Fun in the Japanese countryside

With the weather getting warmer. The boys have been looking forward to all the upcoming zarigani/crawfish catching, fishing, frog catching and beetle collecting just to name a few. This for me is one reason I love living here in the Japanese countryside. Every late Spring and whole of Summer, the kids of the inaka (countryside) start hanging outside.  You can hear games of korioni being played outside. Soccer balls being kicked and goals being made. : ) And all the "make believe" games these kids come up with also. "zombie games" lots of the boys in our neighborhood have nerf guns and 2 are usually the zombies and moan and make zombie noises while the foam bullets fly through the air and then they pick them up and they pick new zombies. @_@ It's good country fun. And I like that for the most part the majority of their Summer is spent outdoors in the fresh air and green tanbo/rice fields. I often see kids not only mine with bug boxes and really long nets walking through the tanbo behind my house and that is again something I look forward to every year. I went to the daiso and bought Branden and Noah 3 nets total. 2 are fishing/zarigari nets, nets to be used in the water. And the other is not really great for being in the water (though I guess you could if you wanted to) and more for insect collection. 300 yen for a whole Summer of fun. A pretty good deal in my mind. : ) And I don't mind replacing either if they get damaged or whatnot.

Two weekends ago. This last weekend my dad was here. : ) But the weekend before that, on that Saturday, Branden's best friend Yuki came over. He doesn't live in our housing community which is fine, just giving you a visual, either his mom or grandpa drops him off coming here and we'll drop him off after they play. ; ) So, Saturday morning, our family was having breakfast, our weekend big breakfast we look forward to all week. We had omelets, potatoes, bacon and toast. I knew Yuki would be coming that day. Which is why I made sure the house was ready the day before. It was 8:57am when he called. Bless his heart he could barely wait until 9am to call. Which is totally fine. He asked, is it too early to come? I can come now he assured us! : ) Branden looks at me like...can he, can he? I said absolutely.... now is fine. Quickly cleaned up the breakfast dishes by putting them into the dish washer. Wiped the kitchen table down. had the kids go upstairs quickly brush their teeth put their clothes on. They were still lingering in jammies. @_@ And I also slapped on a pair of jean capris, black top, put foundation on but that's it and put my hair into a pony tail since I was doing laundry outside that day. His mom dropped him off with his big green net and bug box.... a brief wave. And then the kids came in. They each had a drink in our kitchen (I have the ikea cups different color plastic ones)....let the 3 of them take their pick and left their 3 cups on the green counter all day long so whenever someone was thristy they knew where to find it..... went to the bathroom and left for about 2 hours (until the lunch bell rang). I could hear them 80% of the time, from the tanbo since it's literally behind our home and backyard and our area is superly quiet and also I could see them once in a while if they were going up and down closer to our house, which they did a lot. Yuki brought his bug box also and had his daily catch in his. This is what Branden caught up above.

Noah meanwhile didn't collect zarigani that day like Yuki and Branden did, though he was with them the entire day. He decided to collect frogs instead. I did however feel this was a bit too high a water level and had it halved after I took this pic. They were allowed to spend the night on the porch  and the next day the boys had to release them back in the fields where they caught them. Yuki-kun was going to go home for lunch and then come back afterwards. Which is normal if you live close. However since he lives sort of far (passed the elementary school) I suggested he have lunch here with us. So he did, he called his mom to ask if it was okay and she said yes. : )  After lunch more boys came by. And then Branden, Noah and Yuki went off playing with Keita and the Jinbei boy back into the rice fields they went. Anyway Saturday was a great day for the boys. They got plenty of exercise running all along the rice fields. : )

The day after, Sunday from two weeks ago. Noboru had bought Noah a fishing pole. He has bought Branden 2 so far through the years and Branden loves fishing with his dad.  He hopes Noah will enjoy fishing like he and Branden do.....so he bought Noah this yellow fishing pole.

Sunday morning. They were ready to leave to enjoy their guys fishing day.  That special dad and son bonding time.  And me, I was happy to see them have fun together and I knew how busy my weekend before this was with all the "clean ups" in the school and community" I was happy to have a "nothing to do" Sunday, I really liked my day of rest. : ) I did prep for dinner and did do laundry. But I mostly just enjoyed TV.

Noah caught many. And he had a blast with his dad and brother.

Branden caught a black bass.  Anyway, Summery country fun is in full swing here in our neck of the woods.  And you know fwiw, the boys have a Wii, however they aren't allowed to play it on weekdays though. yes, mean mommy. : ) Only on the weekends. And they have a DS lite and Branden and Noah also each have a Nintendo 3ds. And they can play those even on weekdays if homework is done beforehand of course also no ds after 7:30pm (I just don't want them to be addicted which they are far from it, but yeah...I do keep the playing in check). Sorry again mean mommy. : ) Anyway the only reason I bring this up is.... I notice with my own kids, they'll play their video games in the colder months, like Winter when they really can't go outside. Type of thing. But, I notice the DS and Wii often get ignored in the Summer time. I guess they just prefer to be outside doing country boy things like fishing or crawfish catching. I'm not really sure, but yeah I notice electronic games don't get much use in our household in the Summer time. Which is fine either way, as I always say each family's different we all have our own way of running things. : ) But yeah they tend to prefer to be out in the fields with long nets with their friends. : )  Of course they could always call their friends up for a dance battle or a few rounds of bowling on their Wii and that happened three times last Summer, so that's fine for a weekend, but mostly they are out and about in the inaka and I think that's good for boys. I really do....anyway that's a bit of what Branden and Noah have been up to.

Coming to Japan tomorrow and a few other bits for good measure

Tomorrow my dad is coming to Japan for a visit. Branden and Noah are over the moon happy! Lots of getting ready for me today. I’ll be running the vacuum upstairs and downstairs as soon as I post this. Both toilets already swooshed. Getting the room ready. And a quick run to the grocery store to get a few items later this afternoon.

A typhoon is also approaching? @_@ Figures. ; ) Please just pass us...or fizzle out and lose some steam. The boys went to school in raincoats just in case, also both carrying umbrellas also. Noboru is off work today, so he’ll be here to help me for whatever, if I need it.

The movie yesterday? Fantastic. You remember how I said, I liked the first MIB. I mean I didn’t run out and buy the dvd but it was nice..... The 2nd MIB was one I wasn’t all too crazy about. But this one...MIB 3, was GOOD! Best MIB of the 3, Noboru thought so too. The story was great.

Branden and his class are baking cake at school today. So he’s looking forward to baking and eating cake with his classmates. They did a lot of sewing yesterday. Meanwhile last week, they went collecting fish from the fields. They have very tiny fish, all the kids in make shift tanks. All the kids were given notes to bring a square 2L bottle to class, and they cut them sideways and so his class is now watching and studying the life cycle of their super tiny fish. Some fish are laying eggs. Some of his classmates fish are not. By the sounds of it, Branden is having a blast at school.

Noah is too. His friends came over yesterday. They come over to play every few days, they also ride their bikes in the neighborhood. He has homework and he loves it. He had a test last week and got 100%. So things are going well both both of the boys.

Observation day. And mock disaster day/disaster prep day is this coming Friday. You can watch any class throughout the day. So my dad and I will be watching Noah’s 1st class, then going upstairs and watching Branden’s 2nd class. And then we might leave or we might go back and forth all day long who knows. : ) I know my dad finds their school interesting. So we might just make a whole day of it. Then at 2:40pm-ish all the kids will gather in the school field. Every child must have 1 parent show up for them and then you are supposed to walk all the way home. With your child. If you recall last year, or was it the year before? Anyway, like (and I am not exaggerating) 98% of all the parents had parked along the way (many flat out right at the plaza) and did not walk home like the school suggested. By the time the kids passed the first rice field, there was only about 2 parents and kids walking. The rest all drove home. Boy Next Door’s mom drove passed and everyone else too. So, this year....I really might just have a “when in Rome” type thinking this year. And if the majority of the school is going to do that...then, so am I. I know...I know I shouldn’t break the rules. But I’m human and yeah you feel like a dork walking all the way home when everyone else is just passing you in their cars like......sucker! Unless, my dad just wants to walk, then in that case, I’d be wiling to give it a go yet again (Noboru walked last year, I had a PTA thing last year at the yochien is why and I walked the years before and yes we both were shocked each year how nobody really actually walked home). @_@  Anyway, we will see, how we get home this coming Friday from disaster prep day (something I am really debating about in my head this week/internal conflict thing happening here). Anyway so that will be this Friday.

Movie date today (Men in Black 3)

Heading to the movies this morning. Noboru and I are going on a date today. ; ) He bought the tickets online yesterday while I was making dinner last night (yakisoba) we were originally going to go last Tuesday, but that’s when I went to the salon for my summer hair trim and straightening (it just worked better for our schedule to delay the movie a week and have me head to the salon last week, since I can't wash my hair for 1-2 days after getting my hair done and knowing we have Branden and Noah's observation day this week plus a house guest coming to our house this week (yay), it just made more sense to get the hair thing done and outta the way last week). So a week delayed, but better late then never as they say and..... it’s something we’re really looking forward to today. So, we will see MIB 3, this morning. Can’t wait. Have a good day everyone. : )

Congrats on passing your swimming test...a new swim level for Noah

As most of you know, Noah followed in his big brothers footsteps regarding swimming. I guess it was Noah being at swim school every week with me while taking Branden and Noah growing up basically watching his brother swim each and every week with his friends through the glass window upstairs that had such a positive affect on Noah, made him want to swim too. That he used to watch through the window upstairs and wish to be downstairs and also swim.  So as soon as Noah hit age 3, we signed him up. Actually we went and signed him up July 1st and waited until July 7th and I think he swam the very next day first time as a lesson, though he swam tons before while on vacation but that was just splashing fun. Boy oh boy did Noah love it! And has loved every minute of it ever since! He has passed every level in flowers and has now passed the hardest parts of swimming. To pass level 7, you must show that you not only know the butterfly you must swim back and forth, and the butterfly must be precise and flawless. As you can see from his award, May 23rd was test day. All my yochien mama friends were at the school that day also. Many of Noah's classmates down in the pool that day too. Noah tested and he passed! We were so proud. Noah was so proud. All his classmates ran and told their mom...Noah-chan passed his test. Ohhhh the mothers said, congratulations they told him and me. They were so excited for Noah. Thank you, I said. : )  I blushed, I can't help it, it just happens.... but yeah it is nice to feel supported by your friends and we do the same.

Now there is nothing more to learn at our swim school, now it's all going to depend on speed. Can you make it under the specific time. Since Noah passed all the levels for showing and proving he in fact had the skills and techniques down already. Also, Noah is very young for his skill and level. So he is in the 6 years and under category and they gave us this paper and this will show how fast you need to make the lap back and forth depending on how old you are.

He's been using this swim cap forever, so it was time to get a swim cap. So, a new swim cap and a new swim number to sew on. Which I did.

Look how tiny Noah is. These were taken last week, Noah's first time to swim in the level 6 lane. There are only 2 ichinensei in that swim level. Noah and Sakura-chan. Everyone else is a 2nd-6th grader. Many of them 5th and 6th graders. So yeah they look super tiny compared to most of them. : )

Go Noah go!

Hi, my wonderful boy!

Then it ends about 5 minutes early and the kids can just play.  Of course the 2 littles and former good pals from yochien gravitated to one another right away. So Noah and Sakura-chan hopped on and had a blast together.

Look at her smiling so much at Noah! She really really likes him, they've been very good friends since age 3! Thanks to yochien. And Noah thinks she's just the bees knees! : )  They were 2 little lambs together when they were pink badges for the Christmas play years ago if you recall. Back in the day and I have a cute pic of Noah, H and S all together on the monkey bars at yochien. So yeah....they are very good friends. And nice they can still meet up weekly thanks to swim school.

And see the boy sitting on the side? That's their very good friend Ryo-kun. Remember I said, he would be going to an elementary school all by himself, meaning no one from yochien lives near him, he lives super far near Cainz. But yeah he can still meet up weekly and always have a good catch up, with S, H and Noah, etc. He was not playing because he is in a different swim level, also Hikaru was also there and a few other kiddos but they are all in different swim lanes, except for Noah and S. : ) But they do get to play before swim class and after all the kids from our former yochien. And us mom's get a good hour and a half catch up. So we all stay in the know with everyone. So that's good. Anyway, congratulations Noah! Well done kiddo! You earned it, you worked really really hard for this pass! : )

Stuff I've been watching on TV lately

I haven't written about what I've been watching for a few weeks, so here's what I've been watching in the evenings when it's time for me to rest, sit down and relax after an often busy day. : )  This is one of my favorite American TV shows. "The Biggest Loser", this particular episode was on at the start of April of mid April, I forget when. They went to the White House. This is Kim Nielsen hugging one of the trainers.

Kim at the beginning.

You know, I really love shows like this. Very honest, real. You see them at the start of their journey type show. You watch as they struggle. Their ups, theirs downs. They draw you in. You feel something for them. You root them on! Every week, I watched this show. I had favorites on the show like most people. But, in the end I was proud of them all.

The contestants exercised with the first lady, Michelle Obama. She did squats, One legged push ups, she was amazing. : )

The night of the finale back in May. They all looked so good. I made sure I had all my stuff done beforehand, we had dinner and I washed up the kitchen, threw the dishes in the dishwasher. The boys took showers. I was ready to enjoy the finale the night this aired.

I won't say who won, but I was happy.

There are so many interesting reality shows on right now. "My Crazy Obsession" and also "My Strange Addiction" so many types of shows like these. Just when you think to yourself, you know I've seen it all. You watch an episode and realize....you haven't! : )  The first show I caught like this, was a man, who was in love with his car. And I do mean literally. He kisses the car and he even has sexual relations with his car. @_@ Yeah that was a head scratcher right there. He confessed this to his dad. And his dad looks at him in complete @_@.  See this picture up above? The lady in plaid is confessing to her best friend, "I am eating my husbands ashes" See, her husband had an untimely death, died very unexpectedly. And she's obviously grieving. They were newlyweds-ish. Anyway, he was cremated. And to comfort herself, she has been dunking her finger in the urn and licking it off. She's eaten, (I forgot already sorry) a 1/4 or 1/2 of him already. Yes, a doctor did speak with her and told her about how poisonous the embalming fluids she was ingesting were etc.

She also takes him with her everyone. For comfort. Here she is sitting on a park bench with her husband.

Here she is on a different day, different shirt and again going for a stroll with her husband.  What do I think. Well on one hand you think, they're hurting, they're in pain. Then on another note, you think, how crazy this is. But yeah., it's just an interesting show.

See here how they say dryer sheets contain chemicals that can cause cancer (if ingested), anyway this one woman is in love with eating dryer sheets. She tears them in pieces and hides the pieces in her bra and that way she can chew on bits of them no matter where she goes throughout the day. I also saw another show where a woman is addicted to eating soil. She eats dirt on her street, she also is fond of potting soil. I also caught an episode where a woman eats terracotta potting planters. She cracks them with a hammer and keeps the pieces in a plastic baggie and eats them throughout the day. Like I said...just when you think...I've seen it all. You realize, yeah not even close! : ) On the bright side nothings shocks or surprises me anymore. ; )

You know, I've heard of these adult babies before. But this was my first time seeing one up close, well on TV but ykwim.

Custom made, adult sized crib!

With pacifier in mouth.

Her diapers.And she doesn't like pull ups she prefers the ones with the taped sides. She also believes diapers should be used. So yes, pee and poo going on in there. She said the feeling is fantastic.

Watching TV in footy pj's and bottle. Her friend drinking from a glass, they watch TV together.

I also enjoy watching "America's Got Talent" Sharon Osbourne is one of the judges. My dad also watches this show.

Lady Gaga was on the Simpson's the other week. She was fantastic!

Lisa won an award for least popular student at the school. Which is why she has that expression on her face. : ( Poor Lisa.

Gaga could feel somebody in Springfield needed her (Lisa) so she was on her way!

She had one of the coolest trains.

I've also been watching, "Keeping up with the Kardashian's" the new season. Also the new season of Monster In Law has started. And it's as good as always. Sister Wives has also started and it's an interesting show.

I'm also into the show The Client List with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I spoke about this show once before but it pulls you in this show. It's hard not to feel something for her character. I'll just give you a brief idea of what the shows about. She's happily married, she has 2 kids. And first episode the husband just leaves. No explanation, nothing. She's meanwhile left picking up the pieces. She starts off lying to friends when they ask where her husband is. "Oh ummm he's away on business." He's busy on a work project in a different state right now for the next few months. Lies to the kids. Nobody knows except for her best friend and her mom and bil. Problem is, how will she be able to pay the mortgage? How will she keep restocking that fridge and pantry with food? Pay for new shoes for the kids. The air conditioner broke on one episode. that type of stuff. So, she gets a job and a masseuse. And it turns out to be...well. how do you put it. She offers more services then planned. And no she didn't want to at first. But then after all the bills, she did. You can see her inner struggles on this show. And that's what makes it so hard for you not to feel something for her at least. Her BIL, is also living in town and he visits often. Helps with the DIY stuff. Because he does know his brother took off and left. I also can feel he's sorta liking the Jenifer Love Hewitt / the SIL character. But I'm not sure if it will play out that way or not. Through this all she has kept her ring on. And finally a few weeks ago, she took her wedding ring off. And at some town dinner, she finally just told everyone..."he left me!" "Say want you want....think what you want." Nobody knows her main secret though. She dreamt of her husband the first month or so and it showed her pain. He was her heart, high school sweetheart, first experience for everything, he was it for her. She dreamt he returned back to her and all was fine. She also had nightmares he came back and knew her secret and called her every name in the book. She's been through so much. She's trying so hard. Trying to just keep her head above water and stay afloat. Anyway, I know this show might not be for everyone, but again I like shows with characters I can feel something for. Characters who show a human side and who are not perfect and who have flaws (like all of us do). Characters trying to rise to the challange whatever the challenge may be. Whether it's trying to lose weight like on "The Biggest Loser" or a show like, "The Client List", where she's just trying to make sense out of her husband leaving just out of the clear blue like that....

Other then that still watching Welcome to Sweetie Pies. And House Hunters and House Hunters International.  Cold Case reruns.  And the Investigation Discovery channel always has something good on. And last but not least, Teen Mom is going to have it's last season on MTV. It looks like it's going to be a good final season. Anyway that's some of the stuff, I've been watching lately. : )

Last Sunday's happenings in our neck of the woods

Let's see so, where did I leave off. Oh yes last Saturday, we spent the whole day basically doing things for the local elementary school. Which was nice, to lend a hand and to do our part and get it out of the way. Anyway, so Sunday was also a community clean up, but this time it was for our housing community. Basically clean up your street. We do regular maintenance on our yard so we had nothing to do where our yard is concerned but we did pitch in and help anyway, we did the edging for the vacant lot next door. Here are Branden and Noah jumping in and lending a hand last Sunday. It was a great way to chit chat with the neighbors. Boy Next Door's mom. The grandma next door is now the leader of the street this year. And we are thinking it will fall to us next year or the "boy next door's house."  The grandma next door passed out drinks to us all afterwards for a job well done. And then we went inside.

We woke up around 7am-ish Sunday morning. I made breakfast, bacon, eggs toast. Noboru and I had coffee and the boys had milk. So we ate before we went outside to the the community clean up. After the clean up was done, that was from 9-10am btw. I said, to the boys let's rest for 1 full hour. So we did. Then at 11am, we 3 jumped in, on the kitchen clean up, I just wanted to get a jump start on the weekly cleaning and I was glad I did. Noah did all the corners and helped with the baseboards with Branden.

I also soaked the 3 trashcans with hot sudsy soapy water.

Branden doing the baseboards. We also listened to music and sang.,while working. We also set the timer on the stove for 1 hour.

Branden antibacterial wiping the trashcan lids etc. American standard dishwasher and American free standing full size stove/oven in the background.

I meanwhile got on with the mopping after sweeping the kitchen floors first. At noon we were done and the kitchen was pretty much spic and span. I had very little kitchen clean up to do Monday. Very little. I made Branden and Noah lunch. I meanwhile had a salad. And besides bringing the laundry in, I was done after 12:30pm.

5 pillow cases dried since the early morning, even before I went and did the street clean up. Also washed up a jinbei and a few misc. shirts of Branden's and Noah's.

Branden's sheets were washed the day before. Sunday's was time for Noah's. After the first load of pillow cases and stuff dried first of course. Noah's sheets dried quickly and I then put his fresh bedding back onto his bed.

I had dinner in the crock pot. Like I have been mentioning on here for years, I often do the early prep before dinner. That always saves me. : ) I sat on the couch and enjoyed TV for the afternoon, which also recharged my batteries too. Branden meanwhile asked if he could make brownies. I said sure.

Like I said years ago, he is the writer of my shopping lists.... well now Noah writes them for me also. : ) Also, them reading the instructions on brownie boxes and the likes is so important. It's a good thing, I feel and something I've talked about on here a bit through the years. So it was nice for me to go lay down after snapping a pic or two of course. And just know and have the confidence that yes...he could bake these all by himself. And you know what....he did! Noah did come in and help too though.

Branden and Noah, you both did a great job with these brownies, they were delicious! Thank you. What a great Sunday we had, last week! : )

My plans this weekend?  Thankfully, no community or school clean up for me this weekend. : )  Besides, a load or two of laundry each day and cooking. I basically am not going to do too much. Enjoy watching the boys having country fun, I think they're going to go looking for zarigani tomorrow,  I'll sit outside on the back patio and watch them play in the tanbo/rice fields from up here. I'll also rest and also enjoy our American cable TV.  Weekend thank goodness you are here. : )