Picture Day

Today started with the normal morning routine of getting the kids off to school, I can't cut grass until Kitayama-san gets some parts for my cutting machine, so I am going to drive into the mountains and take some pictures.

I spent about 3 hours taking pictures at the Dam and then going to the natural springs to get some water, it was a hot day and I was lucky to have a bottle in the car to fill up. After getting the water I continued up the mountain to the Tenninkyo Resort to take more pictures. There is a beautiful waterfall that I have yet to visit there although it is closed now due to a mudslide.

I took pictures until the cameras battery died and then headed home. Yasuko has a date with a couple of her friends to go drink tea and gossip so I will be picking Evan up alone today.

Koby went to the pool again today with the other kids, they ride the bus into town which costs 50 cents one way, and the pool is Free. We give him extra money so they can get a snack at 7 Eleven after swimming, he usually gets home at 6pm.

After picking Evan up he went outside to play with the other kids, I took a trip to Kitayama-sans house to pick up the newly fixed cutting machine so I can go cut grass in the morning. I like to start around 5-5:30am and then cut until 8:00am then I have to come home to take Evan to school, then I go back and cut more until lunch.

Temp: High - 81
Low - 63

Beetles (Not the Band)

Morning routines as usual, we got everyone off to school on time and made coffee and toast for breakfast. We were told that the parent are getting together today to clean the daycare, although I had already planned to cut grass.

After cutting grass I came home and took a nap, and after the nap it was time to go get Evan, we went a little early so we could help clean, the men put up a greenhouse that the swimming pool was going to be put in, while the women cut weeds and cleaned floors.

After about an hour we were finished and got Evan and went home. Koby rode the bus into town to go swimming with the other kids, and Evan went outside to play with the kids who didn't go to the pool.

I was going to go cut grass some more this evening but I am having problems with my cutting machine so I dropped it off at Kitayama-sans house so he could take a look at it and see what the problem was.

We had dinner and watched TV, and the older kids went out at night to look for beetles, here it is very popular for Japanese boys to keep the big stag beetles as pets, and if we are lucky to find the real large ones (about 3 inches) and large horns on their heads, they sell for hundreds of dollars at the pet stores. There we go, a new business venture, Beetle Husbandry! haha

Temp: High - 88
Low - 66

Full Days

Today is Evan's first full day at school, he will be attending from 8:30am to 5pm. Everyone was up getting ready, Yasuko was making lunches while the kids were struggling to get dressed and wash faces and brush teeth. Koby left at 7:50am to walk to school and we all left to take Evan at 8:15am, he was ready to go and happy that he didn't have to come home at lunch today.

After everyone was dropped off, Yasuko had to go to Koby's school for an hour to help him with Japanese class. I updated some web pages and cleaned out emails before going into the garden to have a look at things.

Yasuko and I later on went to the store to get some things that we needed, it sure is quiet now that both kids are gone, during the day. After shopping we came home and had lunch and just lounged around until it was time to go get Evan, we are both worn out from Yesterday and sore.

Evan was full of stories from his first full day of school, he had a good time, took a nap ate all of his lunch and played with all of the kids. There is a total of 8 kids in Evan's school. They usually walk during the day to either the rice fields and look for frogs, or go to the local elementary school's playground and play. Sometimes they play in the mud, and soon they will be putting up the swimming pool for them.

The rest of the day was un-eventful, I am going to bed early tonight!

Temp: High - 90
Low - 66

2nd Sports Festival

Today is the sports day celebration for the city we live in, as you remember back we had the one for the village we live in, and now all of the different villages get together and have a sports competition, I hear that our town of Shibinai usually comes in last due to a small young people population, well we will see what we can do about that today, I am entered in about 5 different competitions.

Masani-san was here to pick us up at 8:30am and we all loaded up and took off for Higashikagura. When we arrived the beginning ceremony started as we were walking up to the Shibinai area, Sumi-san was already there waiting for others to arrive.

After the beginning ceremony it was time for everybody to exercise and stretch, they have a special song they play and everyone gets up and does exercises, I don't know the routine so I just have to watch and follow along, it is fairly straight forward with touch your toe, knee bends and jumping jacks.

After the exercises it was time for the competition to start, the first event that Yasuko and I were in was called the Love Balance, this consisted of holding a large bowl on my head, and balancing a much larger ball in the basket while running, but wait there's more, Yasuko was behind me holding a hula hoop around the both of us and was not allowed to let it touch my stomach. If the ball dropped we had to stop put the hula hoop down and return the ball to my head pick up the hula hoop and start again. We were fast and easily moved into first place without dropping the ball. Shibinai came in first place on this event... Take that other towns.

The rest of the day went on with various relays, two legged races, ball throws, mass jump rope, and many more. At lunch time everyone took a break and ate the lunches that we had all brought, then it was time to compete more.

When it was all said and done out of 6 towns, our town came in 3rd overall and we got to hold the 3rd place trophy for the year. It proudly got displayed in the community center. Exhausted we all headed back home and after a 30 minute rest started a outside BBQ party that is going to go on well into the night.

We ate and drank our fills and staggered home around 10:00pm, wow these people sure know how to enjoy life, no more sitting in the house in front of a computer like I used to do in Texas, no time for that.

Temp: High - 79
Low - 64

ZOO Fun

We are going to start the weekend off by visiting the most famous zoo in Japan, and that is the Asahiyama Zoo, which just happens to be a 15 minute drive from our house. We bought a season pass which costs only 1000 yen (about $9), and we can go as many times as we want until March.

Before we went to the zoo Yasuko wanted to stop by the recycle clothes shop to see if she could find a swimsuit for Koby, of course while we were there she found shirts and other stuff also, but I can't complain, a shirt and a swimsuit cost $3.

The next stop was the zoo, this zoo is situated on a mountain and there is a lot of uphills to navigate to see the different animals. You can see some of the pictures we took at the zoo on my Flickr account.

We spent most of the day there until it was closing time, we will have to go back on another day since we didn't get to see everything. It was funny they play Aud Lange Sign when it is time for the zoo to close and the animals have learned the music means feeding time and they all go to the back of their fenced in sections to the back door and wait.

It was a fun and long day.

Temp: High - 79
Low - 61

4th of July

Happy 4th of July, although it doesn't mean anything here, in fact I didn't realize it had came and gone until a few days later, Oh Well! We saw our fireworks the other night! Evan and Koby was off to school at 8:00am this morning and Yasuko had to go also for an hour to help Koby with Japanese class.

I stayed home and worked in the garden some more, I finally finished weeding my last strip of land that I haven't used yet. I will be planting more corn there and it will be staggered so it is all not ready at the same time. I also have some greens to plant but they like cool weather and I can hold off a bit still before getting them in the ground.

Yasuko came home and we decided to go to the store to get a few things, it sure is quiet around the house now that both boys are gone, I kind of miss Evan's voice around the house in the daytime, but he makes up for it when he comes home. haha

We went to pick Evan up at 12:30 and he was full of stories to tell of how is day went, this was his last half day and he will start full days on Monday.

We came home and Evan took a nap until the big kids came home and then they were all out playing until it got dark, they are planning on going to hunt for Beetles after dinner. It seems to be popular here for Japanese boys to collect the large stag beetles, and some of them sell for 1000's of dollars, maybe we can find some and sell them.

Temp: High - 84
Low - 57

Kindergarten and Kids

Another beautiful day in Shibinai, blue skies and mild temperatures. Evan was up early and ready to go to Kindergarten, I think he is liking it a lot. At first I thought that we shouldn't use the money for him to go since I could watch him for free, but Yasuko told me he needed to interact with other kids his age and start doing other things instead of staying home all the time.

She was right and it was a good choice to get him started, not to mention it is only 7,000 Yen ($70) per month. Koby was off to school his normal time also. I ate breakfast and then went to work in the garden after dropping Evan off at school, Yasuko had to go with Koby for his Japanese class but will return shortly.

The temperatures here are starting to warm up, and I am already missing the cool days, at least the nights are still cool, but the biting bugs are bad here, good thing they don't last long.

After picking Evan up at lunch we made him take a nap, he needs to get used to it since they have nap time from 1pm to 3pm. He fell asleep fast and didn't wake up until the big kids came home from school.

Koby and Evan went out to play with the neighborhood kids as usual until it got dark.

Temp: High - 82
Low - 54