Mama....move. I can't see the T.V.

A little recap...the preschool sports day.

Never got to put these up.

The pair had their Sports day in October and it was hot.

Nina was much better this year and really enjoyed it.

Aimee looked like we were forcing her to dance on hot coals.

It was a lovely day as always, see for yourself.

Nina with a very enthusiastic Aimee behind her. Nina is "akagumi", meaning the red club, while Aimee is "momogumi", the pink/peach club. That would explain the hats.

Aimee refusing to let the excitment take over.

Nina running her race. Actually I wouldn't have called it  a race. The children are fast but still a little shy to pass each other out, so they just jog along in order!!

They also did a pom pom dance.

She's in there somewhere shaking those pom poms.

Yup, Aimee set the place on fire too.

Due to Mama not being so light on her feet, Daddy got drafted in for both parent/child races. He would have had to do Aimee anyway, she won't run with me. She says she "loves Mama but loves Daddy more".

Tug of War. The children versus the Daddy team. The children won, of course.

Then we let off a load of balloons to add to environmental waste.

Aimee usually refuses to let hers go but she gave in this year. The balloons had messages and pictures tied to them and the people who find them often reply.

Off they go.

Nina's picture of herself on one of the game pillars.

Someone else did Aimee's, without ever having met her me thinks!!

Anyway, belated Sports Day pictures.

When Nina makes her mind up....

Nina's one of those people who when she makes her mind up to do something she keeps at it until she actually does it.

Unlike her mother.

Every couple of weeks or so she comes home and says things like:

"Mamaaaaaaa......I'm going to learn how to do the hula hoop".

"Mamaaaaaaa..........I'm going to keep practising on the climbing pole until I can get to the top."

"Mamaaaaaaa.........I'm going to learn how to ride a unicycle."

Usually within a few weeks her teacher Mihoko Sensei comes out and tells me that Nina can now to the hula hoop very well. A week after that she will come out and tell me that Nina can do more spins with the hula hoop then anyone else in the class. I eventually get the feeling everyone is fed up counting Nina and her hula hoop.

Her feet are testimony to the fact that she can now climb up to the top of the climbing pole at school. It's just a yellow pole. A tall yellow pole. Nina always takes her shoes and socks off to do this so her poor old feet and destroyed.

Last week Mihoko Sensei told me Nina was very good on the unicycle. A unicycle of all things. I've never even sat on one. Maybe I could loan her to the circus.

Today Nina was practically bouncing when the bump (getting very large) and I went to pick herself and Aimee up. She has been looking at another climbing pole for ages but refused to go near it. She said she wasn't interested. She said she couldn't be bothered. Well obviously she was bothered and today she mastered it (with the inital help of a push (unwanted) from her friend Hona). Once over the initial shock she found out it wasn't so hard. She spent the rest of the day getting it right.

She did it twenty times for me when I went to pick her up.

To say she is thrilled is an understatement.

She looks like she just won a gold medal at the Olympics.

Maybe the Olympic Committee would consider hula hooping or pole climbing for 2024.

 

 

I can't make it any farther Mama.......

The preschool makes all the children take lunchtime naps in Summer. Clever really because it's so hot and the heat here really takes it out of you, especially if you've been running riot around a playground for part of the morning. It's an amazing sight to see too, 60 children from the ages of 3-5 all asleep on mini-futons in the large Assembly room (nowhere else has air-conditioning). The 0-2 year olds all sleep in their own classroom so as not to disturb the older children. Military precision at it's best, they eat their school lunch, set out their own futons, remove and fold any excess clothing and then they all sleep for about an hour.

The up-side of this is that when I go to pick up my darlings at 4pm they're in great form.

The downside is having to lug all the futon kits in and home on a Monday morning and Friday evening. My poor washing machine goes into overdrive with the washing of futon kits (cover sheets, towel sheets and small towel blanket) and sweaty t-shirts (they always change their t-shirts after their nap). It's also a pain trying to convince the pair to go to bed in the evening.

As of last week the temperature cooled and Nina's lunchtime nap is finished. No problem, Nina was very happy to have the extra time to play or do crafty things. As of yesterday Aimee's nap time has been cut. I was thrilled , no more lugging of futon kits, the washing machine can take a wee break and we don't go through 2/3 t-shirts a day anymore.

Aimee was thrilled to have the extra time to terrorise the class crayfish (they have two), stick numerous bits of sellotape to anything she wanted and make magic wands with rolled up newspaper

However as soon as I came around the corner at 4pm, the joys of nap-free lunchtimes all went out the window.

She wouldn't leave the playground.

She cried in the dirt by the swings.

She told me I was "mean" for not allowing her to play some more (as if 7 hours wasn't enough).

She refused to get in the car.

She wouldn't carry her bag and flask.

She refused to look or talk to me once I'd strapped her in.

She repeated the phrase "don't look or talk to me Mama", the whole 20 minutes it took us to get home in the car.

She told her sister to "don't look or talk to me".

She then refused to get out of the car, only got out when I threatened to leave her there alone.

She dragged her heels the whole way up the steps and into the apartment.

Once in the door she lay between door and the hall and refused to move.

She continued to berate Nina and I until I finally just threw "Binky" (dirty beige blanket in picture, who deserves own web page) at her.

She lay there for 30 minutes.

Finally all was well and she graced us with her presence once more, albeit, a little touchy.

Here she is laying siege to the entrance.

It wasn't the most peaceful afternoon but they were in bed before 8pm and both out of it by 8:15. I didn't even get to finish the bedtime story.

My ladies going to school.

 

Look at my Aimee. She loves the outfit, the bag, the hat etc.. Just not very keen on the place yet.

Nina is in the (aka gumi) "Red Club" and Aimee is a member of the "Peach Club" (momo gumi). I know her hat is pink but I didn't decide the names. The children wear their hats outside always, to protect from the sun and make it easier to distinguish the groups.

I also spent two days ironing names tags onto everything, machine sewing aprons and attaching numerous pieces of string to numerous different pieces of clothing (easier to hang up).

They will go to school from 8:30 (usually 9 by the time we get there) until 4:30 (usually earlier depending on how fast their Mum can get out of the office, some days I'm very fast).

They get a very healthy school lunch and spend all day playing hoops, skipping, running, climbing, knitting, singing, reading and chasing bugs to bring home in milk cartons. This costs me about 300 euros per month for the both of them. Aimee gets in half price because she's the second child. If I have a third child they'll get free child care.

You Mum's jealous yet?

Autumn in Japan

I know it's November and it's officially Winter here but it feels, looks and smells like Autumn. The sun is a gorgeous golden orange, the leaves are spectacular due to sudden temperature changes, the birds are still migrating and it's cold but not wintry. One of my favourite times of year. Tomorrow the girls, Nami and I are going to visit some mountains and hopefully take some fabulous pictures of the leaves changing colours. Masa has to go and hang out with the eternally damned (until 42 at least) Bad Luck boys.

Until then, some photos I took going home from the girl's creches the other day. It was an unbelievably golden evening and my photos don't do it justice but thought I'd try.

Phone lines, everywhere. Really ugly but can't be put under ground due to earthquakes. 

A gambling hall, slot machines and pachinko. I'd have to devote a whole post to gambling, very complicated over here. It's officially illegal but you can go and play, you won't receive money, you'll get silvery balls or fake coins. Then you have to leave the premises and exchange them for cash at a secure location off site. Don't know why they bother but the laws the law. 

Eh, the road. 

Don't suppose you're getting any sense of that "golden evening" I was rambling on about? 

Look at those leaves and that's only a taste of the real thing, think red, gold, green, yellow. Because the Summer was so hot and then it cooled so quickly the people who know about this sort of thing reckon this year will be amazing. It is already amazing and should continue until mid December. 

The local business centre on the right, just across the road from our apartment. 

Trees of oranges in the car park of Aimee's creche.  

Aimme's creche. 

Mr. Sun, Sun,.....Mr. Golden Sun. Please shine down on me. Was that a Bosco song? 

 

So much to say so little time.....

Whole load of stuff going on and there's no way I'll be able to go into detail. So here are just some of the pictures with brief explanations. Granny's heading home next week and even the thought of it is just pure depressing.

Parent/Child day at Nina's play school. Just a half day but it was hot and Masa couldn't make it. Granny was there to help out.

Some old fashioned prams, still used to take the small children out on walks. They just load them in and off they go.

Nina's class (in pink hats) strutting their stuff.

Time out for a drink....cold tea.

Story time with Keiko Sensei. (sensei is the Japanese word for teacher, for those of you who don't remember Karate Kid).

After that (and a brief battle with a one legged cockroach who dared enter my apartment) we went to stay at a local hotel for 'Jichan's' (Japanese Granddad) birthday party.

The first course, Japanese style.

The grandchildren, Aki, Leki, Aimee and Nina.

Jichan & Bachan (Granny & Granddad) with the grandchildren.

Granny and Bachan, with the children.

These are Aki and Leki's other Jichan and Bachan. Notice the traditional Japanese yukatas (robes). Can be worn at the meal or in bed.

Our outdoor private bath. The weather here is lovely and I had the best bath of my life in this, on our balcony, late at night on a warm balmy night. Absolute heaven. The girls just had a splash in the morning.

Breakfast.......note the Japanese take on bacon and eggs in the top left corner. It was lovely.

Coffee in the hotel lounge before we left.

The gang, just before we left in the morning.

A walk on the beach near the hotel.

Aimee, Nina and Aki digging.

Aki's Daddy, Tatsuhiro, trying to get the girls to pose.

After we left the hotel. Masa's family took everyone on a tour of the local hot spots. This is a temple called "Ganfujiterra". Very interesting place and of course I never took pictures of the interesting things, just the lads standing around.

A prayer house, not 100% sure but think this is where people place their prayers for particular sicknesses. This temple is dedicated to people suffering from cancer and other illnesses.

Poor Chisato trying to make sure everyone washed and dried their hands properly at the little water font.

 

After a visit to a local fish market, we went to Takeshima, the island near our apartment. Windy day but the whole world and their Auntie were out picking cockles. 

That's a whistle stop tour of the last 10 days. We're having a ball. It's always great when people visit, we take them to all the local attractions. I can't count how many times I've been to these places but they are all very interesting and weird at the same time. Simon and Camille won't know what hit them in December.