demo and paint prep

this house was a rental property and at first glance, looks pretty good.. upon closer inspection, the painting is sloppy and the carpentry is a bit shoddy.. while the structure is sound, (it's a good house), it seems that minimal effort was put into it.. kitchen cabinets cobbled together (from another rental) to fit the space so that things seemed off center and crammed in.. fortunately for me there are only 5 or 6 cabinets to replace.. anyway, what i thought would be a little cleaning, a little painting, redo the kitchen.. is turning into more renovation than i initially planned.. it's a good thing, really..

meanwhile... in the bathroom... the bathroom is a patchwork of colors.. white tiles around the green 😛 tub, greenish bluish tiles halfway up the walls in the rest of the room.. baseboard heat behind the toilet (why?), another small piece behind the door..  so rather than taking on the difficult task of trying to match the current paint color... why not just remove the tile, so much easier..

this place is starting to look like a construction site

yesterday, in the words of marc g. (painting for me), was a "kick ass" day.

my family and friends came over in the morning and covered all the floors with plastic sheeting, then proceeded to sand walls and baseboard heaters... their generous time and effort will save me $$.. marc g.  also appreciated the help, now he can/was able to, concentrate on filling nail holes and other imperfections (he is a perfectionist 😁) on the walls and ceilings.. it's going to be like new..

he said it was a real timesaver have many helpers, so thank you marc, debbie, kevin, dougie, jesse, devin, laurie, jessica, patty and ray...

patty and ray,

thank you for picking up pizza, chips and drinks and for running to the store for more supplies

a new project

so many things.. 

resulting in a new place to live..

this is going to be, hopefully, a fun and not too much time and bank account consuming process..

my new little, and i mean little, house is going to get some new paint and a new little kitchen and a new floor in the basement

kitchen removed.. i didn't take pictures of the old kitchen..oops

thank you in advance to everyone who has offered their services 

august 20, 2016

today i head back to reality..

it has been such a swell time...

the first couple of weeks it was just me and the boys, casey and chieko were still working..

we didn't do too much, it's been SO hot, the usual routine was.. 

me waking up at 5-5:30 and having my coffee on the front porch, rain or shine !!

it's a great porch..

ray almost always woke up in time for our radio taiso..

i did let him sleep a couple of times, but he was always a bit disappointed when i did.

leo is a night owl and we didn't even try to get him to go with us..

after our "work out", we'd come back and sit with the laptop and iPad, entertaining ourselves till the parents woke up and made us put them away ;-)

 

we tried to get to the playground a little bit each day, before it was too hot to touch the monkey bars or slide down the slide

or breathe the air..

we picked berries and vegetables from the garden, 

the boys played with their water blasters

we made cookies...

once casey started his vacation we started getting out of the house,

lots of beach time.. 

the bug museum...

some shopping..

a visit to a farm, a light house

costco!

we made brownies and banana bread...

more beach time 

we went to several different beaches, some with big waves, some with small waves.. it was fun, the water was wicked salty and cool, so refreshing on these hot, hot days..

poor ray got stung by jelly fish yesterday, on his face and leg.. apparently they make their appearance around the time of obon.. casey got stung on the leg as well, at a different beach, a couple of days before

chieko had some time off as well, for obon and she took a few extras days afterwards, so she was able to join us on several outings

we went out for a delicious dinner last night..

it was a buffet restaurant, farm to table, featuring japanese food (of course)

we ate until ray and i had "food babies" (thanks for that term, gina, if you're reading this), our bellies were so full..

thank you casey, chieko, ray and leo, for making me feel so welcome, as always, and letting me stay for so long, again...

i love you 

xo

july 27, 2016

i've been here for a week!

i arrived tuesday evening after uneventful (thankfully) flights.

thank you, cheryl, for the ride to the airport

there were no lines checking in or going through security.

i was a little concerned that i might not have enough time, between flights, to get through customs and get to the domestic terminal at haneda airport in tokyo.

 i usually fly into narita airport, so i know which way to head when i clear customs...

although i am not familiar with haneda, it was very easy.. i was able to recheck my bag (as well as one of my carry ons), so i only had my backpack, before boarding a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal..

the nice thing about short layovers, (if you don't worry so much about missing your flight) is that boarding starts almost immediately when you get to your gate!

ray still had one day of school before his summer break started, leo was at daycare, so i had wednesday to myself to unpack and store my stuff...

radio taiso started on thursday.. ray and i walk down to the community center, at 6:30 a.m., monday through friday (weather permitting), for a 10ish minute exercise program.. leo says he wants to come to, but he has been too sleepy so far. ( he is not going to daycare while i am visiting :-) )

monday everyone was asleep, except me, and i wasn't going to go by myself!! yesterday it rained.. we were back to it this morning, though

pictures from one of our daily trips to the playground at the community center

leo "i'm gonna cut this tree"

ray, frustrated because he cannot do a pullover ( yet;-) )

thursday august 20th

so it was actually wednesday the 12th when i arrived, due to the long flight and the time travel.. 

japan is 13 hours ahead of cape cod, time-wise..

i pretty much unpacked and went to bed

thursday we went to the dinosaur museum...

it was pretty crowded because it was a holiday, obon, where many people go back to their hometowns to honor their ancestors.. at least that is my understanding.. so no work + no school = crowded dinosaur museum, especially the "dino store"

i don't remember the exact days, but so far we have 

-had dinner at coco's (ray's favorite family restaurant) 

-bought a new pool and cooled off in it

-gone to the beach for some fun in the sun and sand, there is also a playground near the beach entrance where we played and had ice cream (well the kids did)

-another dinner out to say farewell to one of casey's coworkers

the boys and chieko returned to school and work this week, casey is working from home..

the weather has been much better than when i was here in august 2 years ago...i was NOT looking forward to the humidity, but it is not nearly as uncomfortable this year.. i am sitting on the porch as i type, enjoyed a pleasant breeze and temperature.. all and all it has all right!!

japan 2015

yikes!! it's been a year since i posted!! 

obviously the only part of my life that i feel is worth sharing...

my trips to japan

so here we go...

i left the u.s. on august 11th.. my flight was scheduled for 6 a.m.   ray and patty had been visiting since the saturday before and offered to bring me to the airport, (thank you)... we figured we'd leave the house at 2 a.m.  ... well 2:45 still got us to boston in plenty of time... you wouldn't think the airport would be all that crowded at 4 in the morning, but you'd be wrong!!

american airlines has a different bag drop system than the ones i'd used before, (i had printed my boarding pass the day before) you print out your own luggage tags at the kiosk.. i got all the way to the counter and had to start over, only some of the kiosks were working properly so that was a little frustrating..

once we were boarded we were told that there was weather in new york so we couldn't take off.. we sat for about an hour, i had a 2 hour layover so it was going to be fine..but once we got there, we couldn't land... when we finally landed about 1/2 hour later, my next flight was at another terminal...i was near the back of the plane, i walked as fast as i could, i had to wait for the train... i missed my flight.... by 5 minutes... the woman at the counter said.. "we were paging you".. i said "my flight was delayed".. "2 people from your flight got here"...well i'm sorry, they must have been closer to the front and had longer legs and run and made the previous train... anyway, they put me on the next flight to tokyo, taking off 3 or 4 hours later, so my next layover was in the u.s. instead of in japan so that was okay.. it still left me enough time to get through customs or immigration or whatever it is, get my luggage and get to the domestic terminal in tokyo and make my flight to komatsu... guess what?!  the flight from jfk to tokyo was delayed as well... i figured i'd be spending the night at the airport...but i had a whole hour once we landed.. 

while i was waiting for my luggage, a japan airlines employee came along with a sign with my name on it... she was there to show me the way to the bus that would take me to the domestic terminal.. arranged by the woman at jfk.. it saved me some time, i would have had to find the information booth, at the very least, to find out where to go.. so i got to there with enough time to sit and enjoy my favorite royal milk tea... my ritual while waiting for my flight to komatsu.. i usually have hours to spare... and believe or not.. my flight to komatsu was also delayed!!  we boarded on time, but again, had to wait to take off... i fell asleep, when i woke up and saw we were on the ground, i wasn't sure if we had just landed or what... we were still in tokyo, getting ready to take off.. i went back to sleep..

my boy and grandboys were waiting for me, as usual, on the other side of the glass, when i arrived.. it was a long day, but always worth it

august 1, 2014

good morning jet lag!!  i thought i was going to avoid you this time around... hah!

okay, let's see if i can remember what's gone on since last week...

last saturday, the 26?, casey went to lunch with a friend of his and came back with one of his coworkers and her mom and daughter.. they are from vietnam and brought all of the ingredients to make us pho... i had never had it before, it was delicious..

sunday i packed and repacked.. weighed and reweighed my suitcase... i may have mentioned that, somehow or other, i was able to check 2 free bags on my flight from boston to komatsu and again from komatsu to chicago... i used milage points for my flights and my return flight ended in chicago so i had to book a seperate flight to boston... i could not check 2 bags free on that flight so one of thosed checked bags needed to turn into carry on...tricky... it all worked out..

chieko and the darlings took the day off on monday, to take me to the airport... casey was able to get the morning off, so it was not a big rush to get ready in the morning.. he also weighed my bag again for me and loaded everything into the car before he left for work..

i was sad to leave of course.. i would stay forever if i could

there was a young woman sobbing practically the whole way from komatsu to tokyo.. i gave her tissue.. she was leaving japan after 2 years of teaching.. she couldn't say enough nice things about japan.. i felt really bad for her..  i know i will return and she did not..

the line at immigration, in tokyo was so long i thought i might miss my flight to chicago... i had just over an hour and i spent at least 45 minutes in line, watching the time..  i made it just in time.. they were starting to board when i got to my gate..

the  flight was long, uneventful.. i slept some...  when i got to chicago i had 3+ hours to go through customs, get my bags and check in at jet blue... no hurry..  so i get to the jet blue kiosk and start to check in and i see that my flight has been changed from 6:35 to 9:15... what??!!.. i went up to the counter to see if there was another flight i could get on and he said that was the only one... so i sat.. i dozed.. i got some french fries at mcdonalds.. i sat... flight ended up leaving at 9:58 central time.. arrived in boston at 1 am... asleep at 3 and up at 7!

i have been going to sleep early and waking up the last couple of mornings around 3.. it will pass, i know, and it's worth it to spend time in japan with the family...

so, anyway.. while i was away we had an offer on the house that has been for sale off and on for 7 years... signed the purchase and sale agreement on tuesday... doug went to court to have the deadbeats living in the rental property evicted.. he won, so hopefully they will be out soon... good news..

july 25, 2014

this week has been very low key.. just me and the darlings hanging out, not doing much.. we went for a short walk along the path leading through the woods behind the houses across the street... we made a cake... we blew bubbles on the porch yesterday, it was raining.. ray has been drawing pictures for me to "take to america".. he loves to draw, nanny thinks he is pretty good at it too!

it has been pretty warm the last few days and casey said it is supposed to get really hot today.. i'd like to get some outside time in this morning, before it gets too bad... mornings tend to be lazy (i like it) so it will probably be noon before  everyone is dressed and ready to get moving!!

i am coming up on the end of my vacation.. the time has flown (for me) as usual.. i think i heard talk of another barbecue this weekend, i'm not sure..

did i mention that casey grew corn in his fantastic garden.. it was so sweet and delicious... i have never eaten corn so fresh... i am going to make a tomato pie for dinner, using some of the tomatoes he picked this morning.. he is a regular farmer

july 22, 2014

saturday was a beautiful day.. chieko and i took the boys to a kiddie pool for a couple of hours in the morning.. it is only for little kids, not even elementary school age kids can go.. i think the deepest part was up to my knees.. they had a great time and since it was lunchtime when we left, we went to mcdonalds for lunch 😳.. i had a blt..with pesto...don't think that's on the menu where i live.. they also had shrimp burgers...

saturday night was another barbecue with neighbors.. i am so happy to know that casey, chieko and the kids have, once again, moved into a neighborhood with such nice, nice people.. i love their old neighbors and the old neighborhood, but it's nice that ray and leo have kids around... i thought it was going to be just one or two families, but it turned into 6 or 7 familes with their children.. it was quite a crowd, but not as big as the july 4th bash!😳😳

sunday was neighborhood clean up day.. i was going to help, really, i was, but chieko said it was just a smallish clean up.. she thought only the playground (it has been mowed and weed whacked a couple of times since i've been here so i don't know what they were going to do).. anyway she said she was going to go by herself, it was going to be easy... she was gone about an hour.. they also spend time weeding the grass that was growing in the cracks between the street and sidewalks.. all along the street, not just in front of the playground.. such care in the way the whole neighborhood looks, a real community effort, wouldn't that be nice at home...

it was also recycling day, so casey and chieko did that, then went to an open house nearby to check out a house that has been under construction..

sunday afternoon chieko and i went shopping and left the darlings with casey.. i picked up a few things and we stopped at the grocery store on our way back home.. casey was hoping we'd get back before dark so he could go for a run.. we did..

monday was ocean day, a national holiday... we went to the beach.. there were only a handful of people there.. one family was huddled in a beach tent!... the water was warm, but i didn't bring a bathing suit so i just waded a bit.. casey swam with the boys, chieko took pictures.. apparently there was a sign up that said it was not a swimming beach(?), so there were no lifeguards, no bathrooms and no showers!!  there was an awesome playground though.. fenced in with climbers and swings and slides and a huge grassy area for running around and throwing frisbees or whatever.. we got some kakigori (shaved ice) before going back home... it was another awesome day..

casey made gazpacho with some of the garden harvest...

july 18th 2014

wow, i cannot believe it is friday already.... let's see... it has been a pretty low key week.. the darlings did go to school yesterday.. they went swimming and came home with curry packs (the flavor base, just add meat, vegetables and water) and bottles of water.. the curry here is more of a stew flavor and consistancy..

since i was alone here for the day, i did some chores, made a chickpea salad and watched "call the midwife" for hours and hours on netflix.  i also took a nap...

casey's garden is producing faster than we can comsume everything.. i'll have to google some tomatoes recipes!... he has a ton of cucumbers too.  we have had eggplant and corn (so good).. ray and i have been able to harvest a handful of peas every couple of days, which he pretty much justs eats raw as we walk or sit on the porch.. i think we cooked them one time, when i first got here.. they are mostly gone by now..

casey is off today and we may do something touristy, but he is fighting a cold or something so we may just hang around here, which is also fine..

more friends are coming over tomorrow and monday is a national holiday.. ocean day... so casey and chieko are both off.. also the start of my last week here, boo!

july 14th, 2014

the humidity has mostly gone away (for now) and the temperature has been perfect.. rain, but that's okay..

saturday was a really great, lazy day... for me.. casey spent part of the morning raking away some of the gravel in the side yard, to make space for more grass... then he, ray and i went to the home center to buy sod and sand and fertilizer... ray and i went to the pet section while casey gathered some of those things.. (he didn't like the look of the sod so we went to another home center for that).. there were several kittens and puppies.. there were bunnies and ferrets and chipmunks.. and fish and crabs and turtles.. quite a selection.. casey said they had monkeys when they first opened...

after the home center we went to the grocery store.. i wanted to buy fruit for a fruit salad, guests were coming for brunch on sunday.. the quality of fruit is excellent,  but the quantity/packaging is small and the price is high.. i love the grocery stores here.. even the marked down produce is fresh.. nicer than some of the fresh fruit and vegetables i often find at home.. you wouldn't find a squished or moldy berry hiding in the container, maybe that's why it's small containers of quality goods...

when the grass was laid down and the day was done, casey made a lovely fire in the pit/grill and we had wine and toasted marshmallows... the boys lit off some fireworks (sparklers and such).. they sell them everywhere here

some friends/coworkers of casey and chieko came over for brunch on sunday.. it was a feast.. there were 5 adults, 2 kids and 1 baby... more than enough food was prepared and consumed.. french toast (with real maple syrup), scrambled eggs, bacon (from america), homefries (potatoes from the garden) fruit salad, yogurt and of course.. mimosas

i wish i could still post pictures on this blog

the rest of the day was spent just hanging around.. lovely

my darlings are up now, gotta go

friday july 11, 2014

no typhoon here.. no complaints.. we are having a lovely, cool, rainy morning.. i am sitting on the porch enjoying the breeze and much cooler temperature... i have been fooled before by the morning weather..

if it stops raining and the temperature doesn't soar, we will get out for a nice walk.. i am not familiar with this new neighborhood and it is hilly.. the old neighborhood was flat so even if i walked or rode the bike far (for me anyway), there was always a familiar landmark for me to head towards.. i haven't even been out in the car much to familiarize myself with the area, casey and chieko are both working and usually pick up any groceries on their way home, but i am not scared!

when we were at the 100 yen shop the other day, i bought some toy cups/plates/chopsticks/food etc for the darlings.. they have been having fun "preparing" tea and hotdogs and serving them to us.. ray  made many many origami bats and paper airplanes with his new origami paper and enjoyed cutting up pages from the sky mall magazine (they always say it complimentary and please take it, so i did.. does anyone ever buy anything from sky mall?)...they both spent a lot of time drawing..

one of the neighbors was out front admiring the garden while ray and i were on the porch sharing a bottle of juice and leo was napping.. she started talking to me and of course i had to use my most often used japanese phrase (i don't understand)...so she came up to the porch and apologized that she only spoke a little english.. she said to tell my son that the garden was beautiful and i found out that she is a retired librarian she loves agriculture (gardening) and has been enjoying it since she retired a year ago.. she has either 2 daughters and one son or 2 granddaughters and one grandson... or 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren one of them a boy... she also told me she was taking a walk and she lives up the hill....at least that's what i think she told me..😁

chieko had a 2 hour (?) work party last night and casey and the boys dropped her off there last evening, she was getting a ride home afterwards.. the good citizens i have met here will not have even 1 alcoholic beverage and drive.. very commendable... ray fell asleep on the way back so i told casey to put him on my futon, it was all set up and the tatami room was cooler than his bedroom upstairs.. he slept there all night, he is a restless sleeper.. vertical, diagonal, horizontal.. repeat.. pull the covers off of nanny.. i ended up arranging some floor cushions for myself and grabbing another blanket..

today we will bake bread.

july 9th 2014

monday the little darlings went to school/daycare for 1/2 a day then chieko picked them up and brought them to me.. she realized that if she wanted to actually eat during her lunch break that that wasn't going to work, soooo... she told school that it was likely that they'd be absent for the duration of my visit.. yay...  they had eaten already so it was pretty much nap time when they got here around 1..but first we made cookies..

tuesday turned hot and humid... eeks.. it brought back memories of last august.. we took a walk to the little playground down the street but it was too hot to stay long.. one of the slides, (metal) was hot enough to burn flesh, so it was not an option for playing..we found a couple of frogs, one of which jumped onto ray's nose!! he thought that was hilarious!   leo ran to the edge of the playground when i blinked.. he was sitting under some low tree branches wearing a green tshirt so i didn't see him.. there are several ways for him to escape the grounds there but before i started to panic i saw him, just sitting there watching me.. the little "angel".. never responded to me calling his name... anyway, neither of them wanted to swing or climb so we headed back to the house after a short while... when we got back home i was unpacking my little bag with the water bottles and realized leo was not in the room... again, i called his name.. no response.. i thought i had locked the door when we came in (i am learning) but i must not have pulled the door tight because when i looked outside he was half way down the walkway... out i ran, barefoot, because this is japan and i had taken my shoes off, down the gravel (ouch) walkway...i caught him before he got to the rocky driveway.. he is laughing.. it's fun to be chased by an old lady who pees a little when she runs at full speed... we spent much of the afternoon, after leo's nap, playing in the playroom and reading....we went to the grocery store with chieko when she got home from work... the kid took off out the door there too... run nanny, run

today was too hot to even breathe outside, let alone go for a walk... the air conditioner went on before casey was out of the driveway... i tidied the house, although it was pretty tidy anyway... i took some stuff out to the compost pile and forgot to lock the door when i came back in... guess who noticed?  guess what happened?.. i didn't catch him till he was in the driveway this time.. double ouch...i brought some toys down from the playroom, we watched some dvds and went to the hundred yen shop (like the dollar store) when chieko got home today.. we needed drawing paper and glue sticks and dry erase markers..i spent 3200 yen... what?!... obviously i got more than paper...

tomorrow.. typhoon

Party at Casey and Chieko's!!

Yesterday the iguchi-beans had a GIANT party...just about everyone they invited showed up with food and drink (and children).. One young man told me it was the biggest party he had been to here in japan... The kids were wild (not my darlings of course :-) ) Casey rounded them all up before the party was over, to pick up the toys they'd dropped everywhere, inside and out.. It certainly made that part of the party clean up quick!

It was "interesting" to see the different parenting styles.. It seemed there was a lot of "let them figure it out for themselves".. Ray came to me at one point ant said "nanny, there are some kids doing something dangerous outside". They had gotten into the tool shed and were using rakes and garden stakes as weapons.. None of their parents,who were all nearby, seemed to be concerned.. I told them they should probably put those things back in the shed..one parent said "you think they shouldn't be playing with them?"...what?!?  Anyway they just switched to fallen branches after that..

Rain was in the forecast but mostly held off.. A good time was had by all..

Ray also had a program at school that Chieko and I snuck away to with the boys for about an hour.. Ray's class, as well as others, performed a little song and dance/marching routine and the kids then went into various classrooms for games and prizes...

8:20.. Everyone is still sound asleep here..it was another late night for the darlings...no plans for today except to tidy and recycle..

japan 2014

going through security was awesome yesterday (or was it the day before, this time travel confuses me).. i got to go through the prescreen line for some reason, so i didn't have to take anything out of my backpack or take of my shoes and i didn't have to get x-rayed or frisked... thank you united airlines.. another bonus.. i got to check 2 free bags.. thanks again united..

the flights were uneventful, a short one, a really long one and another short one... the 5 hour lay over was the hardest part for me... i managed to doze off in a chair for a while and fell asleep before take off on the last flight... 

casey, ray and leo met me at the airport and they all seemed happy to see me, i know i was happy to see them!!!  it was a late night for the little boys (11:00 before they went to sleep) so they got to stay home from school today 😉.. as if there was any question, hah

everybody was up early despite the late bed time.  casey and chieko went to work and ray leo and i made alphabet soup... we ate lunch out on the porch and the boys are napping at the moment.

leo was not too happy about it, he cried, but i think he was more angry than sad..

❤️

it's kinda warm here

today we are spending the morning getting bryana's hair restraightened... she is not too happy!!  the boys are in school and chieko is at work.. casey has a japanese lesson...  tonight casey and chieko are going out for dinner, alone...

this week has been pretty quiet.. the boys went to school on tuesday and wednesday.. ray had a field trip to go grape picking on wednesday... we went to coco's (restaurant) for chieko's birthday on wednesday and when we got home, the neighbor's were outside enjoying a cocktail so we shared her birthday cake with them..

thursday the boys stayed home while casey and chieko worked.. ray and i walked to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner.. this one is about a mile away and has a bigger selection of meat, casey wanted to cook a pork roast... leo was taking a nap so bryana stayed home with him, although she said he woke up about 5 minutes after we left... leo had a rough afternoon, he was climbing on casey's weight bench and i told him to get down and 2 seconds later, before we could grab him, he fell off and cried till bryana offered him her water... then about an hour later he was standing by the slider, pushing on the screen.. i said don't push that and within moments, the screen gave way and he tumbled outside onto the grass, which fortunately was overgrown and made for a soft landing.. still he was startled (we all were, we were right there!!) but other than some blades of grass in his wild hair, he was no worse for wear... i just need to mention that i was not the only adult around at that time :-)... anyway.. he also had his head banged on the door frame while being carried a little while later (not me)  so i think he has had his share of mishaps for now (i hope so, anyway!!)  of course now i have no way to get fresh air, the screen was in the tatami room where i sleep.. i guess when i closed the sliding glass door, i actually opened the other side (at my house only one door slides, the other is stationary) and when we were ready to settle in for the night, casey found a big frog in the tatami room!!  i don't even want to think about how creeped out i would have been if it had hopped on/near me during the night.. one of the disadvantages of sleeping on the floor...

where has the time gone?

we had our straight perms on wednesday.. mine is awesome and bryana's was too, until she washed her hair.. it is mostly straight, but there is a a definite wave in the back, so she will go back this week to get it "straightened" out (i kill myself, i am so funny)

leo, poor baby, came down with bronchitis on thursday so he and ray both stayed home on thursday and friday...we were supposed to go to niigata, to chiekos parents house on friday, but we postponed till saturday, hoping his fever would break and he would feel better.... didn't happen so he and chieko stayed here while casey, ray, bryana and i headed out mid morning..

the weather was much drier and cooler on saturday and the drive was long, but pretty... we arrived mid afternoon, dropped our stuff and ray the house (which i love.. very traditional japanese) and went out for ramen for lunch..

back to the house and into chiekos dads car for a visit to the family temple.. i misunderstood and thought it was their very own, but it is where the family goes for any prayer or funeral etc.. it was closed unfortunately and we couldn't go inside...when we got back to the house, ray was sitting outside with "baba" (chieko's mom) by the koi pond... their house  and yard are awesome and i will post pictures eventually..

sunday we took a long drive to the top of one of the mountains, through long cold tunnels ( i shouldn't complain because of all the complaints about the heat)  and at the top of this mountain is a dam and a resevoir where we took a very peaceful boat ride..  afterwards we had lunch (tempura of mountain mushrooms for me) and then back to the iguchis... they treated us to dinner at a local restaurant... it seems we are always eating and everything is yummy..

chieko's sister, yoshiko and her kids... ayumi, susune and tomonori (ray calls him tomorori :-) ) arrived during the night.. there was a festival starting on monday night and orginally  we were going to visit during the week, but casey and chiekos work schedules conflicted so we had to leave before any of the festivities started...before we left though, the kids did some origami and we took a drive to shrine where chiekos dad had painted all the banners for the festival..again, i will post pictures...

we had lunch and before we left, they brought out a couple of watermelons and the kids all took turns being blindfolded and spun around then set in the general direction to smack it and try to break it open.. kinda like a pinata, only it was sitting on the ground... when it finally broke, after many smacks, we enjoyed some of the fruit and the koi got the rest... "tomorori" put on his bathing suit and took a swim in the koi pond, which made ray cry because he wanted to swim too, but we were all packed up and ready to go.. it was just pitiful.. no tantrum, just a sad sad boy..

update

so i haven't figured out how to post pictures from the ipad to these posts, but i have put some on facebook...

the craft village was fun, but i think the "make your own" was geared toward kids... bryana painted a plate and ray and leo put their handprints on one, we haven't seen the finished products yet because they had to be fired/baked and then sent to the house...i stenciled a handkerchief with ray and bryana... not sure where it ended up, haha, but it was a stamped design so we only got to choose the colors we wanted to use..  mr kakeuchi gave bryana a hanging with her name in japanese.. everyone is so nice to us... mrs kuo had me pick fabric because she wants to make me a kimono.. i am not worthy..  the weekend was more barbecuing for dinner and on sunday night francis (from oklahoma!!) his wife myumi and their daughter emily came over as well... casey and chieko met again with the foreman on sunday morning..

monday bryana and i went to another of casey and chieko's friends apartment and had manicures... bryana's is so pretty i wish i could post a picture here, but it will be on facebook shortly... it is darkish pink with glitter on the tips, gradually fading to about midway toward her cuticle.. i opted for just a no polish manicure.. i can't believe how quickly my nails have grown out since we got here...

yesterday ray and leo got to stay home from school and ray and i made cookies while casey took leo to the dr. for shots... just routine, no sickness or anything... casey made pork roast for dinner and i made some coleslaw and mashed potatoes... we also steamed some corn on the cob... we are still eating well...

today the boys are back at school, it is raining off and on... bryana and i have appointments (reservations) at 1:00 for "straight perms"... i cannot wait, my hair looks like a brillo pad most days!!

my memory is starting to fail me...

monday and tuesday were very low key... we took the boys to school.. it is still so hot and humid, they are much cooler there anyway.. air con (that's what we call air conditioning in japan) and a pool to keep them cool and comfortable...today, wednesday is the start of obon, the holiday where people go an pay respects to their ancestors, so chieko is off from work for the rest of the week and the little darlins stay home too...

Now it is friday night and if couldn't remember everything on Wednesday, I am in worse shape this evening!!

Wednesday we went to a big giant candy store where we spent lots of money in a very short time..it seems that we have had barbecue several times, we brought lentil soup one night and last night i made chickpea salad to go with the nabe (again, not sure of the spelling), which was a delicious pot of veggies, meat and tofu..  Tonight the neighbors left us to our own devices while they went to pay their respects to their ancestors.. Casey grilled salmon and we also had salad, carrots,broccoli,asparagus and potatoes...bryana practiced using chopsticks and was able to pick up a single grain of rice ( not real easy in my opinion)..

Yesterday it was 95 degrees with humidity..today was a much cooler 91, but we spent a lazy day watching movies and reading..

Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot and we are going to a craft festival or something of that nature..

so....

it seems that i cannot put the pictures from my camera directly onto the ipad.. i will have to put them on casey's computer and send them to myself or something..or post from his computer

anyway, friday we went to the aquarium a couple of hours away.. i do have a couple of pictures, they are just not available at the moment... it was a lovely aquarium.. a little boy started crying as he was walking in ahead of us and it freaked ray out a little bit, but he settled right down and didn't want to leave when it was time to go...   this aquarium is located on a little island and casey commented that it was a little sad to watch the dolphin show with a view of the sea...  we had lunch there, sitting at the low tables with our shoes off.. noodles and rice and veggies.. we all ordered different things and it was all yummy...

for dinner casey sauteed chicken and some more veggies from his garden and made a salad of garden tomatoes and onion and cheese... we are eating a lot!!

saturday casey and chieko met with the forman regarding the house they are building, making some decisions about materials  they will be using, etc... the meeting was here at the house and lasted from 9 till 5!!!  the boys played in their kiddie pool for a while and leo escaped every time he had a chance.. he is constantly on the move!!  i was able to get both kiddo's to sleep for a while after lunch... dinner was barbecue with the neighbors.. barbecue is basically grilling meats and veggies..

the kuo's and kakeuchi's told us that they wanted to provide lunch for us on sunday... casey and chieko were going to check out bathrooms for their home and would not be around for translating and ray is not always willing to translate!  so bryana and i were on our own with the itranslate app on the ipad...they fed us two kinds of noodles with vegetables (also prepared on the grill, on a griddle placed over the fire)..  also on the menu was yakitori (not sure if the spelling is correct).. chicken on a stick, which i declined because i don't eat chicken (or most meat in general).. so they offered me a hot dog, which i declined so they offered me a different kind of hot dog!!  i gave up and had a hot dog...when casey and chieko got back, we were invited to have our dinner provided also.. " salad for dinner, what do you want to eat?"   i offered to make corn chowder and ventured to the store with both, boys in the double stroller, to buy the fixins... mrs. kakeuchi works at the grocery store and was surprised to see me there, shopping by myself with both kids, haha...  the chowder was a hit, the salad was good and the other salad had japanese beef on top which was probably delicious... and more hot dogs.. bryana and i split one that was more like ham than a hot dog, it really was quite tasty, it was served on a bun with lettuce and ketchup...