Last Friday, besides it being Noah's swimming day, Branden had to swim to makeup a day. Because of when we were in Guam. So he went last Friday. Also Noah is loving swimming on Friday's so much. It's so quiet and not many people on Friday's. About 4 benches always open for anyone wanting to sit down. So a completely different experience then on Saturdays. Anyway, while Branden was at swimming school we ran to a local DIY. We were there for about 30 minutes, so we still could watch Branden swim for about an hour since the D course swims for an hour and a half, versus Noah's 1 hour swim class. So it's longer and it gave us the chance to get some veggie plants. : ) Noah in this pic was helping me find a couple tomato plants! ; )
Herbs! We picked a couple. 2 basil, 1 oregano, and 1 coriander (cilantro) if you like Mexican food. ; ) I plan to make fresh homemade salsa with it, from the help of a cookbook this summer (if the plants survive that is). ; )
Basil smelled so good.
Went back to the swimming club. Ran into a few mom's I know and greeted them and went upstairs to watch Branden. Noah was with me and so was Noboru.
Saya-chan was down there, she's a #5 now and B is a #4. But they swim in the same row. Her mom and I were chatting for about 15 minutes. She is a very nice girl,Saya-chan. Very friendly and talkative, I like that. : ) Her mom is the same. Very nice.
Saturday, sure enough we woke up and were already in Narita by the time 10am hit when the mall opened. We picked these sneakers right here. The price was real fair and they're a running shoe which is great for when he has undokai. We measured Branden's foot at the Sports Authority and couldn't believe how big his foot had grown. He's always had big feet but the size they grew, wow. We were like @_@.
Made him walk back and forth. And like a typical mom I bent down and watched his foot as he walked. Do, I see any slippage? Nope. Looked like a perfect fit.
So Noah started walking too! And he wasn't getting shoes that day. Because he wears uniform shoes at his yochien and now that it's near Summer he wears Crocs or flip flops at home. Plus he has sneakers at home already. Where as Branden wears these for school and he not only outgrew his last pair, he had a small hole in one of them. So totally different story. Noah said..."I know I don't need any shoes today but I still wanna walk with Branden" Errr okay we said. Ha ha ha. He's so silly that way.
Hi Noah, you are always as happy as a clam! ; )
Then we headed to the Aeon part of Narita mall. Because they have the biggest selection of swimwear around here. Especially the elementary school mandatory navy blue kind. But they also have cute regular swimwear for kids too. Anyway, we picked up Branden's swimwear for shogako. Since he brought that note home like I said and it said he starts swimming June 17th at elementary school. Personally I think it's still too cold to swim outside still. But, I don't make the rules.....I just follow them. And they said bring it by June 17th, so that's why we needed to buy it.
See how they size the swim towels? Not all the swim towels are for all kids. They go by height. Noah needed a size 60cm towel since he is under 120cm tall. Now Branden would obviously need a way bigger towel and that's why when I hang them on the fence, Branden's towel always looks way way bigger then Noah's. ; )
If you live in Japan, you probably know how popular Pokemon in Japan is for kids now. All Noah's friends and Branden's friends are heavily into Pokemon. And so are Branden and Noah. They have the DS cards for them. They watch them on TV and want to catch the new movie this coming July when it comes to the theater. Noah has the banana case and fruit case in Pokemon. And I might switch his obento and cup to Pokemon eventually. But, his swim towel now is Thomas. And he's not into Thomas at all anymore. And none of his friends are either. : ( So, he had been wanting a cooler swim towel. ; ) We picked him this Pokemon swim towel in the right size. ; )
And we were done, and heading to the car now and soon to be on our way home.
Each of the boys had a bag to carry. ; )
Branden's shoes.
Japanese size 22.5cm. And US size of 3.5 or 3 1/2. What a healthy 3rd grader. ; )
B was quite happy about his shoes.
Really happy, aww. ; )
2 bags from the Aeon.
I wanted a Father's day card for my dad, but they don't have any. Hmm, I am going to stock pile a few cards next time I'm in the US. : ( Anyway, I found this one and will send it to my dad for Father's day. The outside says, Thank you. And the inside is blank. I'll just write a little message for him inside.
As the color says....legend blue and white. 150cm. Swimwear for Branden.
When I first saw the swimwear they're supposed to wear for shogako, years ago, I thought, how unattractive. ; ) Not like board or cool boy's swim shorts at all. Just skin tight navy blue. ; ) But, I know everyone else is wearing the same so, I really am used to it now. We pick him the cutest ones we could find, these are identical to the ones he wore for ichinensei and ninensei. : ) Just bigger in size. And the name tag, I will have to sew onto his swim wear before June 17th. : ) What else does B need? A swim bag, a swim cap and flip flops and a swim towel. But he has the same swim towel from a few years back. And the same swim bag from a few years back and the flip flops, we bought cheaply from Old Navy. So he's set. ; )
Noah's swim towel. He'll be using it at swim school and also when he starts swimming at the yochien, but we haven't got the letter for it yet. But I know it's coming. ; )
Name tag, I already wrote his name on it.
So after last Saturday's mall stuff, we got home, and started in on the garden. Meanwhile Branden's friends came and Branden went playing with his friends. He's such a popular kid.
A cucumber plant.
See this strip? 25% will be a veggie garden and 75% will be a flower garden. However we are on the veggie garden bit right now and will get to the flower parts in a week or two.
It was so nice and hot Saturday, instead of using our dryer, on nice days like this I like to hang the laundry out. All of Branden's stuff hung on Saturday.
Gardening with kids is so cool. They learn so much from it. Noah really enjoyed helping us dig the holes and plant the vegetables.
We have an anti weed sheet under all our bark. We really weren't sure if the anti-weed sheet would work or not but as you can see, not a weed in sight under there. So, for us....it worked. Can't say about anyone else's case but for us, we didn't grow even a single weed. Weird huh?
Keeping in mind how large each vegetable would eventually grow. So, we spaced them with that in mind. We kept the anti weed sheet down but cut a hole for the veggie. Again, this is our first attempt at gardening here. So, it's going to be a learning experience for us. I'm sure in a few years time we'll know what works and what doesn't but for now. We're just figuring it all out. ; )
More of B's clothes hanging on the fence. And Noah talking to someone across the rice field. Do you see who he's talking too??? Let me zoom in a bit...
Okay how about now? Do you see? Yep, Branden and his 3 friends. Playing all through the rice fields. Looking for bugs and whatnots. Just doing typical boy stuff ya know! ; ) It's so quiet around here, I can actually hear what the boys are talking about across the field. Noah could talk to his brother.
Country boys! ; )
" Branden come back and pick me up...I wanna go too" Noah said. ; ) They did swing back cutting through the fields. And play with Noah out front for a bit. Branden's a very good big brother! Always so kind.
Each hole where we are growing a vegetable, we put soil that's good for vegetables and flowers.
Planting was a great deal of work. But also exciting, we want to know if we'll grow anything or not. We're hoping. : )
Branden, Noah, Keita and E-kun all playing beyblades. They eventually played soccer Noah included. And Kouiki-kun showed up later.
Now it was 3pm and all our clothes and our neighbors clothes were also inside. And we started the grill. I baked the potatoes in the microwave half way. That way they'd cook up on the BBQ way faster. And I like that....I think I'll do that again next time too. The pork ribs smelled amazing btw!
We cooked them a nice long time, wanna make sure our pork is always 100% cooked, very important. The potatoes got crunchy skins on the outside, I love it when they get like that.
These kids had a wonderful Saturday. Branden got his shoes he really needed and same for his swimwear. Noah got his swim towel he had been dreaming about. ; ) Our plants got planted. And we enjoyed our like 8th BBQ of the season by now. Not keeping track but yeah it could be the 8th BBQ of the season for sure...that sounds about right. Not a whole lot going on. Just quiet time at home. Don't you love quiet family weekends like this? Oh man...we sure do!
As you can see by Noboru's plate the ribs didn't fit on the plate, they're quite good sized slabs/racks. would totally order these from the Meat Guy again!
Tony Roma's BBQ sauce.
My plate last Saturtday, a hot buttery baked potato, a nice simple goma salad and some BBQ baby back ribs. And a pink lemonade.
Noboru is all about the rice! ; ) No potato for him...just rice. ; )
We gave Noah a half slab and then the other slab after he finished his first half. The kids devoured their slabs/racks like you wouldn't believe.
Noah taking every bit of meat off this bone.
And another.
Looking at his plate....
Full cheeks stuffed with meat.
Branden enjoying his ribs too.
Geeze, Noah rotated that bone at all angles and stripped it of any meat.
Stuffed cheeks once again.
Noah, wiping off any extra BBQ sauce. Before digging right in again. Two very healthy eaters, I have. Noah can eat like nobody's business! ; )
Cheeks stuffed with meat and now about to start on the potato. After the kids finished their dinner, they each had a bowl of ice-cream before heading to a hot shower. And then having family dvd night with mom and dad (hub and I) with a bowl of popcorn. : )
The BBQ cooled off all night outside and then right away Sunday morning Noboru wheeled it back into the shed. Meanwhile since Saturday it was all about Branden's clothes outside. The next day, Sunday was all about Noah's. His fresh clothes hung, his regular clothes, house clothes and even school uniform and yochien bags. All nicely dried up outside Sunday.
Noah's 2 navy blue yochien shorts nicely washed and dried and packed away until next Winter. His summer stuff and gym unform all nicely folded and put into his yochien bags Sunday, smock and whatnots.
Hmm, don't ask me how jean shorts can dry up in a jiff, but Noah's madras patchwork shorts took forever to dry up! Hmmm. Even being the last thing hanging Sunday afternoon. They did eventually get nice and dry and folded into his closet drawers. And yes he was wearing these at Narita mall the day before. ; ) I am quite fast with my laundry. ; ) I like seeing an empty laundry basket at the end of each day....until after bath time though then it gets filled again, ha ha ha and I start again another day. ; )
So after the laundry got folded and put away, we headed back to the DIY to get something the tomato and cucumber plants to grow and wrap themselves up as they grow bigger. ; )
Also, I debated about growing my herbs in the ground or into a pot. And decided on a pot. And found these 2 planters cheaply for about 290 yen each.
Noboru meanwhile watered the yard.
Deciding how I want them to grow. A practice run. ; )
2 basil plants in one planter and 1 coriander and oregano in the other. Yumm, I can't wait for them to take off. Regarding the basil.....pizza margerita here we come! ; ) What did we do this week? You know, not much. It was a quiet week. A relaxing week. Besides cleaning the house and laundry. And the kids and school, it was a very quiet week. No observation days or anything. No lunch with friends. Just a quiet week. A person sort of needs quiet weeks you know...sort of balances out the hectic weeks. ; )
However next week, we decided to go see Iron Man 2. Noriko-san and Jogo-san and I. We will go and catch the morning movie next week. I'm looking forward to that. ; )
This has been a very busy week this week. A good week but wow, indeed a busy one! Which is why I had no time to update until now. Let's see, Monday, I spent the day cleaning the house and doing laundry. Not very fun but had to get done. Tuesday, I went to the Indian restaurant with friends, like I said in the last post. : ) And Wednesday was, taking both the boys to school, running to the grocery store doing the weekly shopping, told the yochien sensei I'd have to pick up Noah by 1pm, so early because I had observation day at B's school. She said that was fine. So, I shopped and then picked up Noah from school. Went home unloaded the groceries quickly. And at 1:20pm or so, Noah and I were at the elementary school. We stood for 2 hours/2 classes. The first class we observed was gym. The white hats are the 3rd graders in the #1 class and the red hats are the 3rd graders in the #2 class. Branden's a white hat and his teacher is on the left. She's an older lady but very nice and Branden really likes her. He's a good student, he doesn't mess up in class, he pays attention and gets good grades so he hasn't ever had any problems with any of his teachers yet. Knock on wood.
About to begin their warm up.
Warming up! Branden's in the orange shirt.
Jumping and really getting that blood a flowing! ; )
Both classes listening.
This is Branden and Mei-chan. They're gym partners! Object of this is obviously, "don't drop the ball" Ha ha ha. And don't use your hands.
They did this one over boxes and obstacles. They dropped the ball once! ; )
And here they were and same thing. Don't drop the ball. Mei-chan's laughing in this pic, not sure if you can see her face too well, but she was laughing.
Branden laughing in this one.
And then this one. A person gets in the center and dances and moves, and it's sort of like "Simon says" whatever the person in the middle does the people in the circle have to do the same exact dance move! Branden's teacher was first, it was sort of nice to see her jumping around and dancing. This made me smile. Next she tagged Branden and he went in and danced and everyone copied him and then B went and touched another person and then they went around. One girl was very shy and did not want to go in the center. : ) She was very cute. But the rest all did. It was nice to see what they did for gym class for the 3rd grade. I have seen what they do for the 1st and 2nd grade for gym. Seems they do pretty much the same stuff for the 3rd grade too. ; )
And then they switched CD's, on the CD player in the back. And they played the song that's often heard here in Japan. That Ghengis Khan song. It's really fast in tempo. And the kids were paired off with their partners again. And so Branden and Mei chan started to get down! : ) LOL! So, she bent down on 1 knee, same with the other girls. And Branden had to ham it up and dance, meanwhile Mei-chan clapped! LOL. Now this was the first time, Noah and I ever saw this dance...we were both pretty much speechless. We were like @_@ Ha ha ha. And then....
It was Mei-chan's turn to get down and boogie. And Branden bent down and clapped as she hammed it up! @_@
And then....if that wasn't silly enough! Then he bent down like this. And she started jumping over Branden back and forth! The music was truly fitting for their dance moves! And again....Noah and I just looked at each other. @_@
And as you probably guessed, then Mei-chan bent down and Branden started jumping back and forth over Mei-chan! At this point, I cleared my throat and I said in a quiet voice to Noah. Have you ever seen *anything* like this before?! He started laughing....no way, I haven't. Noah said shaking his head and smiling. Yeah me neither.
And then, yes it does getting weirder! : ) So they change music again. And next thing you know, they all jump on the stage and start dancing free style. Just doing whatever everyone wanted. Branden in playing air guitar in this pic and so is his very very good friend E-kun!
Branden air guitarred right across the stage. The sensei for the other class was as you can tell in the picture. She was walking like an egyptian. Exactly like the Bangles did, she did this back and forth! @_@ I was swaying my head a bit, because you know, I would have liked to join them. The other parents were just quietly standing watching this all.
3 shy kids didn't want to go on stage or dance. Which is okay, it's fun to see the different personalities at the school. Branden is definitely not shy though.
And then gym class was over. So Noboru asks me, how was Branden's gym class? I said..."you know it sorta was like "high school musical" He said, no way, are you kidding? I said, yep! They just all of a sudden just broke out dancing and they even moved on the stage and a teacher walked like an Egyptian. He looked at me, like no way. ; ) Good thing I had the pictures! Ha ha ha. Now he wishes he could have been there. It was really hilarious. And then we went to their class and they had math class. Mei-chan, B's gym partner is closest to the blackboard in the white shirt and skirt in this pic.
Branden and his orange shirt and the boy directly behind him, holding that book, wearing the navy blue tee is the "boy next door" ; ) Our neighbor.
You know, I think half the inaka wild life is in our school classrooms this season. Ha ha ha. You know the bugs that hang on cabbages? A few people brought those and they watched them grow in a plastic box with cabbage inside and then they were released. Beatles, water bugs. Bug eggs, larva, cocoons of all types. They are inside these classrooms. Branden and the "boy next door" caught some more this past Sunday and they both took them to the classroom. Ha ha ha. It's a good environment to raise kids. They get to watch the life spans of many different bugs, insects and the likes. Play through the fields.
Noah walking down from Branden's elementary on Wednesday. We stayed the entire time until school let out. So, Branden and Noah and I walked down the hill together until we got to our car. We went home and I made dinner. I tell ya, I was on the gogogo, all Wednesday. And wasn't home Tuesday either because of that lunch date I had, which was fun.
Noah enjoyed being at B's school. : ) And Branden was so happy we came. Though I always come, I have never missed an observation day.
And now it was Thursday. Time to go to Noah's observation day. First I made them both breakfast, sent B to school. Ran home, made Noah's lunch. Yes I knew they would open lunch boxes while the mother's were there. They did that last year and while Branden went there. However I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary for his lunch.
Hmmm, these kids look WAY tinier then the kids I saw the day before! ; ) At Branden's school! Ha ha ha. ; ) First we all did an art project with our kids in their classrooms downstairs. And then we went upstairs for gym. Now I thought I would be *observing* gym class! You know like I did the day before! You woulda thought, right? Well, they wanted us mother's to actually *participate* in gym class! Which is completely different obviously. Seriously, I was wearing a freaking dress! If I had known I would be doing gym class myself versus just watching, I would have dressed a little more appropriately like perhaps, shorts, capri jeans. Something. But I wouldn't have worn a flipping dress, I can tell you that! Jump up and down for 2 minutes. I could do it. Granted it was certainly no fun. Some mom's were getting pooped out by half way and believe me, I could totally understand. Just a constant up and down for 2 minutes is a lot harder then it sounds. By the time it was over, I was so ready for it to be done. Then the gym teacher shouted, "earthquake" and we mom's had to jump to the floor and take cover and then the gym teacher would shout cover your face, for flying glass. And so he was screaming like 5 different commands and here I was in a dress nonetheless. Jumping to the ground covering my head, standing up and covering my face, then he'd shout and we'd cover our stomaches. You wanna talk about feeling like a total dork?!!! But I did it and with a smile, because of my son. They were our partners our own children and Noah watching my face, there is no way I would EVER ever do an eyeball roll or anything. So, I smiled and kept smiling through the whole entire gym class. I was dying inside believe you me. Even when they had us spread our legs way far apart, to stretch. Like a spread eagle position and there I was wearing a flipping dress trying to cover myself and be proper but still smiling whenever Noah looked up at my face. But between you and me reading! That gym class blows! However next year I will remember to wear pants. But for my son's ears and for Noah's sake, I had the best time ever ever. ; )
Then we went down for lunch. Pink badges and red bagdes. I think 2 yellow badges but they went home before lunch. So it was just the pink and red. The pink badges I know, because I'm the mom of one and, they know me. We're all friends of course. And we sorta know what's in each other's lunches. Because we talk, we chat about obento sometimes, my yochien mom friends and I. Advice, questions and stuff. Some of us mom's looked a bit nervous at the unveiling. And I wasn't so nervous. One new mom, a red badge mom. She did walk all the tables to see the other lunches. That sort of made me a bit nervous. But I kept a poker face on and a smile. She did peek at Noah's lunch and then peeked at the other lunches. Lots of mom's had regular simple delicious looking obento's and some went a little over the top with faces on everything. Either way is okay. I personally prefer a well balanced meal over cutesy. But then that's just me! ; ) After the unveiling of the lunches. We stood downstairs watching the kids eat for about 10 minutes before heading upstairs. What were we doing upstairs? We were having our first meeting about the Summer festival. First there were speeches. Then we seperated by class. Pink badges went with the pink badges, reds with reds and blues with blues. Then. They asked who wants to sell food? Who wants to work the crafting area? Who wants to work the games? I signed up for the games. Noah's best guy pal's mom is doing games. Mayuko-san is doing games. Quite a lot of my friends are doing the games. Jogo-san is doing the food. And then we merged all classes but we then seperated by games, food etc. Then we decided who wants to work the first half or last half? My friends and I picked the first half. I prefer the first half too. I like to get things over with. It's just my personality. I like getting my work done first so I can truly relax. And then it was over. By now it was 1pm and the kids didn't get out until 1:50pm. So, 9 of us decided to go to lunch. We were going to go to Indian for curry. LOL, seriously we were. But someone thought a drink bar would be better. So we went to Johnathon's instead. Jogo-san met us at the restaurant, so there were 10 of us for lunch. We took 3 tables and smooshed them together. We were like a yochien mom's gang or club! Ha ha ha. We had lunch. And the drink bar. We chatted for nearly an hour and then we went and picked up our kids. When I picked up Noah I made sure to say...."thank you for inviting me to your observation day today, I had so much fun" And he got so happy!!! It sorta makes the gym class I went through worth it, seeing how happy it made my son. 
Friday morning/today, the last day to get the house in order before the weekend starts. And I am not kiding you, I had this first load of towels hanging by 6:30am. I'm honestly not kidding you. A second load was already in the washer. The grandma next door, was openeing her shutters while I was hanging my second load. I cheerfully told her this morning...."ohayo gozaimasu" She good morning-ed me back. LOL. And no, I am not super mom, I just like I said, I like to get my work over with. Just get it done and I don't have to think about it for the day.
Branden's spare gym uniform hanging on the jungle gym, and the fish print towels that I lay down on the couch in the Summer were now hanging.
A misc, load now hanging on the jungle gym. I am telling you. While getting the kids ready, breakfast and rides as well as obento, I was meanwhile hanging laundry at the same time here and there whenever I could pop outside. Yes I certainly can multi task! That is for darn sure! ; )
By now the way they are flapping in the wind you can tell they were dry. Dry by 8am they were. But I let them stay outside until 11am though anyway.
Today was trash day, so with dilluted bleach and water soaked the trash can, rinsed a few times in the kitchen sink, then stuck it on the back terrace to dry, it's inside now but fresh for the weekend.
This morning, the kuroneko man came to deliver our ribs. We are going to BBQ this Saturday. And I was going to get yakiniku stuff. But Noboru said he wanted ribs so he ordered from "the Meat Guy" this week, while I was out running around like a chicken with it's head cut off sometime this week. ; ) Anyway they were delievered this morning. 
The English page for these ribs does not specify that each order comes with 2 slabs. However the Japanese page does say each order has 2 slabs in it. So, we ordered 2, so 4 slabs total. 1 slab for Noboru, 1 for me, 1 slab for Branden and 1 slab for Noah. We bought some huge roasting potatoes. And tomorrow/Saturday we will be having a BBQ out back. BBQ ribs with Tony Romas BBQ sauce, baked potatoes and some salad, etc.
1500 yen or something like that is a very fair deal for 2 slabs of ribs. We'll be ordering these again this Summer for sure.
Two of our June Dvd's came this week. We haven't watched them yet. The Haunting in Connecticut and The Ugly Truth. We will be watching these DVD's this weekend! I think we'll watch the scary one tonight after the boys go to bed. : )
With it being the start of the weekend. I made tacos. 1 big skillet of beef (had the butcher grind us up some lean beef) and a big skillet of chicken. Taco Bell seasonings. And some shells, chopped up the lettuce, Branden grated the cheese.
A fast quick taco dinner last Friday with some pink lemonade. Homework was finished for the weekend quickly from Branden. And the boys showered after dinner with the hubby. And then I went after. We watched TV and then when the boys went to sleep Noboru and I watched Precious. It was a good movie.
Oh yes, remember, Noboru ordered for me...as my birthday present way back in March? The clothes weren't to be shipped until May though, which was fine. Summer stuff anyways. Anyway they finally got here the day after we got back from Guam last week. 2 pairs of shoes, a pair/set of short length house shorts for me. That I am even wearing right now as I type. I love them. 2 shirts, I liked in the Nissen catalog but I hated when I tried them on, so I sent them back. : ( And something else that I forget right now. Anyway....
These are the veggies I picked up last week. Long gone now, but....
Does anyone else go through bread like crazy? We go through insane amounts here. Plus I often run to the bakery and get more if we run out or to a closer supermarket. @_@
Saturday, we had pizza. I like the weekends to have fun types of food. Something we can all relax and enjoy. We had homemade pizza and sodas for dinner. Then we loaded the dishwasher, and everyone showered yet again. Same routine daily on that one. ; ) And we watched UP with the boys. And then they went to sleep and Noboru and I watched, "The Lovely Bones". This movie was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, it was so good. Ending Saturday with popcorn and a DVD at home was pretty cool.
Sunday the boys played in the backyard with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. And for dinner Sunday night we had beef curry. It was really good.
Monday morning, June 1st, the start of the Summer uniform at our yochien! I was ready. It was fresh and clean. I had Noah's obento already nicely packed in his backpack. I love the uniforms at our school so much. The Winter one I love because it's the traditonal navy blue yochien type uniform, it's simple and nice. I love it. The Summer uniform I love because it's basically the same thing as the winter uniform except the shorts are gray, a lighter color for Summer obviously and a straw hat. I love that they have a school only shoe that way everyone matches even right down to their shoes. And the gym uniform rocks. I love the yellow color. So yeah, I really enjoy our schools uniform, for all seasons. And yes they have a smock they put over their uniform that is navy and white stripes, pin stripes. And it protects their clothes. : )
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