you're gonna be shocked, because i am writing about what happened yesterday! 

the other day, a bloggy friend invited me and the family to go sailing.  he is starting a new adventure in fukuoka city, sunset sailing!  we didn't go in the evening, though, we started out in the afternoon, and were probably on the water for about three hours.  it was sooooo amazing!

i was really surprised and gratified that we were invited to go on a cruise.  i guess you could say this is a pre-cruise, because we were not charged for our trip, but i did promise to blog about it, and promote my experience on facebook.



we were busy in the morning, otherwise we might have got to the harbor earlier.  but, it's still a bit cold at night, so it's still kinda cold on the water, so afternoon was probably better.  the kids were really nervous about going on a boat, especially sasha, but i'm afraid that i was quite insistent, and forced them to go!  even hiro started shouting after i parked the car (in front of the boat!) that he didn't want to go and that he would wait in the car.

but, we all got on board, put on life jackets and then signed the passenger list.  then it was time to go!  Fu Kyo is a catamaran, so it was very stable and we hardly rocked at all!  none of my family get seasick (as far as i know), but it wasn't a concern yesterday.  the weather was perfect, the sea was so blue, and i took many many pictures!  (i also shared a lot on facebook, i really love updating from my iphone!)







of course, i was in charge of my kids, making sure they didn't run, jump or be obnoxious in general.  after their initial fears, they LOVED it!  so much fun, and they didn't want the cruise to finish!  and today, sasha said she wanted to go on the boat again.  there are three beds on the boat, two (or three?) toilets, and a  lovely central cabin if one wants to sit inside if the weather isn't quite as nice as it was yesterday.  we brought our own snacks and drinks for this promotional cruise, but we were still offered tea and rice cracker snacks.  it was very comfortable!

if  you are in the fukuoka area, or ever visit and have the time, i recommend Fukuoka Sunset Sailing.  you can find information on facebook here in Japanese and here in English.  blog for Fu Kyo is here.   aaaaaand, picture set from our day on flickr!

you can see how much the kids relaxed!


(i took this picture from inside the cabin.)





fantastic views of fukuoka from the water!







although she said she hated boats, i think sasha fell in love with sailing.



and me? i hope i get to go again some day soon.

ohanami means flower viewing, usually it means looking at cherry blossoms.  people gather together under the cherry trees while they are blooming, usually because the weather is warmer (but it's usually still quite cold, especially if it's cloudy or windy!) and have picnics.  some people will drink, but this year i did a lot of driving, so i didn't!

our first hanami was a bit of a last minute tack-on to an onsen trip we went on.  march 20th was a public holiday (spring equinox) and yoshi booked us into a hotel in the middle of fukuoka prefecture.  the hotel was really lovely, and the onsen was especially nice.  i didn't get to enjoy the onsen as much as i would have liked to though, because the kids were horsing around and hiro hurt himself.  somehow, he locked his knee and couldn't walk.  the kids were very trying that day and i just lost my temper, and forced him to go to bed.  i had to stay with him in the room, so i told sasha and tommy to go with yoshi.  sasha refused to go without me, so she didn't get to go to onsen.  when she finally realized there would be NO bath with mommy, SHE threw a temper tantrum which resulted in HER going to bed, too.  ah, so much fun, so much drama.  the onsen opened early in the morning, though, so she and i got to go to onsen.

after leaving the onsen we went for a bit of a drive.  there were lots of cherry trees near the hotel (which is on a riverside), so i suggested we go to a place i knew of in asakura-city, because i used to live in that area.  first we went to a sakura park, which was ok, but not the place i was thinking about.  we got some tourist information there, and i found what i was thinking about:  akitsuki.  very nice.


in amagi









our next hanami was with kuri and her kids, at kokura castle in kitakyushu city. it was a cloudy and somewhat cold day, but it was nice to meet up with our friends, and the blossoms were gorgeous!













our next hanami was with kuri again, this time at uminonakamichi. of course, the kids and i went to the aquarium first.



at the park, we rented bikes and went around that way. there were some gorgeous trees along part of the way.







our last hanami was with one of my japanese classes. the blossoms were nearly finished, but it was a nice day for a picnic!

still playing catch up!

so, for valentine's day, we met up with friends at kuri's place.  we all brought food to share, and i brought some cupcakes and sugar cookies to decorate.  the icing i made for the cookies ended up having too much milk (so, we couldn't decorate the cookies), but the cupcakes were a big hit!

as usual, the girls played dress up, and the boys ran around playing with all the toys. i think the kids had a great time!

in february, sasha and tommy had a musical at school. tommy's group (not his whole class) did a dance to a j-pop number, and sasha's class did 'the sound of music'. sasha had the role of maria; she was actually one of four marias! it was long and boring, but also a bit cute, so i am sharing some photos here for you!

one of our planned activities at christmas was making a gingerbread house.  i don't remember if we were going to bake the house pieces ourselves, but once our trip was cut by a week, my mom just got a kit (from wilton, i think.)  it didn't get done until after christmas, but one day while my mom and i were out getting last minute things bought and finished, my sister and the kids made the house.  it also had a star cookie tree.  i think they did a really great job!  so pretty.