Family and fall!
It's turned to winter here today, Kai said, it's winter now, right! He's been asking most every day, both for the snow and the fact that Ken will come back during the winter! It snowed last week for the first time, big beautiful soft flakes, it was fun to see Kai and Lucas' faces as they stepped outside,they both began licking it off their hands and sleeves. Lucas says "tastes good!" His first face was one of wonder as he said, "snow!" with an expression like, yeah, that's what this is! He may not have too much of memory of it at his age. Since then it has snowed off and on, this morning quite a bit, beautiful, but most melted by the afternoon.
We have gotten all the daikon from the field and in their special little house and the chinese cabbage too. Probably as many carrots as we will do as well-the rest can wait until spring. The soybeans have been cut and gathered and are now in a greenhouse to dry as the shelling machine didn't work well on the damp plants. Next tasks are cleaning up everything off the ground so the snowblower doesn't destroy them, and rolling up the plastic on a couple of greenhouses, so the snow doesn't weigh them down. The ones that will stay up will get extra supports placed.
The most recent saga has been trying to catch the very contented and beautiful ducks who are living in and at the pond now! Although I haven't had a chance to be present, it sounds like a fiasco, with nets and bait, etc! We have some orders from people who will eat them, so so far they've caught 4 maybe? there are maybe twenty in there! We had planned to put them back in the chicken house for the winter, but we may settle with enough to lay us some eggs next spring and the rest will enjoy their spot until they cry uncle when the snow gets deep or the pond freezes over...or the foxes get to them. Another interesting how do we do this kind of experience, met mostly daily!
This weekend will be a fun one for us...as a farm we will all go to eat dinner together in Sapporo at a nice restaurant whose chef has bought some veggies from us in the past and who seeing our reservations called and asked to get all the ingredients for our meal from here. He is known for knowing where all the ingredients come from and using all local suppliers. He does French style cooking I guess and cooks very simply, preferring to buy good ingredients and let them shine. Nai-Nai says the homemade ice cream is to die for, can't wait! after that our family will stay at her house and the next day she offered to babysit for us so Kenji and I can spend the morning together doing something for us...wow! what an offer! we haven't had anything closely resembling a date for, oh, maybe a year or more!(We debated for less than a minute over whether to use the time to go practice at the local driving course for converting our licenses to Japanese licenses, but only for a minute!)That evening we'll eat dinner at her house with an American missionary couple and their three kids, that will be fun too.Then we spend another night there and attend their church and we will be sharing there. It feels like a vacation! Yeah!
As far as the license thing goes, our international driver's licenses run out in March. Japan has gotten very strict about licenses in the last five or less years, so we heard some horror rumors about how much money it would cost to get a Japanese license and how difficult it was to pass the test, which I understood was in Japanese(that was probably a misunderstanding though). However, our only option being to return to the States for three months, which is the only way you can use an intntl lic. again, we started researching. It turns out, it is not really expensive and the written test is 10 questions in English, and you have to get 7 right to pass. YOu do have to take a driving test on a driving course and there you have to speak Japanese i'm sure, that I might be able to bumble through! That's the part you have to prepare for as it sounds as if they are really picky focusing on manners and miniscule things like how many seconds before you turned you put your blinkers on. SO I'm hoping to find a book in English to help me out. THe driving course thing takes me quickly back to age 16....failing my first driving test, and bawling all the way home in humiliation and almost having an accident with dad! Then failing the parallel parking part again, but at least passing the second time...by the way, you still won't see me parallel parking if I can get without doing it, especially if I have adult passengers watching! I hope I don't have to do that...I've heard you can get an instructor to practice with you at the course for not too much, which beats the thousands it costs to take a professional course to get you through it. I have to tell you it gives me the Pant, breath, breath kind of terror to think of it, but I'm sure it will be an experience to remember! and laugh at, no doubt, with me in the driver's seat! Kenji may have to do the same thing as his Japanese lic. expired and he failed to bring it along, although he's trying some other things first.
Sage had a school concert last Saturday, see Kenji's blog for a few pics.I'll post some others later, have to get them off a CD first. He did so well, we were very proud of him, being this was his first big public performance:). (yes, yes, we are proud parents and proud of it!) He sang with the school, played the triangle and another instrument, someone tell me the name when you see the pictures later, please! It's called Tekkin in Japanese. All the kids did so well, they practiced long and hard and it showed. They knew their stuff well and I didn't see any embarrassed or shy kids, they all just did their stuff. Being a small school everyone gets a chance to be in the limelight, I love that from first grade they are introducing the show and playing instruments, accompanying etc, and all without many mistakes. Sage had a little bit of a struggle at the beginning as he came home after the first dance practice saying that he wouldn't perform and hated the dance----because it was too girly! There are 7 girls and three boys in his class, so there you go. I have a feeling it was more that he felt overwhelmed at all the moves, and didn't think he could do it..I didn't say much letting him rant for awhile and then, the next practice I casually asked how dance went and he said, good, all normal like, so I said, oh, you're getting it a little bit now, and he started showing me the moves and from then on out, it was fun, fun, fun! He also does not love the teacher who does music. (I think she is a perfectionist, takes one to know one!) The kids each got to choose the instrument they would play for the two songs(cool, huh!) He was having a hard time getting his part and making lots of mistakes so she would say, if you don't get it right you will have to choose a different instrument. Eventually he began to get it, and she gave up on him. I understood his feeling, but tried to get him to see that her wanting them to try hard and do a good job would have good results, and though he may have a hard time communicating with her, show her respect and do his best and she'll probably return the respect. If not, at least you did what was right. He was saying, mom, I don't get what you're saying! But he was alright. the last week he was still saying he wasn't getting one part and we had got a CD from his teacher and the music, but without the instrument we never quite got any actual practicing done. Just doing this seemed to qualm his fears somewhat, and then his dad stepped in with the best solution..I had kept saying why don't you just tell her that you need help, and he would say, she leaves right away.. etc. We prayed about it alot. Finally when he still was fretting about the one part the day before, Kenji says, you know what, at this point, don't worry about it, just do your best and have fun. He relaxed and that day, I didn't even know what part it was. Kenji says there was one part he didn't play when others did, I didn't catch it.I counted this a victory, as he played every other part perfect and didn't let it bother him! Way to go Sage! He was so excited the night before that he couldn't go to sleep and then woke up early the next morning and came out of his room with all his clothes on, oh my child who loves big to-do's! Whenever he would open his mouth wide during the songs it would turn to a big yawn, so funny! His only disappointment that day was "what am I going to do? no more practice, school is going to be back to normal!" The show was three hours long! Kai and Lucas sat thru it enjoying it all, It was a combination of plays and songs with and without instruments with different mixes of the 6 grades. The kids had had basically a dress rehearsal a few days earlier where they performed it all for local kindergarten kids and they all watched each other then, so on the big day, when there really wasn't space in the gym for the kids and visitors, they would do their part and then go to a classroom and play, or they could watch it on the tv. I thought this was a great idea as the kids didn't have to fidget through everyone else's part and at the dress rehearsal it didn't matter who couldn't hear because they were being too noisy. Sage loved it too, as he got to play! On Kenji's website he vented about the noisy and rude adult men who were sitting close to us, not paying a bit of attention and talking loudly. Irritating, as the kids worked hard and deserve the same respect we ask of them when adults are on the stage. He almost said something to them, but held his tongue and sufficed with a pointed glance at the former PTA head who was part of the group, thank goodness, we're strange enough without that kind of attention, ha!
Okay, I'll quit blabbing about my life at you now...you can all blab about yours to me anytime by the way...I'd love to hear what's going on...I like to listen as much as I like to talk.
Here are Sage and Koko-best friends, or closer to siblings!- eating Daikon fresh from the field after spending much time pulling them up and helping to chop off the leaves, a day well spent with tummies full of the fruit of their labor!
fall...
Kai playing Pajama Sam one of our few computer games(thanks Teoh's one of the wonderful things you passed on to us!) it's a great game!
Happy wake-up Lucas, just up from his nap with ever-present blankie, which has held up wonderfully by the way-beloved corners and all!
Sage practicing calligraphy with Jiji, Jiji likes to do it, and Sage loves doing it with him.
in mommy and daddy's bed, we play musical beds some nights here....
more fall..wish I could show you the beautiful snow-capped mountains now, but my zoom is insufficient...yesterday the moon was rising at soon after 4pm and it was a gorgeous sky, pink tinged clouds, an almost full moon and the snowcapped mountains behind...ahh. Kenji, Toshi and I were out in the field pulling carrots, what a majestic backdrop.
These are pics from cousing Nozomi's hundred day party, celebrated in Japan. Here is cousin Manami about to get a kiss?? actually, probably a squirt of jello!
Uncle Masaru, who is quiet and bookish is a fav of Kai and Lucas, I don't think he minds as he has three girls.. and Kenji does girl duty, hogging Nozomi every time he's near, I've hardly had a chance !
Nozomi, third girl of Makiko(Kenji's older sister) and Masaru
Megumi-girl in the middle
Baba holding newest grandbaby, number 10.
Makiko and Masaru, they just moved to a beautiful brand new condo about 40 min or less away from us, should be fun!
these kids had a great time, although the legs were freaking Baba out-for good reason!
watching Jiji tell a story with story-cards, which Sage checks out from the library bus that comes to school every other week..
this is what they are watching!
dancing with Sayoko(Kenji's younger sister) and Shunsuke's two girls to Japanese kids songs, it was late and they were absolutely crazy, it was very fun
Hikari the oldest and the last picture was Nanami
We have gotten all the daikon from the field and in their special little house and the chinese cabbage too. Probably as many carrots as we will do as well-the rest can wait until spring. The soybeans have been cut and gathered and are now in a greenhouse to dry as the shelling machine didn't work well on the damp plants. Next tasks are cleaning up everything off the ground so the snowblower doesn't destroy them, and rolling up the plastic on a couple of greenhouses, so the snow doesn't weigh them down. The ones that will stay up will get extra supports placed.
The most recent saga has been trying to catch the very contented and beautiful ducks who are living in and at the pond now! Although I haven't had a chance to be present, it sounds like a fiasco, with nets and bait, etc! We have some orders from people who will eat them, so so far they've caught 4 maybe? there are maybe twenty in there! We had planned to put them back in the chicken house for the winter, but we may settle with enough to lay us some eggs next spring and the rest will enjoy their spot until they cry uncle when the snow gets deep or the pond freezes over...or the foxes get to them. Another interesting how do we do this kind of experience, met mostly daily!
This weekend will be a fun one for us...as a farm we will all go to eat dinner together in Sapporo at a nice restaurant whose chef has bought some veggies from us in the past and who seeing our reservations called and asked to get all the ingredients for our meal from here. He is known for knowing where all the ingredients come from and using all local suppliers. He does French style cooking I guess and cooks very simply, preferring to buy good ingredients and let them shine. Nai-Nai says the homemade ice cream is to die for, can't wait! after that our family will stay at her house and the next day she offered to babysit for us so Kenji and I can spend the morning together doing something for us...wow! what an offer! we haven't had anything closely resembling a date for, oh, maybe a year or more!(We debated for less than a minute over whether to use the time to go practice at the local driving course for converting our licenses to Japanese licenses, but only for a minute!)That evening we'll eat dinner at her house with an American missionary couple and their three kids, that will be fun too.Then we spend another night there and attend their church and we will be sharing there. It feels like a vacation! Yeah!
As far as the license thing goes, our international driver's licenses run out in March. Japan has gotten very strict about licenses in the last five or less years, so we heard some horror rumors about how much money it would cost to get a Japanese license and how difficult it was to pass the test, which I understood was in Japanese(that was probably a misunderstanding though). However, our only option being to return to the States for three months, which is the only way you can use an intntl lic. again, we started researching. It turns out, it is not really expensive and the written test is 10 questions in English, and you have to get 7 right to pass. YOu do have to take a driving test on a driving course and there you have to speak Japanese i'm sure, that I might be able to bumble through! That's the part you have to prepare for as it sounds as if they are really picky focusing on manners and miniscule things like how many seconds before you turned you put your blinkers on. SO I'm hoping to find a book in English to help me out. THe driving course thing takes me quickly back to age 16....failing my first driving test, and bawling all the way home in humiliation and almost having an accident with dad! Then failing the parallel parking part again, but at least passing the second time...by the way, you still won't see me parallel parking if I can get without doing it, especially if I have adult passengers watching! I hope I don't have to do that...I've heard you can get an instructor to practice with you at the course for not too much, which beats the thousands it costs to take a professional course to get you through it. I have to tell you it gives me the Pant, breath, breath kind of terror to think of it, but I'm sure it will be an experience to remember! and laugh at, no doubt, with me in the driver's seat! Kenji may have to do the same thing as his Japanese lic. expired and he failed to bring it along, although he's trying some other things first.
Sage had a school concert last Saturday, see Kenji's blog for a few pics.I'll post some others later, have to get them off a CD first. He did so well, we were very proud of him, being this was his first big public performance:). (yes, yes, we are proud parents and proud of it!) He sang with the school, played the triangle and another instrument, someone tell me the name when you see the pictures later, please! It's called Tekkin in Japanese. All the kids did so well, they practiced long and hard and it showed. They knew their stuff well and I didn't see any embarrassed or shy kids, they all just did their stuff. Being a small school everyone gets a chance to be in the limelight, I love that from first grade they are introducing the show and playing instruments, accompanying etc, and all without many mistakes. Sage had a little bit of a struggle at the beginning as he came home after the first dance practice saying that he wouldn't perform and hated the dance----because it was too girly! There are 7 girls and three boys in his class, so there you go. I have a feeling it was more that he felt overwhelmed at all the moves, and didn't think he could do it..I didn't say much letting him rant for awhile and then, the next practice I casually asked how dance went and he said, good, all normal like, so I said, oh, you're getting it a little bit now, and he started showing me the moves and from then on out, it was fun, fun, fun! He also does not love the teacher who does music. (I think she is a perfectionist, takes one to know one!) The kids each got to choose the instrument they would play for the two songs(cool, huh!) He was having a hard time getting his part and making lots of mistakes so she would say, if you don't get it right you will have to choose a different instrument. Eventually he began to get it, and she gave up on him. I understood his feeling, but tried to get him to see that her wanting them to try hard and do a good job would have good results, and though he may have a hard time communicating with her, show her respect and do his best and she'll probably return the respect. If not, at least you did what was right. He was saying, mom, I don't get what you're saying! But he was alright. the last week he was still saying he wasn't getting one part and we had got a CD from his teacher and the music, but without the instrument we never quite got any actual practicing done. Just doing this seemed to qualm his fears somewhat, and then his dad stepped in with the best solution..I had kept saying why don't you just tell her that you need help, and he would say, she leaves right away.. etc. We prayed about it alot. Finally when he still was fretting about the one part the day before, Kenji says, you know what, at this point, don't worry about it, just do your best and have fun. He relaxed and that day, I didn't even know what part it was. Kenji says there was one part he didn't play when others did, I didn't catch it.I counted this a victory, as he played every other part perfect and didn't let it bother him! Way to go Sage! He was so excited the night before that he couldn't go to sleep and then woke up early the next morning and came out of his room with all his clothes on, oh my child who loves big to-do's! Whenever he would open his mouth wide during the songs it would turn to a big yawn, so funny! His only disappointment that day was "what am I going to do? no more practice, school is going to be back to normal!" The show was three hours long! Kai and Lucas sat thru it enjoying it all, It was a combination of plays and songs with and without instruments with different mixes of the 6 grades. The kids had had basically a dress rehearsal a few days earlier where they performed it all for local kindergarten kids and they all watched each other then, so on the big day, when there really wasn't space in the gym for the kids and visitors, they would do their part and then go to a classroom and play, or they could watch it on the tv. I thought this was a great idea as the kids didn't have to fidget through everyone else's part and at the dress rehearsal it didn't matter who couldn't hear because they were being too noisy. Sage loved it too, as he got to play! On Kenji's website he vented about the noisy and rude adult men who were sitting close to us, not paying a bit of attention and talking loudly. Irritating, as the kids worked hard and deserve the same respect we ask of them when adults are on the stage. He almost said something to them, but held his tongue and sufficed with a pointed glance at the former PTA head who was part of the group, thank goodness, we're strange enough without that kind of attention, ha!
Okay, I'll quit blabbing about my life at you now...you can all blab about yours to me anytime by the way...I'd love to hear what's going on...I like to listen as much as I like to talk.
Here are Sage and Koko-best friends, or closer to siblings!- eating Daikon fresh from the field after spending much time pulling them up and helping to chop off the leaves, a day well spent with tummies full of the fruit of their labor!
fall...
Kai playing Pajama Sam one of our few computer games(thanks Teoh's one of the wonderful things you passed on to us!) it's a great game!
Happy wake-up Lucas, just up from his nap with ever-present blankie, which has held up wonderfully by the way-beloved corners and all!
Sage practicing calligraphy with Jiji, Jiji likes to do it, and Sage loves doing it with him.
in mommy and daddy's bed, we play musical beds some nights here....
more fall..wish I could show you the beautiful snow-capped mountains now, but my zoom is insufficient...yesterday the moon was rising at soon after 4pm and it was a gorgeous sky, pink tinged clouds, an almost full moon and the snowcapped mountains behind...ahh. Kenji, Toshi and I were out in the field pulling carrots, what a majestic backdrop.
These are pics from cousing Nozomi's hundred day party, celebrated in Japan. Here is cousin Manami about to get a kiss?? actually, probably a squirt of jello!
Uncle Masaru, who is quiet and bookish is a fav of Kai and Lucas, I don't think he minds as he has three girls.. and Kenji does girl duty, hogging Nozomi every time he's near, I've hardly had a chance !
Nozomi, third girl of Makiko(Kenji's older sister) and Masaru
Megumi-girl in the middle
Baba holding newest grandbaby, number 10.
Makiko and Masaru, they just moved to a beautiful brand new condo about 40 min or less away from us, should be fun!
these kids had a great time, although the legs were freaking Baba out-for good reason!
watching Jiji tell a story with story-cards, which Sage checks out from the library bus that comes to school every other week..
this is what they are watching!
dancing with Sayoko(Kenji's younger sister) and Shunsuke's two girls to Japanese kids songs, it was late and they were absolutely crazy, it was very fun
Hikari the oldest and the last picture was Nanami
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