Lately...

Last week we went with our team to the water park that we went to earlier in the summer. It was a really fun day and we kept busy the whole time so these are the only two pictures I got. The first is Sterling in his way too cute turtle towel that my mom got him. I just think he looks so adorable in it! Once again, I'm his mom, so I know I'm a little biased here...Anyways, the second picture is this pig pillow that Luke won for him by playing a b-ball shooting game. I was begging Luke to do it because I knew he would win (and of course, Luke was like, "No, I don't want to play, I won't win anything!" and of course, I knew better). Sterling was thrilled about the pig pillow that Luke won and he insisted on carrying it around with him the rest of the time even though it was about as big as him.


We also went to Nagoya last weekend as a family- we just went to a big pet store, but Sterling thought it was one of the coolest places on earth. I sat out in the mall waiting for them because my feet were tired, and, as we all know, I could really do without all small animals. After the pet store we went to this ferris wheel that is attached to the side of a building. It was really cool! We didn't even end up having to pay and you can see practically the whole city from up there. It was pretty fun.


BOTH of my wonderful sets of grandparents recently sent us a box of goodies and we have been thoroughly enjoying everything- Sterling especially likes the muffin mix that we got from Gigi and Papa. But this is his other favorite item from the treat boxes- a baseball and velcro mitt from his Great grandad and grandma Birt. We have played with this little thing so much already! He is getting better and better at it.

Nihon Showa Mura

On Wednesday of last week we went with my tutor, Megumi, and her family to a Japanese village in a different prefecture. It was kind of like in America if you went to an old "colony" town or something (like Billie Creek Village in Indiana). It was in a really pretty area with lots of mountains and we had the best day with them. It was so much fun! We really enjoyed meeting her family and getting to spend the day with them.

One of the first things we did was make rice crackers in these old ovens. These two pictures are Megumi and I making our crackers.


These two pictures are from the go-cart area. Sterling rode with Luke and then got on a little car with Megumi's son, Taiyo. Sterling really loved Taiyo and they had a blast together. Taiyo said that Sterling wasn't a very good driver because he kept running into things!


After we did the go-carts everyone was really hot so the kids all went swimming in these man-made ponds. Megumi and her husband Shuu have 2 kids- Hinako is their daughter and she is 9, and Taiyo is 7. They had a lot of fun splashing around in the water. The bottom was made of concrete so they didn't even get dirty :)



Megumi used to do archery, so here she is showing me how to do it. I was NOT very good at it! In the picture below you can see Shuu and Hinako watching me.


After all that, we were all hot and tired so we went to lunch. Sterling and Taiyo played with his cars, although Sterling still isn't very good at sharing. I had a traditional Japanese dish of cold noodles with a sour plum sauce- I thought it was delicious! Luke decided to go with something he knew a little better and so he got breaded pork cutlet with rice to share with Sterling.

We also got to tour an old school house. Sterling was checking out all the old things they used including a xylophone which he banged on for quite a while!

This was at the very end of the day, Hinako, Sterling and Taiyo all sitting in the back of our car while Luke and I said our thank you's and goodbyes to Megumi and Shuu. The kids wanted to keep going, but I was so tired by the end of the day! There was still a lot more to see at this place- there were all kinds of animals, boats you could take out on a lake, play areas, etc., but I was pretty much exhausted by 5:30 when we decided to head home. Overall this was one of the most fun days we've had in Japan so far.

Nagoya Castle Festival

These pictures are from the same festival as the video of Luke and Sterling dancing that we went to last weekend. The first picture is Luke and Sterling next to a Samurai warrior. At first Sterling didn't know what to think of them, but eventually he started to think they were really awesome and didn't want to leave them.

This is Sterling and I in front of the Nagoya Castle. It was destroyed in World War II, but was rebuilt to look like the original.

The Samurai's had a parade through the area where everyone was eating. I'm not sure what the flags meant that they were carrying.

There was a drum show, but we missed the majority of it, unfortunately.

Sterling and I walking through the crowds. They give everyone walking in fans because it is SOOO hot out!

There is an old moat around the castle that doesn't have water in it anymore, but instead it has reindeer! Sterling loved that and it was really cool to look at.

Luke and Sterling were playing one day and got all of his "farm equipment" lined up like this on the floor- if you can't tell, the one structure made from blocks is a barn for him to store his tractors in.

This was from Andy's birthday. I made him cupcakes, which were actually just blueberry muffins with icing on them, but the guys all thought they were great which is what counted!

花火

Last weekend was the fireworks celebration here in Japan. These last few weeks in July/August are a time when they have all sorts of festivals and fun things. So we went to watch the fireworks (called hanabi, which is the word written above) with our neighbors and their little girl, Yuu. The mom and dad, whose names are Yoshimi and Hiroshi, are right around our age and it was really fun to talk with them (or at least try, b/c they speak NO English whatsoever!).

The fireworks were at the Okazaki Castle, but our neighbors told us it is not a great place to take little kids- lots of drinking and VERY crowded. So they told us that lots of people watch the fireworks from the roof of the mall- which is what we all did. So here is a picture of Sterling before we went up to the roof. We let him play a couple of games inside and we got McDonalds.

This is Yuu and Sterling. We couldn't ever get them to both look at the same time.

Here is Sterling watching the fireworks from Luke's lap. He is wearing what they call a Jinbei (じんべい). Young people and sometimes men wear these summer traditional outfits. He looked so cute in his Japanese outfit!

This is everyone (except me) where we were sitting. It's a little blurry, but the best I got. You can see that Yoshimi is wearing a "yukata" (ゆかた) which is a summer time Kimono made with light material. The picture below was also supposed to capture the young women with the yukata and the fireworks- sorry I'm not the best photographer!

Japanese Line Dancing!

Last night we went to another festival, this time it was at the Nagoya Castle. We went with the Greer's, Parson's, and Andy stayed for a little while (he had just finished climbing Mt. Fuji and was exhausted, so he went home!). We also had visitors with us- Wade and Beth Landers with two of their kids, Jordan and Kayla; as well as Rachel's parents Scott and Suzanne Greer. The festival was a lot of fun this time, and this video is awesome! It is Luke and Sterling, Colette and Suzanne all doing a Japanese line dance around this big stage. It was hilarious to watch, but they were getting so good at it! I thought it was awesome that Luke just got right out there and did it.

Ice Cream Party

On the day we found out we're having a boy we invited our teammates to come have ice cream with us to celebrate another boy in the family. We went to "Cat's Cafe" which is this restaurant that has HUGE sundaes as evidenced by the pictures below! We got the biggest one for all of us to share. So there are some before and after pictures to give you an idea of how we did on it.

Brayden's Party & Kazuokan Festival

These pictures are all from Brayden's 2nd birthday party that Erin and Mike had last Tuesday. It was a fun birthday party at the park, despite the mosquitoes! Sterling played wiffle ball the entire time. You can tell Tony was trying to help give the little guys instruction- I don't know how much good it did!






We went to a festival last weekend in Nagoya. It was pretty much a street fair- the street was filled with vendors selling crafts, clothing and food. At one end of the street there were performers doing various kinds of singing and dancing. The two top pictures are when Sterling played a few little games that were in a kids' section. Overall the festival was extremely hot and crowded, probably not something we would do again, although interesting for the experience in itself! The third picture is Sterling playing with some drums that were for sale.

WristBands from Aunt Amy and Blake!

A couple of weeks ago, Aunt Amy and Cousin Blake sent Sterling some wristbands that have "Chase 11" and a hawkeye on them. We finally got him to wear them today (after Luke put his own wristband on) and We got these really fun pictures and video of him playing football. Actually, the football was from Zack and Amy too, a long time ago! Thank you guys!