Elijah 'deploys' to an undisclosed location

The base held a mock deployment for the children this past weekend so that the kids could understand what their parents go through when they get deployed. It was called Operation C.O.D.E. (children on deployment exercise). Elijah was recalled (called in the a.m.) by his military training instructor at 0700 and had to report to the outprocessing section by 0800.

Checking out the weapons.....really closely!

Getting ready to be 'Fit to Fight'.....push-ups on the exercise balls

Out of 18 kids, Elijah was chosen to get dressed up in the fire fighter's suit....of course he entertained others while he did it!

...with his I.D. card and outprocessing checklist. He had to wait in line for over an hour at various stations to get outprocessed

Elijah signing a Power of Attorney.....to place Daddy in charge of:

-- taking care of his toys while he was gone

-- giving people hugs while he was gone

-- to clean his room and watch over his piggy bank (but don't spend any of the money)

-- to wash my bicycle while he was gone

Camo paint and all! Does he look F.I.E.R.C.E. or what!

Raising his right hand to take an oath to get DIRTY today! I am not joking...that was the oath!

The campsite...Camp Defender

The 'troops' listening to the briefing from the base commander.

loading the troops on the bus to their undisclosed location......psssst Camp Defender!

eating lunch.....TEARING up that hotdog! He really worked up an appetite by lunch!

Taking down the bad guys!

Successfully completing the obstacle course!

Eddie said that Elijah's group reminded him of Major Payne's group in the movie!

Cherry Picking Road Trip

It's fruit picking time again. This time we picked cherries and Elijah LOVED it (unlike the blueberries last year) We went with friends, Chris and Chiaki. They are both teachers and speak Japanese and English fluently....which really helped us out in knowing what kind of cherries we were eating.

Elijah and Hannah (Chiaki's daughter) Yep, she is bilingual too!

Eddie THOUGHT he was a professional sweet cherry picker by the end of the 60 min we spent in the cherry picking area!

Goof!

The yellow cherries were my FAVORITE! Super sweet - they were a Japanese variety!

Yep, we let our son climb a ladder in FLIP-FLOPS to pick the cherries that were at the top of the tree!

Ever tried this?

So unlike many people, I will taste things at least once. I don't want to leave Japan and say that I ate at McDonald's and didn't try any of the ethnic foods. Elijah will try anything too! YEAH!!
Here are a few 'treats' we picked this weekend.

GARLIC CANDY! So the only reason I bought this is because I figured "why not-you are only in Japan once" So I tried a piece and it was REALLY garlic-like. GROSS! I could not finish it ..... but of course Elijah chomped down on it, like it was cherry flavored life saver! Huh? Really he likes it and ate about 4 more pieces.

Notice the slight grammatical error.......corn versus cone. You know when you say it out loud it kind of sounds similar??

Just a quick snack of mini soft shell crabs. You just pop the WHOLE thing in your mouth! They were yummy a bit fishy....Elijah could NOT stop eating them!

..b/c we don't have access to 2 liter soda bottles here...

....we can not make Diet Coke and Mentos explosions....bummer:(

So we decided to have Elijah create 'rockets' with 35 mm film containers, bak

ing soda and vinegar. He was overly excited and turned them into grenades.

1st try

2nd try

Learning NEVER stops!

I am SUCH a teacher......I am a strong believer that learning shouldn't stop in the summer time. So a few families got together and went to tour the base recycling center. We viewed a PowerPoint about recycling facts....America produces the most trash out of ALL nations and recycles the least!

Here are some pics:

Trying to lift a cube of crushed aluminum cans.....it was 5 large garbage bags full of cans before it was crushed

We've all seen these metal drums (they collect liquids). It was placed in the crusher and....

...here it is! The kids thought this was cool!

Elijah and his friend, Maxx! A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.

Viewing the results of the cardboard crusher...each child threw a box in, they turned on the machine and got to view how small the boxes were afterwards

Trip to the Igawaro Iris Garden

To celebrate the last day of school (it was a 1/2 day), Elijah and I (along with some of the school staff) took a trip to a local flower garden. Eddie did not go --- I guess admiring beautiful flowers is not his thing.....it isn't Elijah's thing either...but when he heard his little buddies were being drug along too he changed his mind very quickly? Hmmm?

traditional Japanese footwear called 'Geta'

traditional Japanese baby basket....the little, old Japanese lady (sweet as could be) said that parents placed their babies in there and would rock the basket until the baby fell asleep.

The entrance to the garden

The signs were posted at every flower to tell you what they were......since I don't read Kanji and am not smart enough to every be able to read it.....we relied on our art teacher that showed us around.

wild strawberries - they were in random places around the garden - and they were Y.U.M.M.Y.!

I like poppies - reminds me of Memorial Day!

The eatery - had traditional Japanese dining. The tables were in chabudai style - low and round. There are no chairs - you sit on the floor and the middle of the table spins easily. The food is set in the middle of each table and it's buffet style for your table. So you spin the middle of the table around and serve yourself.

I was entertained by the little Japanese workers tending the garden. If I was bent down like that all day - my back would hurt like nobody's business for a week! She had to have been like 60+ years old though?!?

American Day 2010

The base puts on an American Day to show the Japanese culture some American customs, food, etc. There was this Japanese band that was setting up on the street. What do YOU think they starting singing? ........probably a Japanese tune? NOPE! Eddie and I were BLOWN away when they starting singing Earth, Wind and Fire's - September! Better than that.....they sounded really, really good! No accents at all!

So other than that - the demonstrations were pretty....ummm "American-like" so they weren't anything worthy of posting in my opinion. I am sure it entertained the Japanese though.

Here are some pics of Elijah playing at one of his favorite play spots around Misawa. This park is right outside the base.

The monkey bars!! He L.O.V.E.S. that Raw wrestling shirt! We see him wear it every single week!

One of the Japanese vendors entrees. For just 400 yen (about $4.40) you can get your very own Tornado Wiener! It looked like a rolled up steamed hotdog??

One of ingenious Japanese inventions. So as we were stopped at the crosswalk, I spotted this hat and snagged a pic! It's a solar-powered fan hat! OMGosh! Does it get any more brilliant?