Yep, everything in the title of this post happened on 1 single day. : ) Happened last Saturday. Let's see, the morning dashi pull started at 10am. But the kids had to be there at 9:45am. 15 minutes earlier, to give the ladies 1 pet bottle of frozen water for each child. It was needed for make shift ice. To keep the ice cream cool. At 9:39am we walked up through the ped walkways and made our way to the meeting spot. Noah peeking through our tennis courts in our housing community. Early that morning.
Branden fanning people down! : )
Noah pulling the dashi. Noboru standing along side.
Branden and Noah. A lovely 9 year old and a 6 year old! : )
The community center for our housing community. You can take hula here. And all sorts of cool stuff here, if you live here. It's a cool place to live. : )
The kids walk all around the right side of park area/tennis court area, then come back and walk the other side. Now they were walking the other side.
And then back and when the kids give back the bells and tenugui/sash around neck type thing ykwim. Is when they get the snack pack and ice cream.
The snacks inside the snack packs.
After the morning dashi pull was over. We all came home. Hung out and relaxed. The festival that evening was to start at 4pm. So, at 2:30pm, we started the bbq grill out in the backyard. And put the marinated meat on the grill. I had chopped and marinated the meat earlier during the day. Then went back to watching the boys play Wii dancing type games during the day time.
Dinner was so good!
All the lettuce is nearly gone in this pic. And Noah was so stuffed and bursting at the seams from dinner he had put his plate in the dishwasher already.
It started at 4pm. But we headed down there around 4:30pm. The boys walking one of the many pedestrian walkways in the community to the park area.
When it's all lit up at night with the walkway lights, it's so pretty. We were all stuffed from dinner and walked up to check out the festival.
A pool with ice was a great way to keep the drinks for sale, cold!
Some kids playing a game.
And another game behind the drink pool.
The 2 girls on the right are Branden's classmates. And the one in the yukata is the girl who wrote Branden that love letter. She doesn't live in our housing community but in a housing community across the way. Anyone can join the night time festival. : )
The cutest yukata contest. Branden won that a few years ago for his jinbei if you recall, lol.
Branden and Noah enjoying some cotton candy.
Noboru was stuffed but the person selling the oden happened to be a member of the "father's club" with Noboru and he told Noboru...you've got to have some, my wife made it. How could he possibly decline an offer like that? : )
Branden eating his peach shave ice/kakigori.
Noah eating his peach shave ice.
And me eating my peach shave ice, with the boys.
A very pale peachy color. This was so good!
We had a seat but then Noboru said...it's hard to see the stage area. I agreed, so we gave up the table we had luckily found. And went and sat down along the curb side where we had a much better view of all the performers.
The boys bought these chips.
Drummers drumming. ; )
The lights started going on, because it started to get dark.
A grandma aged dance group. They were so cute!!! We clapped so loudly for them!!!
Hawaiian type dance performers.
Noah with this light saber. Both the boys bought a few junky type toys from the Summer festival. Same as every year. : ) But all the kids buy them and so..it just part of the Summer festival fun, I guess. : )
A comedy act. They weren't very funny. In fact we heard a couple behind where we were sitting say in Japanese..They're not funny at all. @_@ I was quietly thinking the same thing. But I still clapped anyway. They tried their best. : )
2 sisters who wanted to give it their best shot, they were not on the list of performers, but they were warmly welcomed. They danced to a song. They did a pretty good job.
And these dancers came all the way from a high school in one of the bigger cities. They're in a dance group, and omg! They were amazing! My favorite performers of the night. They did about 8 different songs but they were so good, I wished they would have danced even more. I hope they come back next year.
So many people just watching those high school girls dance! They really were that good!
They had the first year high school students dance group and the upper classmen/older grades dance group. These were the first year girls. So good!
After the high school girls finished. Another dance group came out, a traditional Japanese dance group. They were so good and very high energy. I liked them.
At the end of the traditional Japanese dance performers, they asked the kids to join, and so Noah and Branden got up and danced along with them. As seen in this pic. A bit blurry sorry, : ) but they were all dancing. : )
And then...the thing everyone was waiting for. The raffle. Who would win the many prizes this year? The main prize was a flat screen TV.
A 32 inch TV. We didn't really need it. The TV we have in our living room is a 42 inch. But we could have stuck it in a bedroom, I gather. You'll never guess who won this...a boy a bit older then Branden was the one who was the one with the winning ticket. : ) Not sure if it actually belonged to his parents or if he won it himself. : ) Either way. We all clapped. And every house in our housing community got a free raffle ticket. Plus whoever wanted to buy a raffle ticket could buy one for a 100 yen. So the boy could have actually won it himself, who knows. : )
Yep, Branden won something. : ) See him holding it here?
And our family won this..they called out our home address and last name. And Noboru ran up in front of everyone and won this box of drink. The people on the right of us...said...wow that family won 2 prizes. : ) Don't ask me, how or why...just lucky I guess. My friend Rumi-san won a 5kg of rice. And our other friends won a floor type oscillating fan. We were all happy and cheering for everyone.
So after the festival was pretty much over after the school aged boy won the grand finale raffle prize/the TV. We headed home. We had bought these during the week, a simple pack of sparklers for the boys and they had been really wanting to do these. We told them in the day, we'd do them that night. So they were looking forward to this.
Hi Noah! : )
And 2 boys now enjoying their sparklers. : )
It was a fun filled day for the boys and for us too. After we cleaned up and made sure all the used sparklers were indeed soaking in a bucket of water. We cleaned up and went inside. The boys and Noboru showered. I checked my emails. Then when they came downstairs, I jumped in the shower.... took a good shower. ...and into my night tee, I went. : ) The boys crashed right after their shower, they were so sleepy. : ) Noboru and I watched TV for a bit before heading to bed.
The 2 prizes won this year by our family.
What's inside? I'll show ya. It's not really that great...so don't be disappointed. ; )
Pasta plates and mug cups.
Not too bad, and Branden was just thrilled he won. : ) Anyway that's what our family did last Saturday. : )
So after the festival was pretty much over after the school aged boy won the grand finale raffle prize/the TV. We headed home. We had bought these during the week, a simple pack of sparklers for the boys and they had been really wanting to do these. We told them in the day, we'd do them that night. So they were looking forward to this.
Hi Noah! : )
And 2 boys now enjoying their sparklers. : )
Grandpa and Noah.
We also stopped at the 2 Cost u less stores. And then took the stuff back to my dad's condo and into the fridge and freezer they went. And then we went for an early dinner. The sun was still up but it set while we were inside though.
Baked potato soup...and fresh baked bread with garlic butter.
My meal...original baby back ribs, baked potato with cheese and baked beans.
Noah had the chicken. And Branden had the original baby back kids meal. Think he'll have to start eating the regular sized meal soon.
Noboru had the extra spicy baby back ribs and my dad had the original baby back. We honestly had a blast there at the restaurant. When we asked the kids...what was your favorite part of the whole trip, they both agreed it was Tony Roma's hands down. I had to agree. We talked, chatted, joked with ourselves and also with the wait staff. We laughed...talked some more. Got refilled drinks a few more times. ....and finally left. We had a great time there! We went home....watched TV and hit the hay.
The next morning...we all got dressed and went to Wendy's for some breakfast. I had this. The applewood bacon is so good and crisp.
Branden and Noah eating and drinking their chocolate milks.
We hung around and then it started to rain quite heavily. By now it was about noon, so we went to Pizza Hut and had a large pepperoni and mushroom pan pizza and drink bar. My dad's shirt has a few drops of rain on it in this pic..actually all of us were a little wet from running from the SUV to the restaurant.
After lunch, we went back to my dad's and grabbed our suitcases and left. It was a very nice, albeit very short trip. It was still raining even when we got to the airport.
Arriving at Narita airport and waiting for the "car sitter" shuttle to pick us up. They picked us up...they drove us to their place and our minivan was waiting.
We didn't bring back a whole lot. We went for the celing fans plain and simple and anything else was just a bonus but...it wasn't really a shopping trip. Just a ceiling fan run. And a nice 24 hours with my dad. : )
Noboru brought back 2 slip and slides. They were $5 each and he said...that's about 300 yen each.
Ceiling fans.
They are now all hanging. 1 in each of the boys rooms. And 2 in the living room. And yep, you can see the one in the dining area we brought back from Guam when the house was first built. They circulate the coolness in the Summer and circulate the heat in the winter, they are so awesome. Especially since ours are reversible...not all ceiling fans move both ways. Some have blades that move only 1 way. Ours go both ways, which is what we wanted totally.
Noah has a full body booster seat in the MPV. And our smaller booster we had and used for my little red car which was left in the rental car in Hawaii. @_@ Yep...nobodies perfect. With all the luggage and with getting ourselves into the shuttle that day we forgot it. No worries, since then we've been moving the full body booster from car to car whatever car Noah is riding in. It has been quite the hassle but we do it because of the safety issue. When we were in Guam we said...let's just make life back to easier and get another seat. We had always had 2 seats for Noah. And we needed to have 2 again. Because playing musical booster seats meaning moving back and forth to the MPV to my car. Was just getting too much. So, we got this..it was his weight requirement. And it was a nice one, thick and comfortable and a great price.
My dad got these for the boys. The boys have been having a blast with the dancing games. And so they picked the Michael Jackson one. This is so much fun. The Super Smash Bros. game they love so much too. And the other one is used and we don't mind used in the least...it's a Ben 10 game on the Wii. Branden LOVES that game.
Chocolate treats for family movie night. And the tic tacs are for me.
Tabloids.
Chili beans, raviolis, baked beans for bbq, and pasta sauce.
The teriyaki with a pinch of pineapple are for the teriyaki grilled chicken sandwiches we'll be grilling on the bbq this summer. More bbq sauce for the ribs we'll be eating this month. And the ranch for dipping buffalo wings in and generic Irish creamer for coffee and sliced pickles..this was the only brand I could find in a plastic container.
The stuffing, I'm keeping for Fall. Mac and cheese and beans if I want to make tostadas or something this Fall. Yes, I am starting to think about Fall foods. I know I'm a bit too early.
Again thinking of when the Fall comes... we got 4 more cake mixes, not counting the 1 cake mix we got in Hawaii. For the Fall baking season. Chocolate frosting. And Mrs. Butterworth's.
Popcorn for family movie night. Can be found in Costco in Japan, but since we were here...we got it. Crackers and cheese for the boys. Chips for the boys (these chips were for a snack for the way back to Japan but they got so many snacks in the plane these went uneaten, go figure)
Again thinking about Fall, and rice krispie treats. But, I bought the generic marshmallows and generic krispies. Again don't mind generic in the least..and if I can get twice the amount and for half cheaper, more power to me. : )
Suave ocean body wash and St Ives green tea body wash, q-tips, liked the box these were in. And misc, girly things.
Big bottle of shampoo..a Suave knock off..of the Matrix I think. Suave conditoner Shea buter. And 2 bottles of body lotion.
Olay shea butter and St Ives coconut milk and orchid. That coconut milk and orchid one smells amazing. Like a real true coconut, and a nice light coconut at that, because of the added orchid. I am pretty picky about the coconuts some can smell fake and too heavy. This one is great. A very light one.
Deodroant and cinamon toothpaste again.
Mac studio fix and concelaer in NC15.
Noboru got this water timer from Home Depot, this is now his 3rd timer. He has 1 for the plants on the porch, and 2 for the backyard.
Cheese. In a way I wished I lived closer to Costco here in Japan. But in a way I'm so glad I live where I live in the nice peaceful country side. And heck...however we can get cheese, it all works.
Stuffed shells. Wrapped in towels, they were still frozen when we got back to Japan. The main thing is...we enjoyed our time with my dad. And we brought back the ceiling fans, not a whole lot of food but that's okay. : ) And we'll be going back to Guam pretty soon. And we'll be staying 3 nights, 4 days at my dad's. Not planning to do any shopping. Just planning to eat good food. Swim, watch Branden and Noah play on the beach with all of us, and head to the Pacific Island Club (PIC) pools for one of the days we are there. They have tons of cool pools and you can go there and swim for the day if you want, even if you aren't a guest of the hotel. We'll be paying the day rate for just the pool usage. And we'd also like to go to some movies. Anyway...that's what we did last Saturday and last Sunday. : )
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