Summer vacation plans starting to take shape...

Are you going on a vacation this summer? Do you have anything fun planned?  Camping or backyard bbq maybe or perhaps a trip a little farther? : ) As for us and our family, we always like to take 1 big family vacation together in summer. This years original options were, Los Angeles, Hawaii, South Korea or Europe. After a lot of deciding and talking we managed to get it widdled down to Los Angeles or Hawaii. As of right now we are strongly leaning towards Los Angeles. I'd say it's a 90% chance we will be going to Los Angeles and a 10% chance we head to Hawaii. We love Hawaii, a lot, Branden was born there, we used to live there. And we seem to go there every summer for vacation, however we'd really like to take the boys to Universal Studios while they are at this age, and what a perfect age to go! Age 12 and 8 (well Noah will be a newly minted 9 year old by then : ) And yes we know  the Harry Potter ride is opening at USJ, same for in Florida too, I believe (won't open in the one in Hollywood until 2016, I think). However we'd like to to go the original Universal Studios, and just check it out. I haven't been to Universal Studios Hollywood since I was a child, so I'm excited. : ) Noah is so into the Transformers, so I know he'll be over the moon to ride this!

The Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride just opened and it looks super cool! We all can't wait for this ride. 

The Simpsons ride looks cool too!

Branden will dig this ride, I'm sure. : )

Jurassic Park-The Ride, we loved this ride at USJ. So it'll be nice to try this again. 

King Kong 360.

It's just gonna be a very cool/fun day for us. Riding and seeing so many fun things and okay some scary things too. Hahaha. : )

It will be nice to catch the shows in English, not that I mind having to catch them in Japanese most of the time here, but yes it will be nice to catch all the shows in English. : )

We have been in serious research mode...anytime I have free time where I'm not at a kids club thing or meeting or here at home spending time with my family. If we have free time, say while the kids are at school, we both are heavily researching. Best, cleanest, highest Trip Advisor reviews for hotels and affordable. Location, is it safe. Food, what's to eat nearby. Like right here, one day I was, researching what sort of food is available on the day we head to Universal Studios. They have Gru's Cafe.  El Macho Nachos (this cracks me up, because the names of foods are characters from Despicable Me.) Dr. Nefarios Lab salad. Banana Chocolate shakes (omg, I like choco banana flavored anything)...and the other place to eat... Despicable Delights, lol. 

At the mall walk. Which should be either right near Universal Studios or inside. I'm not sure, again we'll find out when we get there because I haven't been in a zillion years. And our kids have never been to Universal Studios Hollywood before, they've just been to USJ (Branden twice and Noah once). Pizza Hut Express, KFC Express....

Handmade pretzel shop, Yogurtland, and Subway...lots of choices... so eating at Universal Studios seems to be zero problem at all. Could be...too many good choice options... but that's not really a problem at all. : ) 

Again either in Universal Studios or at the mall walk near Universal...Tommy Hamburgers (famous place in California, as in a landmark type restaurant) and Taco Bell...

Panda express and Pinks Hot Dogs! Yeah... zero trouble food wise at all.

Louie's Pizza (yumm) and the Flintstone's Bar-B-Q.  LOL, the Flintstone's! 

Mel's Diner. And the shops to buy gifts from Universal Studios, they have the Kwik E Mart (from the Simpsons) probably can buy lots of Simpsons souvenirs there. And they also have a Transformers place to buy stuff from too. I imagine we will have to buy a few things from the Transformers shop. Hahaha. : )  Again, do we have summer vacation plans? You betcha! We're just keepin' things on the down low for right now. But yep...lots of online researching. When we go to Hawaii, we really don't have to research stuff because we know already. : ) Same for when we go to Denver. But, we are a bit unfamiliar with Los Angeles, so...that is why we are researching like crazy now...so by the time, we do get there, we at least have a general idea. A notebook of restaurants to try...I am already making sure are written down or a list of movie theaters to check out nearest us...or a list of closets Targets or Walmarts or outlet malls from our hotel, type information, you know what I mean, I hope. :  ) 

For example, one of my most favorite things to eat in the entire world, is a chili relleno burrito. So, I searched with keywords "best chili relleno burrito in Los Angeles" and a whole list on Yelp popped out. Yelp is a place that does reviews in the US, real reviews written by real people with real pics they take at the restaurant or whatever. Whenever we head to a city we are unfamiliar with, I always hit up Trip Advisor and Yelp! I just always do. : )  Turns out lots of people also *love* chili relleno burritios as much as I do. The highest ranked place is...La Azteca. Over 102 people say...they make the best! Well...okay then! I believe you! So, I'll try 'em! : )

It says..."but especially the chili relleno burrito, it was the best."  And in 2nd place is another restaurant which I also wrote down too. 

An Asian American guy named Tai, says La Azteca is the best for chili relleno burritos. Again in states like Colorado, California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, it really doesn't matter if you are Asian American, African American or Italian American, chances are, if you grew up in one of those types a states you are a Mexican food expert! 

This is Tai's review and that is his pic down below. Okay technically, I took a pic of his pic, so Tai gets all the credit, so glad he and the others shared pics because I was curious what it looked like. Thank goodness for sites like Yelp and the people who take the time to leave a review and share pics! We are coming all the way from Japan to try this place now! So thanks! : )

I must have looked at this pic and read the caption lots of times. That is so totally a handmade tortilla. *drools* hahaha. 

Another pic, courtesy of Yelp. But OMG, doesn't that look delicious. To me it does! So anyway...not trying to make a super hugely long post. But yep we are researching Los Angles like crazy insane right now. Restaurants. Best Italian, best this best that. We also plan to go to a few movies also. Oh when will we be going? We are shooting for immediately after the Summer Festival. Because I am a yakuin head, I *have* to be here for that. I can't get out of it. So, we are planning the very next day after that... is when we will leave. So right now the plan is at the end of July to head out on vacation. : ) Of course with us... the dates can always be changed and stuff depending on when they actually give Noboru his vacation days off and stuff. But at least it gives you a general idea of when. Either last week of July or first week of August at the latest. Type dates.  So 90% chance of Los Angles and 10% chance of Hawaii. Either way we will be looking forward to it. : )

Also, our family is taking a small weekend get away type trip to a hotel someplace near Mt Fuji last weekend in June. We have had a hotel reservation for that for over a month and it's just something we will be looking forward to. Especially since it will be right after Branden takes his finals. So some R&R will be surely needed for us all. : )

Also...sorry, one more thing. My dad is taking his summer vacation starting tomorrow. He will be flying to Denver for 2 weeks and will be staying with his sister, my auntie. : ) So my dad is really looking forward to that. And since he's flying non-rev/stand by. I will be monitoring his flight and connections off and on tomorrow, making sure he makes every connection. Guam to Narita (no time to visit, he's just connecting),  Narita directly to MN and then on to Denver. : )  If he should get bumped we will relist him immediately, but tomorrow's flight looks *really* good which is why I listed him on that flight in the first place. : )  So yep, plans are starting to form and take shape for sure! : )

Pics from our weekend...

Let's see, Friday morning, I had got the house cleaned and finished by 9:45am-ish (kids are gone by 7:20am at school already). So, I had the whole day to do whatever basically. So, since I usually, use a face mask and paint my nails on Sundays to be ready for a whole other week. *However* since I knew I'd be busy at the kids club thing on Sunday, I decided to do my personal care/just take care of myself then on Friday instead. I usually color my hair at home once a month, and it was time. It's just a basic brown color, I have been using for over a year. When I buy hair color in Japan, this is always the one I buy, in color "earl grey." I also put the Tony Moly plastic booties and liquid on my feet for 90 minutes because even though it's rainy season right now, sandal season could be any day, as long as it's not raining. So, my feet need to look nice, so I like to use these every few months. Your feet peel super crazy after about 5 days and then they are smooth and soft like a brand new foot. : ) I did this on Friday because I knew it wouldn't be peeling on Sunday. : ) I also painted my nails and gave myself a weekly face mask, Good thing the doorbell did not ring on Friday, because I would have looked quite scary with hair dye/color, face mask, feet in bags, lol. : )

The Sally Hansen one, I bought at Target last year, I like this color in Summer. Very feminine. And the sparkly pink in the middle, I put on top of the Sally Hansen one and then I layer it with a clear top coat, far right to prevent chipping. The sparkly one and top coat I bought at the 100 yen. I did my toe nails and my finger nails, so I'd be ready for the thing on Sunday, because I knew I'd basically see the entire town population there, and sure I did, hahaha. And also I do believe in taking good care of yourself. : )

Kept this on for 20 minutes. It really brightens the face. : )

This was our finished dinner Friday. We did have green beans with this. I like to make a nice big filling breakfast for the boys every morning, as you know, scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, pankcakes, Yakult, yogurt, the whole bit. And I also know how hungry they come home from school, so I like to make a nice great big filling dinner every night too. I want to know they're well fed and that it's pretty much ready when they come through the door. : )

We did have movie night on Friday after dinner and showers were done. And everyone had some popcorn and it was just a nice way to enjoy the start of the weekend. 

Monday morning, we had bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast. For lunch we had leftover cheesy gratin potatoes and leftover pork chops. And after lunch, I made a pack of cinnamon rolls. I also made my pizza dough immediately after breakfast so it was resting in the kitchen all day. : ) 

Just rolled the 2 pizzas out and just about to put our toppings on the pizza. Saturday was fun and just spent here at home, same with Friday. I knew I had that kids club event though on Sunday (the following day), so we all went to sleep Saturday around 9:30pm. 

Sunday morning, we all woke up and had some cinnamon toast crunch type cereal and also some toast with butter. Noboru and I also had a hot coffee, the kids had apple juice. We all immediately got dressed after that, so we could head to the plaza. Our housing community (us 3 yakuin) also worked in this gym also. We did however like this game across from us, they made a "bowling game" with 1.5 liter plastic bottles, they filled them half way, made the water colored and they rolled down basketballs or dodgeballs. The prez and my fellow vp, and I, took notice and we'd like to use this game this year on one of our "housing community's" events. This was a great idea! : )

We did this....the ring toss! : )  We will borrow this game from our town and use this in our Christmas party as one of our games. We already talked about it. Hahaha. : ) 

There were 3 ring toss games right next to each other. Us 3, were handling 2 of the ring toss games and another housing community was handling the one way in the back. That is the prez's Converse in the pic. : ) 

Look at the crowds! The crowds came in waves, we got slammed throughout the morning too. Many times we'd have 10 people or more waiting a turn, all 3 ring toss games had tons of people and then at other times we were so dead...no crowds at all. We would joke and have fun with the kids! Can you get a ring on every number? OMG, try to get #9. We'd clap when they'd get a ring. When little babies 2-3 year olds came, we'd help them toss each ring. They'd get all excited and happy. Their mom's were very happy we took the time, crouched/squat down and helped their child. And we also got groups of JHS boys, like 8th and 9th graders. They are competitive against their friends, JHS boys. Okay the prez would say to the JHS boys..."he's got 27 points...are you gonna let his score tops yours", ...The Jinbei boys mom would add jokingly..."yes you can't let his score get higher than yours." I'd chime right in and add..."ask for a rematch!" The JHS kid would say shaking his head in agreement..."You 3 are right! Rematch!" Hahaha. Those JHS boys played a few rounds battling each other back and forth. Again we would play with all kids, toddlers to 9th graders, didn't matter. We made sure you left our game with a smile on your face and having had a good time. 1 little girl (2nd grader if I were to take a guess or maybe 3rd grader from the other school), liked playing with me, especially. She couldn't get many rings on there and she'd watch my face for a reaction and I would tell her.. "you are doing fantastic kiddo"...you will get 1...and I sat there patiently with her and when she got a couple I'd high 5 her and she was *very* happy. She came back throughout the day 3 different times to play ring toss with me. : ) Also, I did get many kids say..."hello" and I'd then switch and say "hello, how are YOU?" hehehehe, they'd say while smiling. Just have fun. Be able to anticipate ...do they need extra cheers, some support or.... Also, these JHS kids are still kids and they liked being clapped and cheered for, as much as the toddlers. They really did. Make it fun though #1! And we did. 

Across from where I was "working"...I see Noah. Everyone knows my kids and they know I'm working right across the gym. But she crouches/squats down and chats with Noah and stuff, everyone is so nice to our kids, all kids actually. : ) And this "bowling" game rocked.

Noah and his very good friend, who is a twin, in the blue and white stripe shirt. His twin, is his sister, she was playing with her friend somewhere else. They live right near us and his mom is the super nice, but shy one. : ) 

Of course Noah came to play ring toss with me. Us 3, yakuin helped and cheered him on too, they said "come on Noah!" We clapped, we cheered, he blushed, hahaha. : )

Here comes Branden. he had to play too. Branden told me, "did you just play with 3 JHS boys, older grade than me?" I said "surely, yes I did". : ) Branden said "they just said, we just played the ring toss with your mom and she rocks!" @.@ : ) Wow...I got an... I rock comment from some older JHS boys. Very good to know. Lol. On the bright side, at least they know Branden has a friendly mom, who helped them on the ring toss : ) I tell ya, everybody knows everybody in our town. : )

This event ended at 12. At 11:30am though many people started to leave. We still had to stay. So the boys played basketball sans the basketball net. : ) 

I'm glad that they still enjoy playing together. They're still super close, even though they go to different schools. To always have one another, to always have that playmate or person who understands you best. : )

And I'm glad Noboru is a hands on dad and the way he is. He loves the boys so much. : ) We went home at noon and rested for an hour and then we left for the rest of the day.  We knew we were going to go to yakiniku for supper (Noboru said, he saw me working hard all morning at the plaza/kids club thing and so he wanted to give me a night off cooking, so he took us to yakiniku), but we decided to go bumming around before that. We went to Don Quixote (didn't buy anything, just looked around, spent over an hour in there). We took the scenic route too. We just wanted to end the weekend fun and on a great note. 

We went and had yakiniku Sunday evening (yesterday) and you can cook your own marinated meat at the grill on the table. 

We then went to charge the car for free at Shisui outlet mall and also walked around window shopping for about 45 minutes and we also spent an additional hour at Starbucks just relaxing the 4 of us. The kids each had an iced cocoa. Noboru and I each had a nice iced coffee drink (Noboru had an iced caramel machiaato, and I had a very big iced American coffee.) We just sat inside Starbucks sipping our drinks, people watching, chatting, talking, just enjoying the end of our amazing and low key weekend. : ) 

A very blurry picture of Noah. We took a nice scenic drive back home, as soon as everyone got home, we all took turns taking showers and ready to start a whole other week of school. 

At Franc Franc, Noboru bought me an apron. And that is only because, as you know I am a yakuin leader/head this year and on many kids club events, I will need to wear an apron. And while I do have 1 nice one, bought from Laura Ashley over 6 years ago at least, having another and finding one at a great price was a nice find. I also have a denim Old Navy one, that we use at home if needed, but I really don't use them at home (Noboru has used the jean Old Navy one twice for making soup with the Father's Club.) It's usually for events, where it might come in handy. 

Nice aprons can run/cost about $40-$50 US, maybe because many people use them here, or I don't know. But this was just 1300 yen $13 US. So, it was a good deal. 

I wish they would have had this in black and white. But this isn't bad either, it's pretty. Noboru did joke with me and said it did vaguely remind him of Minnie Mouse and Branden did say it reminded him a tad of a mushroom from Mario Kart. But, I like it and the price was too good to pass on, granted black with white dots would have been best, but this is really pretty too though.  : )  Anyway that was our weekend in a nut shell. : ) 

TGIF...

TGIF everyone, so glad the weekend is finally here! Chiba has hit the rainy season, yes!!! And it figures it decided to hit, right *after* I posted my "weather forecast post" and headed to Besia/Cainz, figures, right, gee I certainly did say the rainy season was coming *but* wow... now that's seriously fast!!! : ) No worries! It finally rained heavy for us last evening, which was the first rain for our area all this week! Just makes our grass greener and the potato plants bigger. So we are very happy. I can't wait for the weekend to start. I did make dinner early today, as you can see in this picture. I fried up the pork chops earlier today. Yes that is Noboru's foot in the pic. : ) And the cheese gratin potatoes are baking in the oven as we speak..or as I type. : ) We will be having steamed green beans to go with and biscuits (from the can), you know what I mean, I hope. : ) The potatoes take an hour and a half and so should be done by 3:20, which is nice because I can turn the oven off before picking up both Branden and Noah from school (Branden gets off at 4pm, Noah 3:45pm). We will be watching a DVD here at home tonight after showers and so I will be popping some popcorn to go with the movie. : )

Aha, I did make a Besia/Cainz run for ice cream yesterday. I took a cooler to throw in the car so the ice cream wouldn't melt during my drive home. Also picked up 2 packs of dry ice as well. : ) 

Just something nice to stick in the fridge to have for the week and weekend. : ) Tomorrows, plan is we have no plan at all, we will have a bacon and egg breakfast and not sure about lunch, but for dinner tomorrow night, I will be making homemade pizza from scratch. So we will just relax here at home tomorrow. Sunday though, like I said, I have to work the kodomo kai/kids club event starts at 8:30am (I have to be there by 8am), so I'll have to wake up around 6-6:30am to get ready and eat a little something before we go. Have a fantastic weekend... no matter where you are reading from and if you're in Japan, the rainy season is here. Woohoo! : ) I enjoy the rain, sorry. : ) Hmm, well wait a minute, maybe no rainy season just yet... if you are in Hokkaido (?) : ) But soon maybe for you too. : )  Anyway, have a wonderful weekend you guys. : )