Japanese school annual bazaar and open house

Ian's class is the "ringo" class, or apple class. Ian is standing in front of his pizza that he made.

This is in Alex's classroom, the "kuma" or bear class. Alex's class had an ocean theme. Each class had large displays and the children's artwork to see.

A space theme in another classroom.

Alex standing in front of some of his art. His was the blue picture, with an octopus on top.

The school is actually pretty large--there are two classes of Ian's age (2 1/2+ year olds), 2 classes of 3-year olds, 3 classes of 4-year olds, and 3 classes of 5-year olds. The Japanese begin their school year on April 1st, so children must be the class year age by April 1st, or they are put in the younger class. Since Ian's birthday is April 9th, he missed the cutoff for the 3-year old class, so he is actually in the 2 1/2 year old class. Alex is also in the 4-year old class, even though he is already five, since he has a July birthday.

The bazaar is quite a huge event for the school--besides showcasing the children's work, the parents donate household items and baked goods to sell, and they turn the gym into a large cafeteria, selling things such as curry, yakisoba, ramen, popcorn, cotton candy, and hotdogs. It was very crowded, with lots of kids and parents. The also had a little game area and other activities for the kids in some of the classrooms. The donated baked goods are a huge money maker--I wrapped rice krispie bars in cellophane bags, and they were selling them for 150 yen each--or $1.50!

The boys had a great time, and it was fun to see all of their artwork!

Halloween 2008 in Misawa

Happy Halloween! My pirate, my motor cross driver (How great is that--Noah wanted to be the EXACT same thing he was last year!), and my little red power ranger.Here are the boys getting ready to go over to our friends' house (Thanks Carla and Keith!) for a Halloween dinner before trick or treating. The weather wasn't too cold, just a little windy, and lucky for us, it sprinkled for a few minutes around 5 pm, but stopped by 6 pm, and then it started raining again around 8:45 tonight. Perfect timing! If you haven't heard about trick or treating on base, it is crazy! The Japanese don't do trick or treating (for the most part, although I guess it is gaining a little popularity now), so all the Americans who live off base come on base, and the base also sponsors BUSLOADS of Japanese kids onto the base so they can experience and American halloween! And, we are also allowed to sponsor Japanese friends on base, so there are just a ton of people, both kids and adults. It really is quite a sight! I would say during the busiest half an hour, I easily gave out 100 pieces of candy. I didn't buy nearly as much as I did last year since Chris wasn't here to pass out candy, but I still ran out! The boys had a lot of fun, but it was so crazy that it was hard to keep track of the kids, and I didn't get nearly enough pictures as I had wanted to...but here is another pic of the boys with our friends, the Millers. Unfortunately, Noah Miller has his eyes closed!

Flag football frenzy...sort of

The older boys have been playing flag football this fall. It's actually been pretty entertaining--much better to watch than tee ball, that's for sure. Here is a little clip of Alex running with the ball...unfortunately, he initially went the wrong way! Luckily, it's the first time that's happened, in football anyway! Alex is number 15. They are really enjoying it, and even Ian likes to watch it, although he always asks why they don't get to tackle. Noah and Alex's friends, Rachel and Meredith are also cheerleaders, so it's been fun when they are cheering at the boys' games.

'Tis the most wonderful time of the year...

Well, maybe not, but it is apple season in Japan! Japan prides itself on its wonderful apples, and I have to say, they are worth bragging about! I just love the apples here, and Aomori prefecture (where our very own Misawa is located) is home to the most popular and famous apple in all of Japan. Aomori produces the greatest number of apples in the country. The apples are also exported to many countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and others. Apples are commonly used as gifts here, and often different areas will put their own special mark on the peel to distinguish it from others. This is one thing that I will dearly miss when we leave Japan!

Today Noah and I went with his first grade class to a nearby apple orchard in Rokunohe town, which is about 20 minutes from the base. At the orchard we paid 500 Yen (about five U.S. dollars) to pick 3 apples, but it is not uncommon here to pay up to 300-500 Yen for ONE, large, beautiful, "perfect" apple, especially near tourist areas.

Hiking at Tsuta

The Robert boys with their good friend, Noah.

Alex doing a great job hiking!
On Saturday our friends the Millers invited us to go hiking up near Oirase Gorge, about an hour from Misawa. The weather was very nice, and it is about an hour long, child-friendly hike! Although the leaves weren't at the height of their fall colors, it was still very pretty. All was well until the very end when Ian decided he needed to put his walking stick in the little pond...and he fell right in! Luckily, the water wasn't very deep, only up to his calves or so, but he fell forward onto his hands, so he was soaked. I did have a change of clothes for him, but unfortunately the ride home is very curvy, and he got carsick. As I was driving, I noticed he was very quiet, and went to pull over, and he started whimpering..."Mom, I don't feel..." well, you can figure out what happened next! So needless to say, his car seat, clothes, and back of the car got a good cleaning that night.