Japanese Rice Field Art

We took a road trip to see the rice art in Inakadate, Japan. All of these images are made from different colored rice. AMAZING!! Enjoy!

Really? Who Does That?

So before you read this......let me tell you ....if you are the 'judging type' -- DO NOT continue! Just keepin' it real!

Wednesday morning Elijah woke up for school. I went into his bathroom to start his little timer (you can ask me about it another time). Anyway, as I walked in I was almost knocked out by the smell of urine. Ummmmm I have a strong nose and can smell a lot of things that others can't -- not always a good thing! TRUST ME!

I asked Elijah why it smelled like urine and this is what he said. "Well sometimes I get in the shower and when the water hits my body I have to pee." So I was like....okay, cool...."Do you pee in the shower and then wash your body?" REMEMBER: I said DON'T judge me -- he is 100% boy, so I have to choose my battles! He said, "Oh no Mom, I just stay in the shower, open the shower curtain and pee into the corner between the shower and the sink." VERY NONchalantly! Just to be clear.....there is nothing but floor between there!

Have you ever been so shocked and mad at the same time that you just start whispering the rest of the conversation? Well, I was that morning! So I reminded him that is not what we do and that he needed to pee before he got in or hold it until he gets out.

Question for mothers of boys: Is this normal???

Today was the 1st day of 4th grade!

.....so let me just tell you that we have always sang the Veggie Tales "Jonah" song on the first day of every school year. We just change it to whatever grade Elijah is in at the time. I just LOVE doing it too!

Can you hear it now (Eddie and Elijah are in PERFECT pitch with me singing LOUDER than both of them waaaaaaaay off key) "It's the 1st day of the 4th grade, it's the 1st day of the 4th grade, it's the first day of the 4th grade clap, clap, clap, clap, etc" Raise your hand if you just sang it out loud and literally clapped your hands 13 times! ha ha ha

I was talking to Eddie about time going by so very fast. I honestly remember taking him to his kinder class in 2007. I told everyone that I was not going to cry. I felt brave that morning while we were getting dressed, but as soon as we got to school....it hit me.....Elijah is actually going to be in kindergarten. (whipping tears away) Now look at him....he is no longer in primary grades! He is a 4th grader!!!!

Well after school we talked and he said, "Mom, I really like 4th grade, I want to stay for a whole year!" Hmmmmmm I am pretty sure he doesn't have much of a choice :)

Sweltering Heat!

August is a HOT, HOT month! It's not just hot here, we have humidity like nobody's business! I mean when the temp is 95 degrees and humidity is circa 90%.....it's uncomfortable BUT I find it even more difficult to count my many blessing when we live on the 5th floor of an apartment tower without any air conditioning in here. (just being honest)

So the good thing this year is that it is not as hot as it was last year. This is the first August that Eddie has had to experience the heat. I must admit .......... it kinda makes me giggle. He has always been someplace else when the August heat hits.

Long story short, this is what homemade A/C looks like here in Misawa.

To my lovely Phoenix friends: There is a MASSIVE difference between Phoenix heat and this heat. Neither is better than the other - but trying to sleep with 3 fans blowing in one room that is already hot and humid doesn't make me feel like Sleeping Beauty at all:) ha ha ha

I can't complain because we do have free heat in the winter!

Lake Festival AKA Beetle Festival

Elijah and I gave Eddie some alone time (to mess around with his music) and we went out to another nearby festival with my Japanese friend and her two daughters. FUN TIMES! So this is a Lake Ogawara festival and there is a LARGE exhibit of beetles from all over the world. My Japanese friend told me that Japanese children/youth play with beetles during the summer time. Jr. high school boys often stay up late and go into the woods at 3:00am to find beetles to play with. As an American, I was taken back......"so you play with beetles?" Hey, whatever makes you happy :)

These aren't small beetles either! They are GI.NOR.MOUS! No joke! I mean their bodies were a good 4 inches to 6 inches!

Beetles EVERYWHERE!

Even girls played with them!

They have places set up where you can have your beetle fight another beetle!

I did learn that the reason the beetles don't fly away is because they rarely fly in the day time.

This is ALL the beetle touching Elijah did...ALL OF IT, which was more than I did! I don't play with bugs....NEVER have!

The Power Rangers showed up and performed a live show - this got Elijah's attention.....naturally!

The cutest (ever) Japanese band performed too! These kids were between the ages of 4-6!

They played so well! I really enjoyed them!

He was in the lake playing for 2 1/2 hours, got out to eat and played inside the water for 2 more hours. On the way home he said, "When we get home may I play outside with my other friends?" Ohhhh gee......to be a kid again!

Japan is still cleaning up after the 4th strongest earthquake in recorded history

It seems like the March 11th earthquake was a long time ago. The media has stopped airing coverage of the devastation, but the recovery efforts are very much still underway. This past weekend we went to a beach that we have been to several times to walk around. This beach is roughly 8 minutes from our house. Elijah has picked seashells here before, climbed the tower over and over again, played in the sand, etc. We were surprised to see so it in the condition it was in ......

A beautiful landmark on our way through the woods to our beach.

This sign was not covered by sand like this prior to March 11th

This stand used to hold a replica plane of Miss Veedol. The first plane to take a trans-Pacific flight. It was washed away during the tsunami. Part of it was behind me (picture below) and the other part was about 200 feet away by the tree line.

This asphalt was lined up with a smooth decline of the sand, that gradually went down into the coastline. Now it's a 5ft drop!

Even the concrete barrier separated during the quake.

Please continue to pray for the recovery efforts of such a beautiful country!

How about some chips??

So this morning we decided to get out the house and just drive around to see what we could find!! We thought these would be an interesting post --- these are the 'unique' Japanese chip-like things we found today. Some we bought .... some we didn't.

I'm a sucker for a store that has organized shelves! This was a GAS STATION guys! Way to go!

E.V.E.R.Y. single item is stocked and pulled to the front of the shelf! They are actually a very busy store too!

Check out the Gourmet Doritos......salad flavor

Mmmm these are sausage flavored Doritos

Curry flavored chips....on another note: CoCo's is a curry here in restaurant...very yummy too!

Eddie and I think this one is French Onion Soup flavored? Since we don't/can't read Kanji...I guess we will never know :(

spicy taco flavor....these were DELICIOUS to all 3 of us! Eddie polished off the bag the same night we bought them!

Fondue cheese flavored ....yummy also! These are so much better than American Cheetos...they have a softer cheese flavor.....like a cheese soup.

BBQ flavored Cheeto-like.......also great!

Hamburger flavored chips

Notice that these are actually shaped like a ham bone! ha ha ha Ham flavored

Geeee I am going to miss Japan!