Monday, July 19th was Noah's Summer festival at the yochien. Noboru works for an American company so he doesn't get off for Japanese holidays. So he had to work last Monday, so he couldn't go to Noah's Summer festival no matter how badly he wanted to go. However my dad could be there and it gave me peace of mind that both B and Noah were being kept an eye on, by my dad the first hour of the festival while I was working the jenga game. After the first hour, I was free for the last hour of the festival. Noah looking for the lucky ball. If you find it...you win a prize! Noah won the prize! I sadly was working the jenga game when he won, but my dad said everyone clapped for him and stuff and my dad did as well. What Noah won is pictured down below. : )
Noah and his favorite sensei.
Branden going through the balls. Looking for the lucky ball. Digging for treasure was a game the boys really liked and they kept coming back to play this game quite a few times even that I saw.
Branden and Noah in line to try the bowling game.
Noah trying the jenga game! What a nice big jenga game right? And see those fish and sail boats on the back of the wall? Ahem. Yours truly! ; ) I think all of us mom's...... we all tried our best and worked so hard because we wanted our kids to enjoy it! All the hard work.....totally and completely worth it! Honestly!
Both Branden and Noah really enjoyed it! I actually think everyone who came enjoyed it. My dad loved it! He really had a great time.
Look at our Summer "lanterns" this year! Usually we hang regular ones. But this year the kids each made one! And they hung them throughout the courtyard. I thought that was actually a really cool idea!
And Noah going back to the treasure game yet again. ; )
This game, you punch a square and get to keep whatever is behind it.
They all danced at the end. So many pretty yukata and jinbei! So colorful.
We brought back so much stuff from the Summer festival. Look at those balloons with faces and hair. ; )
Mister donuts, 2 in a set. And the homemade cookies that the encho sensei makes. She makes delicious cookies.
This is the present Noah won for picking the ball with the black dot on it. He won this on the treasure game. And see the red goldfish on top? I cut that out and put the eyes on them. I made a whole bunch of those red goldfish on one of my "games" meeting days.
This was inside. It's just a little drinking bottle. But Noah really did feel happy he won it though.
Noah won this as well.
This is the salted popcorn. They also sold curry flavored popcorn as well. All the food they sold was yumm!
Lunch mats...the boys won 5 of the same ones. @_@ Couldn't be helped because this was that punch the square and you get whatever is inside. They were hoping for something else...but ahh well. ; ) All in all, we all had a great time at Noah's Summer festival this year!!!
The weather's been pretty hot here in Chiba lately! We have an indoor/outdoor thermometer. And lately it's been between 97F-100 degrees F outside. I think one day it even peeked to 103F. Now at home our house temps inside have been a comfy and dry 78F. But once we leave the comfort of our central air house it's hot. Really hot! @_@ Anyway, last Thursday we decided to head to the local city pool. It's very old school.
Branden sliding down the yellow slide!
My dad sliding down the yellow slide.
Hubby and Noah going up the stairs to take a turn on the slide together.
Getting situated.
And down they slide!!!
I like the lazy river part the best. We spent literally hours going around and around! We also slid down the slides and went to the other pools as well. But the lazy river pool was where we spent the majority of our day for sure.
The perfect way to stay cool. Branden had quite a few friends there. A few he goes to elementary with and a girl who swims at the swim school with him as well. We greeted their parents and stuff. It was pretty nice.
Boy did everyone have a blast! Noah went on Summer break the Friday before. And Branden started Summer break Tuesday! So Thursday....it was just a relaxing day at the pool.
Noboru about to chase the kids in the pool.
Giving Noah a ride!
I call this photo...."monkey see monkey do" You see how Branden is doing cart wheels all over the lazy river? You know just doing some typical kid splish splash fun. Now check out Noah. He's doing the same exact thing his big brother is doing. Two legs doing the same move at the same time. These kids cart wheeled themselves all over the lazy river!
My dad and Noboru chatting meanwhile the kids just having fun. As soon as I clicked the pics, I jumped myself right back into the lazy river.
This is where we set up our leisure sheet underneath this shaded area. I think you might see a big inflatable dolphin on the left. Under that shaded area. That big inflatable dolphin was ours as well.
Last year I packed a really big obento. But this time, I just packed snacks. I did however bake strawberry cupcakes. I didn't frost them because with the weather being as hot as it was, frosting in that hot heat would have been yuck! So unfrosted was way better. We brought salted peanuts, senbei, chips. Drinks that I froze the night before. The drinks were sort of a slushy type texture which was great in the heat.
And this pic was taken right before we left. We all had these huge old school type popsicles. My dad and Noboru had melon. My dad said this was the best melon he's ever had in his life. And both Branden and Noah and myself we all had cider. We sat and ate our popsicles. And hopped into the MPV. After dropping off, all our stuff at home. We all headed to Narita for some ramen, gyoza and fried rice. After dinner, we all headed back home. We each took a turn in the shower. Then we all watched TV. Last Thursday.....really fun! Summer rocks!
So what have we been doing around here since the last time I posted? A lot. We went to Aeon and bought Noah's jinbei and sandals to get him ready for the upcoming Summer festival. Went to Uniqlo to get Branden a few play tees. I went to another games meeting. Where we broke off into our individual game groups. Whoever is working the bowling game for instance all had their own private meeting. And us working the Jenga game all had our own meeting. What did we do in our meeting? Well honestly....we played jenga. We just had a practice or trial run. The big question for us was...should we let the kids pull 2 or 3 of the jenga pieces? After all of us going through it, we determined it was better to let the kids pull 2 pieces versus 3. ; ) Anyway that was my meeting last Wednesday. After the last "games" meeting, Noah had a half day and after that Noah and I headed to Narita airport to pick up grandpa (my dad). My dad arrived around 1pm last Wednesday. He brought us a few goodies. Such as these 2 two pound bags of "Cocoa puffs" and "Apple Jacks" basically. And a lemonade.
Ravioli for lunches for the boys and mac and cheese for fast lunches for the boys. Perfect now that Summer is here and they're actually having lunch at home now.
Yellow Oreos with chocolate inside, these are yumm and I asked my dad to bring these for me. ; ) A few bags of popcorn though we pretty much have over a half case here at home anyway but it helps.
Bean and cheese burritos, breakfast wraps, string cheese and colby cheese. My dad wraps things as well as I do, and packed them in a ziplock and another bag and finally into his clothes and they amazingly were still froze and the cheese still cool.
A few gossip mags. And that's all. Totally appreciated all the goodies he brought.
We have had 2 barbeque's so far. One was a bbq where we had some very lean cheeseburgers with all the fixings inside. I also made a really wicked macaroni salad to go with.
Just enjoying all the rice fields.
Going into the house for a sec.
Making both Branden and Noah's burgers.
My dad has been watering the garden every single morning and pulling any yellow leaves off any of the plants. He's so much better at gardening then I am.
Zucchini are growing, we have about 5 on each plant. And more little ones keep sprouting up and growing.
The corn are starting to get a bit bigger as well.
Finally...finally we are producing green peppers. And the other plant that we thought was dead. My dad propped the little plant up and with watering he's actually coming back to life as well.
We have 2 cherry tomato plants. And when they finally decide to turn red. I think we'll have tomatoes coming out our ears basically. We have about 50 cherry tomatoes on the plants, by our guess so far. So the cherry tomatoes are growing nicely. And I think a few are starting to turn red actually.
And the many many clusters on the other tomato plant. They're all over the 2 plants.
Noah happily holding a tiny frog.
Noah showing grandpa. Branden at this time was riding bikes with his friends through the neighborhood. B did come back when the bell rang and when it was time for dinner.
Frog on the finger. ; )
And the bbq we had the following day. We all had yakiniku. Beef and chicken and veggies. All 5 of us enjoyed it.
Branden playing in the backyard with grandpa the following day, the day we bbq'ed the yakiniku.
Hi B. : )
Both Branden and Noah are quite good at soccer so it's always a toss up who will win. ; )
The jinbei we picked up for Noah at the Aeon this year.
The trip to Uniqlo we took for B.
Just a few play shirts. That yellow one is quite cute, I thought.
A pic of the 2 zucchini we cut off one day, they are huge! The width is of an arm and look how they drawf the bananas. We have been cutting 2 each day. And have already given some to the "boy next door's" family.
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