Fun Girls Day Out

 We had a fun girls day playing at Hannah's house

 and going to the butterfly enclosure at a nearby mall

 The girls rode these airplanes and we had lunch at McDonald's-so thankful for good friends like these!

Awesome Saturday

Oct 13th we let Greg sleep in after a long crazy week with several early morning and late night calls at work.  The kids and I went down to Brent to see a swim meet.  There were kids from lots of different schools and a classmate of Scott's from 3rd grade.  Scott is hoping to get to swim in a meet later on this year so we wanted to see what things were like.  Ashley's favorite part is still watching them make a big splash as they jump of the blocks.








We watched for a little while and then went to play on the playground.  We played hide and seek too-Scott definitely had an advantage since he knew all the best hiding places.


I found you Ryan!






Running behind the building, hunting for Scott.

Then of course, Ashley had to follow!

Scott is showing us his last and best hiding place in this closet

Then everyone has to try it out!







They did hopscotch and lots of running!








Ashley put this outfit together all by herself-could you tell?????



























 



We also enjoyed seeing the chess tournament that was going on-Scott thought it was really cool to see them playing with timers.

 I want his "Eat my bubbles" shirt

Then we came home to get Greg and went to the mall for lunch at Burger King and Laser tag.  We were planning to all play but Ashley decided that the vest was too heavy.  So I sat out with her the first game and Greg sat with her the second game.  The boys had a great time!


We cam home and the boys watched a movie.  Ashley played in the playroom with me for a while and took a nap while I scrapbooked pictures of our trip to Tokyo.  She took a long nap so we played Mille Bornes-a great French card game about a car trip where you have to reach 1000 miles.  When Ashley woke up we had dinner and did a game of bowling on the wii.  In my opinion it was a perfect day!

Funny Things

 I bought some of the food we see often when my cousin and her husband were coming to Manila-notice I did not say we ate this!  Sadly these are what is meant by fish crackers here, not the cute cheese flavored ones shaped like fish that we eat!  The fish ones really STUNK when you opened the bag but didn't taste too bad.   I sent the leftovers after we all tasted them (imagine that-there were actually leftovers) with Greg in his lunch to work one day, just as a joke.  He didn't eat them either!

 The prawn crackers didn't smell as much and Ashley has actually asked to eat the leftovers of these!

 Ryan consumed all the leftover Mango flavored marshmallows!!!!

 Gardenia is the company who makes the bread we eat-the chocolate bun was quickly eaten up but the ube one was not so popular-ube is a purple yam that many things are made out of here.

They are still building on the house behind ours-they probably won't finish it before we come back home!  Most houses here are made primarily of concrete-we assume because it stands up well to typhoons.  Many mornings, especially it seems early on Saturdays, the workmen use some kind of tool-it must be something that can drill into concrete.  It is terribly irritating when you are trying to sleep and we have started calling it the "elephant dentist drill."  because that is exactly what it sounds like-high pitched squealy and squeaky!  Maybe some Friday night we will sneak over there and hide the elephant dentist drill!

I saw a restaurant recently called Takuyaki-here is what I read about it on line

Takuyaki was developed and invented by a Japanese named Endo Tomekichi of Osaka, Japan in 1935 and founded the first Takuyaki shop called Aizuya. The meal quickly spread among the people of Osaka and nationally by Yatai, a mobile stand often seen in fairs. It was so popular that 60% of Osaka household owns Takuyaki griddle. It became famous that it’s seen as a future “fast food” commodity of Japan and to be distributed worldwide. Currently, Takuyaki is marketed not only in Japan but also in China, Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong and in the United States.
Takuyaki are cooked in what looks like black egg crates called Teppan or Griddles. Turning each hallow mold with a sharp probe twisting to sphere and be cooked evenly. Once ready, each ball is pierced with a toothpick (for neater eating), slathered with a choice of classic or hot & spicy sauce and sprinkled with Bonito powder. This magnificent snack that is nutritious, delicious, unique and most of all very affordable.

Here is a list of ingredients if you are just dying to try to make your own-

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cup dashi soup
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 lb. boiled octopus, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped benishoga (pickled red ginger)
• 1/4 cup dried sakura ebi (red shrimp) *optional
• *For toppings:
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
• aonori (green seaweed powder)
• Worcestershire sauce or takoyaki sauce
• mayonnaise

I am sure they would be very popular with the right audience, but I don't think this a "keeper" recipe for our family!


Another of Ashley's recent masterpieces

 There was a girl named Ashley-6 and tall

 There was a boy named Scott and Ryan

 There was two grown ups mommy and daddy

 they lived happily ever after!

Below is an airplane and a rainbow or two

 Ryan playing badmitton with his buddy Daniel

 I happened upon another stash of Golden Grahams at our grocery store and with no shame dug to the back of the shelf and ferreted out every single box-10 or 11 total!  I knew the kids would be so excited that I wrapped one in Christmas paper and told Ryan that he could open this gift that would be for everyone.  He told me that it was the best present ever! 

 I have loved these funny bushes in our neighborhood!  A family of elephants

 and fierce dinosaurs with white teeth inserted!

 The World Tour game-I paid about $3 for this puzzle and game at a grocery store-if they get any more in stock I plan to buy a bunch more!