Swimming at the local elementary school here in Japan has begun

Swimming at the local shogakko started for both Branden and Noah this week. We were given notice 2 weeks beforehand. And I've been down this road with Branden already for the past 4, this is his 5th year. So, me getting Noah ready, was super easy.  For those of you not in Japan, all the kids at elementary school need to wear navy blue. At least that's how it's done around where we live. And by looking at the local malls, like Aeon and through catalogs like Nissen, it seems they all sell 'school swim wear" in navy blue, maybe you could get away with black, I suppose but I usually see it in navy blue. So, I'm pretty sure this is pretty typical. Though, I am only speaking from my experiences and for where we live. : )

We ran to the mall after dropping off my dad at Narita 2 Monday's ago.

Remember I tried to get Branden flip flops from Old Navy but they didn't have his size when we were in Honolulu this past March. So, we bought these at Aeon.

These are different. One is for the younger grades of elementary school and the other is for older grades in elementary school. 1 pair for Branden and 1 pair for Noah. We bought these at Sports Authority.

We bought Noah the same exact swimming cap we bought for Branden. Because most use navy or white swimming caps. And this yellow one is easy to spot in the pool. And for it being name brand it was the same type of price as a non name brand one.

We wrote the names on the goggles cases.

This is what Noah is taking. 1 pair of navy blue hibiscus flip flops from Old Navy. 1 Adidas swim shorts, these used to belong to Branden and they're like brand new still (excellent condition). 1 pair of goggles. 1 yellow Adias swimming cap and 1 navy blue rash guard, we bought off Rakuten for super cheap and it has a very high UPF for clothes. Noah burns terribly easy poor kid. So when they sent home the swimming form and questionnaire, Noboru made sure to write in the comments section, "Noah burns very easy since he's so fair, so please make sure he wears this rash guard every time" and she wrote back and said, she will. : ) And Noah knows already also.

I just sewed Noah's label on over Branden's. And you can't even see the name underneath at all. And I looked and because of the fabric I was worried by taking Branden's label off if it could have torn the swimsuit or put a hole in it. Which is why I just sewed his label over it.

Noah has a swim towel he uses for his swim school. That he swims at, and he also has this one that he used in yochien. And he's using this here at the shogakko.

Yep, even the note said to make sure the flippies are named. So, again I made sure it was indeed written with Noah's name on it.

On the younger grade kids goggles there is a place to put your name and it even says name. So, we wrote his name there.

And even on his rash guard.

 I packed everything up. And this was due by Tuesday of this past week and Noah brought it on Monday.

Packed up Branden also. I folded his towel nicely, he also received new swim trunks. New goggles. And flippies. Branden wears a rash guard when we go on vacation to the regular pools. But for shogakko Branden would never want to wear one, and that's okay. Plus he doesn't burn like Noah does, so he's lucky in that aspect. Wrapped everything up and put it inside Branden's Nike swim bag.

Aha, what do we have here! One little cutie pie ready for swimming at elementary school here in Japan! You look good Noah. You look all ready kiddo.

One thing switched from this year versus last year and the years prior, is they asked for all kids to bring a T shirt to wear for the walk to the pool. It's about a 2 minute walk. But no matter they asked for the T, so I sent both of the boys with them. Noah took this one. His Lifeguard North Shore T we got in Honolulu. And Branden took the same one, different size. : )

Each of the boys brought home swim cards. And every time they swim, we must sign them off The morning of. If their temperature is too high or if they are unwell, they need to know. Also, they will get stars for what they know. Meaning their swimming skill.

If they know this stuff they must demonstrate this to the teacher and if they showed they know it, they'll get a golden sticker or star. Both Noah and Branden have wicked mad swim skills. So, I have no worries for either of them. They're going to have a blast.

I know Branden can do the medley easily. He trained for that at his swim school and he got all stars on this last year from the elementary school. I am unsure if Noah can swim the medley yet or not, so we will see, either way is fine, as long as they have fun is most important for us.  Anyway...swimming at our local Japanese elementary school has begun and both Branden and Noah couldn't be happier. They truly love being in the water. And swimming at the elementary school here is really fun. : )  Branden swims at the elementary school twice a week from now until Summer break. And Noah swims at the elementary school twice a week and he also swims for the private swim school once a week for an hour and a half. So he'll be getting lots of pool time from now until they go on Summer break. : )

I wish my elementary school in the US would have had swimming starting from the first grade. But on the bright side, I get to enjoy watching my boys enjoy it, so that's fine too. : )


Where are the boys this fine Sunday? In the rice fields yet again, looking for zarigani with the "boy next door" and his little brother. So there's two 5th graders (Branden and the boy next door), one 4th grader (The boy next doors little brother) and Noah the ichinensei. All with bug boxes and all with nets. And I have a load of towels hanging on the back patio as I type. And their uniforms also are drying up outside nicely.  We will have leftover Pizza Hut pizza for lunch, we bought 2 larges (which are 2 US sized mediums) And we have a lot leftover. So that's going to be lunch when the bell strikes 12 and the lunch music plays throughout the neighborhood, I know the boys will come back immediately. Same with all the kids in the neighborhood. And I'm thinking curry for dinner. : )

New bike

Branden has outgrown his bike. He hasn't received a new bike since the first grade! @_@ All his friends bikes have been replaced and they've been riding bigger ones. And finally I said to Noboru, you know we should replace it. When I mentioned it, then Noboru started taking notice of all Branden's friends bikes. He was surprised. He said, you're right, Branden's bike is the smallest. We must do something about it. So, for the past 2 weeks we've been looking for a new bike for Branden. We did drive to Toys R us. Unfortunately bikes in the size we needed, 26, we're slim pickings. So we headed to Aeon, again in that particular size maybe 2 choices were there. So we searched online. All of his friends think mountain bikes are cool. Branden thinks so also. So, we found Branden this mountain bike.

In a bright orange-y yellowish color. It has 18 gears and for boys they want lots of gears. All his friends have 7 or 8 gears so Branden was thrilled we found him one with 18 gears.

Noboru was happy he found Branden a bike with Shimano transmission.

Front and rear suspension. Branden's last bike didn't have this.

Branden's over the moon. And he's been using it since last week when he goes and plays with his friends. I did tell Branden, be conservative, don't go telling everyone about it or anything. And he is very conservative. A few of his friends from the neighborhood know because they saw him ride it and then they asked and Branden just said yes. And they're all really happy for Branden because they know he's been waiting for a long time for it. : ) And the price of the bike. It wasn't too expensive. They have this at Amazon.jp for 16,000 yen or something like that with free shipping, but Noboru actually found it cheaper and I think he got it for 14,000 yen from some other place online and with free shipping also. And Noah.....he still has his yellow bike he got from Santa (ahem)  and he also inherited Branden's old bike...and so he thinks he's Mr. Cool now because he says..."I have 2 bikes" Bless his heart. He doesn't mind used at all. : ) He's a good kiddo too. So he always keeps it positive.

And what are Branden and Noah doing this fine Saturday? Well, we did have our family breakfast today as usual. But also, Yuki called our house first thing this morning, he had his mom drop him off. And Branden, Noah and Yuki are now off down the rice field catching zarigani as I type. And after that they're going to be riding bikes.

Pizza Hut just opened in Narita about 2 weeks ago. Which that's pretty big news for us way here in the inaka. It's still too far for delivery because we don't live *that* close to Narita, to be included in the delivery area, lol. But we'll go and pick it up. Anyway, that's tonight's dinner plan... we will go and get some pizza from Pizza Hut and bring it home and have family movie night.

Ahh, the kids (Branden, Noah and Yuki) just came in the house for a pineapple popsicle, so I better go. ; )

These are so freaking good btw! : )

Snow White and the Huntsman

June 19th, in the day while the boys were at school, Noboru and I went on a date, we went to go see Snow White and the Huntsman. It was a pretty excellent movie. I thought Charlize Theron was AMAZING in this.

We are planning on taking the boys to see the Amazing Spiderman as soon as it comes out. So that will probably be the next movie we go and see.

By the way, speaking of upcoming movies, I keep seeing the previews for the movie, Ted. This looks hilarious!  And I also saw the previews for the Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn 2, coming in November (in the US, not sure when this comes out for us in Japan) it looks so good though! I can’t wait.

Onwards and upwards

Wednesday of this week, June 20th, was my last day working for the English school I worked for.

For now, I’m just going back to being a housewife and mother. If I decide down the road I want to start teaching here at my house a few lessons a week, that’ll be fine too, but for now, I’m happy I won't have the huge long commute anymore and I look forward to just staying in my town versus having a 2 full hour commute (1 hour each way).  And the title of this post is in reference to the commute not the teaching aspect. The teaching part I loved, it was the commute that was the killer for me. So onwards and upwards meaning...no more long commute for me. Ykwim. : )

I worked there happily for 1 year. However the drive to be honest with you was brutal. It was a 1 hour drive that way and a 1 hour drive back. Two hours round trip. So the driving and the distance of being actually THAT far away from home always bothered me and worried me, especially thinking about 3/11, what if disaster were to strike again, I shudder just thinking that. Somehow knowing I was indeed THAT great a distance away from my sons if anything god forbid did happen, I would be too far away to get to them. So that was always this little tiny worry for me in the back of my mind.

Also, for example before Noah graduated yochien. There was a flu going around the shogakko. Branden’s class was having many half days for 2 weeks straight almost daily. Twice during those 2 weeks, I was again 1 hour away. I meanwhile get a text message saying...all 4th graders get off at 11am. Parents must pick the kids up! Granted I picked Branden up every other single half day during those two week but yes 2 of those days I was very far away at work. The worry I felt in my heart, before I knew Noboru could indeed jump in and pick up Branden. Thank goodness Noboru was able to swing and get Branden. But again, for emergencies like that...here I am a full hours drive away.

I didn’t quit even though the driving was brutal because frankly, I love teaching. I love kids! Kids are so cool! And I really liked my working partner. But when she quit in the beginning of April. It was just not the same after she left.  But the distance I was away from home was the main reason. And let's face it....I was happy Noah finally was in school in our town, FINALLY. And after driving Noah to yochien in the city nearest us for 3 years straight 5 days a week. And now Noah is finally going to school in our town. yet here *I* was the one with the commute from heck. So yeah...I'd like to do less driving. So this was just the right time to switch.  Besides I only worked 2 days a month anyway. But yeah, now I don't have to think or worry about being that great a distance away anymore. And now I can be there if the boys need me.  And now that Summer is approaching, all the better. So lots of free time for me. ; ) Time to clean the house, organize all the meals, laundry. And all the other things I'm usually off doing in the day time.  So nothings really going to change too much really at all.

I do have to say, working mom's, they rock! Nothing but huge respect coming from me.  Anyway this is a good move for me. So please just be happy for me : )...no more long 2 hour roundtrip commute for me. Phew. And I left my job on good terms, I gave a month in advance notice actually 40 days in advance notice to be fair. They have a replacement so every things totally cool. And I feel really good about it. And they did understand, they know where my house is in comparison with the schools (both of them) and they do indeed know and acknowledge it was just too far. So no hard feelings either way.  : )

Father's Day

Branden and Noah baked this cake for Noboru for Father's Day. It was a yellow cake with delicious chocolate frosting, very simple but very good. This didn't last 24 hours in our house. Noboru loved it too much, so did the boys!

The weather for Father's Day in our neck of the woods was cloudy but it didn't rain. I had asked Noboru what he'd like to eat for Father's Day his choice, he said yakiniku, I said done! : ) However how would you like to spend actual Father's day? He said, "I'd really love to go fishing with the boys for an hour or so." I said,  "absolutely go as long as you want", so they went fishing Noboru and Branden and Noah until about 3pm. They made a whole day of it. Noboru was as happy as a clam going with the boys. Then they came home got cleaned up and we headed to have yakiniku around 4pm. We had so much beef! It was so good, we actually had 2 big platters. We also had veggies. Wrapped up our meat in lettuce leaves with rice. We had a drink bar. It was a very low key, Father's Day but a good one. One we all enjoyed.

Hi gorgeous!

 Anyway yeah it was a nice quiet simple Father's Day. And I was also happy we got to celebrate with my dad the week beforehand with the restaurant and also the ebi fry. So, I felt good, that both the guys in my life were well taken care of. : ) 

What we did while Branden was on his over night trip

So Noboru happened to be off work the day/night Branden was on his over night trip. Noboru suggested we keep busy, which was an excellent idea. When Branden had his yochien over night stay, I cried. I cried because it was the first time he ever slept away from home and I missed him  Branden dearly. Flash forward to Noah's yochien over night trip. I also missed him dearly. Granted no tears like how I had when Branden had his. And yes I felt foolish for crying after picking up Branden. I did wonder, why all the tears?! But, I just couldn't help it. So I did improve myself when Noah went on his over night stay. And Branden and I kept busy, I think we went to KFC and made a mother and Branden night at home just us two since Noboru was working. So flash forward to now. I survived both boys going on both their yochien over night trips. And I knew, I would absolutely survive Branden's 5th grade trip. So, yeah I think Noboru suggesting we keep busy was a fantastic idea. So we both made a plan to go and check out the Mega Don Quixote store, his friend has been raving about. So at 3pm, we picked up Noah from the plaza. And we said, we are going for a long drive. Noah was a bit surprised but up for it. We went and had ramen. Noah did his homework quickly while we waited for the ramen, he did it at the restaurant.

Noah blowing on his ramen. See the toy? Instead of it saying Fanta orange. It says Funta. And it is fun...it's a little fan. : ) It came with this toy with Noah's kids ramen meal.

My ramen. And the deep fried gyoza we all shared.

Noboru's coworker has been going on and on about how cheap this store is. How we must check it out. We did have some time to spare so we went to look around. Now to be fair maybe his coworker went to a different location, I don't know. but this one in particular wasn't all that great. And the prices on food were not as cheap as we thought. 36 yen per...umm not pound. Gram? or... anyway I said to Noboru, I pay 24 yen per whatever at my store I shop at. Noboru, said...yeah I know.  And it was many things. The jellos with fruit, my usual shop has them for 88 yen, here they were 98 yen. Just stuff like that. So, it was nice for his coworker to suggest this place. The positive is...he was trying to be helpful. So that was cool. Noboru and I just chalked it up to...maybe we just shop at a freakishly cheap store to begin with, who knows. However it must be said...we did need something to keep us busy last Wednesday evening so whether this was a great store or not, it did keep us busy.  And hey...at least we learned something. However....we saw signs in this city that said.... Seiyu this way...1 or 2 KM away follow this arrow. Type sign. And I thought to myself, you know Austina mentioned Reese's peanut butter cups like 2 months ago on her blog that she bought at Seiyu. We don't live remotely near one. So if we just accidentally happened to be near one, which we did last week, go figure. cool! So, I suggested to Noboru..."I heard Seiyu, has Reese's" he said, "we're in the area so.... let's check it out" Cool. So we did.

Huge parking lot, just like Walmart. There's some Walmart connection between Seiyu and Walmart, I forget what excatly but there's something (did Walmart buy Seiyu? I think so anyway...)...the city we used to live in had a Seiyu. Anyway, when we entered here you could see a Walmart influence. Noboru pointed at a pamphlet near the register and it had a Walmart logo on it.

We had time so we strolled down very aisle. And thank you they did have the Reese's. They also had mint Pocky. Think Girl Scouts thin mints type flavor or those Keebler grasshopper cookies plus add a pocky...these are so good! Anyway...

They had California shredded cheese. And not at Japanese prices. these were priced very fair. 195 yen? 210 yen, no more then that. We also bought taco shells.

Jams, 78 yen? 85 yen? Under 100 yen so that's why I got them. They also had a  good sized ladies section upstairs which I browsed and they also had a plus sized clothing department upstairs so, for anyone needing info on that I did walk by that area to get info to share on here.....and they go up to 5L. And they also had a wicked kids clothes section also. The kids stuff looks like stuff you'd find at Walmart in America they maybe just switched the sizes to CM. And same for the women's stuff.

This does not belong here...but I forgot to add this pic in the post about my dad. Sorry dad. He also brought me Italian breadcrumbs. I use these a lot at home. So, they will surely come in handy. 
Anyway, after Seiyu, we headed home.  We each bought a cold drink for the ride back home. For all that we did we still managed to come back at a reasonable time. Noah showered with dad quickly and right to dreamland Noah went. Next morning, I dropped Noah off at the front of the school versus the plaza. Just felt weird dropping him off to school without Branden.: ( Which is why I dropped him off at the front of the building. Also after school....Thursday is the day Branden walks down the hill with Noah, but Noah said, Branden won't be here right? I said that is right. I picked Noah up at the Plaza at 3pm minus Branden. And then we dropped his backpack and school stuff off at home and we walked down to the front entrance of our housing community to wait for the big bus to drop Branden off. Genki and Saya and Kouiki and a few others got off here also since they live at the same housing community as us. You know....between you and me, we did keep busy while Branden was away. We didn't dwell or be sad. But it was really nice to have Branden back the next day! : ) Yes it was! : )