Catching up.

So I want to catch up on the last two weeks really quick. Two weekends ago the same one as the sports festival we had out town festival. It is called the “Hotei Festival”. Now I am not sure what that means, but that have a parade with the Murata man on top of one of the floats. The old main street was shut down for shopping and the Parade. It’s funny because the parade is so short that it circles the town all day. So you won’t miss it. We got to watch it and it was neat. Kids from the different schools in town performed different dances in it and played the drums or flutes while marching in traditional outfits. It was another great cultural experience for our family. And lucky us, we got our heads bitten by the Dragon in the parade. Yes, 5 years of good luck for each of us.






Then one week ago my very good friend Fumii left for her mission. I am so proud of her. She joined the church just 4 years ago and is the only member in her family. She will be serving in the Japan, Nagoya Mission. I will miss her so much and I know she will be a great missionary. Go Fumii.
Fumii with her sisters. She is in the middle holding Sophia.
Ok I think that is all that has happened. Tonight we are going to Tokyo for 4 days. I am very excited. I will post our Tokyo trip when we get home.

Sports Day!

This last weekend we had the opportunity of going to an activity at Grace’s Yochien (kindergarten). The activity was sports day. It was a fun packed day with lots of different events. This is a very popular day at the schools. It is almost like a track and field day event in America, Just geared towards 3, 4, and 5 year olds. I was very excited to go since Grace had been giving us little sneak peaks at home. When we arrived at the school (half an hour early) the school was already packed with parents and relatives all staking out their clams on the sidelines of the event. Kindly everyone moved and shifted so that we were able to have a front row seat. Now I had no idea what to expect, but I had my video camera all ready to go. Right at 9am the kids all paraded out onto the playing field and were lined up by classes.
Then a bunch of old people gave speeches and people were introduced and then the games began. Up first was a race for the five year olds. At this age everyone is a winner so after they were done they all got medals the said good job. Grace’s first event was a ball throwing contest.
Her class of 30 kids was divided into two teams: the red team and white team. Grace was on the red team. As a team the kids tried to throw tennis ball sized balls into a netted hoop. The team with the most balls in the net basket won. Unfortunately Grace’s team lost both times. But overall she did a good job herself. After that it was her classes turn to race. So they had four kids run against each other at the same time. She was in the last group to go and she did pretty well. She came in second place.
We were proud of her because I don’t think that she truly knew what she was suppose to be doing. It was cute. The last activity that Grace participated in, was the Mickey Mouse dance. Her whole class did a dance routine to the Mickey Mouse song. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen, all these three year olds doing a dance and doing it well and in sync for most of the time. I was amazed at all the effort the teachers put into this short two minute performance for these little kids. After Grace’s event were done there were still two more amazing performances performed by the 5 year olds. They did a whole cheerleader type routine where they we all in groups of three or five doing pyramids and different stunts. Now these kids were doing amazing things with no adult behind them to catch them if they fell. It was the neatest thing I had ever seen. These kids really had a lot of talent. Shortly after this event it was the final performance. It was again the 5 year olds doing a marching band formation routine while playing their instruments. I could not believe it. I thought the whole acrobatic performance earlier was amazing, but this was even more impressive. The kids played their tiny kid sized instruments while marching around on the field. There we girls twirling flags and one lucky girl was the conductor.
They played two songs and in total their performance lasted 15mins. I was impressed. It was a very fun day and I am so glad we got to have the wonderful experience. Its days like that which make me want to stay in Japan and raise my kid. If Grace could play the piano and march in a band at five, what else would she learn to do? I wish everyone could have been there to see it.

"Bennyland"

So Last weekend we decided to take the girls to the local amusement park. Some one gave us free tickets so we thought, "great a fun outing for us and the girls." So when we got to “Bennyland” we found out that the tickets were only to get into the park and you had to pay separately for the rides. It was a total bummer. Not only that, but the rides were a rip off and lame. Unfortunately you can’t take kids somewhere fun with out participating in the action. So we gave in and bought 30$ worth of tickets that lasted about four rides. Over all the girls had fun and what ever makes them happy, makes us happy as well. Right? So here are some pictures of the girls at “Bennyland”.
Riding on the kiddy coaster with dad.


Driving the yochien bus. Yes these 1$ rides seemed more amusing to the girls then the big rides


Riding some high flying, going in circles ride


An amusement park would not be complete with out a ride on the merry go round. So that was a must for the girls.

Three day weekends!

We love three day weekends. The past two weekends have been three day weekends and so of course it gives us time to do day trips. This last weekend we did some sight seeing around the area. About a thirty minute drive from our house is Zao Mountain. We can see it from our house and it is home to all the local ski resorts in the winter. So before the snow comes we decided we better make the drive to the top. At some point Zao was a volcano, but I don’t think that is still active. At the top is a huge crater with a beautiful blue green lake in it. It was really nice to visit up there because it has been really warm down below. Up at the top of the mountain it was nice, cool, and refreshing. At the top there are a few Shinto shrines, which Lane told me are covered in snow with just the tops peaking out during the winter. He was shocked to see them with out snow. The girls had a lot of fun climbing all over the rocks and playing with other kids that were up there.





At one point a group of 20 or more elementary age children came up to us and asked us for our autographs. I was shocked and I thought it was funny, but apparently we westerners have pretty neat signatures. Grace who can write her name even signed a few. In return we took their pictures with Grace and Sophia. It was a short trip just a couple of hours. But it was enough to wear out the girls so that they took three hour naps when we got home.

A day at Yochien

Today at Coco chan's school we as parents got to go and watch the kids in class and see what they do everyday. I like this because Coco chan can’t fully tell me what she does and I can’t read the handouts I get to find out what they are doing. So by coming to her class and watching I can understand. I really think that this is a neat idea. I am not sure if American schools do this, but if not they should. I came at about 10:30 and the kids were reviewing the colors and which fruit is which color. The kids then had a coloring book with about seven different fruits on the page and they got to color them.


As I watched all the kids coloring the fruit on their pictures I noticed different things. Most of the boys were not very good. They would just scribble all over the fruit with out a care to stay in the lines. Most of the girls colored cautiously and kept in mind which color the fruit needed to be. Now little Coco chan carefully colored each fruit, but she just colored them what ever colored she wanted to. One little girl just color everything pink. It’s neat to see other children the same age as Coco chan, but with such different personalities. After they colored their pictures they had a potty break and a drink break.



All the kids have a blue cup that they take to a sink to get water. It’s so cute to see Coco chan at school. She is becoming so independent. After that it was time for lunch. All the children then sing a song before eating that basically says mom thank you for the wonderful meal we are about to eat. It is really cute and sweet. Then all together they say the magical words: “Itedakimasu” which means we are grateful for the food we are about to partake. All Japanese say it before every meal. After that Momo chan and I went home to have our own lunch. It sure looks like Coco chan is having a good time at school.