Kagura

We recently saw another kagura performance at the school's summer festival, which renewed the boys' interest. The past few days they've been wearing their kimonos and jumping around the house doing their best impressions of the dances. Jolon decided to make his own tabi, the traditional Japanese slippers which have the big toe separated from the others. He started cutting and taping some old socks himself, and when Jan noticed he was really serious about making a pair, he gave Jolon a hand with a needle and thread.

back from the villa again

Well "vacationing" with 3 small kids is not much of a vacation. From now on, we'll refer to it as a getaway. We did manage to relax a bit, just separately. One of us would take the boys to the beach while the other would stay up in the room or on the deck with Esme and rest or read a book. About the only time Jan and I managed a complete conversation was when we ate out on the beach and ordered dinner from a local restaurant. Very peaceful to sit around eating with Esme asleep in the sling and the boys roaring up and down the beach, jumping in and out of the boats along the way. Jan befriended the Australian beach bar owner who offered to take the boys out on a motorboat on the last day. The guy had gotten to know the boys pretty well because every afternoon Jolon and Kellan would arrive with Jan and they'd get to order a root beer float, which was of course a really big deal. Last time I'd arranged for a trip on the guy's sailboat. The boys enjoyed that, but the motor boat was a real thrill, especially for Jolon. Apparently they started out going pretty fast, hit some wake and were suddenly really bouncing hard. Jolon was screaming with joy, but when Jan looked at Kellan, he was a queasy shade of green, and when Jan asked if he liked it, he heard a faint, ".......no." So they slowed down a bit and Kellan had a good time after all. The other big story was that Kellan got stung by a jellyfish, only we didn't know it at the time. Must have just gotten lightly brushed because otherwise, he surely would have cried. The mark it left is pretty red. When we realized what it was, we made a big deal about it and kept telling him how cool it was to have a jellyfish scar. Jolon suddenly pulled up his shirt, showing off a long, red scratch and insisted that he's been stung by a jelly fish too. I tried to explain that it was just a scratch from a tree branch or possibly someone's nail, but quickly gave up, as he was ADAMANT that it was a jelly fish.

jolon and esme

click on this picture and look up close at Esme gazing at Jolon. He's really good with her and will actually hold her while we're cleaning up (in other words we can turn our backs now while he has her). Little does he know, but he's about to be put to work as a babysitter. His new goal is to be able to hold her while standing up......don't think we're quite there yet though.

Kellan hates okra

One of Kellan's teachers wrote a funny story about him and two of his friends, Eigo and Joji. They are in the same small group (Dance tsuko dance tsuko han), and during lunch, Joji, announced that he hated okra. Kellan and Eigo were quick to join him and they all began insisting that they hated okra. The teachers are pretty strict about food. The kids don't get seconds until everything else is eaten and they heap praise on the kids who clean their plates. In fact, it's rare for kids to leave their plates with food on them. After all 3 boys made a big deal about how much they hated okra. Joji, the oldest, stood up and said, "I'm 3 years old now and I'm in LION gumi." and he wolfed down his okra. Kellan then stood up and said, "I'm Esme's big brother and I'm in LION gumi too." and he ate his. Eigo got on board and said, "I'm a LION too,! and he opened his mouth for Joji to shove in the okra. Positive effect of peer pressure. Also proof of how much the teachers talk up the big brother to Esme thing. Jan usually picks the boys up these days. But when I show up with Esme, Kellan just beams and begs to hold her in front of his class. One of the things he is constantly saying is, "Can I hold him?" referring of course to Esme but somehow he still hasn't gotten the him/her thing straight. I should correct him, but it sounds so funny to me that I don't.

pretty smile

San Frecche

Hiroshima has a professional soccer team, San Frecche, and we got some free tickets to last night's game. The game didn't start till 7:00, but we arrived by bus about 6:15 with a packed supper (to avoid the artery-clogging hot dogs and fried octopus pancakes). This being their first soccer (um...football) game, the boys had no idea what was going on, but they loved the fans, the band, the songs and chants, and especially the bear mascot. We managed to stay for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half but at 8:15, Jan and I decided better to have the inevitable meltdowns closer to home rather than at the stadium. They did great in fact, but were so tired by the time they got into bed that Jolon told Jan he didn't need to tell a story. Now that's a first.

hint of a smile