Anyway, before I start with Sunday. Let me finish off Saturday real quick. After we got back from fishing on Saturday, it was about 12:30pm. Kids in our area don't play between 12-1pm that's the lunch hour (even the bell chimes for lunch at noon) The kids had lunch at home and at 1pm Branden and Noah, "boy next door", BND's little brother, the boy who lives 2 houses down, G-kun, A-kun. Hmm that's 7, but I counted 8 kids, so I must be forgetting someone. Anyway there were 8 little boys all playing in our backyard Saturday from 1pm-5pm. I brought drinks out and 8 paper cups, a big bowl of popcorn, and some chocolates, some Easter stuff just a small bowl. All the kids had a great time out there. At 5pm, when the bell rang for the kids to all go home, they did. And Branden and Noah came in and had dinner with us. Saturday was awesome. Anyway so Sunday, we had sort of decided to get both the boys a new beyblade. Because Noah has 3 beyblades. Branden has 4 beyblades. And to us we think that's more then enough. However for example, The boy next door has about 30 beyblades. Yup, the biggest box you ever did see amount. We tell the boys, wait until your birthday or Christmas. Even the kid who lives 2 houses down who's an ichinensei has about 15. We think we're doing what's right for our family. We don't want our kids to be overindulged or anything. Not saying our neighbors are though at all, that's not what I mean. We love our neighbors. But yeah, and with 2 fabulous good students like Branden and Noah are....we started thinking Saturday. You know....we should go and buy them an extra one at least. ; ) So Sunday, we woke up and the boys knew it was the day we were going to find them a beyblade. Beyblade has a huge catalog of "which beyblade is which", which one is rare. There are 2 types at least. One is a defensive type. And the other is an attack type, that is a better one to get. If you wanna battle against the others. Anyway, to make a long story short, we drove to Narita city. Went to the Aeon and they had a whole aisle but the whole aisle was empty, everything that had to do with beyblade totally sold out. So we left and went to Toys r us. And same thing. They had 1 beyblade but it was a defense type meaning not a good fighting beyblade. And that's probably why it was still there and not bought. By now the kids looked crushed. Perhaps we could not find them anything. These are so popular right now. We had one last chance...Ito Yokado.
Again because they're so popular they were having an actual big beyblade battle at the actual Ito Yokado in Narita. About 80 kids and their parents showed up. It was a mad house. We did not know this was going on when we walked in. Boy were we surprised. We went to the beyblade aisle and they surprisingly had a lot of stuff in stock. Not everything but a lot more then the slim pickins' we saw at Aeon and Toys r us.
Oh yeah, also we picked up a banana case for Noah for when he goes back to yochien. Again doing little by little. With getting ready.
Branden got 2 attack type beyblades. He was so happy. ; ) Granted now he has 6 beyblades total which is not much compared to the rest of the kids in our area but he's pretty happy at least. ; )
And inside this bigger bag.
We bought the boys a big square bey stadium. This is their 3rd stadium right now and they were so happy getting this one. They also each got a white bey shooter. All the kids have those around here. Our kids did not and they were only 550 yen or so. So, we thought what the heck...and they each got one of those as well. And Noah got 1 beyblade which is pictured. Beyblades are named after astrological signs like Scorpio, Libra etc. Anyway with the boys getting a bit of beyblade stuff on Sunday they were seriously super happy. We came home and had lunch.
They played outside Sunday afternoon and I baked some cupcakes. For dessert for later.
They played ball.
And even more ball. Then they came in and had dinner. After dinner they went upstairs and played beyblades until bath time. Two happy boys went to sleep perhaps, dreaming about their new beyblades Sunday night. ; )
Saturday morning, around 9am, Noboru suggested we go and do some fishing, in the small country-ish city (the same one Noah goes to yochien in) Branden was at school for the last fishing trip, so I said sure, this way all 4 of us could go together this time. We got dressed quickly and left the house by 9:30am. Headed to Mc D's. We each had a breakfast combo/set. Kids had orange juice, and I had hot coffee, Noboru had iced coffee. Everyone had sausage mcmuffins but me, I had the egg mcmuffin. The kids got a vanilla soft cream on the way out and back into the car we went. About 5 minutes later we arrived at the fishing spot.
Unloading the car, grabbed one of the spare blankets we always keep in the car for me to sit on.
Noah holding the tackle box, the smaller one.
Quite a few grandpa types fishing.
Everyone had something to hold. Noah the smaller tackle box, Branden the bucket which we'd throw the fish in. Noboru had the larger tackle box and the senbeis. LOL.
Noah fishing! And see that fisherman behind Noah? And see the other boat closer... that is old and filled with water. Well, obviously the answer is "wading boots", but I asked the kids, how do you think that man got into his boat? They thought of stilts and all sorts of answers. Noboru laughed and I smiled. They pondered that question for a good long while until I told them. ; )
Branden had such a great time! And I bet he can't wait to go on Spring break.
On a nice comfy blanket, I sat and enjoyed my 2 sons and my hubby fish their little hearts out. I watched them. People watched the other fishermen. Some guy was throwing a frisbee and it accidentally fell into the water, watching him try to get it out and yes he did get it out, was also quite interesting. : ) After an hour and a half we left and headed home.
Noah, was it so windy that the wind blew your hat off? Good thing I kept it in my purse for safe keeping! ; )
Branden and Noah each caught 1 tiny fish each. And we released them right back into the river before we headed home. That was Saturday!!!
My gorgeous little boy, we are so proud of you! Last week, your first week of Spring break and dad and I both tried to keep you active. Daddy, was set to take you for a bike ride throughout the neighborhood, just like he does with both of you kids. And he noticed something. You were not using your training wheels. He came into the house and asked me to come outside. He said, Noah's training wheels are not moving and that means he's not using them at all. He took you around the block to make sure and sure enough you were riding on just the 2 wheels and not using the training wheels as a safety net at all. So, he said, I'm going to take his training wheels off. I was scared, typical mom worries about her kids type fears. But after seeing what Noboru was talking about, I could see he was right. So, he went to the shed and got the proper tools and took them off . Those training wheels just lay on the concrete and you got on your bike (which used to belong to your older brother) and off you went. I remembered Branden fell a few times when he had his taken off, so I was somewhat bracing for it. Dreading your fall Noah, but you never did. As odd as it sounds, it's honestly true. You did not fall once. You went back and forth up our quiet country road. And we watched you go back and forth, back and forth. Branden was at Kumon at the time, so this had to have happened last Thursday. I will date it and everything for you. But that's your story of the day your training wheels came off. It is still March and you are technically still a red badge. April 7th is when the new semester begins and so April 7th is the day you will become a pink badge and not a day before. We can't believe it, a red badge and your training wheels came off. Ayumi-chan's mom came out of her house (across the street neighbor) and marvelled and said, she could not believe you were riding a bike without training wheels, she said, you're too young. But she ohh'ed and ahh'ed you, as did we.
And there you went. Zipping back and forth.
You're so amazing!
And with a great big grin and still riding!
And coming back. You rode back and forth for a good hour. And you've been riding just about everyday ever since.
Noboru still wearing gloves from when he took off the training wheels. We could not be prouder. I tell ya kiddo, you're one amazing little boy, age 4 and your training wheels are off already, way to go sweetheart! We are so very very proud of you and your milestone/accomplishment!!! : )
All of this post happened last week. But since we were busy enjoying it so much. I couldn't find the time to post it up. A week delayed but that's okay. This is what we did last Tuesday, Noah's first official day on Spring break. We took him fishing. At a local creek in our town. Tuesday was a lovely day weather wise. The weather forecast said possible chance of rain. It didn't rain all day long. I kept telling my husband, "you watch, if it does rain at all, it will rain right before we have our BBQ" We joked and laughed about it. Hoping it wouldn't happen, but sorta making light of it, if it did. We fished here for about an hour and a half. And it was about an hour and a half before Branden would get off of school. And this creek is pretty close to Branden's school, and the town is so quiet and with so many rice fields at every which way and wide open spaces we can actually hear the school bell chime when the bell rings.
Rice fields behind and the school is actually in the background too. Our house is on the opposite side of the school. Not on this side of the school or on this side where the creek is, we actually live on the opposite side of the school near some other rice fields. Not near this creek. We do live near creeks but not this particular creek. Okay TMI. ; )
Okay I zoomed up a tad. See that nice big modern newly built school sorta elevated? That's Branden's elementary school. It's a really nice elementary school. Central heating and everything. His school is awesome.
Father and son walking down getting ready to get their fishing on!!! ; )
Playing and dancing and happy. And look at that sky behind. Big clouds loomed, we wondered "hmm maybe it will rain after all" Fishing was fun for them. They fished and fished and fished some more. They released a few back before we left. We heard the school bell chime. And we gathered our stuff, hopped in the MPV and drove to the school to pick up Branden. Nothing like the entire family with smiling faces picking you up! B happily got in the car and we headed home. The meat by the way was already sliced and marinating with sauce in the fridge. And the rice cooker had been programmed to have the rice ready at 3pm. So we knew it was just about finished when we got home.
Here's a pic of Noah fishing from last Tuesday!
Noboru loves fishing. Where I enjoy blogging when I have the spare time. That's very much the way my husband feels about fishing. And with so many canals and creeks around where we live, and with an ocean pretty close to us. He's in hog heaven for much of the year regarding his fishing. He fishes with a few of his male coworkers, his buddies. And he also takes the boys when they have off school. I go sometimes. Granted I really don't care for it. I find it pretty boring. But I go because I know it makes him happy. And he never complains when we go shopping and I try on outfit after outfit. Or get sucked into a makeup counter. So if he can go and still smile and not complain I have to do the same too. And I do. : ) And being married since 1997 we are most definitely not newlyweds here. But respect for each other we have always had and sorry if this causes an eye roll so be it, but my husband is my best friend, he really is. ; )
While I clicked this picture, Branden was upstairs changing his school clothes to his house clothes. Noah was also changing into sweatpants. This is a house where we don't put on airs. Sweatpants and long sleeve tees for the kids and hubby. And cropped wide leg black yoga pants with pink 3/4 sleeve shirt and a pony tail for me. Not a stitching of make up on. The meat was marinating for most of the day. We marinate it in the sauce on the right. And we use the sauce on the left as our dunking sauce. The veggies were also lightly marinating in sauce last Tuesday.
And then poof guess what happens. Literally minutes after I pulled the meat from the fridge? Rain! Not a down pour. Not raining cats and dogs. Just a sprinkling. As you can see the few light sprinkles on the patio window. But yup, we were right. It rained for our BBQ! We got a chuckle out of that! And no...it most certainly did not stop our BBQ one bit. : )
Skinless boneless breast meat and I cut off all funky and fatty bits. Charcoal BBQ's give the meat the best flavor. Man this was good.
I had the kids sit down to eat first, I wanted them to eat while it was hot. Noboru had his beef and pork grilling. We use plastic mats when it's just regular meal time and only pull out the cloth ones when it's holiday meals or when company comes over. Shhh. ; ) But for just us, we keep it simple and easy wipe downs of the mats is totally appreciated. Especially for your average night.
Everyone is eating. Talking and eating, talking and eating. We heard every detail of Branden's school day. Right down to what he had for lunch (of course we could read it on the school menu) but getting his version about lunch is always interesting. Some pretty funny stuff happens at lunch time in his class. They do not have lunch in a big lunch room like how we do it in the US. Here, they have lunch in their own individual class. So they eat with just their own class and their own teacher.
Noah looking at his big brother listening and hanging onto every single word. Noboru eating and listening. And me listening and taking one of the last pictures before I put my camera away and enjoyed our private time, our meal time.
My serving. We ate, we dunked we wrapped our meat with flat lettuce leaves. Not iceberg lettuce but a different kind. It was so good.
Now his eyes are fixed on daddy. Noah was now listening to a story from Noboru. Being the youngest in our family he does get to hear a whole heap of stories. Anyway this was my last shot of our BBQ from last Tuesday. We had a fantastic first day of Noah's start of Spring vacation. We fished, we BBQ'ed. It was a pretty great day.
Wednesday morning and Noah does what he usually does on the "weekends only". He's unloading the utensils from the dishwasher. You see, I'm a firm believer that chores are a good thing for kids. Granted we're not talking huge tasks, but tasks all the same. They make kids feel useful and productive. And I've been having them do that since Branden was a little guy. With Branden, when he was 2 years old, I had him start with tidying the shoes in the genkan. Put his toys in the toy box. Those were his 2 main tasks as a wee little 2 year old. Granted sometimes the shoes were not EXACT matches. Sometimes my shoe was paired with Noboru's shoe and we thought...what???? But try he did. And we applauded it. And he got so good, he whipped that genkan into shape like a pro in no time. Fast fwd. And Branden is now 8. I don't have my kids do tons and gobs of chores. I do want them being kids. And I know with all the extra curriculars B does, I don't wanna add extra stress. But chores he does do. Branden's chores are, he vacuums the stairs once a week. He makes his bed every morning. Keeps his room clean. I wash and fold his clothes but I place his clean folded clothes on his bed everyday and his chore is to put his clean clothes into the appropriate drawer, obviously I hang the hanging stuff. He also sets the bath at night. Granted we have buttons to turn the bath on from downstairs too. But rolling the bath cover on top and stuff he runs up and does every night in the colder months. And this is basically it. Not huge gobs of stuff but just enough to make him responsible. And he is. Now what are Noah's jobs? Well, when Noah was age 2, I had him start with the same job I started B with. Fixing the genkan everyday. And even at age 4, this is still Noah's daily chore. Every morning and every evening he fixes the shoes in the genkan. Our shoes are always straight and orderly thanks to Noah. Noah's other chore is, he has to put his clean clothes away into the appropriate drawers too. I place Noah's clean clothes on Noah's bed every day and when he comes back from school, he puts his underwear and undershirts in his underwear and his undershirt drawer. His shirts in his shirt drawer and his pants in his pants drawer and his sweatpants in his sweatpant drawer which is also his PJ drawer and so on. I watch and I sit on his bed and still watch but I be darned he gets it right and he does it and I am so proud of my son for doing this. He's growing into a wonderful responsible little boy. Granted I hang all his clothes that need to be hung. But helping out, he does do. Noah also is responsible for keeping his room clean meaning his toys have to go back into his toy box when he's done playing with them. Granted he's not perfect and I can tell you, I have stepped on my fair share of lego or train track to kill my foot! And have me limping ouch ouch ouch. I vacuum their rooms daily, wash their bedding weekly, keep their windows in the bedrooms sparkly clean. And the furniture dusted. All Noah has to do, is make sure his toys go into the toy box and his clothes go into the correct drawers. And he does. he's still in training. ; ) But he's doing fantastic. I also make sure Noah is the one who unpacks his obento when he gets home from yochien everyday in the afternoons and I am always standing by in case he needs my help. And he leaves it on the green counter for me every day. And I clap and whatnot. Well done Noah. And I go upstairs and make sure he takes all his yochien stuff off and get his stuff put away. He's really trying hard. And he's a good kid. What's in this picture? Well, on the weekends, I ask the kids to unload something in the dishwasher. Granted I do 95% of it but I do want them to help. Noah unloads the utensils every Saturday and Sunday. Not sharp knives and stuff, just forks, spoons, butter knives. And Branden unloads all the kids plates. They both do this every weekend. And I do the rest. With Spring break now in effect, Noah is now unloading the utensils everyday now. And Branden as soon as he gets off for his Spring break will be doing the kids plates daily as well. Good kids. Good good kids. And they do like helping out. It gives them a sense of pride and confidence that they can do stuff. ; )
Well done my son!!! You know which spot the kids spoons go, where the adult forks go, kids forks, and whatnot. What a good sweet kid you are! A very helpful boy!
And wanting to keep my boy a bit active, on his 2nd day off school. We baked a banana bread last Wednesday with 3 overripe bananas. Which made this bread so sweet and delicious. And Noah was taking a pic with Noboru's old cell, it still works, granted it can't make calls, but Noah charges it daily and the camera works and whatnot. ; )
About to mash those bananas.
Creamy smooth batter and about to add some pecans.
And done! You baked a very delicious banana bread my little cutie pie!
And right before we went to go and pick up Branden. I had Noah help make some lemonade. I had him shake the bottle. I said....shake, shake shake. Shake, shake shake. And he did! 
Last Friday was the day I met Noriko-san and Jogo-san at the movies. The movie started at 10am. And so, right after we each dropped off our kids at the yochien we each drove and parked and met each other at the movie theater. My car passed Jogo-san's car around 9:10-ish in the AM. I was on my way to drop off Noah and she obviously had already dropped off her daughter and was on her way to the movies. So, I dropped Noah off. And went on my way to the movies. I saw her car in the parking lot already and parked and went in. She was looking at the movie posters on the walls inside. New release movies and the soon to be released movies. We saw the great big movie poster for Alice in Wonderland. My dad saw it in Guam last Saturday (2 days after he left Japan) my dad said it was so good and in 3-D. But for us in Japan it comes out sometime in April. I forget the exact date. When Noriko-san arrived we bought our tickets and picked our seats and then went and got our snacks. We each got our own popcorn. And I had a soda, which I don't drink all too often (once a week) but I do at the movies. And they each got some delicious smelling coffee. I wondered if they were caramel machiattos, because I definitely smelled something sweet perhaps caramel in their drinks in the theater. We sat down. Saw the previews to the Sex and the City 2 coming out sometime soon. Jay Z's, featuring Alicia Key's "Empire State of Mind" played during the Sex and the City preview and I was definitely swaying my head to that! Can't wait to see that! Sherlock Holmes was good. I'm glad I saw it and I can tell there will totally be a part 2. We actually all said that, after the movie ended. After the movie, we all went to Mister Donut. We had donuts and talked. And laughed and talked some more. The picture on the wall of the guy who started Mister donut hung on the wall. And we got to talking. Who is that. What's his name. And I finally just said....Maybe that's just Mister Donut. Okay maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny. We all laughed. We talked about what we've been watching on TV. What movies did we like with Robert Downy Jr. I said, Less then Zero, Chances Are, The Pick Up Artist. Jogo-san liked a lot of his movies and knew lots of the movies he's been in. Talked about Adam Lambert a bit. Was he in Japan last week? We were wondering that. Talked about Easter a bit. Lent and coloring eggs. Plans for Spring break. And then it was time to go. With big chocolate heart box in my car, I was on my way to the yochien. Noah gave it to Chi-chan and we went to go and pick up B directly at the elementary. We went home. And started the weekend. How was last week? It was fantastic. My dad was here, so that was nice. The kids schedules are winding down and that's nice too. The Olympic ceremony was fun. Last week rocked.
On Noah's last day of school, he got this gift from a friend/classmate. He's a very popular boy at school and has lots of friends. 
Very thoughtful. I know who gave it, so I will have to do something nice in return for sure.
My birthday gift from Noboru. You know, the movies I wanted were just 1 for my birthday. I only really badly wanted Twilight New Moon. And the 2 books. However, hubby told me, since it's an order from Amazon.com and not Japan. Just get $100 worth of stuff versus just 1 thing. That way to him it justifies the shipping. I could not think of anything else I really needed. So, I ended up choosing things for the rest of my family versus getting something I really didn't need for myself. And no, I'm not a martyr or anything, I assure you. ; ) It's just to me, birthdays are about my family versus stuff. So, anyway....I chose "Where the Wild Things Are and Ponyo in English" For Branden and Noah. We have Ponyo in Japanese with English subtitles but wanted this version as well. I saw my husband last month try to rent Vacation with Chevy Chase at Tsutaya discas, but they only had the Vegas Vacation not any others. And my husband LOVES those movies. And so do I, but he does love those so I chose the 2 pack of vacation movies secretly for my husband (he thinks I got them for myself ; ). :P And Branden enjoys reading so much, and I ordered him the book...."The Day My Butt went Psycho". Branden loves to read, he reads everything and anything now days. And I chose for myself, High On Arrival. By Mackenzie Phillips. If you remember I bought that book last year by Valerie Bertinelli. She was also on "One day at a Time" anyway so was Mackenzie Phillips. And honestly I watched that show when I was little sometimes, but was way younger then those characters. I was more into The Fact of Life show and Different Strokes ("what you talking about Willis!!!", lol just kidding). But anyway, I caught Mackenzie Phillips on Oprah last year and it talked about this book. And it seemed really sad and I thought to myself, I should read that book. I'm on page 100 right now, I read some of it before bed each night. And all I can say is wow. At times when I read it, I think, she was too wild, way way too wild not only can I even barely imagine half the things I'm reading, but I can't even remotely relate to these stories. And then sometimes as I flip the pages, I think to myself, what a strong person to endure all that she went through. I am not sure how I will feel when the book ends. But for right now. I feel nobody really protected her like a parent should have. She was allowed to live a much too wild life. Her dad was in the Mamas in the Papa's. Before reading this book, I just knew of her that she used to be in One day at a Time. Not really knowing what she does now. The Mama's and the Papa's may be way before my time though, but I am not totally in the dark, I do know who they are. I had heard she was on drugs and busted a few times but didn't really know anything about her. But like I said, the first 100 pages. She's a very intelligent person. A deeply thinking person. A truly feeling person. Some absolute horrific things have happened to her and I am just in awe of her. I can't relate to her experiences or her. But it doesn't mean I can't feel respect for her because I think she's an incredible human being. I really do. I am really glad I ordered this book and look forward to finsihing it. Branden meanwhile is on the 2nd chapter of the "psycho butt book" ; ) I'm glad I could order something for us all for my birthday. ; )
I also ordered my 2nd book by Suzanne Kamata (amazon shipped this seperately, it got here first). I read this in an afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. So much so, I could not put it down. I kept saying, just one more story and then I'd read that story and then said, one more story and then by the time I knew what hit me, I read the whole book. I could relate to so many of these stories. I completely enjoyed her book.
Last Saturday we had baked pepperoni sandwiches with melted cheese on top, some lettuce and some fries. It was an easy but delicious dinner last Saturday night. : )
Last Sunday we had curry and rice and drank some lemonade with ice. 
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