Awesome Day

Yasuko and Koby was off to school at 8:00am this morning, I got up and said by to them and watched TV until Evan woke up. I fixed Evan breakfast of cereal, cheese bread and an apple, while I had coffee an apple and cheese bread also.

Koby gets out of school early today. Yasuko should be home at lunch, while Koby will be home around 1:00pm. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day today, although it's a bit hazier out compared to yesterdays clear blue skies. Koby is having trouble with Japanese class, so Yasuko talked to the teacher and asked if he could attend the first grade Japanese class, so he could start from the beginning, they all agreed, including Koby that it would be a good idea. Other than Japanese he is doing well with all of the other subjects, he really enjoys this school.

Yesterday the class got to go outside and walk around the town using a map for social study class. Yasuko came home around lunchtime, and Koby gets out of school at 1:15pm. When Koby came home he immediately got out his new bike and started riding it, we need to get him a helmet, since the kids are required to have them. I decided to take the other bike out for an exploration towards the mountains. I rode for about 2 miles until the road started going up the mountain, that would be a hard climb so I took another road that went off to the left that was more flat.

On the way I saw a fox walking along the levy of the Chubetsu river, but he was about 75 yards away. I kept riding until the road ended at the Chubetsu River Dam, this Dam is huge, and I was disappointed that I didn't bring the camera, next time I will. I set and listened to the water for a short time then decided to come back riding along the levy this time. It was a bumpy ride but well worth it. On the way back I saw a KingFisher, and 3 Shikah Deer, which is a Japanese Deer that has a shorter snout than the whitetail deer I am accustomed to. The deer kind of startled me at first because I didn't know what they were when I first saw them moving.

Next I caught up with the fox I had saw earlier, the wind was blowing in both of our faces and he did not here me coming up behind him until I was right next to him. We were about 25 yards from each other, so I made a noise, and he looked at me and laid down and just looked. It was so beautiful, I am so lucky to live here.

When I arrived home Koby and I rode together down by the river and threw rocks and sticks in. He likes to watch the sticks go down the little water falls. When we came back, most of the neighborhood kids were going to take the bus into town and go to the library, Koby said he wanted to go, so me and Yasuko said it would be a good experience to go on a long trip without Mom and Dad into town. We felt OK doing this since there was about 10 kids in total, from 2nd graders to 6th graders, Yasuko gave Koby $4 to pay for the bus and get a snack. They all returned as it was getting dark. He said he had fun, the town he went to is the same place where we went to sign up for my ID card, it is a small city, but has crosswalks with lights at every corner, so is easy for the kids to cross and be safe.

Later on we got a telephone call from Ian's Mom, her last name is Brooks, and she said she had a present for us. When she arrived she gave us a terminal adapter that we needed for the Internet access, her brother is a computer technician and had one that he didn't need, so that save us about $100. Now we have to get the software for Yasuko's and my computer then we can get the Internet hooked up finally.