this weekend yoshi went to oita for some kind of bike thing. he left yesterday to stay in the youth hostel in yufuin, and today he will go to hita to ride a bike. a mamachari, as they say in japan, which is a one speed bike with a basket on it. i don't have all the details (obviously) but this meant being at home with the kids all day yesterday and today. well, technically not all the kids as yesterday was the bunkasai at the elementary school and hiro had to go to school as usual.

there were a lot of events (mostly dances) during the day, but only a few of them involved the elementary kids! there were two or three hula groups putting on dances, i thought that was weird. as it was, we didn't really go because tommy and sasha went to the park and didn't come home in time for us to see hiro perform! we got there just at the end, though, and clapped. then we briefly went to the classroom to say hi to hiro and then off to the playground to play. then we went home for lunch and waited for hiro to return.

i made pizza last night, because, surprisingly, sasha asked for it on friday night. i didn't have enough time to make it then, so i made it yesterday. we scarfed down pizza while watching the discovery channel. then the kids watched some weird japanese cartoon while we waited for the phineas and ferb movie to come on (at 9!) so, the kids stayed up way later than usual, and so did i. i dragged out the futons so we could go to sleep as we liked (in front of the tv, so naughty!), and sasha and tommy were asleep before the movie was finished. after the movie, i turned off the tv and hiro and i went to sleep.

even though we were up late, the kids were awake by 6:15 this morning! this is very unusual for tommy and by 11:30, he was so over it. by then we were at joyfull (for lunch) and when we got home, i made them go to bed for a nap. hiro insisted that he needed to do his homework, so i let him stay downstairs while the rest of us went up. tommy was asleep within ten minutes and when i checked, sasha was asleep, too. i went downstairs to find hiro asleep as well, halfway in zorro's house! such a funny kid. and that's how i find myself in a peacefully quiet house before 1 on a sunday afternoon. i hope you are all enjoying your weekend as well!

i wanted to write last week about how i had heard a cicada for the first time this year, but i had just posted about (uh, whatever i last posted about. check previous post) and didn't want to post twice in one day. but then life has a way of getting away from you and here we are, a week later. harumph. ANYWAY. i heard a cicada last week. first time this season. even though it's rainy season, it really brings home that it's finally summer!

last friday i went to a japanese lesson held here in town. it's free, and was really fun. i was actually surprised, i usually find these things very boring and far beneath my level. but i am joining in an established group (and it feels like they've been doing this for a while so really have their act together) and didn't feel annoyed or shy or anything. yay! i also got a book for studying kanji over the weekend, so here's hoping my japanese will improve!

over the weekend i went to osaka for the AFWJ board meeting. seeing as i'm now a member of the board! LOL i got up bright and early (well, ok, early) on saturday morning in order to catch a train before six in order to get to hakata station before 6:30 which was when my shinkansen was leaving! rachel got on at kokura and we chatted and had breakfast together on the train. then when we got to our destination, we went to starbucks and met up with most of the board there (surprise! lol)

the meeting was very interesting and i learned a lot. dinner afterward was really great but took a very long time! i met a lot of new interesting and fun women in osaka, i am really glad to be a part of the board. i also finally got to meet vicky and heather, who are also on the board!

on sunday i got up bright and early again and went for a walk. ok, ok, i was actually looking for subway sandwich, but it took me an hour to find it! it was only about 20 minutes away but i walked past it (one road over) but if we have another meeting in the same place, now i know where to go! i left osaka rather early and got back to hakata in time for lunch, so i went to mcdonalds, then daiso and then kinokuniya (book store). then i went to tenjin so i could catch a bus home (the bus stops practically in front of our house) but they were delayed by nearly an hour so i had a VERY long wait! i thought i had missed the 2:17 bus and waited for the 3:17, which didn't leave until 4:30!! it was a very long and tiring day.

this week has been rather uneventful. yesterday was very beautiful, so i did BBQ for dinner. that meant cutting the grass and weeds in the back garden, because it is very wild back there!! the kids really love BBQ but they mainly only ate the potato salad i made, leaving more meat and veggies for me!

aaaand, that's about it for now. tomorrow will be another japanese lesson and i am really looking forward to it!

ok, i'm going to try to write this morning, so i don't get too tired or busy in the evening. i hope nothing too exciting happens today!

saturday was a lovely day, even though my MIL was up waaaaay too early (i guess sleeping in a bed is difficult for her) and was weeding again. in the front. where i actually had plants in the ground that i didn't want pulled up. *sob* oh well, moving on...

yoshi went to nafco in the morning, and after he got back we had breakfast. we had bread and hummus, fruit and coffee. i made the hummus from soybeans, everyone wanted to know where i bought it. *rolls eyes* anyway...

yoshi and his parents finished ripping out all the offending plants around the 'back' of the house, just before thunder and lightning started up. our next door neighbor brought over some (cold) watermelon, so everyone (except me) had that. then we headed out the door for lunch and onsen.

we went to wakita onsen, and our family signed up for the family bath. we had to wait an hour, so all of us went to lunch, which was surprisingly delicious. i had tempura, yum! after we ate, we said goodbye to yoshi's parents (they were going home after their bath) and went to the family bath. there were two baths, a huge wooden bath and a big 'pot' bath. i worried that hiro or sasha would drown in the pot, but they did ok. i also kept calling it 'soup', so we had lots of 'mommy soup', 'hiro soup', 'sasha soup' and 'oyako-soup'. it cooled down quite a bit on saturday, so the onsen was lovely and refreshing. on the way home, the kids fell asleep. then sasha woke up and demanded donuts, so we went to sunlive (department store) where the local mr. donut is. after an hour or two there, we headed home.

yesterday i drove to the city to get an application for the JLPT. gah! i guess i actually have to study now (oh, and send in the application). *sigh* i kind of wish i were going for #3...

i also had a sandwich at subway, bought some books and browsed through the fabric store (and found the yarn on the second floor!) it was a nice morning in fukuoka.

on saturday (september 1), medea and her boys came to visit us. they came late in the afternoon, and we met them at costco. after some shopping, we all went to hard rock cafe at hawkstown. the food was great but the music was LOUD!! too loud, i don't remember it being so loud during lunch.





medea and family stayed the night, and then we enjoyed time together at the house. we decided to have a BBQ even though the weather was less than ideal. i let the guys cook, because i was pretty tired, though i did make some coleslaw. i didn't take any pictures, but i don't think they would have been that interesting (just us eating!)

i had baked a birthday cake (that looked like the leaning tower of pisa, *sigh*) and two cupcakes for hiro and sasha, but our husbands ate the cupcakes while medea and i were out in the morning. grrrrr....men! so, only medea and i enjoyed a slice of cake with the ice cream i had made, so sadly, no pictures of sasha's first cake.

my mom's friend made a crocheted dress for sasha, and part of sunday morning we tried to take her picture, but she refused to co-operate. here are some of the out-takes:




(flirting with medea's husband. starting early, sasha!)





in addition to eating sasha's birthday cupcake, our husbands didn't keep a very good eye on medea's baby-man and he got into the pain au chocolat. my silly husband actually took photographic proof of their...neglectfulness...



well, that pretty much sums up sasha's birthday weekend. my next post should be about her hospital visit!

we didn't have a very eventful weekend. unless you count getting a bed as an event. finally, finally, i don't have to sleep on the floor any more. well, that is, until after we get the bed (delivered sept. 5), and then find sheets for it. *sigh* it's kind of an odd size, and i don't know how to find some sheets. it's 'queen' sized, the the sheets i find aren't quite big enough. sizes are standard, right? but if the sheets are too short or too long then they aren't going to stay put, right? *sigh* if only one could order furniture from IKEA, then one could probably get sheets that fit. right? ah well.

i also put together our BBQ that we bought last year. it took a while, and my muscles were cramping, but it's a nice BBQ! yay.