We had a week of nice weather, so the kids and I tried to take advantage of it. We met up with some of Abby's classmates from Daiichi at the train park to play. It has almost turned into a weekly thing where we meet up after school to let the kids play and for us to talk and exchange different cultures with each other. Luckily most of the Japanese mothers know a little english that we can get by with gestures, animated faces, and speaking slowly and sometimes in broken sentences. They always bring different Japanese snacks to share and for us to try, and I always try to bring some American snacks form the Commissary for them as well. One of the mothers said she loved the BBQ chips I brought and that it was such a unique taste and flavor. I just love how warm and accepting they are of us. Being one of the only Americans at the school, the other Japanese mothers and kids have reached out to make us feel welcomed and try to help us understand or answer any questions we may have. I love having friends all over the world. This group of women and their kids are some friends that I definitely will stay in touch with. I told them they are always welcome to come visit the States and stay with us so we can give them a tour of American culture and life.
One of my favorite thing about these cultural playdates we do is watching the kids interact. Abby speaks Japanese to the other kids and they speak it right back to her. They also love to teach each other children songs. Abby has taught her friends the "daddy finger" song and "twinkle, twinkle, little star." The best part is watching Connor just jump in and pretend he knows what everyone is saying hahaha. I sure love my Boo Boo, he just wants to hang out with his big sister and her friends all the time. He can be a terror, but he is also the sweetest little boy ever. Thankfully everyone is nice and lets Connor join in on the fun. Soon enough he will be going to Daiichi full time as well, learning the songs, and picking up on the language.
Over the weekend I planned a squadron spouse trip to the Azalea Festival in the neighboring town of Schichinohe. The drive out was absolutely beautiful. I drove along rice fields, with beautiful mountains in the distance. Flowers where everywhere and because it was such a beautiful clear day (not very common in norther Japan) the blue sky provided such a wonderful backdrop to the nature on display. I had a "pinch me" moment where I realized I live here! I live in Japan! As hard as it can be living abroad, I also am constantly reminded that this is such a once in a life time opportunity for myself and my little family. We are doing our best to take advantage of living over here and embracing all that Japan has to offer.
Unfortunately when we arrived the azaleas had over bloomed and were not in their prime stage. They were still pretty and we didn't let that damper our spirits. We hiked around the old castle ruins and stumbled upon a random playground tucked up in the woods area. We let the kids play for a while so we adults could catch up and take a break from herding all the kids. We had a pretty good turn out. There were about 8 different ladies and 12 kids on our adventure. I kind of have taken over planning playdates for our squadron. I just like to stay busy when Kyle and the guys are gone TDY and I figure I might as well invite my friends to tag along as well to make our outings more fun. So far most ladies in our squadron have been tagging along on my outings and I have been given the unofficial official title of "outing organizer."
After roaming around the flower grounds we headed to Namiki farm which was just 10 minute away from the flower festival to get some gelato to cool off and eat our picnic lunches. We got there at the perfect time because the rapeseed fields where in full bloom and the farm owner was so excited to see all our kids that he gave us tractor rides through the flowers. All the kids loved it, and so did my inner kid. I had a great time eating ice cream and riding around a sea of bright yellow flowers. We left just after lunch and all three of my kids passed out in the car on the way home. I will take that as a sign that they had a fun, and eventful day.
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