Sankanbi - Kawashimo Yochien

Today parents were invited to Kawashimo Yochien for Sankanbi, which is an official "visitation" day.  It was great to be able to get a glimpse into our little Claire Bear's day.  It was amazing on so many small and big levels.  You better get comfortable...I have too much to tell for this to be short and sweet!

I got there a few minutes late and the kids were singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" in Japanese.  Or rather, Sensei Ai was singing while playing the piano and the kids stood on their designated squares.

We got there a few minutes late.  Claire was up in the middle of the night, for some reason, so I let her sleep in and miss the bus and brought her with me at 9:30....well....9:35.  ;-)  Claire went right over to her square and didn't sing.  But she has the waving and funny faces DOWN!

Then they sang "ABC's" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  And continued making funny faces.  And waving.

Then they sat down for a game of Christmas Bingo!

Sensei Ai is such an awesome teacher.  Her crafts are amazing, she was great at the piano and she prepares so much for the kids!  She passed out a Bingo sheet for each child and it already had that child's name on it.  I'm sure she had her A+++ game on for us, but she's A+++ always in my eyes!

Whenever Claire had a match, she wanted to tell Mick, Sensei or me.  ☺

Then it was time for an art project. 

What I thought was really interesting here is how there was a line that showed the kids how to cut up and begin to cut out the shapes for decorating the woman's breast, I mean, the Santa face. 

I know learning to use scissors is a big skill that the kids learn in preschool.  I went over to help Claire's friend, Emmaly, and Mick went to help Claire.  Emmaly didn't mind me helping her stay on the lines, but Claire, who is fiercely independent, wanted to do it herself.

They both were concentrating very hard with their tongues sticking out.  :)

Sensei Ai brought out the kids' craft supplies.  What Claire is sticking her finger in is her glue bowl.  No Elmer's containers to get all dried up at this preschool!

Whew!  It doesn't look like a breast anymore!  :)  Cute Santa hat!

I walked around the room and admired the art and other stuff.

This is where Claire's work is displayed.  I think the top bird is awesome for a three year old, coloring different parts of the bird different colors.  My girls get their artistic ability from the Wagoner side....it's certainly not from me!

There was one of these posterboards for every month, beginning in April, which is the beginning of the school year in Japan.  Claire is in the top right corner of this one because that's the month she started.  They were a lot of pictures that we have at home, but it was fun to see the captions (short English, longer explanations in Japanese) for the activities.  One was "Plant onion seedling."

This Sensei made for the kids' craft fair that we missed.  I couldn't get enough of this structure!  It is made almost entirely of milk cartons!  The awning was brown corrugated cardboard, but I think the rest of it was paper mache'ed milk cartons! 

Mick says that they must send the Senseis to the United States to get a Masters in Crafts from Michael's!  It was soooooo cool and so sturdy! 

When the kids went outside, I asked Claire to stay back and get a picture in the "playhouse" (as she calls it), she said, "Sure!" and sat down to take off her indoor shoes before she went on the square of carpet.  I am SO IMPRESSED by the discipline and learning of routines here!

Did I say "discipline?"  Well.......she's got the routine down, anyway!  ☺

On our way outside I took off my indoor shoes that the Yochien has by the door for the adults and couldn't resist these two pictures. 

At the Halloween party, all of the adults just took off their shoes and left them all over the floor.  A little too much chaos for Kawashimo, apparently. 

I mean, seriously!  These are regular plastic bags, folded up nicely, origami style.  Unbelievable the detail that goes on here!!!!!  ☺

We went outside and I was the only lame-o parent who put a coat on my kid. 

Claire went right to it!  Seems they have a routine outdoors too.  They work around the playground. 

The fun slides and bridge were first!

And then over to the swings!

And then Ryu came over and gave Claire a ride on the tricycle!

Right after I snapped this I heard Ryu say, "You're too heavy, Claire!"

So they switched places!

We love Ryu!  ☺  This picture reminds me of the scene in the movie "Elf" where Buddy is giving Papa Elf a ride on the tricycle.  "SLOW DOWN BUDDY!"  ☺

  Then they went over in a corner of the playground that I hadn't even noticed before.  

It was a beautiful "sandbox" area under this pretty pergola!

I had seen pictures of Claire in the sand, I actually thought it was dirt, but didn't know where it was.  The kids spent the longest time here.  They really seemed to love it!

Mick and I actually stood back and watched this and discussed perhaps keeping Claire here for kindergarten.  It was just such an impressive day and she's so happy there!  She's only three so we have another year and a half to debate it.  It wasn't on the table before today though!

Then all of the classes came out and they performed a few songs for us. 

This was the first time Mick got to see Claire's waving/not singing in action as he missed the beginning of the day here as well as Sports Day and the Halloween Party.

This was the first time I saw her being a teense naughty and turning around and clowning it up with Emmaly.  Perhaps Kawashimo won't want her for kindergarten?!?  ;-)

And then the kids took off, out of the play yard gate and started running!  I asked Miki, Ryu's Mom what was going on and she said it's called "Marathon" and the kids run around the loop very fast!  The bigger kids do two laps while the red hats just do one. 

Claire came home the other day with a few bonks on her face and she told me she fell...  I figured out today that it was during "marathon."  :(  Good exercise for the kids though!

At the end of the run, Claire and her class ran right inside, without a goodbye to the parents.  They were just following routine!   Sensei Ai didn't even tell them to go in.  She was out in the playground talking with a parent.  No trying to sneak another ride down the slide, no clowning around....I went in and peeked at them and Claire was just stepping out of her bathroom shoes, just having gone to the bathroom, and she waved to me and went into her class.  So let me beat this into the ground.....my 3 year old, without instruction or adult supervision, can go for a run, voluntarily go inside, take off her outdoor shoes, put on her indoor shoes, go to the bathroom (changing out of her outdoor shoes and into the bathroom shoes) and then go into her classroom and wait quietly for her teacher....without instruction?  And she intentionally poured chocolate milk on the floor a few nights ago at home while looking at me straight in the eye????????? 

Forget Claire going to kindergarten there....can I come and be trained on how to be a good teacher and parent?????????

As always, THANK YOU KAWASHIMO!

Saturday's 2nd stop....Sensoji Temple

We hopped back on the bus and drove through some neat districts and then got off for a few hours at Sensoji Temple.  Gigi fell asleep a few minutes before we got off the bus. 

Being a tourist is hard work for a baby!

Her nap lasted about 5 minutes. 

This is at the entrance where we're glaring into the sun.  Now she's sleeping and....

Now she's not.  Just beyond the entrance is this marketplace.

We made it through the marketplace and got to the Temple!

As we turned down a walkway away from the temple, there were a few more places to buy things.  Most excitingly, beer for the grown-ups and chocolate bananas on a stick for the kids!  :)

Some game.

These were really good!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of these pretty girls!  Their parents didn't mind.  :)

We had a few hours here before our next adventure on the tour and we just wandered around without an agenda, just taking in the sights!

How can you walk past one of these and not stick your heads through? :)

Back to the Sensoji Temple

My favorite site of Japan is the Toriis. 

I just love them!

After we wandered enough, we went by the water and got the kids some McDonald's (Mickey D's was a frequent stop on our Tokyo trip) and ate and enjoyed the view. 

Mick said, "They must be big Saints fans!"

Here's a better picture of the Saints logo.  :)

Claire sat and played with this little girl.  Just like Yochien!  :)

Next stop....a boat ride!  ☺

Tokyo Tower

I'm going to try and get back to telling you about our Tokyo trip!  On the Saturday, we had signed up for a tour with our ITT group.  There were just a few families and one single guy.  We had several stops with the first being the Tokyo Tower. 

Eiffel Tower-like, but painted orange and white for air safety.

WOW, that's high!!!!!

And Whoa! We're high up!!!!

Our favorite spot was the "Lookdown" window!

It was a really spectacular view!

Vertigo!

Claire was the first one to be brave and stand on the lookdown!

But Olivia showed us she could be brave too!

Peace and Hook 'Em Horns!  ☺

 There were all sorts of things there besides the view.  Restaurants, bars, an aquarium, a children's playground of some sort and a place for live music. 

Luckily Gigi's bottle couldn't broadcast sound.

This was our favorite shot of the Tokyo Tower stop though!

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

☺

Shortages, stockpiling and Blackjack stamps

I went to the post office today to get stamps for my Christmas cards that I need to send.  I asked, with hope, while not expecting an affirmative answer, "Do you have any Christmas stamps?" and the postal clerk replied,

"We are out of stamps."

As in....it's December 7th and there are no stamps left and none expected any time soon.  She told me to bring in my Christmas cards and she would need to dial in the postage, one by one, and print off a postage label.  I told her

"I send 275 Christmas cards."

She said (above the gasps from the fellow customers in the post office), "That's okay Ma'am....I can do it." 

But another clerk said, "There may be some stamps at the 7 Day Store's cash cage."

So I ran over there to buy what they had.  All that were left were 5 sheets of "Celebrate" stamps

and 8 sheets of these very classy, just screams holiday, deck of cards stamps. 

I bought the last known stamps on base.  Living here is really weird sometimes. 

My Future Rec Room Tree

We have had many years of "For Right Now" houses and we are looking forward to the "Forever Home" someday soon!  And in my "Forever Home" I want a tree in every room.  Bathrooms, kitchen, living room (of course) and I am proud to announce that I have the tree for our Rec Room!!!!!!!

It was the Officer Spouses' Club "Trim-a-Tree with OSC" event and I bid on MWSS-171's tree and won!  You can see why I am so enthusiastic!!!!!

Isn't it beautiful?  I'm going to keep it on our little covered porch here in Iwakuni and cross my fingers that it makes it on our next PCS.  I imagine I'll have to change out a few bottles now and again, but the structure will hopefully be solid.  

LOVE IT!!!!!!!  ☺

For those of you who receive the blog by e-mail

Be sure to check out the post about Claire's Yochien crafts online.  I would recommend that always because I always try to fix my typos or whatever, but this time...I had three more pictures sent to me by a bus stop Mom and they're too cute!  :)

Claire's Yochien Craft Fair

I need to interrupt the recounting of the Tokyo vacation to share with you the bounty of crafts that Claire's FABULOUS Sensei, Ai Haraishi, sent home yesterday!!!

There was a craft fair for the kids to showcase all of their hard work on Sunday and we, regrettably, missed it since we were in Tokyo.  Apparently all of the rooms are decorated to the hilt with all of the children's crafts and my fellow bus stop Moms told me that Claire's room was the CUTEST!   I'm so sorry I wasn't able to see it personally, but my fellow bus stop Mom, Megan, sent me these pictures of Claire's room.

In front of the little animals, were little bento boxes. 

Everything was set up like a restaurant. 

Do you remember the eye thing from the obstacle course race on Sports Day where Claire waited for Ryu?

 I grabbed Claire as soon as she got off the bus to take pictures of her crafts.

Claire is modeling her winter uniform next to the HUGE garbage bag full of goodies.  She is wearing leg warmers (very Japanese) with her skirt, and of course her hat.  You can see in the bottom right hand corner that she takes her "gumbrella" with her every time she leaves the house.  Even when there's not a cloud in the sky!  :)

The book that Claire-chan is holding is a little birthday book with a picture of Claire and Sensei Ai.  Sensei wrote "Dear Claire, Although this card is a little belated, I wish you a Happy Birthday.  May you have many more to come. From: Ai Hiraishi."  Isn't that the sweetest that since Claire started Kawashimo after her birthday, Ai wanted to make sure she had this special momento???

There were a few Christmas crafts that I will treasure and display always!

I asked Claire which was her favorite craft and she sat down in this little chair.  ☺

I had to enlist the help of Olivia to hold up all of the papers so we could see Claire-chan's beautiful art work!

Thanks for helping sisters!  ☺

I had Claire pick out another favorite craft.  This little house is SO cute and is made out of a milk carton. 

I loved this one!  Can you imagine the patience it took to paper mache a balloon with a class of 3 year olds?

I was talking to my Mom on Skype this morning and I picked up some of the crafts to show her and she said, "No wonder Claire loves yochien so much!  So many crafts, so much to do!"  It's true!  Yesterday we got up late after the long bus ride and I took the big girls to school first and when we started walking back to the car I said, "Let's go to yochien, Claire!" and I swear, she clicked her heels in the air and said, "YOCHIEN! I LUUUUUVVVVVVVVVVVVV YOCHIEN!!!!!!"

Thank you Sensei Ai 

and Kawashimo Yochien!!!!!  

You are AWESOME!!!!!!