Ben's school birthday celebration

On Wednesday Ben's school did a birthday celebration for all of the kids who had birthdays in April. I had no idea what to expect.

All three 3 year old classes were present. Even though I had told Ben I would be there I still think he was very surprised to see me.

I had to take the babies with me. I was a little nervous about how I would carry them since the show room is on the second floor and strollers are not allowed. I put Piper in a carrier on my back and carried Nate plus all of my bags on my arm. The little girl above is Makenzie. She is about two months older than the twins and she looks a lot like Piper. Her older sister Maddy is in Ben's class and has a birthday in April too.

The birthday kids put on shiny vests and we walked them up to the front of the class.

This is one of the sensei's talking to everyone about sitting properly and being quiet.

There is Ben - yawning! He really was excited and he did have a good time!

The senseis went to each child and asked them what their name was, how old they were, what their favorite food was and what they wanted to be in the future.

When it was Ben's turn his teacher had the questions written out in English. She speaks very little English but tried hard to ask the questions correctly. Ben said he liked hamburgers and wanted to be Anpanman when he got bigger. Funny thing is, every time we got to McDonald's he wants chicken nuggets, not a burger and he has never asked me for a burger. I have a feeling that when they asked the kids in the classroom they tried to think of American foods and mentioned hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, pizza, etc. and Ben chose hamburger.

After the questions the parents were asked to come up front and the kids presented us with a drawing. Ben drew Grant and I.

The teachers then put on a skit. One of the senseis came out dressed as a farmer.

She started to water this brown box (the dirt) and a green shoot came out. The shoot got bigger and she tried to pull it out but couldn't.

Then Anpanman came to the rescue!

Anpanman and the farmer tried but couldn't get the shoot out.

Then the birthday kids tried and they couldn't. So then the parents went up to help and we finally got the carrot/radish whatever it was out of the ground!

Ben getting his birthday card from Natsumi sensei.

Singing and dancing towards the end.

Another skit put on by the teachers.

All of the kids. The split them up between girls and boys. Ben is in the middle of the birthday kids with his bright blue vest on.

He thinks he is so big!

Nate and Piper are really on the go these days. Piper does most things first and Nate seems to eventually follow. The funny thing is, once Nate starts doing it, he perfects it and goes a little further. For example - Piper has been standing up next to Ben's chair for quite awhile. Well Nate starting standing up next to it, then starting climbing up onto it and then eventually used it to climb up onto the couch. Little booger!!

Mt. Eboshi

We headed out to Mt. Eboshi sports village on Sunday. Mt. Eboshi in a way is right outside of Sasebo. They tout a large "sports village" close to the top.

Checking out the koi fish and a turtle. The park was extremely busy. It was a nice weekend for once so everyone was out enjoying the weather. At the village you can rent roller blades and unicycles. You can jump in a ball pit, ride tons of "funny bikes", play on a playground, sled, etc. It was lots of fun.

This picture is for our friend Yuno. When Yuno moved down the street from us in Hawaii she had a unicycle. She couldn't get over that noone in the US had one and we couldn't get over that she naturally had one!

This is a grass hill for skiing. Right now though it is obviously not in use!

A slide you would never see in the US! Very high and steep!

There comes Ben...

They have a little sand area and that is actually where we spent most of our time.

The babies take after their big brother - they love sand!

They were soooo dirty afterwards but so happy!

You could pay a few bucks and for a half an hour ride all different types of bikes. Next time we are going to check that area out.

Ben chose to ride in the speedy car with daddy.

Of course he had a blast. I think this kid thinks he is 16 and can already drive!

I thought this machine was funny. You could get a hot lunch to go. I'm sure it is quite tasty!

Ben sledding. Awhile back he burned his ankle on one of these hills and has been very apprehensive about going again. Luckily Grant got him to go and now he is back to enjoying it. The boy on the right in the bottom picture was treating him like a little brother. He would help him out, get his sled for him, etc. It was pretty neat.

Mt. Yumihari

On Saturday we went to the lookout on Mt. Yumihari. Mt. Yumihari is right in the middle of Sasebo and offers great views of the city.

The base. The ESSEX is the large ship right in the middle of the picture.

I don't think about how big Sasebo is, but it really is a nice sized city.

Very bad lighting but very cool view!

Yochien picnic

Last Friday Ben's school had a picnic. The weather had been yucky all week long (nothing new here in Sasebo!) But the rain held off long enough to squeeze in the picnic. It was a bit muddy and chilly but we had a great time!

The kids doing their exercises. Ben is the last child on the right with a blue hat on.

Still exercising. It was so fun to watch. After awhile the parents joined it. Ben is to the left of the child with the yellow jacket on.

Here is a video of them exercising!

Next they did a running race to their parents.

Ben was holding hands with a little boy. I'm not sure why because noone else was holding hands. About 3/4 of the way through the other little boy gave up and sat on the ground and started to cry.

Then we had a class picture.

Ben squatting like a true Japanese.

After pictures we had a hula hoop race.

Ben and Natsumi sensei - his teacher.

Ben with Saki sensei. Saki was one of his teacher's from last year and he made googly eyes at her the entire time at the picnic. It was sooo funny.

As we sat down for lunch the weather got worse. Most people started leaving pretty quickly.