Bits from our weekend. Going to the movies and also hitting the outlet mall...

How was every one's weekend? Ours was pretty awesome! It was such a relief to have an actual full weekend to ourselves meaning...not having to go or attend a town undokai/sports day or an actual elementary school sports day or a Culture Day, YKWIM. It's important for kids and parents too...to be able to get 2 days off a week to refresh...recharge. And start the school week yet again. So yeah...while we will *always* attend these events if our kids are in them and with a smile. It is certainly best to actually get a 2 day weekend. And just chill and relax a bit. So that being said. For us having a normal weekend. Thank the lord. And yes!!! Nice to just chill. Anyways...2 of the 5 DVDs arrived to my house via Amazon.com on Wednesday, October 11th. I have yet to see Everything, Everything. We will be watching that this weekend. So I am completely looking forward to it. Last Friday, we were all happy the weekend started. And enjoyed a nice dinner here at home. However we were all sorta tired. So we decided it was best to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Saturday. By the way, it's been raining in our town since last Friday. And it's raining even right now as I type. So non stop rain since last Friday. Friday we all just rested after dinner. Watched The Orville on TV after everyone took showers. Saturday. I baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I made a nice supper. And Saturday evening, we all popped some popcorn on the stove. And we watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. How did we like it? We loved it. It was honestly better than the first movie. : ) 

Yep, Everything, Everything was indeed a #1 New York Times best seller. I can't wait to watch this with the family this coming Saturday evening. : ) 

Annabelle Creation. Not sure if you can see the date on top in white above the poster? And yes, this movie might be long gone from movie theaters in America. But it barely just came to movie theaters October 13th. Ahem...or should I say...Friday The 13th??? Dundundun!!!! So for Americans in the US, this movie might be old and crusty and just about to be released o DVD... but for us in Japan, it's brand spanking new. So, on Wednesday October 11th, Noboru bought the 4 of us our movie tickets online for Sunday's movie showing. You have to pick your seats. If you are in Japan, then you know this. You just can't sit randomly anywhere in a movie theater. : ) So yep...we have been eagerly awaiting this movie to come out here and as soon as the movie seats and tickets were made available to purchase online, we did. We picked the 12 noon showing, Sunday October 15th. It is also important to note this movie is only being played at 3 places in Chiba prefecture. And 1 place in Ibaraki. As you know we live on the edge/border of Chiba and Ibaraki. And actual Chiba city or Ibaraki city...Ibaraki city is tons closer for us. So we went to the movie theater in Tsukuba City, since that is tons closer for us than Chiba City is. So fwiw, our closer/closest movie theater is in rural Ibaraki and that's the one we mainly go to. This movie theater we went to on Sunday was a different movie theater...and located in the bustling city of Tsukuba at a shopping mall. There's a movie theater in the mall. 

Concession stand. 

We picked 2 large half and half popcorn's and 4 medium drinks. The popcorn's are half caramel and half buttery salt and there is a cardboard divider separating the two types of popcorn.

We love when there are 2 side seats. We also prefer and pick those 2 seats. That way the kids can sit in front of us and we know that nobody can sit near them and we sit directly right behind them and we know that no stranger will sit near us either. So we love those seats and always pick to sit there. Anyway the movie was awesome. And it ended around 2pm. After the movie our plan was to head to the Ami Premium outlet. We wanted to get some jeans and winter clothes for Branden. 

Gap...

These are slim fit.The style of jeans.

And these are slim stretch. Branden tried on many different styles on Sunday. But he prefers the slim style and so he got 2 pairs of Gap jeans on Sunday. 

Two different shades of blue. Bran wears a school uniform, 5 days a week. So, I am relieved at least that now he has enough for a weekend. I do want Branden to get another pair of pants or jeans. But I am relieved at least that he has 2 new pair that he loves. 

Branden also got a new pair of Gap sweatpants and a new Gap long sleeve top. 

Also...for whatever reason... an usually high amount of Japanese high school and college aged girls and ladies (stylish moms) were buying men's sweatpants and not women's and no none of these ladies were big girls either...so it wasn't a size issue at all. @_@ Perhaps the girls sweats were too pink and stuff. I don't know the reason, I can only tell ya what I saw. The boys were basic and gorgeous and preppy colors. They came in 2 styles of navy and 2 shades of gray (one lighter and the other more of a darker charcoal gray) there was also a charcoal black (was the name on the tag), it looked like a light black... were the choices. So very wearable color choices. Perhaps why the ladies preferred these versus a pink pair with hearts on them. Anyways...after seeing the 4th skinny girl pick a pair of men's sweats. And after seeing Bran just try them on and see how cute they were with the words down one of the legs. I said to Noboru and Noah...I'm gonna go try a pair on.  And...I'm sorry... but they were just too cute for words. I picked a smaller size than Bran. But yep...I asked Bran if he minded if we could be twinsies? And he said...I don't mind at all. These were so popular at the Gap outlet. Are we done winter clothes shopping for the kids yet? Not yet. And we're going shopping for Fall/Winter clothes again this coming weekend too. Hopefully we can be done and get it all over with...as soon as humanly possible. It's not fun for any of us, having to waste a day in the dressing rooms but...it's just something we gotta do.  But...the weather has switched to cold. Remember how last time I said...Noah was wearing sweatshirts, but not needing to wear his new pants yet? Well...Friday the 13th morning...the weather outside was so cold that...it was the first official day Noah wore jeans, and a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. He hasn't needed to wear a coat just yet...but you know... he he a new one. From Gap at 45% off too. Anyways...hopefully the kids can get sorted and finished with winter clothes soon. 

There are many Ohsho restaurants in Chiba prefecture, but only 1 in Ibaraki. After finishing with shopping at the Gap outlet. We were all starving by then. And so we went and had Chinese food at the Ohsho, in Ibaraki. We didn't get home to near 7pm. Everyone took turns showering. And Branden went to his room to chill for the rest of the night. Noah went to his room. And I kicked it on the couch until bedtime, Noboru kicked it in the living room with me, watching TV too. How was our weekend? Pretty nice. We saw 2 new to us movies. We saw Guardians of the Galaxy part 2. We saw Annabelle Creation and we even managed to get Branden 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve top too. His size in tops is still a size large at American stores like the Gap. So...same size in tops as last year. So...he still has about 5 long sleeves in size large from last year, that are practically brand new, though he's still getting new ones too. And his legs/height has changed a lot since last year, though he was still tall last year too...Branden grows like a weed. So...he needed new jeans, the ones from last year were highwaters. He's already 5 foot 10 *and* a half and he's only 15 years old and *still* growing!!!!! He'll more than likely be 5 foot 11 by Thanksgiving, at the rate he's going . All the teachers at his school ask Branden...do you play American football? And his gym teacher asked Branden when he first saw him, do you lift weights??? And at the movies to watch Annabelle Creation the lady taking our tickets... flat out asked to see Branden's high school ID because she thought he was an adult!!!! Branden has a very American body frame, tall, broad shoulders and muscular, where as in Japan... Japanese guys tend to have very petite narrow extremely thin body frames. And that's fine too. But Branden has a very different body type than most Japanese 15 years old's for living in Japan. @_@  Anyways...long story short. A fantastic weekend. We're getting there regarding Fall/Winter clothes shopping for the kids. And we're still going for more shopping this coming weekend too.

Today's Tuesday. I did my weekly grocery shopping yesterday. I also scrubbed toilets and also did a load of laundry yesterday too. The jeans and sweatpants Branden just got from Gap, I washed on the fast cycle and dried them so he can wear them anytime now. We had chicken chow mein last night (Monday). And tonight, I am making karaage (Tuesday). Tomorrow we're having curry soup (Wednesday) I prepare that like nabe in the center of the kitchen table, the family loves when we eat dinner like that. And the day after we're having tacos, ground beef and also chicken ones too (Thursday). Friday will be homemade cheeseburger night to kick off the start of the weekend.

I have a load of bath towels in the dryer as I type. And a load of clothes in the washer. I also washed both Branden and Noah's bedding on Saturday afternoon. I have been washing every one's bedding weekly now that my washing machine is big enough. 

Town Undokai...

Sunday, October 8th was our town's sports day/undokai. Yes that means the kids in our town have 2 sports days a year. 1 for all elementary school students PLUS town undokai. And same for the local one and only JHS they have their regular JHS undokai and also have to attend town undokai too. If you don't show up, you will be marked absent. The bright side is you get off school on Tuesday. So that's sort of nice. JHS kids have to stay from like 7am to 5pm-ish. I remember this when Bran was in JHS. But elementary kids need to be there only from 9am to 11:30am. And elementary kids only have 1 event. Noah's grade did a basketball race and as soon as that was over and done with, we were allowed to leave and go home. So 9am to 11:30am is not too terribly bad at all. Because this is town undokai. You *must* sit according to neighborhood. Where you live dictates where you can sit. We live in a newer housing community and so our "housing community" has their own 2 tents (1 for JHS kids and 1 for elementary kids) and we all sit behind our housing community's tent. The other housing communities have their own tents and they do the same. The older parts of town also have their own communities too and they sit behind their own tents too. Meals/lunches are bought courtesy from where you live. We live in our housing community and we pay month's HOA fees (homeowners association fees) so because we do that...we can order up to 4 obento if we decide and it will be paid for totally 100%. They pass around the monthly kairanban/information booklet a month in a advance and you can order however many lunches you want, but they know how many family members are in each house. I packed my kids sandwiches. And I made myself a salad. An easy town undokai meal. And my husband absolutely looks forward to the seafood/fish obento. So he always orders two meals. And so he feasts on fish on town undokai day. Hahaha. : ) Here is a pic of Noah and his 6th grade friend and classmate sitting in the same area and that's because he lives in our same housing community too. The older JHS boys sitting near Noah but on the older kids JHS leisure sheet also live in the same housing community as us too. 

All kids regardless of which grade do warm up exercises. You can see Noah in his bright colored New Balance sneakers warming up in this particular picture.

Noah and 3 of his classmates ran this race together. You have to run and then at a certain point you have to pick up a basketball and start bouncing it down your running lane.

Branden and I were standing on the sidelines next to eachother cheering on Noah. Go Noah go!!!!! And Noboru was meanwhile video taping Noah run his race on the other side of the field.

Noah came in first place! Branden was so proud. We all were! Good job Noah. We love you!

After Noah's race, we stayed for lunch and after lunch we packed up and went home. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying our Sunday at home. For dinner we decided to go to Narita City to our nearest pizza place and bring home some Domino's. 4 large pizzas. We had a pizza party here at the house. And because Monday was a national holiday in Japan, Branden and Noah did not have school that Monday. And Tuesday Noah didn't have school either, because he had town undokai. So all in all, Sunday was really nice. We did have sports day, but it was really low key. We didn't have to wake up super early either. An excellent Sunday October 8th and super low key town undokai. : ) 

Bits and Pieces...

What have we been watching on TV here at our house? Lots! There are so many new good TV shows out now and also some older shows in new seasons. One brand new show that I totally love is a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory. Usually spin-offs are not nearly as good as the original. But this one, I like. It's about Sheldon Cooper's life when he was little. How he grew up. If you have ever seen The Big Bang Theory then you already know Sheldon is a genius and he's very square. The show is called "Young Sheldon." He has 2 siblings. 1 brother and 1 sister. And he's only 9 years old, but a genius and so he was bumped up to high school. And his older brother who is actually in high school pictured on the left of this picture. Is a typical kid and dreading his genius nerdy young brother to go to his high school. Their dad is the football coach at the same high school. And his older brother is on the football team. 

His mom is played by a different actress than the actress playing his mom on the Big Bang Theory. But this actress does a great job. She asked her family to join her at church during dinner the night before. The husband made up an excuse why he couldn't attend church. The daughter made up an excuse too. And the football playing older brother also made up an excuse. But young Sheldon said he would love to go to church with his mom, who he clearly adores. The sister said..."Sheldon you don't believe in God, why are you going to church?" And young Sheldon said without missing a beat ...."I don't, but I do believe in mom so I'm going" So here is the pic of young Sheldon at church with his mom. 

Sheldon's first day at high school. He memorized the dress code of what's allowed and what's not!!! He raised his hand. And pointed out about 9 kids in class that he felt were in violation of the dress code. And then he raised his hand again and said...the teacher was also in violation too because she has a slight mustache and facial hair is in strict violation of the dress code. Hahaha! : )

Another brand new show debuting for the Fall Season is a show called The Good Doctor. The Good Doctor is played by the same actor who played Norman Bates in the TV show based on the movie Psycho, simply called Bates Motel,that ended in the Spring, his real name is Freddie Highmore. The Good Doctor's character is Dr. Shaun Murphy. If he looks familiar to you, you might remember him as Charlie...in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake with Johnny Depp. In The Good Doctor he plays a brilliant surgeon who also has a very high functioning degree of autism. However it doesn't stop or hinder the fact that he's nearly a freaking genius and can diagnose patients faster than other doctors. He's kind and soft spoken. The head of the hospital is his biggest supporter. But there is another doctor who doesn't think Dr. Shaun Murphy should be a doctor at all. He gives him all the crap jobs at the hospital. He treats him like crap and for now Shaun is taking it. Also, Dr. Shaun Murphy is all alone in the world, he has absolutely no family or anything, he has no one. My entire family immediately fell in love with this show. We watch this every week and cheer on Dr. Shaun Murphy!!! What else have I been enjoying on TV? Mondays, we usually watch 90 Day Fiance. My Giant Life and a new show called Ghosted. Tuesdays we watch Young Sheldon and the Good Doctor. Wednesday's, I watch American Horror Story Cult. Thursdays we watch the Blacklist. And Friday's we watch the Orville. I also still watch the Little Women shows. Right now the new season for Little Women Dallas has started again. So we're watching that too. So while...I'm no couch potato, at the end of a busy day it is most definitely nice to sit down after supper and dinner clean up and after showers and sit down and relax and watch a TV show or two.

Also have been doing Fall cleaning. Plus the regular weekly 4-5 days a week of house cleaning. This was snapped the day, I scrubbed all the window sill areas. Now that the weather has cooled off. The cool weather dry days, I will open the windows and recirculate some air. But if it's too hot or too cold, I won't and we'll use either central air or central heat, though we haven't had to use the heater yet. However I need the window area clean. And they get super grimy each month and so need to be wiped down once a month. 

Also pulled out 2 pair of my Fall/Winter boots. I sprayed them with waterproof spray when I first bought them last year. And I will spray them every year that I own them. To keep them looking nice. And free of water spots. I sprayed them down last week in the backyard.

Bought some cute Halloween napkins. The top pack came from Seria which is a 100 yen shop. And the bottom 2 packs came from the Daiso, which is also a 100 yen shop too. They all sell different varieties. And it's nice to have variety. : ) I pack 1 napkin each in both my boys lunches Monday-Friday. : )

Oops, we did it again. : ) We BBQ-ed outside in our backyard. We had this BBQ, October 1st, the day after Bran's Culture Day. As you know we BBQ a lot. Again...we make our BBQ's ultra simple. So we do them very often. This night we all had BBQ chicken. The kids and I had chicken breasts. And Noboru had thighs. We BBQed them with just salt and black pepper and when they were done, we brushed some Yoshida's sauce on them. I also microwaved 4 giant potatoes. They were all soft, but I had Noboru take them outside for the last 10 minutes, 5 minutes on each side. The potatoes got nice and crispy skin and gave a fantastic flavor to the potatoes. We also had macaroni salad and regular salad too. I also made 2 cups of white rice in the rice cooker for whoever wanted some. Noboru wanted some, so I was glad I made the rice too. : ) 

A pic of my breakfast from this morning. A bowl of peanut butter cereal. 1 slice of bakery bread toasted with some butter. 1 small banana and 1 cup of coffee that tastes like a cinnamon roll. : )

Noah is off school today. Sunday was town undokai/sports day. And so all schools in this town have the day off. Noah won't go back to school until Wednesday. Branden meanwhile was off yesterday because it was a holiday. But he's at school today.

What else have we been doing? I placed an order of DVDs/movies from Amazon.com. They haven't gotten here yet. The kids don't know what I picked for them, but I picked. Guardian's of the Galaxy Volume 2 (part 2 basically), Transformers The Last Knight and Spiderman: Homecoming. I meanwhile picked for myself 2 movies. Everything Everything. This was a popular book made into a movie and I can't wait to see it. And the other movie is called The Big Sick. The Big Sick looks so funny to me. It's about a Pakistan born comedian, named Kumail. Who starts dating a white girl, named Emily. And there's culture clash. I saw the previews and after they spend 1 night together. He would like to talk and cuddle, but she just tries to leave his apartment immediately. And she says...I'm gonna call an Uber and go. And so she gets her phone and rings for the nearest Uber driver to come and get her. And on his night stand his cellphone starts pulsating. And he says...Let me put my pants on and I'll drive you home! Ha! That's funny! It's downright hilarious actually. Very smartly written. I have been wanting to see this movie all summer. I have no idea when this movie will ever reach Japan. But I wanted to see this. And this looks like a movie I would see again and again. I love smart witty romantic comedies. This looks like such an authentic love story. And it is... because the person playing Kumail is actually Kumail and he wrote this about his real life love story. So, I am so happy it's coming to my house soon. : ) Also...his parents want him to meet and marry a woman from his country, Pakistan. And they keep bringing  girl after girl to his house. Kumail's parents really don't seem on board about their relationship. And at the same time Emily's parents aren't really crazy about them dating either. And then Emily gets sick and ends up in a medically induced coma. And Kumail is left dealing with her parents. And again...I haven't seen it. Have absolutely no idea how it ends. Hope she lives and they end up getting married. But I can barely wait for whenever the delivery man brings this movie to my house. 

Fall clothes shopping for the boys...

Where did I last leave off....regarding Fall and Winter clothes shopping for the boys? That's right. Like I said, I start in September and slowly get both the boys ready. Bit by bit. So by the time it finally gets down right chilly. My kids will be ready. Remember Branden and Noah each picked out 2 sweatshirts from the Gap store in September. And that's what you see here hanging outside one day in September. I put them in the quick wash. Air dried and they're hanging in both of their closets. For whenever it's cold enough, they can pull them out and have them. Fresh and clean and ready to wear! 

Also Noah's 4 new pair of jeans, I also washed on the quick setting and hung to dry. They are also in his pants drawer and although he hasn't worn his jeans just yet. They will be waiting for...whenever he decides it's chilly enough to wear them. Noah has been using his sweatshirts though already. : ) 

Although Branden did get a new pair of Vans for this season already. Noah needed a new pair of sneakers. He's officially wearing adults sneakers now. No more kids sizes for him. This is a first for Noah. Anyways...we fell in love with this sneaker. The 25cm was too small. We loved this shoe, but wanted the 25.5, we tried it in the black pair on the right pictured... that was the same exact model just different color.  Also important to note...before we purchase anything in person... we always check Amazon.jp first. Because if you can find it cheaper online...cool! These were 6300 yen at the store but only 4200 yen at Amazon. That's about a 2000 yen or US$20 savings. So we went home after deciding on which size we wanted. And ordered these at home. And because we got 2000 yen off because we opted to buy from Amazon. Noah was able to get 2 pair of shoes same style just 2 different colors. We saved 4000 yen on both pairs. So...yeah we were very happy about the huge savings in money because we opted to buy online at Amazon. 

School socks for Bran. 6 extra pair was a good idea. 

School socks for Noah. And since his shoes are 25.5. We picked Noah adult men's socks now. But very cute ones and they were like 280 yen for a pack of 3. So very good deals. 9 pair of socks for Noah. 

4 new pair of undies for Noah. Can't believe he's wearing 170 cm undies now. I personally find kids undies run small. This size fits him perfectly. 

Noah's shoes came fast. 

Lime and navy New Balance sneakers. 

Exactly what we wanted and a US$20/2000 yen savings? Smartest idea ever to buy from Amazon. Versus in the store. And no...I am not an Amazon Prime member or anything. I'm just a regular member. Fwiw. : )

This says orange/black. But they're orange and navy. Believe me...I checked. Also, I noticed during undokai, that bright sneakers at our school seem to be super popular this year for boys. So...with the savings from buying online...Noah was lucky to get 2 new pair of brand name sneakers for Fall/Winter. 

What very pretty sneakers. And these were not even available at the store we looked at. But they were however available online. Noah loves this pair the most!!! But he is alternating between both pairs of his New Balance sneakers.

This was that quick meal, I mentioned on my Costco cart pic blog. What I made with the rotisserie chicken. Everyone got some slices of rotisserie chickens. A good amount. And some Spanish rice. Some shredded cheese, some lettuce and sour cream and salsa. And we wrapped up our food with flour tortillas as we ate. It was so delicious. And quite healthy having a roasted chicken. And a very easy meal to pull together in no time. : )

Anyways, we're still not finished with the kids Fall and Winter clothes shopping just yet. But we're getting closer. 

Recent Costco cart pics...

September 25th. Both the kids were at school. I had been awake since 4:40am, but didn't get out of bed until 4:50am. Made and packed 2 lunches. Got myself ready and dressed. And since the cheap price.. but amazing quality meat store in Inzai opens bright and early at 8:30am. I had first went and bought my pumpkin from the same store, but in the flower shop department first. Quickly put the pumpkin in the car, went back inside the store and was going down the meat section with my cart. Grabbed what I needed according to my weekly menu that I wrote down the day before. And was in and out by 9:30am. I was now waiting in front of Costco and as soon as they opened, they always open a little early, I grabbed my cart and got my stuff and checked out. I had a slice of pizza for a very early lunch and zipped back home. You can see by looking at these pics that the store between 10am and 10:45am is dead. After 12 noon it gets packed. So...imo...shop first thing in the morning. If you'd like peace and quiet and to get your stuff and go. Which is what I prefer. : )

Dead as a door nail. Which I love!!!! 

Such quiet. I always go before 11am. In fact...I'm always on my way home by the time 11 am rolls around.

Seats for days. Best time ever.... to do your shopping. : )

Chips variety pack. Eggs. 2 packs of bacon. A 3 pack of Ragu pasta sauce. Tortillas. A rotisserie chicken this one I made a Mexican meal out of this chicken on this day. Kind of like soft tacos, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, Spanish rice the whole shebang, they were amazing.

This means twice during the month of October we will be enjoying some nice crispy bacon for a leisurely weekend breakfast.

Case of mugicha. It's just cheaper at Costco than at any store I have price compared/checked.

I always like to have 4 large frozen pizzas in my freezer for a weekend afternoon in case my boys get hungry. And aren't feeling like Mac and Cheese or a sandwich or a cup of noodle. 

At my cheap meat store in Inzai, they have been selling these cookies for 400 yen for a pack of 50 cookies, this is a way bigger amount than what they sell at Kaldi. These are cinnamon-y and taste a little bit like gingerbread. They're really good, perfect for Fall. My kids love these. Anyway that's it's for now...

Also wanted to add. This weekend is a 3 day weekend, meaning no school for kids in Japan this coming Monday. It's a holiday in Japan, so the kids do not have school this coming Monday. Neither of my kids have school this Monday. Have an awesome weekend you guys! : )