General Pictures and Denny's Undoukai (Exercise Day)

This weekend, we had Denny's undoukai. A few friends and I went out Friday night bowling until about 12:00 and then we went to eat. I did not get back until about 2:00 in the morning. Our friend Toshi Mitani san was at our house at 7:00 to pick me up to set up the camp equipment. Needless to say, it was a rough morning.

At least the weather cooperated a little more than Savannah's undoukai. It was mild temperatures with some cloud cover which helped block out the sun a little.

I added some general pictures below. They don't always fit into the activities that we do, but they are more like family/friend pictures.






Last weekend I made 'mousecakes'. They turned out so well I had to take a picture. At the grocery store, they have English muffins (different than Thomas's, but better - chewy), ham, eggs and cheese. We figured out a few months ago that egg muffins are easy to make. Savannah turned her nose up to them at first but she now asks for them every morning.





Savannah eating her mousecakes.














Denny in his Hugh Hefner robe chowing down. I was actually able to take his picture without the peace sign...












And here is the peace sign... I think we snapped a few pictures before we went to the rice field last week. We have two cameras so sometimes these pictures don't find their way to the blog right away.











Savannah posing before the rice field harvesting.














Before we went to Denny's undoukai, we were goofing around in the yard and I took a close-up of the kids' eyes. Denny is first, Savannah is second.

We went bowling last Saturday with the Mitani family and the Fukami family. Afterward, they invited us to their place for a Bar-B-Que. We took out monster grill up and cooked out. I had been wanting a burger all week so that is what we brought. Toshi Mitani made ribs and they also bought some skinny chicken wings. Wings are EXPENSIVE here. Dark meat is the preferred meat so you can pick up chicken breast cheap. Thighs are about ^ a pound. Needless to say, we usually eat chicken breast.

Picture at the Bar-B-Que.

Denny's undoukai.

Opening ceremonies... There are three pre-school grades - three year olds, 4 year olds and five year olds. Denny fits into the four year old group so he will go to this school next year as well. He will catch about 3-4 months of elementary school.

I have the bad habit of taking movies instead of pictures so there are not many of them. I added about 10 movies below to supplement.

Denny with his pom-poms.

There are a ton of dragonflies in Japan. If you hold your finger up, chances are, one will land on it. We saw a pretty one with a red body and Savannah was able to get it to land on her finger.

Denny with Elin after he received his medal. He was so proud of the job that his school did. It was really touching.

Elin, Denny and Ema. Ema is Mitani san's daughter. She is in the same grade as Denny.

Denny being picked up by one of the girls in his class.

Denny's turn at the relay race.



Adult tug-o -war.





Elin and Denny in the hula-hoop relay race.




Denny during his dance.




Denny during his running race. We think he came in second, but after the final turn there was some bumping going on. Rubbing is racing, I guess.

The first graders at the elementary school got to run in a race as well. Even though Savannah did not attend this pre-school, typical to Japanese style, she was allowed to run in the race. She came in third. She had the outside lane which typically meant that you had a hard time winning.




Savannah waiting for her race.



These are actually the three-year olds. I thought their costumes were cute so I took a movie of them.




Four year olds marching out to the track area. Denny is third in line.