Branden, just passed from level 3, to level 2, earlier this week. Noboru had mentioned, he'll probably pass level 2 really fast. I disagreed and said no, it could take a good 1-2 month's. Not that I was doubting his skills at all, it's just, I thought it would take longer then 2-3 days is all. It's a swim medley (meaning swimming a mixture/combo of styles.... 4 different styles in the amount of time set) Noboru disagreed and said...yes but he's really strong with his swimming, yadayadayada. So Thursday, Branden went to swimming school. He swims twice a week and has since this Summer (before that it was just once a week). Anyway, Branden says...I hope they test me today. I said...you just got level 2, that's quite an accomplishment anyway. Just take things slowly sweet pea. No need to rush. And I'm so proud you passed #2. Anyway.... he came home from the swimming bus Thursday evening, as I was fixing him a plate of dinner. "Look look look" I looked...OMG! A trophy, I said. They tested you again? So soon? Yeah the coach said, I was ready... so no need to wait. I stood in the genkan happily surprised @_@ Really? He was talking a mile a minute. Noah saying...... a swimming trophy...a swimming trophy. A frenzy in our genkan this Thursday. I hugged him, so tight. kissed his face like 10 times. I AM SO PROUD YOU BRANDEN! After we all congratulated him hugged and kissed him. I said... now go change your clothes, and put your swim stuff away, it's time for your dinner. : ) Noah ate earlier and I waited to eat with Branden. He filled me on, all the details. Aoi-kun's mom Rieko-san was there he said. My good friend. He said she congratulated him. A few other of the mom's I know. And he said they took his picture and it will hang in the genkan of the school for a month of him holding a trophy. He also said the coach helped him fix his hair for the photo. Awww! : )
It came in this box! : ) His trophy now sits on top of his school desk in his bedroom. Branden has since walked in his room 1000 times just peeking at his trophy. : ) Typical kid.
A level 1 indeed. It's funny, you know....I started writing about Branden's swimming experiences from the very first lesson. Noah's too. Every pass, whether it was a flower or a #15 has been recorded. And to finally make it. Achieve it and see it all the way to the end. Amazing. I am so proud. He is so proud. We're all just so proud. Awww, you guys. : ) The funny thing is... he certainly was a level 2 for the shortest amount of time, right? Ha ha ha. Man, I sewed it on his swim cap and everything! Oh well..now I will have to sew on the #1 this coming weekend. All of you..throughout all the years who have read my blog and saw him grow into the swimmer he is today. Thank you....thank you also, for taking this journey with us.
I did not close this picture down. You can double click this if you want. Now here are some changes and what to do next. As the paper says, they only test to pass the level 1, 4 times a year. According to the paper the next test is in December followed by March. Also, now that Branden is now a level 1, he no longer is required by the swimming school to wear the school swimwear, he can now wear any kind of racing swimwear he wants now. What's next? Well, a lot of kids in Japan get the trophy and quit swim school. They feel accomplished as they should. That's what some of our friends have done. While some of our other friends kids still swim.I have asked Branden and said, Noboru also said..... You can quit swim school, if you want. You have now technically finished. You may start soccer...or karate or whatever. You know, what we mean is, if you wanted to....you could take up something else if you wanted. It's YOUR choice kiddo. Not ours. You can also take up nothing, if you wanna just do school and Kumon only that's cool too. He thought long and hard and without any hesitation he said...I really wanna stick with swimming...is that okay?" I said, done. Noboru said the same, if he wants to continue, he can. So...now according to the letter. We will await for a letter from either the swim school or from Japan's swimming federation. So, Branden is now quietly training and he will be quietly training all Fall and the start of Winter. Will he be ready to test in December or will he be ready in March? I don't know..I'll let you know later, as soon as we know and things start to develop. : )
We had, this planned for quite a while now. I had a day or two beforehand, already packed 1 overnight bag for the boys, hubby and myself for the hotel stay (meaning just pj's, extra change of clothes (for emergencies), etc not too much though) and another bag for the next day's Disney Sea, the popcorn buckets, winter coats and also raincoats this stuff stayed in the car though. Anyway Noboru was off work Monday and had the next day off. And so as soon as both Branden and Noah got back from both their schools Monday, we left in the MPV and headed to Urayasu (where both the Tokyo Disney's are located) So we left our neck of the woods around 4pm. And it was a long drive because of all the traffic. But we made it to the hotel and got ourselves checked in. Hotel lobby pic, as Noboru was checking in, way in the background there.
Name of the hotel. We had used the vouchers Noboru gets working where he does... so the cost for us was nothing. And a savings is still a savings. So that was pretty good.
The hotel was all decked out for Halloween.
Kids waiting in the lobby for daddy to get checked in.
The bakery buffet as it says, 950 yen for adults and 500 yen for kids. This was a really good deal and we stuffed our tummy's the next morning before going to Disney Sea.
3 beds. This hotel was really clean. Every nook, every cranny cleaned. The bed was so tightly made you could have bounced a coin off it.
They cater to people with kids obviously being so close to Disney and all. So they had a step stool so the kids could brush their teeth and wash their own hands. ; ) I also liked the basket to discard used towels. Not a luxurious posh hotel granted, but you know a very clean and functional hotel. We enjoyed our stay here and will be coming back again.
Japanese shower/bathing area.
A long hallway. It was a very good sized room. At the entrance and to the left was the toilet room, separate sink area, separate shower/bath area and then a long hall and then this hall. L shaped hall basically leading into the bedroom area.
After checking in, we left the hotel. We were going to catch the shuttle bus from the hotel to take to Ikspiari mall. But the bus just left, we just missed it and we didn't want to wait 30 more minutes. So, we just drove ourselves there and in 5 minutes we were there and walking around.
This mall is very big and very beautiful. It's a Disney run mall, so it's very well maintained.
We went to Kua' Aina Burger for dinner.
Noah had the chicken fingers and fries. Branden had the same.
I had the chicken teriyaki sandwich with avocado, half onion rings and half fries.
Noboru had a big chargrilled cheeseburger and fries (no half onions rings for him, lol ; ).
After we ate we walked around. Talk about a big pumpkin. : )
There were street performers. It was very nice to just relax, we were in no rush, we strolled around just taking in the atmosphere.
After walking around and watching the street performer, we went downstairs and bought our tickets for the next day. That way we wouldn't have to wait in line the following day.
Yep, advance tickets.
So with tickets safely stored in my bag. We walked around and heard the sounds of fireworks, so we went in one of the courtyard areas and watched the fireworks show that they have for both Tokyo Disneyland and Sea every night. We enjoyed watching the fireworks.
On our way out, we walked around the Gap, the 4 of us, just looking....not buying anything. And then we headed back to the hotel.
Everyone took showers, the boys got in their pj's. Me in my nightgown/sleep tee. Turned the TV on, we watched TV for a while.
Oh yeah Noboru stopped at a 7 Eleven on the way to the hotel. Why? He needed a cup of noodle. ; ) So the kids then wanted some donuts at the same conbini. Family camcorder in the bottom of this pic. We take that with us most places and I make the family videos.
So while they munched on cup of noodle and donuts, I meanwhile drank a bottle of mikan flavored water. I was still full from dinner.
The view out the window.
Hall reversed the other way. And you can see the heater gauge on the wall and there was also a humidifier in the room to use if we wanted. We didn't need it though. And another big window near the mirror area at the back of this pic.
Go to sleep boys! Big fun day tomorrow. : )
Kids toothbrushes with strawberry toothpaste and adults toothpaste with regular mint toothpaste.
The next morning, we all took showers again. I washed my hair, dried my hair, put my makeup on. And we went downstairs and enjoyed breakfast first. Here's a pic of the courtyard in our hotel.
It is a Disney Hotel, so there is a Disney store in the hotel.
And a Lawson's too.
Many many breads, rolls and chocolate pans etc. Omelets, sausages.
And you can see way in the back people lined up, there was also food over there too. And the big ovens in the back right, they bake their own bread and bakery goods on site.
My first serving. I kept it small so I could see what I liked first before going back a 2nd time. ; ) Coffee, salad. And some breads and some orange juice.
Second time around...Branden had been going on about how good their mashed potatoes were, that I had to try some myself. He was right, they were really good. I had 3 plates of food and I was full enough until lunch. Kids too, I made sure they ate a good amount before heading to Disney Sea.
Then after we ate, we went back to the room to pack up (we didn't bring too much and it all packed in 1 carry-on anyway so it was easy and quick to pack up). Said, bye room, thanks for letting us stay. And then we checked out.... hopped in the car and arrived at Disney Sea in about 5 minutes. Wow, what a short time to get there. Which is usually not the case for us at all. So a very nice change. : ) Pulled out the tickets and headed to Disney Sea for the day. : )
So the day after Noah's undokai. This Monday of this week. Branden still had school. Poor kid had no weekend either, he went with us to drop off and pick up Noah Saturday the day before undokai and then the next day he spent it at undokai with us. So, he didn't have a weekend either. None of us did really, but the positive and the bright side is, we are now done with all undokai's for this year! Woohoo! So a definite plus. So, Monday Branden went to school. And Noah didn't have school since he had undokai. So after we dropped off Branden at school, grandma Mitsuko, Noboru, Noah and I went to Chiba New Town. Once there, we dropped her off at the train station and from there she was heading to Haneda airport to fly back to Osaka. She hugged me, Noboru and then hugged and kissed Noah. And walked into the train station. After we dropped her off at 9:10am or somewhere around there (her train, she was taking was at 9:17am I think.) We headed directly to Joyful Honda, about 5 minutes away from the train station we just dropped off grandma Mitsuko. They sell small, medium and big size Halloween pumpkins, I realized that years ago and blogged that when I first realized that. They're also pretty cheap for Japan. 980 yen for the bigger ones. And we bought 2 of them. We usually vary and flip flop sometimes we buy from Costco and sometimes we buy from here. Just depends on the year. The one thing I do like though about buying from here, is the pumpkins here are from Japan so they are fresher then the ones found at Costco. I have bought the ones from Costco and they come from the US and ours rotted a teeny tiny bit on the bottom last year because it was cut so much in advance. Granted it's to be expected. But, the ones cut in Japan are really fresh, ours here we have now are so firm. Plus they're a couple hundred yen cheaper. The ones at Costco are 1280 yen or something like that. Either way is fine and we'll still probably buy from Costco in the future too (we still love Costco pumpkins), it's just nice to have options and not just 1 place to choose from is all. Anyone ever grow any themselves here in Japan? Noboru and I were thinking maybe we should try and grow some for next year.
With 2 pumpkin heads nicely in the car and some ricotta cheese in the car with some dry ice. We went across the way, about a 3 minute drive to the Big Hop Mall. Chiba New Town has 2 malls. Big Hops an outlet, the other mall has Gap, Laura Ashley store and a whole bunch of stuff. We just wanted lunch. That's all.
Mall opens at 10am and we were right on time.
I had ordered the 6 inch veggie delight and baked fries and a soda.
Noboru and Noah had ramen and fried rice sets in mind. : )
Noboru hates onions, which is why he has all the onions placed on this tiny saucer. He had ordered his ramen with no onions but they forgot. He complained about it and the guy offered to make him another one, but he said forget it. And plucked the onions out himself. ; ) I love onions so I just don't get it. But there's stuff I don't like to eat also, so I understand.
Monday evening, we were still sort of unwinding from all the undokai business/stuff. So, Noboru, Noah and myself went with Branden to swim school Monday evening. And he passed to a level 2 in swimming. We were pretty proud. I had wished I had brought my camera and it figures I didn't bring it the one time I really needed it. ; ) Anyway that's what we did this past Monday. 
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