, to make sure no possible spillage happens here. : )

This says Noah. Yes this is Noah's homemade from scratch ume jam that he and his classmates/friends made with their amazingly cool teacher. Everyone got to bring this amount home. We all had it with fresh bakery bread this morning, toasted with a little bit of butter first and then a nice spread of this jam on after. And it's so good! Sweet but with a little bit of tartness in there. : )

These are what ume look like. Anyway, that's what Noah did yesterday at school, he made ume jam from scratch. : )