Valentine's Day 2010

We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day all day long and show our love to one another. We made heart cakes, exchanged chocolates and made a special dinner. Noi wanted to see us in our wedding attire, so we dressed up and Hideto took our family photos. Noi is making a heart with her hands. This is the dress she received from my sister Cory, and when it became too small, Hideto's mom reworked it into a new dress.

Mountain Hike and Fresh Spring Water

Great day hiking in the mountains and taking water directly from a Spring that you can drink without purifying. Went with Miyu, who lives across the street. Typical view of Akita - gorgeous.

Noi's School Lunch

Her daddy made it. This is a favorite children's character An Pan Man (bean bread man). All the characters in the show are some sort of food. I love the show. A recent version had characters speaking the Akita dialect and the show took place in Akita and they were in mushroom land and the characters were talking about magic mushrooms. It was hilarious!~ A children's show talking about magic mushrooms, but that's Japan. Hideto said his grandma's friends used to talk about them too when he was little.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xw1hf_anpanman-no-march_music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpanman
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.11/3.11pages/onoanpanman.php3

Noi's Sports Day 2010

Really amazed at how well the teachers organize these school events. It was sports and performance combined and the children had a blast and so did I watching it.

Starting our Front Yard

We'll see how it looks in the Spring...It's supposed to have grass!~

Noi at Ballet

She loves it...Hideto's sister's friend gave her several leotards that were her daughters and Noi is always excited to wear them.

Thanksgiving Party

We invited our American friends and it was a lovely party. Great food, nice conversation, karaoke with the kiddies~!

Halloween Party 2010

We belong to a group for International Children, "Bunko" and this year for the Halloween party, we brought a gigantic pumpkin. The kiddies loved it.

Setsubun - Getting Rid of Evil from your Home (Feb. 2010)

This is a fun day in Japan. Parents wear a devil mask and children throw peanuts at the devil. While throwing they say, "Devil go outside, Good luck come inside." This time Noi wore a mask. We had fun doing it~!

5th Birthday Party

Ohhhhhhhhh...to be 5 again~! They had fun decorating their cups and plates, then playing pin the tail on the donkey and hot potato. Of course, we made a cake that was not so great, but we just put a lot of ice cream on it and the kiddies loved it~

Noi's School Performance

I'm amazed at what children can do at 3, 4, and 5 years old. The preschool performance was outstanding; really shows the efforts of the teachers. Afterwards, parents gave children presents they had to make, not buy, and some of those presents were amazing. I made a fan for Noi.