Denver trip, part 1

I usually don't want to break up for example, 1 vacation post into, like part 1, part 2, part, 3, you know what I mean, right. : ) But, I really think that's the way this Denver trip is going to have to go. Last week, when I finally got around to put my pictures onto my external hard drive, I was surprised, I had 970 pictures from the Denver trip (including pics of the things we brought back also) At that point, I felt so totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pics, ykwim, because, wow 970 is quite a lot, so I have been procrastinating posting. And then 2 days ago, I widdled the pics down for a post and gee, we're talking still massive amounts of pics. So, for this time, I think there's just no other way, then me making this Denver trip into like 3 or 4 posts. So, in advance, I am really sorry about the whole having a part 1,2, 3 and possibly 4. : ) But, I just don't think there's any other way. Alrighty, having said all that, onto post #1. : )  We flew out of Haneda airport, November 7th. We were originally going to fly out November 8th via Narita, which is way closer to us, however, if we could get ourselves to Haneda, we could leave a day early.  And heck, a day early sounds great to us, so that's what we did. We left Haneda bound to Los Angeles, California. Also, I'm sure many of you heard or read, a week before we left, LAX was in the news because of the shooting and killing of a TSA. We arrived at LAX around 5pm-ish Thursday November 7th, yep two November 7ths. : ) A lot of the immigration officers had a line through their badges out of respect because of what happened to the TSA the week beforehand.  The officer that checked all our passports was so awesome! And smiley and nice! We zipped through and went and grabbed our empty suitcases. We all carried our carry-ons which contained our clothes. Having flown through LAX a ton of times, my mom lives in California (but 1 1/2 hours away) anyway we took a shuttle to the hotel. The same hotel we stayed at last time, where we get an airline discount. The great thing about this hotel besides from them having a great morning breakfast and clean rooms, is they have a Taco Bell literally a 2 minute walk from the hotel and a Mc Donald's 2 minutes the other way. It's super close to find good eats.... when you have no rental car and you'd like a little something to eat, without having to buy costly room service, you know what I mean. We went to our room dropped our luggage, all went pee and we all walked to Taco Bell around 6pm-ish, Thursday November 7th. After we ate, we walked the 1-2 minutes to our hotel,went to our room and all took showers, brushed our teeth and immediately went to sleep because our timing was all off and we knew our flight the next day was leaving at 6am so we had to be at LAX by 4am Friday. Which means we needed to wake up by 3am so we'd have enough time to get ready all 4 of us. Good thing is, we all suffered major jet lag! Which means we all woke up at 2am, Friday morning. : ) Awesome, so I brushed my teeth, washed my face, put my makeup on and did my hair. Noah brushed his teeth combed his hair and went to the bathroom and then got dressed. Branden woke up, got ready. Noboru was the last to wake up, but we still had tons of time to spare. We left our room around 3:45am, took the elevator and shuttle back to LAX, we were too early for breakfast, hotel breakfast starts at 6am, but they put out a nice muffin tray, blueberry, banana nut and chocolate, we do enjoy this particular hotels breakfast though. The boys each had a blueberry muffin. Noboru had a coffee. And it was much too early for me to even want to think of food. : ) So, we shuttled it to LAX and were there in about 5 minutes.  This picture of Noah was in our room in Los Angeles, California at the LaQuinta, Hotel.  Can you believe we were the 3rd family in line, that early on Friday morning? Gee we thought we were early, turns out there were 2 families earlier than us, lol. : ) We checked in at Delta, dropped our empty suitcases in the baggage drop and headed through the TSA, and went to McD's to feed the boys. It was 5am-ish. And we were like MC Donald's 2nd customers that morning. : ) The boys each got a sausage Mc muffin combo and a juice and hash brown. Noboru ate. My body must have been all messed up time wise, because the thought of food for me was like blergh at that point, I did have a hot coffee from Mc D's though. Everyone ate and then we went and sat at the gate. Caught our flight from LA to Salt Lake City Utah.  

We had arrived in Utah about 10-15 minutes early. We arrived around 8am-ish ,mountain time. It was immediately cold. Colder then what, we were used to. : )  We got our rental car, it was a weekly rental and we drove out of the Salt Lake City car rental spot at 9:10am. And headed to the highway and Colorado bound, via Wyoming, we went.  If you are looking at this picture, yep, highway 80 towards Cheyenne, here we come!

These pics are from Wyoming. The sun was shining, but the air felt really crisp and had a bite to it. You could see snow for sures where the sun wasn't shining. 

Wyoming.

Growing up in Colorado, I can tell you what Wyoming was famous for, they were famous for their fireworks! : ) Fireworks were pretty much banned to light them in Denver city limits growing up, you'd have to go to a suburb and let them off, if they were allowed, sure in Denver, some blocks/streets didn't mind if they weren't blackcats or super loud, but it depended on if you neighbors were okay or the "call the cops kind." On our particular street our neighbors didn't mind fireworks as long as it was before 9pm and we didn't mind either. And the fireworks you could buy in Colorado, sure but the types we could buy, were limited. However, every year we'd hear things like,  "oh the Amici's are driving to Wyoming to buy some fireworks, anyone want anything?" Yep, people making a Wyoming run around the 4th of July was pretty common, when I was growing up, so funny how all these years later, we saw all these signs. These signs, just made me smile.  : )

Wyoming license plates. You probably can't see the picture of the plate. The picture on the Wyoming license plate is of a cowboy on a bucking bronco. Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, the cowboy way of life, is just how it's been for years, sure now a lot of it's now city.   And yes it is true, I am as comfortable saying, hello, as I am comfortable giving you a warm...."hi ya'll" either way are normal for me. : )  Anyway, by now it was 1:30pm-ish and it was lunch time and by now I was hungry. 

I had the apple pecan chicken salad, with a pomegranate vinaigrette.  And a raspberry lemonade.

This was perfect for me, I was hungry sure, but didn't want to eat anything overly greasy or too overly heavy. This had both red and green apples, real blue cheese crumbles, sweet cranberries and roasted pecans, and a few slices of grilled chicken breast.

Noboru had a cesar salad and a huge chili. Branden had a large chili and Noah had a small chili. The boys also split a cesar salad and a frosty. : )

More Fireworks billboards. This is *so* Wyoming. : ) 

Friday, November 8th and it was 3:53pm, early evening, and the temperature was indeed dropping, it was 47 degrees F, but settled in the high and mid 30's F during our drive to Colorado. 

When we saw this sign, that said if you're going to Colorado, via Fort Collins, head this way. We were like, woh! Finally....we are so close to being there. It was just really good to see actual signs that said Colorado on them. : ) A sight for sore eyes, I tell ya. 5 years in the making. : )  We checked into our hotel room in Westminster, Colorado. Sure I have tons of family but there's nothing quite like privacy of coming and going when you want. You know what I mean. We unloaded our empty luggage, our carry-ons and went to the rest room washed our hands and headed to dinner and to Walmart to get normal sized shampoo and conditioner, versus the teeny tiny thimble size bottle of just shampoo the hotels usually give. And that's not enough shampoo for all 4 of us. Besides I use conditioner and being in the US for about 9 days or so, we could use a regular size bottle of shampoo, etc. 

We went to Popeye's. The kids and I each got a chicken strips and mashed tater with gravy and biscuit combo with drink. Noboru had a couple dark meat pieces of chicken combo. We all sat there just chillaxin'...."OMG, we made it!" Can you believe we made it?" I can barely believe it. "Doesn't it feel good to have arrived?"..."totally!" A few happy deep sighs. A few sips of our sodas. Couple spoons of our mashed potatoes. Bliss. We had indeed made it. 30 minutes we spent in Popeye's. An eternity for a fast food place. : ) We were just all tired.... we just took a what, 7-8 hour drive. And by gosh, we finally made it, not even counting the early wake up time in LA. But we made it. At last at last. So I think we were sorta savoring our meal. And just in bliss mode there at Popeye's. : ) Okay after all that... we all hopped in the car and we headed to Walmart. Which was a short 5 minute drive from Popeye's and a short 5 minute drive the opposite way of the hotel. 

First thing that hit me when I walked in the door of Walmart was, the Denver Bronco cupcakes. Okay don't laugh but, let me try and explain it....in Japan, it feels like I'm the only Denver Bronco fan in the whole country. You know what I mean? I'm sure there could be more of us out here, but it feels like it's just me and my lonesome, ykwim? : ) And the boys and Noboru too of course. But yeah here in Japan, it's no wonder I feel like the only one... especially way out in the countryside. It does get lonely....being the only one. You must really love THAT team ykwim. : ) But somehow me seeing these...I felt instantly...I am home! With people and folks just like me! At long last, I am finally home!!!!. It just felt really really good seeing those cupcakes, on so many levels. And no, I didn't buy any of those cupcakes, but they did make me smile.  We bought a Pantene BB shampoo and conditioner we all used during our trip, a big bottle of each and we also bought a biggish travel sized tooth paste, the hotel had toothbrushes. 

Everyone took turns showering and shampooing and soaping up, putting on pjs. And we all zonked out. We all woke up super early Saturday morning, but better then the first day. We woke up around 4am. We all took an hour to get ready considering 4 people sharing 1 bathroom. I think we did pretty good. 

My Heidi Klum NB sneakers. They were comfy and stylish for all the walking we did from Haneda, to Colorado and all the stops in between. : ) 

I'm glad the sink, blow dryer and mirror were separate from the toilet and shower/tub area. 

La Quinta has free breakfast, and we took advantage of that, by having it every morning except 2 mornings. They had waffles, you make yourself, the batter was there and it was super easy to make them. Fresh bananas, apples and oranges. Hot coffee, hot chocolate, fresh juices. 

Noah having a hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin. Branden had a bagel, he toasted. they had mini butter, mini cream cheese, mini peanut butter anything to spread on whole wheat toast or a bagel. They had cold cereal and oatmeal. They had no eggs or bacon or anything but it was perfect enough for us, wait, I take that back, they did have hard boiled eggs every morning. And like I said free, and more then enough to fill your tummy up on, every morning until lunch time. Around 6:30am we headed to Walmart. 2 Walmart's were very near our hotel. Very close proximity.

They had the Chex Mix holiday bags out already. I didn't buy any but wow, didn't it look great! : )

All Thanksgiving foods were all front and center. Cranberry stuffing, turkey stuffing.  Super cheap Walmart prices. 

Like it says, "holiday classics made easy" and I agree, why make it any harder on ourselves then need be. : )

Herb stuffing and cornbread stuffing. I was tempted to buy the cornbread stuffing but Noboru made a slight face and said, "can we just get the stuff we usually use?" Bless him, he's just not too keen on big change. Alright, I said. : )  He's got a really mellow personality, I have a really mellow personality. 

This was the twin pack size and it's what we usually get, so we picked one of these and one smaller sized one too. 

Ready to spend 2 hours at Walmart boys? Sorry kids. : ) The bright size is, the boys were awesome, they were busy looking at items, reading items. Time seemed to slip by them too. : )  Very good boys.

Americans sure do love pumpkin, don't we? Pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin frosting!!! You name it, we more then likely make it in pumpkin flavor, no doubt! : ) 

Pumpkin pie bars, pumpkin spice filled cupcakes!

Caramel apple frosting, caramel apple cookies. Caramel apple lip balm, I saw it, Caramel apple lollipops, I see those every year too. : ) 

Now these I bought! Hot Chocolate brownies, we bought 2 of these and 1 of the hot chocolate cupcakes. reminds me of rocky road brownies, I'll add some walnuts in them too. Yumm. : ) 

3 boxes of cereal , they're everyday low price is $5. Yep, $5 for 3 boxes of cereal. OMG! what a deal. Didn't buy it though. Only because we were worried about space in the suitcases. 

Lakeside Amusement Park, closed for the season. 

For lunch we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, we used to always go to. Chips and all the different varieties of salsa, some are mild and some can put you on fire, just about. : ) 

Branden's meal. His meal looked so good, I should have picked what he had. : ) Hahaha. He had a cheese enchilada, bean tostada and side of rice and beans.

Happy and just about to dig right in!

Noah and his kids meal, bean and cheese tostada and side of rice and beans. 

I had the chili relleno plate with a side of rice and beans. Also it came with flour tortillas. This was so good.

Noboru had a huge bowl of pork green chili and side of tortillas. We went visiting family after lunch. And then we went to a few other shops, like Target, Walgreens and Walmart for something we forgot and we then went back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and headed to the free standing Chick-fil-A for supper.

Noah loved their chicken nuggets and their lemonade is so good, he also enjoyed his waffle fries. 

I wasn't feeling like fries, I just had a sandwich for supper only. And a large lemonade, Noboru and I shared. Branden had a combo and Noah had a kids combo. 

Branden loved the waffle cut fries too.

Next morning we had the free hotel breakfast again, it's just a really hearty meal and fills you up. We then went to one of my best friends house. Two of my other friends were there to meet up with us too. And their kids. I'm not sharing pics of our visit with friends or family this trip. But I will tell you that, it was awesome to be with them again. Like I explain to my boys. You know Branden how you have a very best friend Genki, since yochien. or you Noah, how your best friend was Hikaru-kun in yochien and now you have about 5 besties at shogakko/elementary school. And how special those friendships are to you. well, mommy had her own version of a Genki and Hikaru too. Except their names are S and K and A. :  ) And the boys know, my besties. They see me skype them. These girls, well ladies are part of my heart. : ) And will be forever. They do read this very blog and comment to me via email. But yeah....we still find ways to share or lives. And it was nice to get together for 1 whole morning, we got there pretty early. And 1 more time before we left too. Around 11am, we left my best friends house and Noboru and the boys and I went to Kohl's and TJMaxx

Noboru bought me some very pretty earrings from here. I picked them out, they are one of my Christmas presents this year.

Noboru bought me a really pretty Ralph Lauren black cardigan with the pink pony on it. 

I snapped this pic while I was in the dressing room at TJMaxx trying on the RL cardi and a pair of 7 for all mankind skinny cords. These were a super skinny fit and made my butt look so good! However, Noboru said, are they gray or are they black? @.@ I said,  "ummm sorta in between, I guess, but it's okay because I look amazing in these." And I do mean...freaking amazing in these. Now wait, before you throw a tomato at me, if you are a girl you will totally understand, and "get this" 100%, because when you find a pair of jeans or pants that make you look freaking fantastic, buy them! Do not let anybody talk you out of them! Because not every pair of pants will do that, it's rare to find "the" pair. Well, as you can probably guess what already happened,  yep....the color of the cords were called into question and the color of the pants were Noboru's focal point, my focal point was more so on the fit and how good I felt wearing them, dykwim? : (  Gah!!!!! I didn't buy them, I said....I'll come back for them another time if I decided I must have them. Well, you know what.... there was no other time, I never got the second chance. gah!!!! This was my only 1 major thing I regret this trip. I should have said, "I love you darling but color be darned I have to get these pants because if I don't I'll kick myself for months for it." Can I just say...Gahh!!! One more time. : )  Oh and for what it's worth, in Japan a pair of 7's will cost about 18,000 yen -19,000 yen, even in America they are NOT cheap, but at TJMaxx, where they have name brand stuff for super cheap deals, theses were a steal at $29.99.  Grumble, grumble, grumble. . : (  Oh well, no sense in crying over spilled milk, I know, I know.... it's happened and logically speaking even if I hopped in a plane this second and went all the way back, odds are they're gone, there was only 1 pair in my size. : ( Drats! Bright side is lesson learned, you see it, you like it, price is right. I will not be talked out of them, next time. : )  So the silver lining here is, I will be wiser next time. : )

After hitting Kohl's and TJMaxx, we went to Target near FlatIron shopping mall and shopped around some (got a really pretty cosmetic box/bag at Target, a Christmas present) and also had lunch there. Pizza Hut personal pans for the boys and I and hot dogs for Noboru. And free refill Mountain Dew. 

We then went to Flat Iron mall, where we were for hours. We spent a good hour at Old Navy. I spent 10 minutes in Sephora, thanks to my list, I wasted zero time at all. And I hit the Mac counter at Nordies, bought 3 eye shadows, 1 new blush, 1 new lippie and 1 powder foundation of what I usually use. The majority of the makeup, I use is Mac. But I do use other brands too. : ) We also bought a Family Guy calendar for 2014. And that's it, I think. Oh yeah Noboru bought a Wii game at Game Stop.

These were right at the front of the Old Navy store, army green/olive green, ykwim, anyway they're called the Rockstar and are a super skinny fit and cargo pockets. I loved these when I saw them, tried them on in the dressing room and Noboru bought these for me. Love these pants! They are so form fitting and look really nice on.  After we left the mall, we were exhausted. We had a full day,  visiting my besties. Shopping at Kohl's, TjMaxx, Target, Flat Irons. We were so totally done. We were hungry so we went to our old fave pasta place we used to go to. 

We had Italian salads, the dressing is so good here.

Handmade pasta and huge handmade ravioli they make here. We had a nice leisurely dinner. We had gotten so many things scratched off our lists. Visited with family (day before) and also with friends. Got the handful of things we needed for Thanksgiving bought already. We started to feel shopping was for the most part done. Minus the Christmas present Noboru was going to get me in a few days. But we were now just going to enjoy it a little more the next few days and take it all in. 

The next day for example we got a nice sleep in, we slept in until 7:30am our jet lag was long over. Our only plan this day was to go to the outlets, which only took 1 hour. Then we would go to the cemetery to pay respects to my grams. And we had planned a movie, we went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. So, again the first 2 days we were pretty busy, but the rest of our days were quiet. And enjoyed to the fullest. Ahh, I snapped this pic because the American flag we know, but the flag to the right is the Colorado state flag. It made me happy seeing this very often during our trip. : ) At the outlet, we went to the Gap Outlet, I got a pair of Gap boyfriend jeans, so cute. And 3 or 4 v neck long sleeve tops. Branden got 2 Gap long sleeve tops and Noah got 1. Oh right, there was an Old Navy store across the street and we popped in there for about 30 minutes, Noboru bought about 6 t shirts. And I got 2 blingy sweatshirts and 1 sweater and a pair of black leggings. We then went to the cemetery. 

The cemetery where the majority of my family is buried is so beautiful. Mountains in the distance, pine trees everywhere. Very quiet and peaceful. Gorgeous views.

So many geese walking around. 

I took many pictures of my grandma's area that came our crystally clear, but I think for my grams privacy, I will use the 1 blurry pic, but you get the idea, at least. : ) Noboru was paying his respects to my grams. She knew him and he, knew her, she thought he was the one. : ) And she was right. She used to tell me after we started dating, "you look so happy" and I would tell her, "I am so happy grandma". She has a very tall headstone, it's over half Noah's height and he's 8. : )  She was so loved and adored and cherished by all of us in our family. I miss her terribly. I still remember her phone number to this very day and she died 12 years ago.  I love and miss you grandma.  Anyway this is the end of part 1. I'll try super hard to get part 2 up, but as you know, Thanksgiving is this Thursday, we took the turkey out... to put in the fridge to start slowly defrosting this afternoon. And tomorrow, I will start making the homemade butter crusts for the pies from scratch. So, it's slow coming but I'm getting there and this helps me a lot by breaking this trip into parts, part 1, 2 and 3, so hopefully I can get it up faster now. : )

We’re back

We’re back. We arrived in Japan, late last night, around 11:30pm Japan time is when our plane touched down, we flew into Haneda, so by the time we got home it was 1:30am, so super early this morning. We went straight to bed, we are all awake now. Anyway we have yet to unpack, and I have to unpack us all today and do laundry. Also, we have to go to Costco to get Thanksgiving stuff and also the regular store to get the weekly groceries. I also bought Thanksgiving stuff while in Denver also though. Anyway just wanted to say we’re back, but it may take a few days to get the post up. Especially now that the boys have school tomorrow and I have to get us slowly ready for Thanksgiving for next week. : )

Loving the beauty YouTube vlogs. Products from ELF, The Balm, NYX, MAC. Pantene BB Crème (I have to try this!) Getting ready for our trip this evening

We leave Japan this evening. We've been packed and ready to go for a couple days now. I know the flight will be super long, but it will be really nice to be in Denver again. Both Branden and Noah are at school right now. I haven't seen any really good movies since July? I hope to get caught up with all the good movies I haven't seen yet, while in the plane, I want to see, The Heat with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (she's so hilarious and funny, have enjoyed her since she was on the Gilmore Girls though), anyway hopefully by the time we arrive I will be at least partially caught up movie wise. : ) What else? You know, when I was living in the US, I was not an expert by any means, but yeah, I did at least know for example what's up and current makeup wise (special holiday releases or etc). What new line just came out etc, that type of thing. But with me living here, I am getting more and more out of the loop with what's up. Sure, I do have my staple makeup products that I love, like my MAC studio fix powder foundation, have used this forever! This is my HG (holy grail as far as foundations go) I do use Nars Orgasm blush (however it's not my holy grail, it's good granted, but it's not HG material for me personally though.) Anyway, when I was in Target with my mom this past June, while browsing the beauty aisles and not recognizing half of it, lol,  I thought to myself "wow Gina you're so out of the know, better get on it girl!" So, this time, I decided to watch some videos, I think I started watching YouTube videos to get ready for our Denver trip... in like September is when I started researching on YouTube. I quickly found favorite ladies I like watching. I watch 2 pretty famous beauty guru's, Missglamorazzi (not pictured) and I watch EmilyNoel, (pictured here) Emily is an actual real news reporter on TV and so she speaks really well and she knows her stuff. It seems drugstore wise ELF (eyes lips and face) have fantastic cosmetic brushes, like loads of people love them. So I am planning to pick them up and price wise on these, in America they have them for $1 or $3 depending on if you pick up the pro line. Like this vlog pic, Top 10 ELF products updated. Okay now thanks to her, now I know. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll run right out and buy everything she loves of course, but it does give me an idea of what to look for. So in that respect this helps me tons!

Best Beauty September 2013, I watched October 2013 also (also watched all the way back to March 2013), this way, I won't be completely dumbstruck standing at Target. Again it just gives me an idea, is what I am saying.

Best Fall lipsticks, granted I prefer a more natural color, but it was great to watch and again get a good idea at least. 

These EOS lip balms are like pretty popular and my mom had one in her bag when we were both in Hawaii. Now thanks to Emily and MissGlamorazzi, now I know to pick one up at least. : ) Her Emily awards are awesome, one of my favorite videos. 

I also read Emily's blog and took notes of at least some colors I can look at. 

Emily talked about this palette of shimmery nudes at Target and so I went online to check it out. I might get this palette, I'm still debating it though. But if you look it does say What's new Fall/Winter 2013.  

Pantene BB creme, for your hair!!! I am so getting this! Thanks to MissGlamorazzi for recommending this on one of her recent videos. I want the BB hair creme and also the shampoo/conditioner of this as well! Again, good thing I have been researching slightly, since September, because I now know what's new, what's current and by gosh I am so ready! 

This is MissGlamorazzi, she's funny, watching her videos she's just like a regular normal girl, could be any of us, if you know what I mean. Very down to earth, doesn't take herself too seriously at all. She likes drugstore makeup and high end makeup, same for Emily too. I also pay closer attention to these 2 ladies because we have similar coloring, same hair color, eye color etc. if you recall, that tea hair color I just did to myself, a month ago, but yeah my natural hair color is exactly same shade pictured here also and same shade right now, and also my hair is about the same length as hers in this vlog picture too, right now. So, when they mention specific lip colors for example, I pay attention since we have similar coloring. Again here I was watching her September faves and I also watched her October faves as well, and anything that looked interesting, like I might take a closer look at, I just jotted it down on a piece of paper. 

Nivea lip butter caramel kiss. Also both these ladies seem to love the Bath and Body Works candles, so again I might not buy one, but I at least want to check them out. 

Fall shopping, love that they all seem to love Target because so do I. : ) 

This particular girl, I found because I was looking for a review on The Balm blush in down boy. Again stunning girl here but also pretty similar coloring to me, fair with darker hair. Anyway in this video she rec'd Covergirl Olay corrector (not the concealer) and wow I'll have to see the package and decide for myself of course. But again, not that I will rush right out and buy everything but it at least gives me an idea of what everyone in the know, is currently loving, what's hot right now. And at least I will go to Target not feeling like a complete dork. : ) 

I did jot down my notes here, I separated things by brand. And no I am not going to buy everything I wrote down clearly lol, but it just gives me a starting off point, so I can maybe check out the 5 Revlon lip butter colors they rec'd and then decide which 1 color I'll buy and bring back to Japan with me. And yes I do know lip butters are available here too, but it's just cheaper in the states. I also have a list of foods I need to bring back for Thanksgiving, also a little list on foods in general (coffee creamer for example, more holiday flavors). I also have an outlet list of things I hope to find too. A few Christmas presents for the boys I can get scratched off the list as well.  I plan to buy some clothes at Old Navy, I'm looking for jeans and maybe some chunky sweaters or rhinestone trim sweatshirts, I saw online already. Wanna check out DFS Shoe Warehouse too. And eat lots of the stuff I've missed in the 5 years since I've been back. Hopefully we can catch a movie at the movies too. But we'll see. : ) Anyway, I better end this post here, it's cold and drizzling rain here today, I have nothing to do right now (yay), since I caught up with my cleaning yesterday... so I am just going to grab a coffee and watch some TV and kick back. House is cleaned so time to relax today. Catch up with you all when I get back. : )

Weather has been cold in Denver, Snow storm in the mountains last week, it's gone now, I hope. We will be in the mountains when we go to the hot springs so, hopefully the drive will be okay and without mass amounts of snow. The Denver forecast says nights are 30's F and day time is mid 50's. And the Glenwood Springs forecast at night is 22 degrees F. In Celsius that's -5 degrees C.  And when it dips to 30F in Denver that's -1C, so yeah my state is pretty darned cold, lol. : )  Thinking about getting a hair trim too, if it doesn't take too much time, but only if I can swing it time wise, anyway nothing superly important or life altering to share, just wanted to say, I'm ready. : )  This Denver girl is coming home! Awww. : ) Also thanks to the ladies who make the vlogs espeically the main 2 ladies, I watch, seriously their info has helped me so much, at least it gives me an idea of what to look for. : ) Anyway nothing else to say so, I guess, I'll catch you all on the flip side. : )

Halloween 2013

Ever since we went trick or treating in Guam last year, we sort of just knew...ykwim, that it was just a given we would be going there this Halloween. And even up until August, that was indeed the plan, alrighty. Until of course, we received the letter about Branden's 6th grade trip being on the same exact day! @.@  At first, and I'll tell ya, we were like could they have possibly not picked like a WORSE day imaginable.... to have that on? Hahaha. But you know....to be fair too....we had a month to get over it. And plus the 6th grade trip is a trip of memories and a trip Branden really needed to take. So we just sort of said, we'll do the best little Halloween celebration we can around here and sorta just make do, you know. So the week of Halloween, we carved our pumpkin. We roasted pumpkin seeds. Also I have to add this pumpkin barely had any seeds in there! lol. : ) Anyway the pumpkin carving was a ton of fun!

My dad brought a couple bags of Halloween chocolates with him when he was here in September because we already knew at that point, that Guam for Halloween was a no-go this year. I didn't picture those treats he brought here, I pictured them in that post last month though, if you recall. : ) And these treats pictured here... are just some snacks I picked up at my local Japanese grocery store. 

The treat buckets the boys used last year for trick or treating, I just put all the treats in one of those and left that in the kitchen the week of Halloween. So at least we did get to enjoy some treats. 

Lucky for us, my husbands coworker's wife, works at the Costco Inzai-Chiba New Town and so she said to get over there and get a pumpkin pie. So we did that, this past Sunday. And yummm! It was big and delicious, only thing though is... I wish they'd use more cinnamon in it. But it is indeed pretty good. So we enjoyed that all Halloween week... also and all of us in our house love pumpkin pie. Even Noboru said, he didn't like it like it, when he was an exchange student type age, but he absolutely loves it now. So we all enjoyed this as well. And again just a small way to bring some Halloween cheer to our family. 

We have a book of jack o lantern templates, but Branden drew this free hand this year. The boys about to clean out the pumpkin!

LOL, Branden's expression in this picture. Silly silly boys! : ) 

Almost done, almost cleaned out. 

Jack the pumpkin head and our teeny tiny amount of roasted pumpkin seeds, but they were still delicious. : )

They just had showers! Branden was in jammies but he wouldn't dare go outside in said pjs, so he put on house/comfy clothes, Noah meanwhile was like, I'll go out in my jammies. Hahaha. It was raining this particular night otherwise they would have sat down on the step like they usually do each year. 

Ahh, we can see you Jack, really well in this picture!

Branden, Noah and Jack Pumpkinhead of course!

And as you know, I did give each of the boys classes a tiny pumpkin and would you believe, Noah's teacher sent home a note in the renrakucho last week asking if the class could cook it? I told Noah to tell her, it was her pumpkin and for sure, she could do whatever she liked. : ) She was quite happy, I heard. And so, they cooked it in the cooking room last week! @.@ Go figure! : ) Hahaha. Seriously. : ) 

Now actual Halloween day and night type stuff. Branden was gone, he had left super early that morning and was in Hakone. I wanted to make Halloween fun for Noah and I. Noboru was working 4pm-midnight. So it would truly just be Noah and I, Halloween 2013. So, that day I went to Mister Donuts and I picked up 2 donuts for Noah, 2 for myself and I left 2 on the green counter for a surprise for when Noboru got home. : )  Noah let out of school at 3pm, last Halloween (Thursday) and so I picked him up, I did ask him that morning what he'd like for supper. He said baked chicken Parmesan and pasta. I said done and done! So, I made that for dinner, it was in the oven and done by the time he came home. I already preheated the water just turned it off when I swung and picked up Noah. By the time he went upstairs unpacked his randoseru, switched clothes and washed his hands. Took him about 10 minutes to complete his homework. And then we ate, he had his donut and then Noah went upstairs and showered. Then I showered afterwards and then we popped some popcorn and we watched Hocus Pocus together on TV. Noah zonkered out, I carried him to bed and then I was absolutely wide awake. Now, usually I have my Branden to keep me company but, he was having fun, so no worries, I sat down with leftover popcorn from Hocus Pocus and I watched...

Halloween 1 and Halloween 2 on the AMC channel (they had Halloween movies on this channel every night all month long.)  Really good movies. I tried to stay away to say hi to Noboru, but I was exhausted, I woke up so early that morning, Noboru slept in the day before work but I was up all day and so by that time of night I was really tired. So, I went upstairs and crashed. I was out like a light. : ) Anyway that's basically how we celebrated Halloween this year, in a nut shell. 

Branden's 6th grade over-night trip to Hakone, Japan

Branden had his 6th grade over-night trip to Hakone on October 31st (on Halloween hahaha). And would be arriving back to our town Friday, November 1st evening. In Japan most schools have a 5th grade over night trip and a 6th grade over night trip, as well. Of course obviously it varies from school to school. But if you have a younger elementary school child, maybe this info will be at least be a tad helpful and something just to keep in your mind for future use. : ) Branden brought home a note about a month beforehand, explaining about the trip and what each child needed, how much the trip would cost?, etc. Just a very informative, detailed letter. The letter said, to bring snacks for the bus (a long 3 hour bus ride there and 3 hour bus ride back). To bring 1 bag or small carry-on size suitcase for their overnight essentials and then 1 street backpack for all the walking around they'd be doing and carrying of their omiyage (like easy to crush senbei or cookies), so better to bring 2 bags verses 1. Meaning you don't want your kid walking lugging their toothbrush kit, shampoo kit, pjs all over the temples and about town and such, if you know what I mean. So yeah 2 different bags. 1 for walking and 1 for carrying the essentials (next days clothes and bath towel). Also the note did say to make sure you pack your child 1 raincoat or mini umbrella (parents choice) and that's for possible rain and it did rain btw. And 1 coat because Hakone this time of year, is indeed chilly. Also, the cost of the trip again it will vary from school to school, but a good idea to at least give you a round about idea. The cost for the trip to Hakone was 20,000 yen (about $200 US dollars) and each child also would be expected to bring 5,000 yen (about $50 US dollars for lunch, drinks along the way and omiyage (gifts or souvenirs) Also the note said not to bring more then 5,000 yen either. The 20,000 yen covered night at the hotel, bus fee, and plus dinner for that night (they had steak and mashed potatoes salad and pudding etc) and they all went to a Chinese restaurant the next day, so the 20,000 yen covered that but not for lunch going to Hakone or drinks or snacks. Also each child would need to bring their thermos and the hotel filled their thermos before leave the following day. Again so this gave us, a good month (30 days) in advance notice to know the finer details. Noboru read through the list and as he read it to me, I wrote down on a white sheet of Xerox paper all the notes that I personally needed to remember, that I needed to make sure I got Branden ready for. And about 2 weeks ahead they sent home a letter that you either needed to sign and say, yes my child can go or no my child can't go. Of course everyone wanted to go, so we sent that note in right away, that yes Branden would be going.  And then the week before the trip, was when we needed to pay the 20,000 yen trip fee. We put that into an envelop the school provided and because it was such a large amount the school was collecting this only 1 day. So the week before on Thursday, we all sent our kids with the envelop with 20,000 yen in it. Anyway, so if you recall, after that big typhoon our family headed to Uniqlo to look for some pjs for Branden.

In Japan pjs are usually for the most part called "room wear", also now Branden is wearing a men's size small. He liked this color best and we (Noboru and I had to agree) very cute and that pop of color on the thermal top was great. They had a thicker more sweatpants type room wear, but these are perfect because they're not super thin thin, but they are sort of on the thin side and our house here at home can be a real oven in winter and so these are better. And something Branden can get more use from. The bottom of the ankle area on the gray pants was super cute too it had 2 ties per leg just very cute pjs. 

Branden had outgrown his last winter coat and he didn't get one for this year yet, so we bought him one at Uniqlo, in a small men's size. It says 5,990 yen but the day we went, they were on sale for 4,990 yen so a great deal. It is a down jacket, but it is super thin hence the ultra light down filled coat name. So they're warm without all the bulk that regular coats have. Plus we thought it would be great for this upcoming trip to Denver as well.   

Noboru also mentioned our trip to Denver and we want to pack light...so we should go and get Noah one as well. But Noah's still in kid sizes. We did pick him a size bigger then he usually is, his usual size is 130cm. But since coats need the extra room for all the bulky sweatshirts and sweaters and whatnot, it was better to get with enough room for the sweatshirts he'd be wearing so we picked Noah's in size 140cm. The cost of Noah's was a real steal at just 2,990 yen. Like $30 US dollars. The color choice we liked best for Noah was light orange. Noah's is a light poly filled down, but it's still warm and super cute. 

Orange and light orange. 

Branden's coat came with a small bag to carry the coat, again perfect for packing for Hakone or the upcoming trip to Colorado. 

All packed up. I did wash and dry the pjs for Branden. And I did make sure Branden was packed about 3 days before the trip. And that's just because I have a lot of other little things going on here too and plus getting ready for our Denver trip also. So this way I got the packing done and out of the way. 

Snacks, I thought this was way more snacks then he needed, but as it turns out, it wasn't enough. Branden said to me after he got back, that most kids had zero snacks for the trip back to Chiba. Because if they didn't eat them during the way there.... they ate them over that night in the hotel room, so again they had zero snackage for the bus trip 3 hour trip home. Again, I did feel badly, but I also made a mental note of it, so when it's Noah's turn I will pack double the amount and make sure to say don't open the 2nd ziplock until you are on your way home for example. : ) 

October 31st, the bus would be leaving our elementary school as in driving away... goodbye...the doors are closed...farewell... at 6:30am. So the meet up time, when everyone had to be there or else, was at 6:10am. However lots of Branden's classmates said they would be there by 6am. We woke up at 5am October 31st. And we left our house with a fully packed and ready to go Branden and a  semi-groggy still a tad sleepy Noah in his pjs. : ) Noboru was with us also, to see him off. We left our house at 5:55am. We got there around 6:03am. The boys next door's family left around 5:50am, we saw them drive away and we were like "ahh, they're leaving we better hurry!" hahaha. It was cold, foggy. But the kids were excited! Pic of the tour bus, they had come over, pick them up and drive them, the kocho-sensei (principal) went, the two 6th grade teachers, the school nurse, and a handful of extra teachers went along too. The kids bus seating arrangement was set, Branden and Genki and the Jinbei boy were to be sitting next to each other on the bus, so needless to say, they were super happy about that. They also were split in 7 groups for when they went to Kamakura and also in Hakone. Each group got 1 cell phone. The school rented 7 phones. Branden being the leader of his group was in charge of their phone. And they did meet up and have lunch some of the groups. Jinbei boy, was in charge of another group and Genki was in charge of another group.  Then they also had a sleeping group and it was 8 boys per hotel room, not sure how big each room was, but they slept on futons. And Genki and Branden and 6 other guys all slept in the same room.

Branden ready to leave. You know thinking back, when Branden was in yochien, and he had his first over night stay ever, I remember blogging about it and I cried and I missed Branden the whole night. Frankly speaking, I worried myself sick practically. : ) "Is he okay, does he miss me? Should I drive in my PJ's at 11 o clock at night and go and pick him up?" The next morning I saw Branden and he was beaming, clearly he was fine, and I felt like a real idiot of course! Granted hind sight is 20/20. Point being, I should have spent my night with Noah and enjoying myself with my youngest son versus worrying myself into hysteria, but live and learn right? Truly nobody is perfect. : ) And then when he went on his 5th grade trip, I made darn sure to enjoy myself. And not worry because I knew he was off having fun camping last year and he did have a blast. And so this trip, I was so so so happy for him! Not a pinch of sadness, truly only smiles. And yes when Noah was having his yochien trip I wasn't so worried either., It was just that first...first time if ykwim. 

The 6th graders taking a head count. And then we drove away. 

Branden was set to arrive, with his class, in the big bus, at our housing community at 5:55pm Friday, November 1st. So me and the other parents were all there and then we got a mass keitai/cell email, saying the bus would be delayed an hour, they were on the other side of Tokyo still, stuck in traffic. @.@ So we all walked back home. Then we got another email saying more delays. When all was said and done Branden's bus arrived at 9:05pm last Friday November 1st!!! They announced on the bus that in the history of our particular school no over night trip has EVER been this delayed before! Hahaha!!! : ) It was quite a long time to be stuck in traffic and like I said, the kids were starving and had no snacks and had not eaten a morsel since noon when they had lunch! Anyway, so this is the omiyage Branden brought back for all of us. Branden also brought back 1,060 yen. he said he didn't want to spend it all. @.@ Good kid good kid! But we told he he could and he should have. : )  Anyway...

Black egg face soap and the coaster to the left, Branden made himself, he said his whole class including his principal each made one. : ) 

He also brought us some black eggs. They went to the mountain and walked up and bought some, November 1st morning. I think they were 5 eggs for 500 yen. Branden ate one egg fresh and hot and brought us back 4. : ) Branden had 1 at home also and Noah ate one and Noboru and I also had one each. They say if you eat 1 egg, you can live 7 extra years, or something along those lines, don't quote me on it but something like that. : ) 

A charm for Branden.

What made me smile most was Noah was looking on with excitement what Branden brought back and Branden said and I brought these especially for you Noah!!!! They are handmade and everyone in my class bought some! Noah immediately felt how cool they were, especially if big 6th grade boys were buying them and the fact his brother brought him back a gift, especially for him. Noah was all excited and said, "thank you Branden, I will keep these in my night stand" (note his important things only go in there) and I thought awww, what good kids. They were very inexpensive and all but and sorry if it's cliche but it's true, it was the thought that counted. And theses were just the bees knees to Noah. : ) 

Cookies from Hakone on the left and cookies on the right from Kamakura. apparently these pigeon shaped cookies are pretty famous, I had no idea but Branden told us about these, also his teachers all told the kids about these and Noboru googled them and sure enough. Go figure I had no idea but the pigeon shaped cookies were delicious! So good!

And Branden also brought senbei back too. Branden was excited because he said they were fresh. : ) Anyway that was Branden's 6th grade trip in a nut shell. : )