SRF Bon Odori 8-12

Our Ship's Repair Facility has a bon odori, or a festival with Japanese dancing every August.  It is hot, but it is fun to go to.

The backdrop is ugly shops, but we can add our own color!

Walker (neighbor Wm plays with occasionally) is sporting an Anpanman jinbei (child summer outfit).

Ellen (was PSNS, now works for SRF) with her girls in their yukatta (girl summer outfit).  It's like a kimono, but made out of lightweight cloth.

William is wearing his jinbei.  Tim would never wear his, he felt too exposed.  The cloth is thin to keep you cool, but it can show a few things.  :)

The line for the yakitori was long.  Lois is grabbing a bit of a bite.  I met her soon after we got here.  It's neat that they're still here!

There are many food booths.

The matsuri lanterns are always so colorful.  

We chose the short line to the right... hamburgers!

Okay, THIS is wonderful!  Tim had the chu-hi one, of course.  I always have thought that icies were made for alcohol...  

Hallie and I wore our Nebuta outfits!  It was fun!  And the Japanese recognized it for what it was!

As the evening darkened, it was time for dancing.

And here's the video:

http://youtu.be/_vcZ7t4t1Xk

Scout Pinning from May 2012

William had to quickly go through the whole wolf requirements to become a wolf before he could be advanced to bear (he's wearing the bear scarf in this pic).

Apparently, parents get a pin for their work at this, and yes, it was a lot of work!  :)

Juli Martin is such an AWESOME lady!  I just love her.  She is funny, sweet and kind... unless she's pitching me junk.  Or course, I think she's crazy for homeschooling when she has 6 kids.  But, I can match crazy easily....   since I can guarantee I'm a little 'off' myself! 

She is such a good scout leader.  William's patch was put on later.  He had to do something especially kind in order for it to be attached right-side-up on his shirt.

He loves scouts.  I think it's more social for him, and getting to do something.  I, of course, have to endure the schlock he makes in scouts, until I can ditch it...   :)

Kappa Zushi

Kindness Parking 

At our new ¥100 sushi store.  Hmm... I'm sure they don't really mean concrete floor....

It is a normal sushi-go-round, but if you order, a Shinkansen train comes out with your stuff on it. 

I love the Japanese 'sweet' potato... it has a candy glaze on it... Ha!  

This is our stack of plates when we were all done!  ¥100 plus ¥5 tax, each plate.

And here's the train....

Fire and Water Birthday Party

We are lucky that William has a classmate who he's become friends with.  His family are wonderful people, and we have been blessed having them as friends.  He helps train folks in the Navy for how to respond to disasters.   

On a ship, you attack a fire.  On land, firefighters can wait until it's burned down, or is less dangerous.   

Their command was having their summer family picnic. so they piggy-backed the birthday party onto it! 

They got to hold the hoses! 

My favorite fire fighter! 

Hose brigade! 

William was in kindergarten with this guy's daughter. 

This is Warren (birthday boy) with the funnest type of water!  :)

They had a pinata for all of the kids at the summer party.  That is a fire fighter's protected head cover turned backward. 

Matt was smart, and as soon as it started to break, he hauled it up and shook out the rest!

I just love the kid scramble to get the goodies! 

Then, a door opened, and a ton of water balloons rolled out, and the fight was on!!! 

Okay, so there is a facility to train on holes in ships.  The kids LOVED it!

They had a ton of fun pounding in the chucks to stop the water flow.

And then they'd start the jets from another hole... one was perfect for surfing on!  :)

Here are all the pipes from the outside.  It was a FANTASTIC birthday party!!!

Sprained Wrist

When we returned from Aomori, we dropped off Hallie and the kids, and William stayed behind while we returned the van to base.

We got a call on the way home that William had fallen out of a tree.

This is how he got bandaged up.  He was hurt enough that it ended up needing a real splint from the doctors.

He had a hard time doing some swimming things.  We ended up missing the social event that night.

Notice how he's not even paying attention?  Well, he loves the TinTin books.  I love them because they use big words, and it is fun to read for a kid.  He has the whole collection except 2 books, that he was able to check out of the library!  :)

Mother's Day Presentation at School (MAY DAY!)

 Okay, so I finally downloaded my phone's camera, and I totally forgot to blog about this!

 For mother's day, the kids dressed up (William insisted on suit jacket and tie) and invited us for muffins that they made.

 William was the program's narrator.

They did a 'reading theatre' from a cute picture book.

Mabori Beach with the Anthony's

Our local beach at Mabori, Hashirimizu, is easy to get to, and has parking.  In years past, it was cheap.  But, since there is a natural springs (mizu means water), folks come and fill water bottles.  So, they started charging a fortune to bring your car in.  Oh well.  It was worth it!

This is Dougie, blowing up an inflatable. 

The rest of the boys, Ian, Stefan (funny face, huh?), William and Matthew (another Puget neighbor friend). 

You can see that there's a float line out there, so no boats will come in. 

Ian.  Dougie still blowing up the inflatable, and William starting to build a sand castle. 

Here's my little helper.  Yes, these were my phone pics... this one is also a phone pic, but from Hallie's iPhone.  I love how I look like I'm frowning when I'm concentrating.

 Hallie and I had a drink, so we had to wait for her husband to get off work and ride his bicycle to come and drive us home!  :)  I stayed under my umbrella as a happy camper.

 The beach was pretty vacant.  I mean, what do you expect when you charge so much to park?  Notice the bridge to the jetty in the distance.

Matthew doing is own thing.

For those of you worried about tsunami, Mabori (where we live, and this beach is) is facing north.  We are totally protected from the Pacific Ocean by a land mass.  High waters could come in the straight behind, but wouldn't directly hit us.  You can tell this by the afternoon light here.

What a pleasant day with Hallie!