saying goodbye

Yesterday, Stanley's beloved beetle died.  Thankfully it was expected, and Stanley had been coming to terms with it for a while.  We only expected him to live until August, so getting a full extra month was a bonus.  Stanley and his friend took Edie outside to bury him, and when I went outside a little while later this is what I found.

Molly felt a card needed to be written, so this morning this was added to the site

My heart hurts for him, but I had to smile at their tender actions for the big, ugly beetle we had in our home all summer.

Stanley turns 8

My baby boy turned eight!  My thrill seeking, fearless boy never ceases to amaze me.  He loves to build and create, and has an incredible imagination.  Always the first to ask if I need help, to offer to take out the trash or vacuum the floor.  He knows exactly how to get under everyone's skin, but has a huge heart and I love him desperately.  All he wanted for his birthday was a chocolate cake with a big number eight made with skittles.  Here he is with our traditional morning doughnut!

Mini Andrew

Brotherly love

Good morning smiles!

Happy happy day to my crazy Stanley!

Friendship Festival

Every year at the beginning of September, the base opens its gates to the locals and lets them see and experience American culture for two days.  Last year they did not have one due to a lack of funds, but this year it was back on and it was alot of fun even for us Americans.  Both Andrew and I worked much of the weekend manning different booths...his for DFAS, myself the cub scout booth, but we did take the kids for a few hours to see the planes they let you go on and take your picture with.  Though we see them almost daily, planes never grow old, and being able to go on them was a real treat for the kids.

Japanese fighter jet and pilot

F-16

If we hop to the states, this is what our seats will look like!

The highlight

They did the parachute training as well, which is always super cool

What I did not take photos of was the hoards of people!  Thousands upon thousands came to eat burgers and steak, to buy American box cakes, freezies and bags of chips.  It was insane.  Security was tightly controlled, but it was so neat to see the Japanese enjoying our culture.   

Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

The results of what you do in the bathroom behind closed doors, and what you do in it, are on display at Odaibas Miraikan's newest special exhibition.  The title "Toilet?! Human Waste and the Earths Future."  I love a great museum, and this was one the boys were dying to see...

Konnichiwa!

Gold plated designs

crystal encrusted toilet

The exhibit was actually very well done and very informative.  The hands down highlight was sliding down a giant toilet with a poop hat on.  Complete with flushing sounds, it was very odd

aiming correctly...sigh

They even had several different animal waste examples

This was the giant panda

Asian elephant

play doh to make your own!

singing toilets at the close of the display

We actually loved the museum itself and spent most of the day wandering and learning of Japans past and present innovations.

The highlight of the museum was a android I somehow didn't photograph.  It was incredible

We could have stayed many more hours, but Audrey was beat!

We had dinner at Divers City next door...we have been before but every time the boys want to pose with gundam!  Can't say I blame them, he is impressive!

Very memorable day!

Back to School happenings

The kids are back to school.  I dread it every year, and every year I wonder why on earth I don't just home school.  But then I remember awfully quickly my lack of patience, and I am at peace with it.  They were very excited to go back, Tommy was nervous about who would be in his class and how he would like his teacher, but everyone came home happy and smiling and with one week under our belt all seems to be going well.

Off they go

Siblings

1rst grader

4th grader

2nd grader

I just had to include this photo of this sumo wrestler we met the day before school started while out for last minute supplies.  He was signing autographs with another wrestler and was kind enough to pose with the boys.

After I sent the oldest three off to school I had to take Audrey to the dentist because she had been complaining to us that her front tooth was bothering her for several days.  Reluctantly we headed off and my fears were confirmed that the tooth she had hurt in a fall a couple years ago needed to come out.  I knew this would alter her appearance drastically, my baby is growing up.

One last glimpse...

Ready to do it!

That night, at bedtime, she lifted up her pillow to reveal to us a tiny pink treasure chest which the dentist gave her.  She rattled the tooth inside a bit before carefully opening the chest to reveal its contents.  "See?"  She mournfully said.  "It died."

Udon Grand Prix

The Udon Grand Prix sees shops from all over Japan competing to find out who has the best noodles...

The thick, wheat flour noodle may seem a tad boring (it was to me when I first arrived here), but just like ramen, it is a serious deal in Japan. Kagawa prefecture, in Shikoku, has even been talking of changing its name to "udon prefecture" since the dish is so famous there.

For 2 days last weekend, representatives from the various udon shops across Japan gather around pots of boiling water, throw in their noodles and cook up some special broths in hopes of taking home top honors in Tokyo's Yoyogi park.  Visitors can taste noodles from Akita, Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Okinawa to name a few.  I took my three oldest and we had a great time tasting and voting...

these were from Sapporo...and were delicious.  Plums, seaweed, and fish were the toppings...

odd combination

Our favorite from Shikoku, a more traditional type with green onion, and egg in a sardine broth

Slurp!

fresh!

Chips on a stick!

Most booths were clearly marked with the area their udon came from

this was out voting card with the udon shop name

and we then put it in the box to coincide with how we felt about the noodles.  

Green- not satisfying

Orange- satisfying

Red- very satisfying

They were without question the best noodles we have had to date here!

The children loved all the dancing that was going on at the park with the festival.  There were countless performers, and it was just fascinating to see all the costumes, and to people watch that day.