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.

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.

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!

ok ok, i am getting tired of the christmas post, too! sorry, it's been a crazy few weeks. so much to do these days!

sasha has 'graduated' from kindergarten. so unreal! soon i will have two kids in elementary school. it's kind of a relief, really. we are nearly ready. i want to make her some bags, for her sports clothes, library books, mask and maybe a bento bag if i have enough material left over. i also need to get her name on her sports clothes, but everything else is pretty much ready. hm, that reminds me, though, that i need to find her pencil box and get her pencils and erasers ready.

i had an easter party for my students here at the house. it was QUITE an adventure. i certainly learned a lot, what NOT to do next time (if there is a next time!) classes are going well, otherwise, and i have a couple of new students starting in april.

sorry that i don't have any new photos for ya. i can't find the nikon, i guess i better ask yoshi where it is.

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.

so, as you may remember, our trip home was cut back by one week because of chicken pox.  this was heartbreaking because we didn't leave until christmas eve, and so arrived on christmas eve morning, and the kids (and i) were pretty exhausted and with spending the week sick with chicken pox (which is no fun) then flying, then meeting people two of them have never met before, and the other never remember meeting, well.  part of the magic of christmas is the anticipation, and preparation, beforehand.  we didn't even get to decorate a tree!  *sigh*  anyway, all in all it was a fun trip home for christmas.

there was so much that we did!  we went to seattle three times, which meant three ferry trips.  we went to see the ballet, then we went to the city for shopping (mainly for me!) and then we met my brother and his family for lunch, which my sister joined, too.



we had a lovely christmas at home and opened a lot of presents.  we got to try all sorts of american food and the kids came away with a new appreciation for corn dogs.  we went to the seattle aquarium and spent oh so much time there (and got hiro's omiyage for his class), which the kids really enjoyed.  we spent a lot of time with my family, which was really nice.  the kids were really excited--and excitable--and were very very noisy at times, which was very aggravating for my parents, and for me.  but we were sad to say goodbye when it was time to go.  the kids especially liked my sister.  hopefully we'll be able to meet again soon.

so, this is a holiday usually celebrated in november, but like many things, it seems to be heading towards more commercialization.  seriously, there's the regular 7-5-3, 7 year old girls now have the option of hakama (usually worn by boys and men, and 20 year old women, if they so choose, at their coming of age ceremony...anyway) and i also found some 7-5-3 wear for the new year!  i'm sure if i looked right now i'd find 7-5-3 for spring.  ah well....

when hiro was five, we bought a hakama set, with the intention of using it for tommy.  which we did.  i couldn't find any of the dvds of instructions on how to put on the hakama and kimono, but luckily i found some videos on youtube!  i did a practice run a couple of weeks before we visited the shrine.  i also shleped that thing across the ocean to have some professional pictures taken when we were in the US.  today's photos are from our visit in november.