random stuff

these are the fun pictures I have hanging up at work behind my desk that Brighton and Jace made for me. 

Jace just went to a triple Birthday party (not for Triplets, but 3 separate boys). Hiroki, Rian, and Izumi. It was at a nearby skate park. 

Something I learned from one of the dads is that this family that owns this park is Japans "first family of rollerblading".  

Apparently the son pictured here has won the X-games, and the dad and mom (dad in Yellow helmet, Mom not picture) were Japan's roller dancing champions. I didn't know roller dancing was a thing. 

singing happy Birthday

Lots of cool Balloons. and some kids. 

Some guy eating fish next to me on the Shinkansen. 

Japanese Pets

Here's a beetle that Souma's dad (Josh) caught for him early that morning. Yes, that's a "pet".  While Beetles have special significance in Japan, I still find that a bit over the top.

Souma wants his two beetles to have a battle. 

washing machine

So, this is my washing machine/Dryer. Yes, it does both! can you believe it! So convenient.

SOOOOOOOO convenient. So Super convenient.  It sure sounds convenient. How would it ever not be convenient? You simply put it in to wash and dry and you come home and it's also made your bed and baked a delicious casserole.  

EXCEPT it DOESN'T work like that. See, a cycle takes between 3.5-4hrs. Once that cycle is done, you must now re-dry your clothes/sheets/towels whatever, because it doesn't get them dry the first time. No biggie...except it takes ANOTHER 2.5-3hrs to finish drying! 

Also, something I never realized about how dryers work is that it's not just the drying that helps take the major wrinkles out of shirts/pants etc. The tumble drying is the key! Since this is a top-load, it rotates the clothes up against the sides. So they come out with super set in stone wrinkles. 

So, lesson learned, when they try to tell you that the one washer/dryer deal is great, I would take a second (or third, or fourth) look at it before signing on the dotted line. 

Girl Scouts.

At the end of the year, the girl scouts have a bridging ceremony, where they...you guessed it, cross a bridge! They literally did, but really it means you're moving up to the next rank of girl scout. Here's Kate!

Suzy is also moving up to be the Cadets leader (she was a Brownie leader last time, but Faith is also moving up).

Speaking of Faith...

And here is the whole shebang. 

Here's Suzy teaching the Brownies how to do something girl scoutee. 

Here she's trying to educate Louisa on how to properly point at someone. 

Here are a bunch of girl scouts looking bored, but not Faith, she looks happy.

Faith getting her badges. 

Kate getting her Badges.

Suzy getting her water bottle. That's what you get if your a leader instead of badges. I think they gave the rest of the leaders Alcohol. 

Memories from Akashi/Shioya

Here we are at Stake Conference. We're watching from one of the overflow rooms. With the toys. This was the one where Elder Oaks came and the kids got to shake his hand afterward. They didn't have translation in the overflow room, so there were a couple of talks in English (Elder Oaks and Sister Oaks).

Eating at the Club. These hotdogs were Hot! As Brighton's face will attest.

This was the pool opening party. They had Hula dancers! It was funny, because there are a small group of boys (maybe 4-5) who are in the 12-15 range.  They never pay attention to any of these performances. But if you notice, there are some younger girls dancing as well, probably also 12-15. They sat entranced the whole time. 

Hiroki Kojima! One of the kids favorite people in the ward. He was always awesome. 

Rino and Yugu, Jace's classmates (They're brother and sister - the Yoshida family)

Even though they don't speak English, Jace really liked playing with Rino-chyen (Chyen is like -san which you put at the end of the adults names as an honorific, but for girls. Kun is for boys). 

Bike riding in front of the house in the cul-de-sac.

Suzy eating weird food with friends. Those are tentacles. 

Mother's Day

In Primary, the kids made some Mother's day cards.

And decorated the envelopes. 

Earlier, they brought her breakfast in bed, as well as some other handmade cards. Mom's special day!

Jace is no longer a Kindergartener.

That's right, who's the man with a cap and gown. I guess when you pay more than my college tuition for Kindergarten it comes with some perks. Like a cap and a tassel. 

They did these cute videos where the kids talk about their favorite parts of school, plus what they want to be when they grow up. Jace...Dragon Trainer. 

Here was the presentation of the diploma. 

The kids performed a few songs, it was very, very cute. I love the size differential in Kindergarten already.