May started with Jonas and Levi asking me to help them make money. So I put their plea for jobs out to the good people of Misawa and the people responded. Their first job was a doozy... poop scooping. They worked for one guy with two big dogs who had been doing their business all winter long in that yard.
When they completed the job, they estimated it was about 20 lbs of poop. They made $60. That's pretty good money, if you ask me.
I got to go recycle shopping with a dear friend. This guitar caught my eye...
Yep... that's a turtle shell.
Another day, another recycle shopping expedition. This time Fisher and I took several friends. And we stopped for gelato. Well, they got gelato, Ethan challenged our family to have no sugar during May (except for Mother's Day and my birthday). Fisher played on the grounds while our friends got their treats. It was crazy busy at the farm, Japan's annual Golden Week was actually two weeks this year because of the crowning of a new Emperor.
These two little kids came and played in the same wagon as Fisher. It was cute watching them together.
I have no idea what this picture was capturing aside from the fortress Ethan built around himself so Fisher couldn't get to him while he played.
Fisher loves socks and shoes. The kids put these on him and got such a kick out of it.
On May 10 Jonas came home from school and while I was sewing he nonchalantly tells me that Bryant went to the hospital today. I was confused... and thought he was kidding. But he assured me that Bryant had to go to the hospital, when I asked him how he got there he told me...
Just then my neighbors came knocking on my door to see if I needed anything because they had just heard from their kids that Bryant had gone to the hospital in an ambulance! What on earth??! Why didn't the school call me? I didn't have time to worry about it, I needed to get to the hospital. He was ok, but he had had a major allergic reaction to something... Levi had made some power bites and I knew exactly what he'd put in them, so that made it a little easier. Except that there wasn't anything in them that Bryant was allergic to. Perplexing!
Ethan and I had reservations at a fancy hotel for that night, but the hospital said that he had to be observed for 4 hours. Plus we had to get Jonas or Levi to one of their jobs at an English class for kids just off base. It was a stressful few hours trying to figure it all out.
We decided to go for it and headed to our hotel as soon as we got Bryant home. He was pretty tired, but capable of keeping the kids under control. And we are so glad we went! It was a fabulous, amazing, wonderful, awesome night.
The hotel stay also came with a fun dinner and show!
This tower of bamboo bowls is actually food! There were 5 courses in those, I think. I only got pictures of a few of them.
I ordered some apple juice... this tiny amount was $6! Yikes!
Dessert.
The show was so much fun!!! It was amazing! It showcases 4 different festivals of the area in Northern Japan. I definitely felt like it was better to see these things than deal with the craziness of parking and crowds of going to the actual festival. Ha. I'm terrible, I know. I just hate crowds and noise.
This girl was my favorite performer. She just looked like she was having so much fun!
Ethan and I even got to participate.
My hat was falling to the ground during this photo. Ha.
This hotel is beautiful.
After the show and dinner, we went to the onsen. It was the most amazing onsen I've ever seen! There was an outdoor bath that took my breath away. The only problem was I was a little bored. Usually when I go to the onsen I have a friend with me to talk to... sitting there by myself was less enjoyable than I'm used to.
The hotel provided us with these cool jammies.
Breakfast the next morning was good. It was definitely not a typical American buffet breakfast, but we enjoyed it. I walked into the room after breakfast and saw this scene. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I love my husband.
That peaceful scene was the opposite of what my evening was... I took Bolton and Abraham to the Mother and Son Night of Fun. They had such a fantastic time... these boxing gloves were so big Abe couldn't even hold them up. It was hilarious watching him try to box Bolton with them.
Lots of hydrating needed.
Bunny ears all around.
Jerseys and Jeans was the theme. Bolton wore his soccer jersey, I wore Ethan's new John Stockton jersey. Abe wasn't interested in changing his clothes, so he rocked a T.
And, boy did he rock! Once we hit the dance floor we didn't stop!
We had a great time. These two boys are full of life and don't get as much of his mom as we'd all like so it was extra nice to have some time with just them. I love them so much!
Fisher continues to distract during scripture study.
Mother's Day! Since we were doing no sugar this month, but Ethan said we could have it on Mother's Day and my birdie the kids were anxious to make me something sweet for breakfast (so they could enjoy it, too). Bryant got up and made chocolate chip pancakes, served with strawberries and whipped cream. Yum.
I thought this was a pretty cute (but funny for us) gift Abe gave to me.
That day we also got a class picture of our seminary class.
And of course I had to get a picture of my kids with me. I am such a blessed mom.
During the Father and Sons campout, Eliza and I watched a chick flick.
My sweet girl.
Dear friends invited us over for dinner. Fisher was enamored with their turtle tank.
We had this table that was super grungy, it was old and beat up and Ethan was ready to trash it... I decided I'd try to paint over it to see if it was salvageable. I've been practicing my hand at drawing a repeat design and thought it might be a good canvas, although I didn't do a true repeat because I added lots of little variation. I think its a fun upgrade.
Fisher gets sad and mad a lot more than he used to. He's still the most pleasant baby/toddler most of time. I love him.
Bolton and Eliza were able to take a fun computer programming class at the library. A gal in our ward was the teacher and she is the best! I wish we were able to get these guys more involved before our move.
Bolton also spent a few days a week after school doing soroban. Its a Japanese abacus kind math. They did a competition and Bolton did great!
He got 9th place and won this huge trophy! He was pretty excited!
We decided to take the kids to a different restaurant each week. We visited one of our favorites, an Indian place. Check out that Naan. Unfortunately, Bryant's order of vegetable curry must have had some cashews in it.... we spent the rest of that night watching him to see if we were going to be visiting the UCC again. He did OK with the meds we had for him, though. We felt bad that he didn't get to enjoy our favorite restaurant in Misawa.
Our high school hosted Far East girl's soccer tournament. The boys got to go during school several times to watch the games. Its a cool thing they will miss when we are stateside.
Abraham is getting to be a good reader. He reads most of the words in his verses for scripture study on his own. I just love this picture of two of my favorite boys.
Hanging out Saturday morning.
Spent a Saturday afternoon at the Towada Horse Park.
We ran into friends while we were there, so that was a happy surprise!
The kids were so excited they found this frog! Poor frog was manhandled for quite a while.
It was a gorgeous day! And I took way too many pictures...
We even found a snow hill!
So, the story of the hunt... while snowboarding this winter Ethan took his new (to him) goPro. It was strapped to his helmet and while going through some trees the camera got knocked off. Ethan and his friend searched and searched to no avail. He finally tied his red neck warmer to the base of the tree he thought he was close to the place he lost it. He even tried looking again later in the winter but was unsuccessful... so we came back in May...
Ethan took 3 of the boys up the slope to look for the camera. We had to be back to Misawa by a certain time so had to head down the mountain
We had a fun opportunity to meet and have dinner with our friend’s parents. These wonderful people happened to be dear, dear friends of Ethan’s youngest sister and her husband. E&C had actually lived with this super fun couple when they were away from Utah for the first time in their married life. We loved talking with them and hearing their stories. We all plan on reuniting again in their home town over the 24th of July sometime. As you can see, we had a great time with them.
Conveyor belt sushi!
I love stumbling upon moments like this. I have good kids.
My birthday was fun! Ethan and I went to lunch at Cake House. The desserts there are always so beautiful and delicious.
I made myself two cakes, both delicious. I got flowers and balloons from friends.
Fisher and I enjoyed lunch at the Lakeview and he thought this table was so much fun to climb on.
So proud of himself.
I loved the look of this water/oil in the sunlight and had to snap a picture.
I made this quilt for a sweet friend’s baby. He has Japanese heritage as well as being born in Japan soithought the use of Japanese fabric appropriate. I love sharing something I love with someone I love.
