Fun at the Summer festival

Here we are eating Kakigori (Crushed ice with colorful syrup) at the festival. Here is the big stage with a taiko drummer on top & the kimono ladies dancing around. There is a temple right by our house & they have big festivals here every year.

Happy Birthday Sam

I thought I'd post some baby pics of Sam. He was the fattest little thing. Dad & Mom called him "Sambo", but later it evolved into "Hambone". Mom has a picture of him & me together when he was a baby but she would never let me have it. Sam was born when I was about 9. I remember it well & I remember I wrote a little poem for the new baby & I still have it, but it's really corny so I won't post it.
Anyway, don't have a scanner so I just took a picture of some old photos with my cell phone that's why they are a little fuzzy. Sam looks just like his own baby. Ha! In the first pic, here he is in the middle of Tom & I eying a cake that would only make him fatter, & in the second pic, he's holding his newborn sister Angie. (So cute!)
Happy Birthday, Sam!!

The girls

Thanks Julie for the matching outfits.

Carole's Beetle Dies (RIP)

Poor Carole had to bury her pet Kabutomushi (Rhino Beetle). She made a little grave stone with his name on it & put some flowers on the grave.

(The grave stone says "Kabuto Kun" in Japanese. She wrote it herself.)

Trip to the zoo

Since the weather was not too hot today, I took the kids to the zoo. Highlights included the vivarium (reptiles & amphibians), & nocturnal animal house (bats, molerats & armadillos). Leila got a kick out of petting the pig at the petting zoo. Kiki of course, didn't want to veer from the zebra cage. When we were done at the zoo, we went on some kiddy rides & ate ice cream.

I am sooo relaxed!

Usually a typical day is like this: trips & preparation/homework for 2 different schools, sometimes having 2 jobs in one day, 3 meals & other snacks to prepare, dishes & all the house work. But now with the kids out of school, we've been just taking it easy. There is usually just one goal for each day like: Have a picnic. Today we had a really nice time at the park. The weather was perfect. More like October than August.

Mac's new ride is...

...Not J. Lo. hehe (--He wishes).
Here is the Subaru Forester. (Sweet!) It is not as spacious as our last one but Mac likes the way it can go reeeeallly fast & has a very quiet engine. I like the interior (Black, so the kids won't get it dirty.)

Pool

Today we went to the pool together. It wasn't the hottest day of the year & I was freezing the whole time, but I promised the kids I'd take them today & they wouldn't let me off.
We were not allowed to take pictures but I snuck this one in. Here are the girls getting ready to go for a swim.

A strrrraaange sight!

I was like riding on the train standing up & I look down at the "girl" sitting down right under me. Anyway "she" had a bit of a 4:00 shadow poking through the foundation & bright pink lips, huge lopsided boobs, a matted blond wig with a rabbit hairband, pink flower high heels, short mini skirt, little pink tinkerbell watch, & not very recently shaved arms & legs. The funniest part was that when "she" got up, her skirt was so short, the butt cheeks were clearly visible. I tried to get a shot of the cheeks, but it's hard to take a discrete photo, so here "she" is from the back. (not nearly as disturbing as the front view). Eyuw!

Pictures of Mommy

Carole's photography --I look weird in
the pic on top but at least you can see my
new outfit.

Cinderella --The New Story

"Here is Prince Charming picking up Cinderella to go to the ball"
--Kiki

Bye Yumi

Yum Cha (Yumi chan) left yesterday. The kids really had lots of fun with their Aunt. We took Yumi out to Sizzler for a bye bye dinner.

Julie's Kyute Baby Violet

Violet
Isn't she the loveliest thing?
Sorta looks like Lei when she was a bee.
(Bee means Baby in Carole/Kiki/Leila language.)

SUNNY DAY

Today was the first sunny day in about a week. We almost forgot it was summer for all the rain & gloom lately. The laundry was just not drying......(a mother's nightmare.)
Carole went to her school for summer holiday swimming lessons & we all went to a park. The park had a wading pool/fountain to splash around in. It made today's heat bearable.

Fun With Aunt Yumi

These last few days have been really fun for the kids because the kids have had Yumi's full attention. They made bead bracelets & did art projects, played card games, read stories, & so many other things.
Yesterday we went to "Toys R Us" & ate lunch together. Here they are at the train station ready to go home & play with their new toys.