Art, Jordan's Daddy....

Hey! No sewing at the BBQ!! Erinn is addicted..she carries it EVERYWHERE!

Toasted marshmallows....yum yum

Julia and Jo

Ah, what a relaxing day!

The kids entertained themselves by putting on skits for us..and singing us a song!!! It was very cute!

Beautiful Summer Sky

I just had to take these photos of the beautiful summer sky! These were taken from my balcony.

Movie Time!

We all went all went to see the movie Die Hard 4 on Monday night! It was so cool! The stunts were great and it was a lot of fun. Ken had been wanting to see it for ages and we finally went. Little Jo fell asleep 20 mins before the end....but Ken watched a movie for the first time without putting his hands over his ears! A fun movie...will definitely buy the DVD once it is out!

Night with the family

Mrs Shibby put on quite a spread! We couldn't move we ate so much. Here is the sushi she ordered for the kids.The grown-ups got the eel special!

Sanae, Shibby's sister, and his mum

Uncle Yoshida teaching Kana, Ken and Jo's cousin, some magic tricks...

Ken and Jo with their 'Obachan'.

Ken gearing up for the Die Hard 4 movie......

Jo outside 'Obachan's' house...

The whole family squashed into one room!

Meteor Shower

This weekend there was a great display of shooting stars. Every night since Thursday I have been out of the balcony watching the stars. Watching the stars is something I have always loved to do. I used to sit outside with Dad in NZ when I was small and watch the stars with him. He was out there to have a smoke of course, but it was always nice and quite out there and we would be visited by the occasional hedgehog....
This is a picture of Jo and I on Friday night...we lasted from 9pm to midnight and saw quite a few shooting stars and enjoyed the cool night air together. We had just gotten back from the river that afternoon so our towels are hanging up behind us!

River anyone???

Friday, we went to the river with Claire and Yuji. Erinn had this fun water wheel...that took an hour to blow up with the electric pump! It was worth it though, because the kids had lots of fun fighting over it. The only bummer to the perfect day was losing Jordan's pool and Yuji's duckies down the river. We saw it floating away and asked one of the girls to get it...but for some reason forgot about it with all our yakking....at the end of the day Jo and I went for a walk down the river looking for it...we found one of the ducks but the pool must have been out to sea by then! We enjoyed the hour walk though just the two of us. It was a beautiful time of night.

Higashi Yoshino

Thursday, we headed out to Higashi Yoshino to join the group from Berkeley in a day of outdoor fun. Every 2 years they come out on an exchange and Shibby looks after them and arranges things when they are here. It is our regular summer trip to join them on the day they go out to Higashi Yoshino and enjoy the river, camp fire and fun with the kids. It takes about one and a half hours from our house into the heart of the mountains. These are the only 2 photos I took! The river was so cold and clear it was beautiful. But despite the heat outside, I was only able to last in the water for 10 minutes. Then it was time to sleep on the river bank with my Spider man Comic!

River fun

Jo and Jordan having fun in the river together.
Another beautiful day at the river...a different spot this time. Erinn and I actually had time to doze off while the older guys watched the kids.
Jo was enjoying pushing Jordan away and pulling him back with the rope in this picture. We are so lucky we both have great kids!

The Festival

This is at the Horse riding Club Festival.
This is the first year for us to go, and I'm so glad we did! They had a live Jazz Band (in the background) and lots of fun things for the kids to do. It was set up really well. Usually, 'festival' in Japan means walking forever through stall after stall, fighting for air amongst the people, and trying to eat your dinner while holding your things and walking through the crowd. Definitely an event for the 'young'...! But the club decided to do it in style! They had the tables and chairs set up under the stars...so we sat in the cool summer night air with our beer and spare ribs and listened to the band. It was magical!

The kids had plenty to do...as long as we had plenty of money! Here Ken is trying to win a prize by throwing the horse shoe.

Once it was dark, the staff put on a show for us with the horses. They all rode in formation. In was quite impressive, but my poor camera doesn't work so well at night!








CLICK HERE to learn more about Festivals in Japan...

Family Night

Saturday night we had a special 'family night' at church. A team from California came to our church for the weekend and hosted the night for us. It was full of fun entertainment. Hula worship, Poi Dance, Rubik's Cube competition (wow!), Drama, Music, Testimony...my favourite was the Ukulele performance...it was so beautiful!









On Sunday after church we had lunch with the team and they showed us how to do the Hula! Then they taught us the Poi dance and showed us how to weave a lei out of ribbon. They were a great team, really interesting people. It was nice to share some time with them.

Some of the 'Hula' girls.....

The Perfect Day

Have you ever had one of those days where everything just seems to go RIGHT??? Rare, I'm sure, but today was one of those days for me. Erinn had the kids for the night so I woke to the sound of birds chirping instead of kids fighting....and got ready without fuss for work. Today was the exam day for my students at the College. I was nervous as it was my first time to supervise an exam...but it all worked out well and it was good to see my students again. The highlight of the day was being taken out to lunch by Rebecca and Anne-Marie...my superiors at work. They are a lot of fun and super people! They have made life so easy for me since I started there. We had a wonderful time at lunch and the food was superb! (Pics below). We then spent the rest of the afternoon marking papers in Anne-Marie's cool air-conditioned office.
I picked my kids up around 5 and they were so pleased to see me Jo came over and gave me a big hug! They both said they missed me....so that was sweet!
Then I came home to a 5 page letter from my cousin in Oz, waiting in the mailbox! How fun! When was the last time you got mail? I mean, REAL mail??? It is very exciting! I sat in the garden with the sun going down behind me laughing to her funny remarks!
When I turned on my computer later...I had 13 personal emails waiting for me! 7 of them photos from my 'other' cousin!!! How special is that??!
What a great day! How is it possible to work so hard and yet feel so good??!!

Rebecca and I

Yummy, tender, rich, Beef Stew...!

Anne-Marie and Rebecca in front of the restaurant.

Row row row your boat....

Yep, we went to the river AGAIN!! Last Tuesday we bundled up the kids and headed for the river. I made a quiche, mini hot-dogs, beef rolls, beans, and fruit, and Erinn made mini hamburgers, rice balls, egg roll, and apple....quite a feast! We lay on the rocks under the umbrella while the kids played in the river. It was so hot we would have to jump in the river every now and again...but it would take our breath away it was so cold!!! It was a relaxing day in the sun with good friends.

Baby on a leash.....??

Julia and Jordan enjoying the water