Our first undokai for elementary school!!! It rocked!!! : )

We went to the DIY getting undokai goods. The umbrella we went for/chose was the oversized UV cut umbrella on the right. And a bargain price. : )

Okay since the only undokai's/sport's day's our family has ever been to before were to the one's at our private Catholic yochien and they were held indoors, and away from the sun! LOL. So, this was our first ever real undokai experience so to speak! I knew what to expect. And as usual, I can only give you the "skinny" so to speak from our family's perspective.. I will give you our family's experience, my take on things and how they were and went for us. And as usual, if any of you with younger kids then B and have not yet experienced this yet, this might be useful to just file in the ol' brain for future reference. And if you don't need any pointers. Fine, by all means discard them. But here's our take anyway. We know the basics of undokai's outside. Umbrella or some sort of sun blocking device is needed obviously. Well, unless you'd prefer bake out in the sun like an old piece of shoe leather. LOL. And a table and of course leasure sheet. Obento needed and since we did the whole obento for undokai bit a few years in the making that part was no worries. Anyways, the day before our undokai we headed to the local DIY shop! They had some camping type table and chairs combo (everyone we saw used these at undokai, btw). They had a cheaper blue version, but as we all sat and tried them out, they seemed like they would eventually fall apart after about a years usage. Although 2,000 yen. We decided it was smarter for us to invest in the only slightly higher priced, 3,980 yen, (think $40 bucks basically which isn't bad considering B has 6 undokais and Noah will have 6 as well, actually a bargain when thinking of that aspect really, right) anyway as we sat these seemed heaps sturdier and would definitely last all the undokais we will be needing these for. So, we felt these a bargain.

We got the medium sized cooler box. Umbrella stand. And the table and UV cut big umbrella. And a few other odds and ends and we were on our way to getting set up for our first ever undokai at the elementary school! : )

We went home with undokai goods in hand and our neighbor across the street. An absolute angel of mercy, I tell ya! And in a minute you will see why, I say that! She saw us outside and quickly said. she just came back from reserving their spot at the school for tomorrow! Again us never being to one before. We both asked her or said rather...."whhhhhat"??? She said matter of factly in a hushed tone almost as this was the secret among secrets, lol, meanwhile we leaned in closer." Yes, most people wanting the best spot can go the day before and lay claim to their spot by putting their stuff on it. Brilliant of my neighbor for giving us the heads up like that!!! Right on! Gosh had she not let us in on that little tidbit, we woulda been so totally, "not in the know", Thank god for her! I ran in the house, grabbed a school black writing marker. And we all jumped back into the car and sped off to the elementary school! Man was our neighbor right or what? This picture above is of us on the night before undokai. Look at all those mats down on the day/night before! Oh thank god for having helpful Japanese girlfriends, that's all I gotta say about that!!!! And thank goodness for this gaijin mama who will now spread word and if you already know this tidbit well then, never mind. But I am sure someone will read this and quietly will think...yay! Just hoping this helps someone at least. Also, perhaps some schools have rules where you can't do this. Again though, I can only tell you what happened in *our* experiences and just take from it what you can. So anyways, we parked the car and so many mom's and dad's were there the night before. We saw only 1 other ichinensei boy from B's class and his mom and I said hello to one another. Most other's were with older kids. Hmm. We quickly found that one side of the big open country field, was marked, *white* meaning the hat color and the other side of the field was marked, *red*, since B is a red hate, we found the best spot in the red hat section! First row, best spot, I tell you! We laid claim right away!

See, the school lights were on? Yup, we were one of the few that were there by 5pm the day before. We got an early start! We laid down our green leisure sheet in this pic. Put the posts for it into the ground so it didn't fly away. Wrote our last name on the leisure sheet with school marker twice really big. Because umm, some people honestly could steal said spot! And also unfolded the table and placed it behind our leisure sheet as in the picture. And put our names on that a few places as well. See all the other early birds and leisure sheets too? Smart people. And hell no, most certainly no one stayed the night there or went there super early in the morning....we do all have life's of our own too. LOL. We just claimed the spot from the day before is all. Oh dear...thank you Ayumi-chan's mom! From the bottom of my heart infinity! : )

My family slept until 6am, yet I woke up at 4am. And I started cooking for the obento. I prepped everything though from the night before, which was smart. I prepared my son an egg and bacon with toast breakfast. A tall glass of milk. I wanted him to have the energy for the day. Both sons. And we arrived at 7:30 am. By now people were setting up and claiming spots however by now all the best ones were taken, from the night before, shhhh! Ha ha ha. Just kidding. The front row was completely taken by this point as you can see in the picture. Our stuff was right where it should be and nothing even touched. We will totally be doing this next year too and from now on! : ) Most people came really prepared. But a few didn't. See the pic and the 2 child sized leisure sheets with stripes with zero sun protection? Those poor parents sizzled like sausages. They must have been first timers. I think they even went to go and buy a lunch, didn't even bring a lunch. : ( Poor family, they really weren't prepared at all.

: ( But most were 99% were super prepared, better then me even.
With cooler on our leisure sheet, obento basket with tiered obento inside and Costco bag full of camcorder, and 2 digi cams, we were ready! And even a spare gym outfit for Branden, just in case, lol! I also brought, mosquito spray, a tiny bottle of sunscreen for midday touch ups, and many wet wipes and napkins.

I honestly was super prepared for this first year of undokai. However after saying that. I would like to say, I think we should buy a sun cover like the one that guy was putting up in this pic. That is the only upgrade I think we can change. But again, nobody is perfect.

And there's always room for learning. : )

The entire school of kids right here! And they all marched and someone raised the Japanese flag!

The ichinensei, had 2 events total! This race right here. And then they had a rope pulling contest. A Tug O War! And that was it for the tiny little first grader's. Not sure if they felt they were too young to endure more sports or what. Meanwhile we watched 8 hours or so of other bigger older kids run races, and do events. But for us, parents of the first grader's not much was seen as far as events our kids actually did. Ha ha ha. No worries though. And they did do one little dance too though.

And older class had this duo run in a big pair of pants contest. Ha ha ha. That was interesting. They also had the 3 legged race. And many other races that the ichinensei were not part of. Just too little/young this year. The 1st grader's didn't even run the whole track this year either, just 1 stretch of it, lol, again too young. : )

Our team the red team was ahead 10-20 points the entire undokai.

Hi Branden, I see you! : )

I love this picture of my son!

They just won and they had their arms in the air, cheering that they won! Awww! : )

Little kids, yup the first graders did jump rope! Ha ha ha! They were hardly the strapping tough 5th and 6th grader's. They looked like wee little ones in comparison.

At noon, we all had lunch! The sports had stopped and it was break time. Here's my obento spread! Bright, colorful, arranged awesome. And hell, I am rightly proud and as I should be. I worked my ass off, since 4am making this lunch! I have every fair right to be proud of it! Karaage, that was so well marinated, ohh, it was to die for. Macaroni salad and potato salad. onigiri, ham and cheese with croissants with crunchy lettuce, yummm! And fruits, with a two toned grape spread as well. Not even counting the salad I made either. We enjoyed lunch, let's put it that way!

My serving. A nice salad, and other various things. A few people walked by and a few kids came up straight to the table to peek. Yup, the ol' peek at what the gaijin made for lunch thing (rolls eyes, and yes we can cook, lol). Though, I didn't mind. I had nothing to be ashamed of. We had a fantastic lunch. A mom of a child in my sons' class also checked out our lunch as she super slowly walked by freakishly slow and did a swivel head turn at our lunch. Again though, I really didn't mind. I know we are new at this school and by next year, everyone will just treat as like regular, same as how they did the 2nd and 3rd year at yochien. Meaning they got over it and got used to us. Same will happen here too, I have faith! : )

Husband stuffed himself silly!

See hubby stuffing his face silly in corner of this pic? LOL. Branden ate until stuffed and had 2 full cups of drink. He had 1 cup of oolong and 1 of Vitamin water. Good for all the activities he did that day.

Right before lunch time was over. All kids switched shirts to their dancing shirts, lol. Here is B with his.

Getting ready for the number to start!

Still waiting.

Dance kids dance!!!!

Noah drinking some iced water!

Hi sweetie pie! : )

And now it was the father's rope pulling competition! Red team versus the white team! B is a red, hat so Noboru had to pull for the red team! Whatever color hat your kid is, is the color hat you are! ha ha ha. And if you see that about half the dad's are wearing yellow shirts? Just like what Noboru was wearing in the lunch pic up above. That is because Noboru is in the "Men's association" yup, as a member of this community my husband is as involved as I am! : )

And yet again, we were winning. We were ahead the entire darn day! : )

An hour before it ended, I went and got Noah and myself a lemon shave ice, 1 each! Oh man were they great! : )

Father and son, bean bag toss! A few mother's subbed for the missing dad. But it was mostly dads!

Yup still ahead!

And err, don't ask me how the last 5 minutes of the game, the white team ended up beating us by 1 point! What the hell? By 1 point? And considering we were winning the entire day, our whole side of the field let out this groan and just sucked it up and we all said, better luck next year! And I agreed! Hopefully next year we will win! But we all had fun and that's what counts! And it's honestly true! But yeah can you believe that...losing the last 5 minutes by 1 point! What are the odds. LOL. : )

Since Branden missed the shave ice we had, we got him a shave us of his choosing as we got into the car! He loved it! And a perfect way to cool off after his day of running and being in the sun! : )

And umm, it may have said the undokai ended at 3pm. However, imagine an hour after that! Seriously! By the time, we all unfolded the table, folded the leisure sheet, etc, etc. And loaded it in the car. Times elapsed considerably. And then when we got to the car, look at the cars in front of us? No cars were moving. No car could get out. Again, by the time we got home, it was 4pm. Good thing we didn't have plans after all that! : ) Ha ha ha. We got home and I sent the boys to shower together with Noboru. He scrubbed and shampooed and washed their feet twice as my urging, lol. Hey it was undokai after all. And they put on comfy house clothes. Meaning they coulda looked like raggamuffins, lol. And I quickly showered and washed up too. Got in my own comfy clothes. And by now, forget dinner. None of us felt like cooking. And let's not forget my 4am wake up time that morning. So, we decided to go get some Pizza Hut! Nearest one is an hour away. 2 hours round trip, but we didn't mind. When you get a craving, nothing else will fix it but eat it, ha ha ha.

The sun was setting and, the windows were down and we caught a nice breeze, I could smell the light scent of the shampoo we used from the shower in the car a bit. And we all had these super scrubbed faces. Listening to tunes and singing in the car, on our way to Pizza Hut we were! : )

Yay, we made it! : ) Got the pizza, and went back home! It was the most awesome drive, the hubby and I talking or singing. Kids sleeping the way back!

We got home around 6:30 pm or so. Before 7pm though that I know. And I whacked said pizza in the oven for about 8 minutes, it got warm and good all over again and we all sat watching TV for the rest of the night our little family of 4. A quiet simple night, I know, but an awesome family night nonetheless! : )

Weekly update!!! : )

Wow what a week so far! Clearly we need that week of grace to get into the groove again, because this week seems we have all been so completely "off" it's not even funny! : (

Noah: Our littlest fella of our household has been the main culprit with jet lag. First night Noah woke up at 3am and he woke up our entire household the first night we got back...he woke us up at 3am! I felt sorriest for Branden since he had school that day and needed to be up anyway at 6am. Yet his little brother woke him up at pitch darkness at 3! Ugh! Ha ha ha. Wednesday though his time started switching for the positive and nearly out of jet lag. And Thursday, he slept until 7am, so glad to report he is back on Japan time like the rest of us! So that has been solved! Phew! Ha ha ha. : )

Branden: Since B was out the first 5 days of school, meaning the first week school restarted. He came back to school this week on Monday regardless if his brother woke him up at 3am or not. He's been such a star! His undokai/field day is this Saturday, so he has had to learn this whole dance sequence with half the time as everyone else has done and according to his sensei, he has it down perfectly! Happy sigh! What an awesome trooper he is! : ) Don't ask me how my son could go from school on Monday and then onto Kumon on Monday afternoon, being that he woke up at 3am by Noah. But he did. And he did it with a smile and never a complaint at all. He's such a good kid you guys! He's been having a lot of rest time at home, down time. And has been going to bed by 7:30- 8pm because I think all the practice of undokai he's been needing the full sleep if not more then usual. : ) He played with his friends riding bikes on Tuesday, so he's doing good. reconnecting with friends and stuff. And went to swimming on Wednesday. All he has to do is compete tomorrow in sports day. I already told him, "honey doesn't matter win or lose, we love you anyway" no pressure.

Me: I've been dragging ass all week. Hmm, having someone wake you up at 3am, means I am nearly falling asleep by 7pm. And dead to the world by 9pm. However 2nd day we were here. When Noah woke up, I immediately shuffled him downstairs so he did NOT disturb or wake up his school aged brother B. I managed to unpack everything but 1 suitcase the next day I got back only because of being up so early and having nothing else to do. And the last one I finished with on Wednesday. I had a hard time getting the Denver posts up a lot because frankly waking up so early and getting B shuttled off to school and such. I was really just out of it. Also, since this is undokai preparations week. I have new things to pack seems every darn day for Branden. Lucky for me I got good Japanese girlfriends though, because "boy next door's" mom came over Sunday night and brought me a xerox copy of what "boy next door got from our sensei" it said bring, a thermos for your child EVERYDAY this week! And I lived in fear, lol everday this week that I might forget, said thermos, lol. I put tiny post it's on the computer and the fridge and one on the sink upstairs that said..."did you pack Branden's thermos???" and that helped because I never forgot at all this week. House work this week suffered and it doesn't rarely ever suffer. But gah! Considering the way this week was, no wonder. However, I pretty much had the attitude this week. As long as I get Branden off to school every morning without a hitch and he has frozen thermos in hand and his chisai/small towel for wiping sweat for his undokai practice. And whatnots. Then I am not doing too bad. Ha ha ha. And as long as I prevent my little jet lagger not to wake up anyone else and only I sit down stairs and suffer with coffee in hand, then again I am doing okay, ha ha ha. *wink wink* : )

Thursday was insane: Thursday, went like this. Branden went to school. Meanwhile Noah has 2 makeup days to do for swimming. So, the "super momma taxi express" meaning me. Dropped off Noboru at the swimming school at 1:45pm with Noah and I immediately drove like a maniac back to the elementary. Not too fast but you know what I mean. I was no turtle that day. Picked up B. Drove him directly to Kumon. Waved good by and immediately drove back yet again to swim school to pick up Noboru and Noah. As I was pulling into the parking lot, they were walking to my car. Made it by the skins of my teeth! Then on way home, swung back to pick up B! And umm, did I mention I woke up so early that day? Crazy right? Came home unloaded everyone's backpack, swim or ichinensei. Ohashi into the dishwasher. And started straight into dinner. No rest, not even a dot. Got dinner ready. And Noah my jet lagger fell asleep during dinner. I being the bad guy, lol, woke him up to get him more on Japan time. Threw both boys into the shower with Noboru and then I showered. A truly crazy week we have had. I think because we are not used to being back at school yet. And also at the same time dealing with jet lag at the same time. And whammo!!! No wonder it's been insane this week!

Oh yeah, Thursday was my first real day to deal with the house! I cleaned the entire downstairs. Genkan, toilet, floor mopping, blinds dusting, whole shebang! Did laundry, dried it and hung it and folded the rest. So, I got a start. I think by mid next week, things will be back to normal, but again wow what a crazy week!

Today is now Friday! And yet again, Noah will be at swimming and I will leave hubby and Noah there and rush to go and get B and then swing back and watch my boy swim and wave through the window. Ha ha ha. Oh my! I must be having a "calgon take me away" type week! But this won't last forever and that is the positive and I know that! : )

Tomorrow is undokai and I have a new camera but would you believe I hadn't even had a single chance to play with it yet. Meaning a chance to get used to it. Or see if I prefer the sports setting or regular setting. I wish I had some time to have gotten better acquainted with it. But, not in the cards, which is okay. I'll get it. I might even take my old camera with me to undokai too, just in case! : ) Also because tomorrow is undokai, the PTA has to *be there* at 7:30 am!!!! So I have to wake up at what...5-5:30am or something tomorrow? Yikes! And as you know, I am in the Japanese PTA! However the positive side is....PTA gets to park at the school, right next to the undokai. And everyone else has to park down a hill and really far! So, perks! yay! : )
Also, undokai means, I have to make an obento. Hmm. I made a really nice one last year. But given the week I've had, I really don't care what it looks like tomorrow, honestly. My brain is fried and my body is tired from the week. Ahh, I am sure I will throw something together knowing me. : ) So, today I am in deep undokai thinking mode and deeper obento making mode for tomorrow. Means lot's of prep cooking tonight! : )

Blogs and trouble commenting: Besides being terribly busy from my IRL (in real life...life, lol) I finally caught up on most of my blogger friends. I have just barely now started leaving comments. I am having zero problem with making comments on people who have blogger at all, they go through with ease! However, I noticed my comments going to "wordpress" I think are not going through alright at all! Lulu nicely commented the other day, she had wedding pics up on her blog of Nay's weddings. I was thinking, right on, how cool. I went to Lulu's blog, tried to comment and my comment did not go through. It had gone through every single time before I went away to Denver. But now they were not. : ( *I know it has to be coming from my end somehow.* Yet I am unsure why. I have not made any new updates to my computer at all. Everything seems the same on my end. So I left a comment..."blah blah blah" did not go through. An hour later or so tried to leave another one. Again no such luck. I tried 4 or 5 different times to get it to go through and no such luck. Finally I gave up trying. Hmm, decisions decisions. On one hand I don't want it to look like I did not care enough to comment on something as big or as important as a wedding, do you know what I mean. And on the other hand, where were my comments going? Floating to space? Next thing you know, now all 5 of them are there. OMG! How completely embarrassing LOL. I really did not intend to leave 5 comments. Yikes and so sorry. Same thing happened with GirlJapan. I left a short positive comment to her about the chairs and I think she has wordpress too? Again it did not go through. So.....I guess for now. I am not able to comment to any of you with wordpress. And I did wanna say I am sorry. And yes I did go to Nay's directly and wished her well. And Lulu if you are reading this can you delete a few of those posts I made pretty please? I don't wanna feel like a big giant dork butt, leaving 4 or 5 of the same message, lol! Gomen ne! Again I am not sure why I can't comment on wordpress anymore, I will try to comment on Heidi's and JYankee's later tonight to double check if I have any free time.. : ( Especially since everyone else seems to be able to comment just fine. : (
Anyway though...it isn't that I am not trying to comment. I would never ever do that to anyone. It's just I am not allowed to comment and I think it is coming from my computer and it's just the weirdest thing. Anyway sorry for having to tell you all here at once, but I have about 5-6 friends with wordpress and this was the only way, to let you all know in one fell swoop. : ) So if anyone thinks, "man Gina hasn't commented for a really long time" I want to very much" It's just right now, I can't. And it's weird and I don't know why or how to correct this. But I am sorry. : )

Anyway this is the camera. Man I hope I can get it figured out by tomorrow. : ( Perhaps I can practice with it at swim school today. : )

And it even came with a world wide warranty which is nice, whether I am in Japan or back visiting family. Anyway....I hope I like it and stuff. : ) I didn't write under any of the other pics, because I am in a bit of a rush right now. And I sorta have to do some stuff around the house. But I will try to post maybe Monday or something. I really am just hoping to get some rest on Sunday and Monday since B has no school then. And let us all just unwind at home. : ) Anyway, please have a good weekend everyone! : )

Our Saturday arrival and our Sunday morning breakfast in Denver and a quick drive through the city! : )

This was the pic, I snapped as we were getting so close to Seattle Washington! No direct flights from Japan to Denver, which is why we always have to fly to the mainland someplace first and then onward to Denver! Ha ha ha. The flight to Seattle was a smooth one! Both the boys honestly were angels. They behaved so well. Branden watched, Kung Fu Panda on his own mini screen in front of his seat. And he also watched a few other kids movies as well. But he loved Kung Fu Panda. In between movie watching and DS game playing, he snoozed for a good long time and ate in bits. Noah meanwhile he watched the Kung Fu Panda on his mini TV screen in front of his own seat too and also watched the 2 Nickelodeon channels but when we got bored with that, he watched our own Mini DVD and watched Mr. Bean. And in between the movie watching he also snoozed, and rested. Noboru watched some Japanese anime on his Ipod. And I listened to music on my nano. Or slept. I also caught Kung Fu Panda and that movie rocks! I wish to buy it when it gets released. My legs weren't tired from sitting. Even though the flight was 8 hours long.

2 more hours until we landed in Washington. When we arrived. And we went through the plane to the airport, where you could feel the outside temps a bit on the jet way. It was cold! It was really chilly in Seattle that Saturday morning. However it was gorgeous! I love Seattle, it's an awesome city. I've only been there once. And to the airport a few times. But it always seems so beautiful! But brrr, was it chilly willy! : )

We had a couple hour layover in Seattle. From like 9am to like noon, we were in Seattle. And then we boarded our next flight and that took us to Denver!

The kids and I were zonked out to the world on that flight. we missed the drinks our pretzels they give during the flight the whole shebang, lol! Frankly, after an 8 hour and to and from Seattle. And a 2 hour layover. So that is 10 hours. And then the 2 hour flight. I just could not stay awake anymore. I was exhausted. Just dog tired. And I chose to sleep the whole flight over. Noboru was sitting across the aisle from me. Since the flight was not crowded. I was dead to the world. Until I heard the male flight attendant say to the female flight attendant. "They must have come off an international flight, the way they are sleeping so sound" Not quite sure how I heard that but it woke me up. I didn't reply to the attendant or say he was indeed correct. I think at that point I was just sleepy and a bit grumpy. Not too grumpy though just mostly tired. : ) It must have been at the last 10 minutes of the flight because next thing I know the pilot came over the intercom and said we'd be landing in Denver in like 10 minutes. Then the attendant said to put your tray tables away blah blah blah. But since I never had a drink or moved my table he meant everyone else but us, I think. Ha ha ha. I glanced out the window and I could see my city down below. I felt so happy I clicked this pic. It was sorta my private moment. I will admit my eyes teared up a bit, but they went back to normal after a minute. I was just so happy to finally be going home. I just couldn't help it. So that's okay. : ) Nobody knew though and I never told anyone I teared up. Who'd wanna admit they teared up at the thought of going home? I didn't. But yeah, I did. : )

We landed and got off the plane. I was walking the C concourse and even the airport smelled familiar. I know that must sound crazy but seriously it had a recognizable scent to it. It even smelled like home, lol! Dorky me! : )

Catching the airport train that shuttles you from concourse to concourse. I was surprised they changed the voice that speaks to you and tells you to board or which concourse is next etc.. It was originally a woman's voice and now it is a man's voice.

I had gotten off the train to the baggage area and on the way up the escalator, I read this sign. It was the absolute sweetest words to my eyes. "Welcome to Denver" Talk about a site for sore eyes! Bliss!!! I made it! : )

The airport is so nice, is beautiful and it's so light in there thanks to the ceiling being made the way it is. Also, I love all the American flags all over Colorado. So nice to be home. *happy sigh*

Alright, baggage areas are indeed the same the world over however I do love these baggage areas too. These are for skis and golf clubs. And Snow boards. There is a heck of a lot of skiing going on come winter time. We used to do our fair share. : )

Denver International airport. This is supposed to look like the Rocky Mountains. I think it does! : )

We hopped our rental car shuttle and got to pick our rental car. We chose this one. It's called the Emerald club for National car rental and you can pick any car in the lot. : )

Driving into the city from the airport. I glanced at the city skyline. It looked the same. Just gorgeous. We have this one building, some say it's a mail box some say it looks more like cash register. I could see the building shaped like the cash register in the distance. Even seeing things as simple as a familiar building put a smile on my face! We checked into the hotel right away. And from there we met my dad and my aunties, uncles and cousins at my head aunties house. And 2 of my best friends were there. We had a delicious meal with my family, stuffed shells, sausages, meatballs, salad and for dessert she made her amazing pistachio cake. We stayed for 2 hours. And then we had to leave just because we were just so drop dead tired. They are all pretty well travelled so they understood. We went back to our hotel and crashed dead asleep. I don't even think I showered, yikes! : )

Sunday morning. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Denver for breakfast. I love Mexican food, just like 99% of the rest of Americans out there! And since living in Japan, it's hard to find decent Mexican food. So, I did indulge in everything I usually can't get in Japan. So, Sunday morning we were at this restaurant and I had myself the huevos rancheros. It was delicious. And I think my taste buds might have even fainted because they weren't used to eating something that good! Ha ha ha. : )

Good breakfast! : )

After an early breakfast we decided to do a bit of site seeing. Just to see what's new, what's the same and just to have a look around. ha ha ha. : ) Here's Coors Field. Our baseball stadium. It looked the same, still new and stunning looking.

Where the Colorado Rockies play their home baseball games here! : )

And of course no drive downtown can be complete without driving passed Sakura Square. It's funny this was my husbands home away from home for *so* many years! This is the Japanese complex. The first floor has a very nice sized grocery store. Where Noboru used to buy his rice, and his curry, and stew mixes, and Cook Do's and such. All the things he missed from home/Japan. When he lived in Denver for the 15 plus years he lived there. Upstairs is a video rental shop, and book store. Where many Japanese exchange students can buy their over priced Non-No or other magazine, ha ha ha. I bought quite a few from there myself. Barber shop, in case you'd prefer get a haircut in Japanese. And it's a very nice little shopette and they even have a Japanese class for Japanese kids to take over the weekends if they want to try to stay bilingual. They also have a very nice Cherry Blossom festival every summer. Noboru and I used to go to this every summer before we had kids. And I think we took B to this once after he was born. But yeah, there is a nice Japanese American community in Denver and there is also a very nice Japanese from Japan/Japanese national type community too. Denver is a very awesome place and very diverse.

Various buildings, lol! : )

Obama on the wall of a building downtown! I loved this and noticed it right away! The democratic convention obviously took place in Denver Colorado this year. Hence the Denver 2008 flags on the poles and the Obama pic/painting mural thing! Yay, go Obama!!!!! : )

Loved the dancing art out front of the performing arts center downtown! Woulda been even better without the crane there, ha ha ha. But no worries! : )

Good ol' Auraria Campus. 3 colleges in one area downtown. This is where Noboru and I met back in the day in our uni days! Awww! : )

State capitol off in the distance. Drats, wish I woulda got a better pic but oh well. : )

Just a couple of random shots of some houses. Americans sure do like their wreaths on their front doors huh, they are popular. I always like them too. Which is why I have one hanging on my door here in Japan. : )

Small house or big house, old house or new house doesn't matter, I do truly dig American houses. : ) : )

A bicycle built for two, did you say? Ha ha ha, that is how the song goes right? : ) Looks like a retired couple riding together through the park. On a fine Sunday morning! : )

So many lovely flowers and the landscaping is just beautiful as always. And many people out getting their morning exercises out of the way. Walking, bike riding. Playing tennis. And I even saw people preparing for a BBQ. : ) Did they show up that early to claim their favorite spot at the park? Ha ha ha. : )

Washington Park! : )

Performing Arts center! Wanna see the Nutcracker near Christmas time? Come here! : )

Elitch's Six Flag's! Yup, we are home to one of the Six Flags theme parks around the US.

And picture of random lady selling goodies along road! I usually like to stop at various places like this. Because I have tried some of the coolest and most delicisous things this way! Have also met some of the most friendliest people this way too!

I had something from a cart like this, once this trip. It was so so good! : ) With it being labor day weekend the Amusement park we had planned to go to, wasn't going to be open until noon. Which is why we had time to kill for the scenic drive we took that morning! : )