My dad's 1 day visit and a new swim level for Noah

My dad and Noah around 2:20pm, we had just gotten home after being out all day. My dad and I, had went to lunch, we had tantanmen and deep fried gyoza. Then after that, we went to the Daiso and spent a good hour there. And then we even picked the boys up a donut pack (those mini donut ball kind) before heading to pick up Noah from yochien.
The Lightning McQueen bag Noah used for swimming at the yochien. A beach ball to take on vacation, next week. Mini sodas because my dad said the boys "needed" them, lol. @_@ A ball for dodgeball and for bouncing and 2 flashlights. Because on Skype the boys have told my dad how they now like to sleep with flashlight now. : ) Kids. : ) An origami book. And a whole bunch of other things that my dad picked and said he thought both Branden and Noah absolutely "needed". Life or death situation right? ; ) Ehhh my dad and the boys are really close. And it made him happy picking things for his only 2 grandchildren.
What my dad picked for himself or for his friends in Guam. Yep, he apparently thought one of his friends would get a kick out of toe socks, lol. : ) Also he says he keeps leaving his costlier sunglasses at home on accident. And many times needs a pair, so he bought these cheap pair to keep in his car all the time. He also bought a writing paper set....paper and envelops because he actually enjoys writing his friends real letters as well as email.
2 of those mini donut ball packs for both Branden and Noah. And 1 donut each for the rest of us too.
While my dad and I were watching Noah swim, we phoned Branden on my cell, my dad told him...there's a pack of donuts for you on the green counter. Branden asked my dad...grandpa whose stuff in on the kitchen table. While it's yours...yours and Noah's. meanwhile, Noah ate his donuts before swim class. : ) Noah starts swimming at 3:15pm, so we must be there by 3pm. Branden meanwhile got out at 3:30pm that day so Noboru picked up Branden and was home with Branden while we were able to handle swim class. And then headed back afterwards. : )
So there we were. Everyone in the world has been telling my dad to buy a digital camera, meanwhile he's still not sure : ) Anyway he took about 5 pictures of Noah down in the pool. I took some too. : ) He's so incredibly proud of both Branden and Noah, typical grandparent. : ) He sat there dazzled for the entire class.



It sure takes a lot of dedication to come here week after week. Month after month, year after year. But they love it. And I like them learning a life skill like swimming, it is pretty important. And Branden loved getting that trophy last year so much for mastering every technique and all levels, so he felt really accomplished. And Noah now wants that trophy as well. : )
It turned out to be a test day, go figure. My dad's been to swim club many times before, but he's never seen them actually come out with the "pass" paper. My dad was happily surprised. Noah gave the secretary 105 yen. And she in turn congratulated him and gave him his award paper with new badge on it. : )
When we got home Branden was so totally waiting. He did not want grandpa to go.: ( And neither did Noah. I didn't want them to be sad, so I switched it and made it a positive thing versus a negative one. I said...look how lucky you are, that you got to see grandpa in March and plus we are planning to see him in August when we head to Guam. But look at it this way...you got 1 great day with grandpa. Am I right. Plus also consider a lot of kids who can't see their loving grandparents as often as you. : ( So please consider that too. And you will realize how lucky you are. So no time to be sad now..... Alright? Be happy. Glass half full or glass half empty.....it's not an...I *only* got to see grandpa for 1 day. Instead think...wow how lucky you got to see grandpa for 1 special day. Right. And that seemed to do the trick. Their frowns turned upside down. Back to smiling boys. : ) It's not always what life gives you...it's how you take or handle the situation. How you see things. Anyway... I'm glad they can learn from what I'm saying. : )
My dad asked about Branden's day. And Branden told him every little detail. And then before you know it, we had to take my dad back to Narita airport.
Sky priority is the business class/first class. Noboru went with my dad to check in. Noboru is protective of my dad too and wanted to make sure my dad eased right through the check in process. Because this was not a trip trip...It was a bumped trip. So now my dad was about to head through the TSA part... but there was a line. Branden and Noah were hugging him and telling him how much they love him. I hugged my dad really tightly and then... we all said like we always do...."it's not goodbye okay...it's see you later" And we all felt better and said...see you . : )
Noboru said...I don't want to leave the airport until your dad's flight leaves. This surprised me a little bit. He didn't mention it before, but I totally understood why. : ) He was worried about my dad being bumped again, which he wasn't. Anyway so we had an hour to kill at Narita airport. Noboru wanted to head to Uniqlo. He bought himself a pair of house shorts. Gray with an orange and white stripe. Cute ones. We loved this Ohsho tee. : ) But Noboru just needed the shorts. Under 1000 yen.
When we realized that yes, my dad got on the plane. About 5 minutes to departure. We went on the view area..on the deck area.

Noah had a full day. A day at yochien, an hour of swimming and getting to spend time with grandpa. We knew we'd be at a restaurant that evening because with us....being at the airport that long. No worries though. Noboru took us all to Saizeriya after we left the airport. : )
Many Delta planes. Since this is the terminal/area where they are.
Noboru called Branden and Noah over and gave them each 100 yen. Noboru said to me..."you know....when I was growing up, I always wanted to look through those pay binocular type things but my parents never let me. And I never forgot that. So....I don't want to be like that." My heart broke hearing that...though his parents are nice generous people, they were somewhat strict from what I heard from Noboru. I understand, I told him. : ) And so, he unzipped his change area on his wallet and gave both Branden and Noah 100 yen to enjoy the view. : )
And boy did they enjoy it!
Branden saw a few planes take off!
Noah enjoyed himself too.
Delta! : )
Noboru's house shorts in the Unqilo bag. And my eyebrow mascara in the smaller bag. : ) Anyway that was my dad's fast 1 day with us. We went to Saizeriya after leaving the airport, for dinner like I said. And then we drove home. Everyone took showers. A little unwind time and then off to bed. It was a full day but a worth it full day. : )
Noah the newest #9! Congratulations Noah, we are so proud of you! : )

Recent dvd rentals. Plus, Glee, Dexter, Mad Men, The Jersey Shore and America's Next Top Model.

So what's everybody been watching lately? : ) As you know, we rent dvd's from Tsutaya Discas (4 a month) They do offer 8 a month and we tried that first, but 8 was too many for us. 4 is the perfect amount for our family. The last 2 from May, were these 2 choices. Noboru loves Jackass. A show that used to be on MTV. Just a handful of guys who would do pranks and stunts. Many times really wild or gross ones. Johny Knoxville, Bam Margera (so good looking) and the Weeman, Steve-o, etc. Noboru loves Jackass. He also loved Beevis and Butthead too though. ; ) Anyway he wanted to see their newest dvd, so when the boys went to sleep one night, during the last week of May, we watched this. Some funny stuff. We also watched, Kiss and Tell. This was a cute movie. A few laughs from this one.
The first 2 for June so far were...Tron, the boys loved this. And also the Green Hornet. Both Branden and Noah enjoyed both these movies quite a bit. I have yet to pick the 2 remaining movies for June and since June's nearly over, I better pick them today. : )

As for TV things I've been watching.

Mad Men. I knew this show was pretty popular in America. I heard on Anderson Cooper when they were cancelled a few months ago. : ( Anyway...we got the show here in Japan, starting with season 1 of course. And though, we're behind, I really like this show a lot. At first I thought....a show about an advertising agency...sounds so completely *boring* however I was wrong. It's so good. It sucked me right in and I now understand why it was so popular. All the cheating that goes on in that show. Wowsa! @_@ And the clothes and makeup from that era the shows supposed to take place in.... I find are so pretty. And January Jones is stunning, so pretty.

Glee...I am really enjoying Gwyneth Paltrow's appearances on Glee! The girl can sing! She's so talented, she really is...and funny as heck. And love her name on the show too....Holly Holliday. : ) Also the whole Quinn, Rachel, Finn triangle is heating up again. And Sue Sylvester is still just as naughty and bad as ever. That note she wrote for Will...that she was committing "Sue icide" @_@ Or when she pushed that other Glee coach down the stairs or whatever. LOL. She's hilarious. Kurt finally seems happy and the episode when they walked holding hands, I was happy for him.

Dexter meanwhile is heating up. This new season is so *so* great! Love that Julia Stiles is the guest star this season. Love her character Lumen. The story lines for this season are really good. Down right excellent actually.

America's Next Top Model. Just when you think girls can't possibly be any meaner to their fellow girl. This season surprises you. The one where the gal was so mad at her roommates she purposely stayed on the phone and hogged it for hours. Knowing full well that other roommates *needed* to use it to sort out some landlord issues. Did she feel sorry at all? Nope! Or when she rubbed her sweat on someone else. And the poor girl almost vomited and said it smelled like a boiled egg or whatever. Yuck!!!! Yeah gross right? I definitely had an "EEWWW" moment watching that episode. I liked the twins on the show. I'm glad Twiggy became one of the judges she has always seemed so nice. But wonder what happened to Janice Dickenson though too. Ms Jay and Mr. Jay always nice to see. Anyway yeah...ANTM is really good for the season we're getting.

The Jersey Shore..have watched every season. But I'll tell you. I am so unbelievably sick and tired of Sammi and Ronnie fighting. It seems that's all they do. I feel sorry for the rest of the roommates to have to hear that 24/7.... day in and day out. It would have given me a migraine eons ago. Are they together...or are they not? Decide already for crying out loud...and be done with it. PLEASE! These last few episodes..they got into a huge argument...they verbally abused each other again... but what's new there. Then...she flirted up some guys at the bar. He was jealous. He went home and took it out on her property...broke her glasses., her makeup cases..flat irons etc. He broke basically everything belonging to her...threw out her clothes on the upstairs patio and her bed too. I don't know if it's because I'm a mother...and know how expensive glasses are since Branden wears them. But watching Ronnie bust her glasses out of anger, made me incredibly angry. Or knowing how expensive....for example Mac studio fix is for example...and watching him throw and punch her make up kits etc. I just disliked seeing that. It seemed incredibly childish. Childish on both their parts. Gah!!!! Then she left the Jersey Shore house and went home back to her parents. Then he pondered leaving. Then Sammi actually came right back to the house. Anyway...it's like watching a train wreck..it's bad...you know it's bad and maybe you shouldn't watch it..yet you can't take your eyes off it. And I must not...because I tune in every single week. However there are also funny story lines too. Like who clogged their 2 toilets at the house. Or "The situation" always trying to pull a "robbery" meaning steal another guys girl. Love that duck phone they have too btw. And Vinny just always seem so kind and his nice family....well except his creepy uncle. lol.

Gossip Girl...the college years (don't read ahead if you're behind what Japan is showing on satellite). Hillary Duff guest starring as a Dan Humphrey love interest. And the whole Hillary...Dan and Vanessa thing that happened last week... just had me going like this @_@ last week. Serena (Blake Lively) putting off university for the time being. And Blaire having trouble fitting in, at her uni. Though I like that she pulled some strings and got Lady Gaga to come and sing.

Ghost Whisperer is getting really good lately as well.

Branden and Noah have been watching...Good Luck Charlie on the Disney channel. Ben 10 on CN, Wizards of Waverly Place (Disney), the Pink Panther and Tom and Jerry on CN.

Anyway that's about it for now regarding what we've been watching lately. A nice simple country life here in Japan. And at night or whenever when it's time to finally relax and take a load off...to get to relax..I like having a few good shows/programs I like to watch weekly. I'm not anti TV. And I'm not a major couch potato either. : ) I'm more like a....look forward to a few of my favorite programs during the week type gal. I enjoy having a few favorites. : )

PS...also love the cooking shows. The Giada De Laurentiis cooking program (Everyday Italian) happens to be one of my favorites on the Foodies TV channel.

PSS...I'm sure a few of you might have seen on the Yahoo news or elsewhere that Ryan Dunn from Jackass died...like just a few days ago. He was the guy with the beard. We had recently rented the newer dvd, as you know. And he was in it quite a bit of the new movie. So we were shocked and saddened to hear that. Then the whole...Roger Ebert ..what he apparently twittered about regarding that. Caused a huge backlash. Bam Margera was pissed by it. And I gather a whole bunch of people were. So much so... he apologized for the original tweet. Wow! : ( And for the record...I definitely think drinking and driving are wrong obviously (in fact I don't drink at all, and Noboru drinks maybe twice a year tops/at the most) : ( Anyway, hopefully things will simmer and cool down in time regarding that. : (

The yochien fun in the sun, has officially begun!

In the Summer time our yochien really tries to make the most of the Summery months. And let the kids have a lot of fun as well. : ) Last Monday, Noah brought home a note, it said to bring some comfy clothes that they could get a bit dirty in, because they will be playing in the dirt. Filling up water guns and other various water squirting type instruments. Making mud pies and you know enjoying the nice weather, doing regular little kids in the Summer type stuff. So, I went upstairs and packed what was on the list. 1 pair of comfy shorts (orange from Target, lol) And 1 comfy tee (also orange and was on sale at an "end of Summer" type sale at the Gap, was super cheap I recall)...the note also said to pack 1 spare pair of undies in case the water guns etc wet their clothes too much and they need a dry pair. So 1 pair of Buzz Lightyear also went into the bag. The school sent the bag home with every kid and they name labeled them themselves, meaning the school. Packed and done. They should be playing outside like this about 4 times between June and when they break for Summer vacation in mid July. Noah brought this to school last week, as did the rest of the school. Now they're just waiting for the perfect day weather wise to enjoy themselves. : )
Then...last Friday, Noah brought home yet another note. Yep, we get notes almost daily. : ) Not to mention the big huge calender once a month with dates and days off, regular days and half days all marked. : ) Anyway the note from last Friday said...it's splashing in the yochien pool time again. And to make sure to pack....1 swim suit...1 towel...this needs to be put in a plastic vinyl and yes they said vinyl bag. : ) They also said to bring an extra bag for the wet swim suit afterwards (I bought that Cars/Light Mc Queen plastic bag from the Daiso that way he could have a fun plastic bag for his wet clothes : ). Again, they'll have about 4-5 pool days between now and when school lets out/start of Summer break which is in July. So about 2 times a week from now until Summer break begins they will be playing and making mud pies or splish splashing in the pool. It's a very fun time of year for them. : )
Packed up everything the note said to gather and sure enough this Monday morning made sure Noah brought extra bag #2 with him. : ) Extra bag #1 was the play outfit up above. : ) So, now there is a swim bag at the yochien...and the play with the water guns/make mud pies type play clothes.

What else....oh yes. In Noah's school backpack also last Friday, there was a little ziplock type bag with colorful bugs printed on each paper. Aha, this must be for us "games mothers" I thought. After giving the papers a looksee, sure enough we were to cut them at home and send them back to the school on Monday, the same day Noah had to bring his swim wear. So, in a bit of my spare time, I cut....grasshoppers....praying mantis...beetles...dragonflies...and a few other things. : ) Placed the finished bug cutouts back into Noah's backpack until Monday when we could drop the finished ones into the school office.

There are many things happening at the yochien this time of year. Plus with the shaon kai stuff going on for us "last year" mom's. And for the Summer festival as well.

Plus tonight...is a *very* important night for Noah. A rite of passage for the little guy...I'll post more about this later when I get a bit more time. : )

Father's Day 2011

This is what Noboru got this year. All the kids at yochien made their dad's faces. If you recall, Noah also made my face at Mother's Day and was pretty spot on. Noboru ohhhed and ahhed when Noah presented this to him this Father's day. The portrait Noah made. The orange shirt card. And the 2 homemade felt coasters he worked really hard on at the yochien all last week. : ) Noah was so proud to bring these treasures home last Friday (and he kept them in his closet until Sunday. Noboru pronounced these the best things he's ever seen. I did too and so did Branden. : )

So, after the boys went to sleep. Noboru was in the kitchen, I was in there to, just grabbing a drink or something. I saw Noboru looking at his portrait. I said what? He said...nothing. I said what? He said...he made you so cute when he did your portrait. He really captured you. Look at mine. He gave me jet black hair and really really tiny eyes. Awww, I said, well you do have jet black hair. And smiled and didn't say anything more. The next morning, Noboru said..."you know Noah honey... I love my picture but I just got one question for you" what are those black dots on my face around my mouth area. Noah replied very calmly and kindly..."while daddy that's your face hair, you don't shave everyday, so I couldn't leave that out" @_@ Ohhh ohhh, yes I see, Noboru said. I was just quietly stirring my coffee in the kitchen, I wanted to laugh but I just smiled and said nothing. : ) Noboru's stubble captured in time..frozen forever by our lovely 5 year old Noah! : )

Anyway...I just had to capture this moment in time here. So, I had to blog this one. 5-10 years from now, we'll all get a smile from this one! : )

A bit about a table cloth and an unexpected Costco run

Summer is nearly here, or is here. We will start eating about 99% of all our meals in the kitchen now that the season is so nice and the view of the rice fields are so pretty. Also, slightly weird thing to admit, but I love my table cloth, it's basic and simple but I love it, I found it at Macy's while in Guam last year or maybe 2 years ago. The only thing I dislike is our family often gets food smudges on the table cloth. So I find myself washing it almost daily. Spot treating it...and it's just been driving me a bit bonkers lately. I avoided going down the table cloth aisle completely only because, I like what I already have on my own table. So didn't want to replace it at all. Last week, out of frustration, I walked the table cloth aisle and there was the answer for me...so easy...so simple...a plastic clear one, definitely makes sense and why didn't I think of it soonerm oh well. : ) It's a win win, meaning I don't have to switch my table cloth at all either now. Long story short.... it's made eating our nightly dinners so much easier now. Phew. : )
Last week....the day my dad was flying out of Narita and on his way to Denver via Minneapolis MN. Is the day Noboru and I were off visiting some of our friends. We happened to be in the area of the other Costco. You know it wasn't planned. But we just happened to be near there.
1 big pack of tortillas (48 or something inside). Another big box of frozen waffles. And a bag of dinner rolls. It wasn't a whole lot. It was just 3 things...but it was nice to be able to get the things we needed.
We also picked up a whole cheese pizza. Rushed home one day last week. In time to be able to pick up both Branden and Noah. And for dinner that night we had pizza. Noboru ran to the store in the MPV for something while I ran and did the afternoon school pick ups in the red car. But he said should I bring home some soda for tonight's pizza dinner? I said sure.....what kind he said. I said anything is fine.
The four of us all met at home later and....I was thinking he'd bring back 1 bottle maybe 2 at the most. 4 bottles of soda though. Wow. : )


I tell ya, there's always so much going on in our day to day life. May seem small at times. But there's always something. : )

You'll never guess who's here!!!

If you guessed, my dad, you guessed right! ; ) Like I said I was tracking his flight the whole time. Since the whole day before. Everything went fine. However the plane that was supposed to leave to Guam the day before, because of airplane trouble. Didn't fly basically. So all those people were delayed a day. And now you had 2 planes full of people all trying to get on to the flight my dad was to be on. Meaning the people from the day before too. I saw when he arrived online. And I kept seeing a...."waiting for seat' sign. At about 10 minutes before take off, I saw a lot of people being assigned to the flight for today. At that point I knew he would be bumped. He's lucky he was bumped in Narita. Because we live near there. Can easily pick him up. So if he was to be bumped anyplace...this was basically the best place for it to happen... if it should happen. Finally I saw online...they did basically bump him. This was about 5pm-ish last night. Our household knew. We were eating supper. Waiting for that phone call form my dad at Narita airport. I went upstairs and made up the bed and put out a bath towel for him and again waited for that call. Noboru was home. Anyway the phone rang. The boys shouted...grandpa!!! The boys were so happy he was bumped by the way. @_@ Just because they love him so much. He phoned and said....Gina....I said...."dad I know you've been bumped, we will pick you up, what part of the airport are you at?" And wait for 25 minutes and look out for the white MPV. We hung up and hopped in the car and left. We saw about 10 other foreigners all waiting outside... they were also bumped from the same flight. Waiting to ride the hotel shuttle. : ( I ran over to where my dad was, and we leap frogged to where the car was parked while trying to avoid the big buses, taxi cabs etc. He spent a good hour talking to the boys at home, he tickled their feet and talked to Branden about swimming. Then the boys went to sleep. Noboru went to sleep. But my dad and I stayed up to 11pm talking and talking and talking some more. He said....I am so glad I was bumped. I said...you know me too. : ) He's leaving tonight. But it's cool we got a whole night with him and now a whole day today too.
He rode with me and we dropped off Branden first. My dad jumped out of the car and started snapping pictures of Branden. So many of his friends passed by. Branden's at the age where he was embarrassed grandpa was taking a few pics of him. My dad can't help it, he's just so proud. I even had to roll the window down and say...dad, look he's so embarrassed. He said...sorry Branden. Kids are pointing at my dad...say "hello...how are you" Meanwhile Branden is red faced. : ) : ) And next we drove home, he watched me make obento/lunch for Noah. And then he walked Noah all the way to class. Noah's at the age where he's not embarrassed a single bit. And he holds grandpas hand so tightly. : )

Today's plan? My dad and I are going out for lunch for ramen. I want to take him out to lunch at my favorite tantanmen place. He'll be taking Noah to swim school this afternoon. And then this evening after both the boys are home and able to spend some time with him. Then we'll drive him back to the airport.

Bits from the weekend!!!

Saturday after breakfast. Noboru took the boys fishing again. Not very far. Just about a 5 minutes (at the most) drive from our house. There are a lot of canals near the rice fields. And they have a favorite little area that they go to often. Here's Noah Saturday fishing!
Branden also fishing and having fun.
Branden caught about 8 fish. Black bass.
Noah caught 3. He's getting really good. When they came home, they went straight into the shower. And tossed their clothes in the laundry basket (again). I meanwhile did laundry Saturday, did my treadmill and just laid back on the couch, channel surfing. It was a very typical weekend for us, but a very nice one. : )
Also, my doorbell rang Saturday just as I got off the treadmill. It was the mailman. I was stumped. I wasn't expecting anything in the mail. Hmm. And then it hit me. Oh yes....that's right! When I spoke to my mom on the phone last Monday, she did tell me she was sending me a card, so to be on the lookout for it. I thanked the mailman and went inside with my package.
She sent me a very cute card. And I did rub my hand across the card like it said. ; )
My mom sent me $5,000.00 US. Thank you mom, I'm sure you reading this. : ) I'm blessed to have 2 very loving parents the way I do. And for that I feel really lucky. I know I write a lot about my dad. And he's totally the best. But my mom's also really amazing as well. She's a very loving mom and a very equally caring and loving grandma to Branden and Noah. She sends them gifts cards for every holiday, birthday etc. She also gives them tons of love and skypes them as well every single week and they can see each others faces and hear each others voice. And though she's far too private of a person to ever want to appear on my blog (which is totally fine). She's a pretty important part of our lives. Granted she's happily married in California so I don't worry as much about my mom as I always worry about my dad (though yes I still worry). It's just I'm a daddy's girl and always have been. And so...we're super close too. She told me to put a side a few hundred dollars for Noah's birthday and also for Branden's birthday as well. And she'll send something again at Christmas. But for the rest...she said for me to buy myself something really nice. I'm an only child, her only child and also my dad's only child. : ) They know Noboru and I most certainly don't "need" the money. His income in way more then enough (not a brag). But since I'm their only child. It goes to me. Whether I need it or not. : ) Anyway...thank you mom, I love you.

Saturday night we watched another DVD. That movie Disney made....Tron.

Sunday, our new rug from Nissen came for the genkan area. Love it. The rug for the living room also came however we hated it. It was dreadful. So we sent that back. They're picking it back up this evening. We all just hung home and relaxed Sunday. Sunday evening at 5pm Japan time. My phone rang it was my dad. Would you believe he called me every day while in Denver. I find that super cute. I told him...dad you don't "have" to call me every day please don't feel like you have to. Just have fun, is what I kept saying. He said...no I want to update you, plus he felt badly I wasn't there. And so he would regale me everyday with new funny stories about my family. The big dinner at Las Delicious Mexican food restaurant on Friday. How my whole family was there. How big my cousins newest baby had got. I heard it all. The BBQ, they had, his mountain trip. Anyway so he calls me Sunday Japan time around 5pm. And says...I am heading to the airport. He asked how his flight looked. Since he's flying nonrev....a buddy pass. I said looks great, and he left. I checked online in the computer system not available for the public. But for Delta people. I saw when it said "ticket issued"...he was given his ticket at DIA. Huge sigh of relief from me last evening...phew! ; ) And when I woke up this Monday morning...first thing I did before leaving to drop the kids at school and run to the grocery store was check to see if they gave my dad his seat from MN to Narita. Which they did give him, his seat right away. I felt really releived again when I saw that online and then I happily took both the boys to school. I've basically been tracking my dad's flight all day long. : ) The boys both know grandpa is coming back to our side of the world again. And by the looks of it, my dad just landed in Narita. Yay! Though we won't have time to see each other..... he'll go directly to Guam and his next flight is only in 50 short minutes so he has to really quickly move himself from the MN plane/gate to where his next and last flight/gate is. I'm sure he'll be so tired but he'll probably go for a swim at his swimming pool at his condo as soon as he arrives to sort of take the edge of that long flight off. He swims every single day there. : )

And dad, I know you're reading this too. Welcome "home"...I'll be calling you tomorrow as soon as I send both Branden and Noah to school.


What else...my dad said he sent me something from Denver, in the mail. So, I'll be looking for it (I think I already know what it is ; ). And I called my mom today also and we talked for about 30 minutes. We both use skype so it's free. I asked her thoughts on the whole Arnold Schwarzenegger's baby mama Mildred (Patty) Baena...love child. Fiasco. And poor Maria Shriver. My mom says she always thought he had a wandering eye and seemed like a womanizer according to my mom from what she has read throughout the years. : ( Then my mom and I moved onto Congressman/Representative Weiner and how he got himself into a bit of trouble by *ahem* showing his weiner! We had a few laugh out loud moments regarding that one. And then we talked about his poor wife who is fiercely private. Works for Hillary Clinton. Yada Yada. And...some of the photos were taken in the congressional gym as his back drop. We both sort of thought taking the photos at the actual congressional gym went a bit too far. She asked about the boys. Asked what Noah wants for his birthday, told me to buy whatever he wants. @_@ I said okay (they have spoiling them type grandparents.... it can't be helped...believe me, I've tried, lol). And then she told me she got her eyebrow wax today (I got that from her : ) And then she said she's going to Las Vegas for a mini 3 night trip soon and will be back July 1st. And I meanwhile told her, we're leaving Japan, July 3rd for a full week and then told her where we're going. This way...if anything happens we know where to get in contact with each other. Which is a good idea.

Anyway I need to get the buffalo wings out of the oven now and start serving supper. More from me tomorrow, I'm sure. : )

Fajita Friday!

I love Friday's. I seriously...really...love them! Because they mark the start of the weekend for us. This evening as soon as Branden and Noah got off school, I got started in on the fajitas. I thought fajitas would be an excellent way to kick start the weekend off. We love fajitas at our house and try to have them once a month, if we can. : )
I made one big skillet of white meat and onion and bell pepper ones. And another smaller skillet full of thigh meat ones for Noboru (and I made his without onions since he dislikes onions)
Fajitas, rice, chopped up lettuce, shredded colby cheese, guacamole, sour cream and diced tomatoes. All to pile and roll into these tortillas. We all got to enjoy, kickback and start the weekend this way.... this evening. Yummm! Anyway, have a great weekend everyone! ; )

Wednesday's baking with the boys. Plus later that day, 3 little girl visitors.

Wednesday being Chiba Day and with both Branden and Noah not having school that day. I wanted to do some fun things with the boys. That morning after a little sleep in and then some breakfast, we baked some Heath toffee cookies together. Noah's job was getting everything we asked for from the pantry and spice rack. He also got out the measuring cups and spoons. Branden read the recipe and added the ingredients. Branden stirred first and Noah stirred after. I carefully watched. Meanwhile had the big oven preheating. And we baked 3 dozen cookies total.
They came out really well.
I meanwhile had the laundry hanging. The boys got dressed and so did I. We were going to go for a long walk, however 3 girls rang our doorbell before we left the house. Branden's clasmates. They asked if he could play and I could tell by his face and also Noah's face they wanted to. So, I said...you guys should go. : ) And not to worry, I'll still go for my walk...except now I'll do the treadmill at home while you guys play in the backyard. Totally fine. : ) First I had to run and get the now dry clothes that was hanging on the boys playground.
And as you can see. 3 girls from Branden's class. ; ) Saya-chan far right with her pink Crocs, who also swims with Branden and does Kumon with both Branden and Noah. Hinano-chan in the center and Agaeha (sp?) chan on the far left. It's interesting to me to watch 98% of the time Branden plays with his guy classmates. And they play like rough and tumble boys type play. Soccer, they kick those balls so dangerously. They want to jump around the rice field area and search for frogs and other things down there. Or they jump in the trees looking for kabuto mushi, since they are so easy to find around here. But when the girls come over. Branden and Noah play so much more relaxed. The girls swung on the swings. One of the girls even brought her purse! ; ) The one in the middle had 2 piggy tails/pony tails. The one on the far right a nice pink ribbon in her hair. And the one on the left a very cool choppy layered hair do. ; ) I brought out 9 cookies for the girls. And I poked my head out of the big sliding glass doors in the kitchen and asked if they'd like some Natchan or Calpis. They all in unison said...Natchan please (in Japanese of course :). I passedthem each a plastic tumbler from Ikea with ice and they drank the orange juice and munched the cookies. They left our home around 3:30pm. They stayed for quite a few hours. While they were here playing with the boys. I did the treadmill for an hour....then watched TV and enjoyed myself. When they left is when I started in on dinner. Anyway....that's what we did for Chiba day. : )