Happy 7th Birthday Noah

Last Saturday, July 7th, Noah turned 7! It was a quiet birthday spent just with family, but it was really special.

A birthday card with birthday money inside given from grandpa.

Noah's cake! It was a delicious devil's food (rich chocolate cake) and a whipped cream type of frosting so not too overly sweet! It had rainbow sprinkles but we had requested extra orange sprinkles and the writing be done in orange especially for Noah!

Family photo group shot. My dad also took some of me and the family and Noboru also took 2 of the kids and me and my dad. So we all got good group pics. : ) We all sang happy birthday for the birthday boy. I am definitely out of tune and not going to be auditioning for American Idol anytime soon, I can admit that. Ha ha ha. : ) But, heck, we were happy and I just sang anyway.

A wonderful view for Noah to enjoy his birthday cake.

This was my slice of cake. This was so good. The sprinkles were so colorful, perfect colors for Noah!

It was a pinch less then half gone. But after we finished swimming, we came back to the room and pulled it out of the hotel fridge and had a few more slices so it was even less cake then this after we swam. Yep, the cake was enjoyed during our trip. : )  After we had the first slices of cake, we all headed downstairs to swim. If you notice in the pics above, Noah and Branden were already in their swim stuff and sunscreen on and everything. I had mine on as well. After the cake we went down the elevator to the pools, we spent the entire day there. The video below is of Noah's birthday swim. Just relaxing and hanging out at the Hilton pools and slide. And we also played in the ocean and along the shore. No stress, we could just focus on family and on the birthday boy. When we were done, we went and got dressed and showered, went to the movies and then to dinner afterwards. A nice way to spend turning 7, I think. : )

My dad was so excited about this card, he told me, It talks about bike riding which Noah does, catching fireflies which reminded him of Noah. Since he does catch fish, and frogs type of stuff and it had a pic of someone sliding down a slide and it said something about watching DVDs (and we do a lot of family movie nights). So my dad felt he found the perfect card so he was so happy. That made me happy, he was so happy with the card. And Noah loved it.

Happy Birthday Noah, Love Grandpa. : ) We save all of these for both of the boys. : )

Noah didn't receive 500 trillion presents. And that's okay he's just not really that kind of kid anyway. We bought Noah these, he picked them himself at Gamestop. 2 DS cards 1 Wii card and 1 nunchuk.

Noah wanted a mini Nerf type gun, but felt better if he could get one for his brother also. @_@ Yes that's so typically Noah. God bless him. : )

And though grandpa gave Noah $100 US. He spent only $29 of it. And he'll probably keep the rest of the money for years and years and then forget he has it. : ) I'll keep it away in his closet up high for safe keeping though. : ) He REALLY badly wanted this Spiderman talking mask. You know between you and me, why anyone would want a talking Spiderman mask, you sure got me. @_@ I even asked him to sleep on it. To ensure it wasn't an impulse buy. It turns out it was not, the next day he wanted it even more so. He badly wanted this and has worn it daily ever since. @_@ he definitely beats to his own drum. Ha ha ha. So Spiderman mask it is. : )

Good of grandma Mitsuko to call 2 weeks before to say, Noah, I will call you in 5 days to tell me what you want. Please tell me then. Noah recalled seeing this while we were at Toys r us awhile back when we were looking for bikes for Branden. However we did take Noah to the toy store to take a look for ideas...anything else you'd like? Nope just the transforming police car. So when grandma called back..."hello Noah, did you make up your mind what you'd like?" "Yes grandma I'd like a morphing police car and it's 5000 yen, is that okay?" We all turn our heads, you can hear grandma on speaker phone.....laughing and say, the price doesn't matter just as long as you get what you want. Yes Noah worries about wanting something too expensive always. Poor kid, not sure where he gets that from but it's cute he has that. So being a computer savvy grandma she ordered it online and had it sent here directly from Toys r us for Noah directly.

The present he received from grandma Mitsuko this year.

It transforms from car to robot. And it fires, it's actually pretty cool.

Noah, here are some things about you sweetie pie that I want you to remember, I'll jot them down off the top of my head now.

Noah, your brother, when he was a baby he never ever ever slept. I swear I was sleep deprived for months on end with your brother and even today he's a night owl I notice. You on the other hand Noah, you never kept me awake, I never had a sleepless night because of you. I don't know how that happened. But it truly honestly did. You slept soundly and would sleep through the night, you might wake for a night feed but you slept right next to me, so you were amazing. I never lacked loss of sleep with you. That to me is very unusual. but thank you for that. : )

You used to call Branden, Bamben for the LONGEST time from like age 1-2. When you finally said, BRRRRRanden. Around age 2 1/2. We all turned around shocked. Yay we all said and we clapped!

If anything stunk or smelled you would wave your hand in front of your face wrinkle your nose and you'd say...."hoofy who!" That right there is the one thing I miss, hearing you say "hoofy who!" I sometimes watch your baby videos while you are at school just to hear you say...."hoofy who" one more time. : )

You were probably born a lefty. Grandpa (my dad) is left handed as you know. Branden was born a righty and he never wavered with his hands. You on the other hand, I would watch you and you strongly favored using your left. Your whole first year, if you would reach for your sippy cup or blanket, you'd use your left. I started urging you to use your right. Knowing what a tough time grandpa always had, with lefty scissors etc etc. We encouraged you to use your right. Until you finally started favoring your right hand. but yeah, it is true you greatly favored your left for your first year of life. I saw you writing with both hands the other week and it didn't surprise me at all. : )

You are content with whatever you have. You honestly are just that type of personality. You also are a lover of life. You truly truly love life, I can tell, when I watch you sometimes outside playing and watching the wind blowing your hair and you smiling while running down the street. 

As soon as you wake up in the mornings or see anyone you always say to everyone..."Good morning"

You are an early bird, not too early you wake around 7am most mornings and you'll quietly watch TV or read, color or play DS until someone wakes up. You're very quiet. And yet I know you'll never leave the house so that is so reassuring. I always wake up around 7:30am but I do hear you as soon as you wake up. I've got great ears.  You always go to sleep by 8:30pm even if it's Summer and we let you stay up later. You just naturally fall asleep by that certain time.

You are a good swimmer, you love the water. Even as a baby you loved splashing in the shower or tub at home or having water fall on top of your head.

Things you love at the moment are....The Transformers especially Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. Spiderman. You LOVE watching Phineas and Ferb. You like to do Just Dance on the Wii and I often find you dancing in the kitchen to my ipod with your brother.

You are a kid who genuinely loves being a kid! You really do.

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom, I will walk by both your bedrooms, and you won't be in your bed, I walk into Branden's room and you are nestled in his bed hugging your brother and fast asleep.

Another weird/random fact unless someone knows you in real life, you always smell so good! You really really do. Your hair always smells so good. It smells like Suave Surf shampoo. Like a fresh oceany scent. This Summer you are using liquid body shampoo by Biore the original scent one. Biore original body shampoo in the Summer months this smell fantastic, the whole family is using this but yeah Noah you always smell so darn good. You sitting on the couch squeaky clean after a shower watching TV in your jammies is what I always think of when I think of you Noah. : )

Happy 7th birthday Noah, we love you more then you could ever know!!!! Also we want to say thanks to all of you that have watched Noah grow through all these years via this blog. Watched his baby years and toddler years....watched him enter yochien and then graduate yochien this March you guys were really almost right along with our family....via this blog. Watched him enter elementary school with us. Just thank you, all of you for taking this journey with us. Can you believe it....he's 7 you guys! Wow 7! Happy Birthday Noah!!!

Pictures and video from swim school this week

Here are some pics of Noah from swimming school this week.

I like this video of Noah swimming. Meanwhile some grandpa is chatting in the background and can be heard, that's okay many of us talk and chat while upstairs. But I really enjoy watching Noah in this video. : )

This particular video is cute because Noah is practicing his turns. You know, when you reach the wall and you turn automatically underwater. Like a roll of some sort, it's cool when you see the older kids do this. However, Noah's just starting out at this whole turning/flipping stuff though and it's cute and it is coming together. On a side note, we've been watching the swimming trials for the US swim team. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are as amazing as ever, anyway since both Branden and Noah love swimming they watch in amazement. Anyway the cute thing is, when they did their little turn/flip to switch directions on TV, Noah says to me, "I'm learning to do that too, right mama?" Yes you are Noah! : ) And he really is trying and working hard on that right now.

Coach talking to Noah. He needed some correction on his little turn directions/roll thing.

Then the coach tells this row to get out of the water and split between 2 lanes. You will be matched with someone who is at your same level. The only problem is, Noah had to swim with a 4th grader. See the 2 older kids in this pic standing to the left, the really tall one, well the 2nd really tall one to the left of him is who Noah had to swim against. Gee he's about a good 3 feet taller. No fair...no fair. Ha ha ha.

Still waiting. The coach would call out 2 names, who he felt had the same matched skill. @_@

Okay they are doing the backstroke for speed. Whoever gets to the other end of the pool wins. Yikes. Given the other kids longer arms and hand extension since he's taller and much older, I wasn't all too hopeful. But I just smiled upstairs and hoped for the best. There's Noah on the right of this pic in the water and the older kid on the left. Then us, upstairs can hear the whistle blow even from upstairs. I took a video of their practice match below.

Noah won! I guess size didn't matter so much after all. Noah was calm, he didn't appear nervous at all. He just swam his little heart out. My yochien mama friends were there. Branden was there. It was cute. They swam against each other twice and Noah won both times. And they are all friends. it's all a friendly match. It's not like a "grrrr we don't like you type thing" at all. We all swim for the same swim school so they do this for practice and it helps the kids get better at their speed. But yeah, I thought it was funny. Here comes this teeny tiny skinny toothpick ichinensei and he ends up winning. Go figure.

Walking back to the other side to race yet again. Noah looked up at us and we waved and smiled. We sure do love you a lot Noah! : )

A Costco Makuhari run

So Saturday night, I get an email from one of my "yochien mama" friends. Just saying, "a group of us are thinking about going to Costco this Monday, it's also a good time to catch up. So, do you want to come?", she said. Heck yeah, I thought. : ) So, I replied, sure, that sounds great and so we all met at our usual meet up "going to Costco" place to park all our cars spot. The city ward office in the city Noah used to go to yochien in. Met up and all hopped in and we were on our way. So we're in the minivan and we all asked, "how is your child adjusting to elementary school life?", we all answered. Some shared some very funny stories. Are you going back to the yochien this year for the summer festival, we are all invited to? Yes, I think so, I said. Us too, they all said. Anyway for us, to get to Costco, it's a long way and the expense of the highway, we all split the highway toll fee. We arrived. We all quickly got a couple carts. And cruised the aisles. "Look at this couch", said one and she went to sit down and try it out. : ) "Is it comfortable", I asked. "Yes it is", she said as she closed her eyes and then smiled. So once again back down the aisles. I did not get too many things. I only got what's pictured here. Pasta, sauce, 2 packs of string cheese, dinner rolls and waffles (for quick breakfasts) and mustard (bbq season).

All of my friends picked many deli items, pizzas and other ready made meals for that nights supper. I picked the cheese pizza from the lunch area, already made.

We had this Monday night for dinner with a simple salad.

I also picked ground beef, For grilled cheeseburgers after we get back from Guam. Anyway, I had a good time with my girl friends. We all had a fun time getting a few things at Costco and we all had lunch there. They all ordered hot dogs, but I had a slice of pizza and a soda for lunch. And then we hopped back onto the highway and headed back to our neck of the woods. Back at the city ward office, I picked up my tiny red car, and they all got into their cars.... we all waved and said good bye, and then I quickly ran home, separated the ground beef into 3 zip locks. Put everything away and then hopped back into the car to pick up the boys from school.  Come on Costco in Chiba New Town, please be built as soon as possible, there are so many of us looking forward to when you open. It'll be a much closer drive for many of us. : )

Pictures from Branden's 5th grade camping trip

Here are both 5th grade classes combined together taking the group photo. Branden's male sensei is on the left and the female sensei is on the right hand side. Branden's sensei, made a CD of 200 pictures from the camping trip and then gave a CD of the 200 pics to each child to give to their parents. We were very happy receiving these pictures from Branden's camping trip. So, that's why I am sharing them here, so you also can take a peek and hopefully enjoy these pictures also. They went on the camping trip someplace in Ibaraki, they said it was about a 50 minute drive away from our town.

This is just the 5th grade #2 class, Branden's class. His sensei in the blue in the middle at the back. Here they were all normally smiling.

And here they were all doing goofy poses. Branden and his friend on the right of him. And the boy at the back in red doing and "oh my!!!" pose. Hands on the face. Even the sensei being silly.

At the start of their very long walking rally. Remember they arrived there morning-ish still. So they jumped right into the rally right away. With thermos from home in their backpacks.

Halfway point with their walk.

And done, time for lunch. The school provided. After all that walking they must have been hungry. : )

Time for fun! Making the name plates. First they were browning the wood in the fire. The "boy next door" in the black zip up jacket.

Cleaning the wood down. Branden in the right bottom corner. 

Time for decorating their name plates. Branden in the green in the back of this pic.

About to start the bonfire! Ohhh what fun!

Very pretty!

As you may or may not know when Branden started this elementary school, and we went to orientation and heard the schools philosophy and way they run things we were a little surprised. Our school definitely has a different way of thinking, teaching and doing things. Branden's teacher told Noboru during the last Father's Club meeting, I love that Branden has an opinion and he said how it's hard to get opinions from the others at times but he's working on it. They also believe kids can get a better understanding not just by opening a book but also from "experiences"...like gardening at school or planting rice (our school is big on learning through experiences, which is why they start cooking class as soon as they enter this school. Also for example, the 2nd graders went out catching zarigani last week for an hour for class. And the sensei's went with. They also do have a lot of studies but they do want these kids to be kids. So instead of standing rigidly around the campfire. These kids danced. And they danced and they danced. They got their boogie on! : )

Get down get down...get down get down! Here they are getting their dance on yet again! I said to Branden, the fire was much smaller, then the pic up above and it was pitch black, surely you all didn't dance THAT long, did you? "Yes we did", he said. And apparently the teachers got into it also. So it would be a fair statement to say....they danced all night long (well until dinner and bath time). : )

The facility made dinner but the kids served it to their fellow classmates. They had hamburg, rice potato or macaroni salad, miso soup and rice and veggie.

This is my favorite picture of Branden from this camping trip. His smile is so genuine. He is *so* happy you guys!

Is this right before bed or right in the morning? I think I see daylight outside through the window. They had so much fun these kids.

Yep, I think this is morning alright. Branden at the back on the futon in green sweatshirt. He slept next to Genki in yochien at the overnight stay and he slept next to Genki on the 5th grade overnight stay too!

Breakfast! Branden chatting with Yuki. And Genki on the other side of Branden. Didn't Genki get a bit older. How cute! I see him all the time so it's hard for me to tell. But yeah, they've grown up together. Branden looks like he's in mid conversation during this pic. But he does have lots of friends.

An after breakfast play on the playground. Yes they are still kids. : ) And I'm happy our school recognizes that.

Time for lunch, time to make it yourselves kids! @_@ Good luck! Gambatte! You can do it! They made a fire from wood. And are now boiling water for pasta. The teachers walked around to make sure everyone was safe though.

Genki adding some more wood pieces. Right on Genki-kun.

A pic of them eating their pizza and pasta they made.

Branden drinking...someone doing the peace sign and 2 eating. : )

Branden rolling out the dough. He told me, the rolling pin was teeny tiny, I could see what he meant after seeing this picture. : )

I am so proud of you kiddo.

The boy standing up, you may notice his face is covered. He was in a very bad car accident 4 days before they went on their trip. Branden said, when Kouta took off his face mask/cover for the bath time, it looked really badly hurt under there. Poor kid. I hope he heals 100%. He lives in the same housing community as us. I hope he gets better.  Everyone was worried if he'd be able to make the trip since we all knew he was hurt, but he wanted to come.

Tomato and garlic pasta. Very simple.

And everyone cleaned up afterwards (this pic is of K-kun). Branden says they had a blast. And after looking at the pictures, I can tell. : )

Did you have a class camping trip growing up? I remember mine back in the US. I was in the 6th grade. We stayed in cabins. I think me and my group slept in the "blue jay" cabin. We did have a very long walk.  We ate all our meals together. I did archery, first time. I did wood work, but with a bunch of nails and thread. I missed home terribly at first but I did also have a lot of fun. Each cabin had a college aged type girl making sure we were all okay. At night, every night she brought out some music. We danced and danced. I slept on the top bunk, I remember that clearly. Even today, whenever I hear certain songs I am instantly transported.....and think back about being in that cabin dancing and having the time of my life. And now I get to hear about my son having a similiar experience. It's like coming full circle sometimes you know.