The first jumprope challenge was to jump as a team as many times in two minutes. Mia’s team had a hard time because the rope turners didn’t do a good job. They didn’t advance.

The next challenge was to jump rope as a team but they had to one at a time run through the jumprope and do it as many times as they could in two minutes. They did well the first time and perfect the second.

Unfortunately, I do not know the rules so I have no idea how they did in the competition even though they did well.

Now the kids are playing with their friends while Denise and I sit in the car eating our lunch bentos Denise made this morning.

I feel like I am camping!

Mia and Noah playing Wii Music

Instead of going to school today, Mia and Noah have been making Wii music pretty much the whole day after watching the Mariners games with me.

Our highlight for the morning was watching Ichiro hit his 199th and 200th hits to become the only player in baseball history to ever hit 200 hits in 9 consecutive seasons.

Now, if Ichiro hits another 200 next year, not only will he beat his own record, but he will also tie Pete Rose’s record of hitting 200 hits in 10 seasons. Pete, however, did not do it consecutively. So if Ichiro hits another 200 next season, which I find hard to believe he won’t do, it would be an even greater milestone because then he would have tied Pete Rose but become the first player in MLB history to have done it consecutively.

Gambatte, Ichiro!

When she returned home, she said she was glad she went.

He got up early yesterday, dressed and ready at the door, but a little too early. So he had to take some of his school stuff off and play a bit before time to go. Finally, when it was time to go, he put his jacket, school bag and hat on and was ready to go.

Another mother was outside videoing her daughter who is Noah’s age. I was actually surprised to see her doing that. I thought we were the only ones that photograph First Days and things!

We photographed Noah’s first day of school and sent the kids off on their way. Noah was smiling and happy as a lark and officially a 1st Grader at Hashimoto Elementary School.

Noah has one more day of school and then his kindergarten graduation! We can’t believe he’s finishing kindergarten and heading to elementary school! He goes into 1st grade in April. He’s really looking forward to going to school with his big sister.

Mia will be going into 4th grade. Only two more years and she’ll be in junior high! Wow! She’s getting so big! Her shoe size is only a little smaller than Denise’s right now and Mia is only 9 years old. She’s already got larger size shoes than the majority of Japanese women here…not girls…women.

Denise will finally get a little more time to herself to do things. She will no longer have to make bentos, lunches, for Noah. And now she won’t have to go pick him up at school. He’ll be walking home with his sister and friends from now on. Life in April is giong to change as we know it!

Well, today, we are going to the play. The school is having a special day just for us. The will reinact the play today and Noah will get to do his part for us to see. Isn’t that amazing?

The schools our kids go to are great! The teachers and staff are so helpful. For them to do this for us today is a huge blessing and something hard to imagine other schools would go out of the way to do.

Later today, I will post pictures and possibly video of the play. So come back and tune in for more later!

It’s amazing how fast kids grow! It seems like yesterday Noah was beginning kindergarten.

Because Noah is starting 1st grade, he needs lots of items for school. So we bought him all kinds of supplies yesterday, most of them Pokemon designed.  We only have to get him a few more things and he’s done and ready to begin elementary school.