sorry, i'm not very good at blogging any more. facebook takes up a lot of my time these days, though i don't post a lot over there, either. i'm afraid of sharing too much any more. afraid that things will just spill out and people won't see me as having it together. good life, happy family. what a laugh.

i've been really stressed about finances lately. nothing i can really write about, you know? wouldn't be prudent. things are fine, but things could be better. so, here i am at the end of the month, hoping to earn enough next month to keep september going....

the kids are driving me crazy. i've already sworn that i won't take them anywhere this summer, and we haven't even finished the second week of summer vacation. it's just as well, though, since i don't have a lot of extra money this year.

i don't know if i'll post much more, but i do hope i can. i cannot share any photos, this computer has very little memory. i tried to get a memory stick, or flash drive, or, whatever, but as you can probably guess (since i don't even know what i'm trying to talk about) that didn't work out. i think i can blog from my iphone, and might be able to share pictures from there from time to time, but it's a real PITA to type on the phone.

i can't tell if rainy season is over yet. we've had a pretty cloudy, but not very rainy, tsuyu. the past couple of weeks have had more rain than the previous how many ever there were....i think rainy season was officially declared for kyushu on june 2nd this year. still waiting for it to end....there are/were a few typhoons south of us making the weather very interesting here for us for the past few days. but, i'm ready for a sunny summer!

actually, summer vacation hasn't started yet, so we're not totally bored out of our skulls (yet). i have had a very disappointing month, so far (and it's only the 10th day in!) which doesn't bode well for when summer vacation actually starts.

i haven't made a lot of plans for the kids and myself. we will go to the nakatsu gion festival as we always do (end of july), and we already have tentative plans for sasha's birthday, but other than a vague sense of traveling to oita-ken at some point, there's nothing really that we're looking forward to.

besides payday. it will be nice to get paid.

i'm afraid hiro is turning into a bit of a homebody. he doesn't want to go out and do things. we have to force him and of course, he has a great time, but the forcing him to go out and do things sucks. he's a lot like yoshi in this regard. video games, youtube channels about video games and minecraft do much to contribute to his want-to-stay-homeitis. *sigh* so, i am hoping to get out more during the summer. more beach, more pool, more picnics. or perhaps, more visiting friends. wish me luck!

it's true: facebook steals your blogging mojo. but i can't believe it's been almost two years since i last wrote a post. that's pretty pathetic! it seems difficult to start again. and i still have the same problems with computer memory, so i cannot share pictures!

i have some new jobs, and that's nice, but that means less free time. the kids are all in elementary school now. can you imagine? where is the time going? soon it will be summer vacation and i will have to figure out how to keep them all entertained, and on their homework, while sticking to some kind of budget.

the kids and i went to the states last winter, which was fun. but i'm not sure when we'll have the time or money to go again!

now i have to go pick up my husband from the train station. i will try to write more soon.

i know! i owe you a blog post. but. it turns out i'm really busy! and, i haven't uploaded all my photos from summer onto flickr. i'm about to go out of town for work, and then i have an AFWJ weekend coming up, but after that! i should be able to do the big catch up. argh! when did life get so hectic??

i have the blogger app for my iphone. i just might try it out this week. just wait! (i'll be going out near mt. fuji. i'll be busy, but if i get a chance, i'll try to write!)

hey! remember me? i've been meaning to write for ages, but i've been so busy. i can't believe it's already been more than five months since i last wrote. naughty naughty blogger (illahee). i will have to write some catch up posts to tell you all about our summer. blame facebook. it's so much easier to update there, let me tell you....

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.