Night BBQ with Yu and Cha Sensei

Ellie invited her friend who used to live nearby our home. He moved to Kyushu and he was just visiting his grandpa and grandma in Tokyo. It has been a long time since Ellie met him last. I thought she might have forgot, but she did remember! We also invited Ellie's old teachers, Yu-sensei and Cha-sensei to come. We had a BBQ up on our deck. It was a nice reunion.

昔のご近所さんで九州にお引越ししてしまったエリのお友達をご招待して、屋上でバーベキューをしました。久しぶりだったので、覚えているか心配だったのですが、エリはしっかり覚えておりました！せっかくなのでY先生とC先生もお招き。久しぶりの同窓会モードでした。（写真はあまりよく撮れておりませんが…）

Kids had a lot of fun and we did too. It was really nice seeing them again.

この日はスケジュールがいっぱいで、よる遅くなってから始めてしまってごめんなさい。でも、本当に久しぶりで、とっても楽しかったです！皆様また是非いらしてくださーい。

School Natsumatsuri (Summer Festa)

Ellie's Montessori school Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festa)　JuJu and Noah joined in too.

エリの幼稚園の夏祭りです。ジュジュとノアも参加させてもらえました♪

School children make many items for Natsu Matsuri and they sell them there. Children take turns and be customers and store people. This is Ellie selling the bags she made and JuJu being a customer.

エリの幼稚園では、夏季保育3日間で数々の作品を仕上げ、その作品を夏祭りで売ります。子供たちは、売り子とお客さんに順番でなります。こちらはエリが売り子として、バッグ屋さんを担当し、ジュジュがお客さんです。

Julia and Noah enjoyed buying many stuff and playing games.

ジュジュとノアも、たくさんお買い物をし、ゲームで遊んで、とっても楽しかったようです。

They did shooting game and got a prize.

射的の景品もゲットです。

They played fireworks at the end. It was a fun evening.

最後に花火もやりました。ジュジュは大はしゃぎ。とっても楽しい夏の夕べを過ごせました。

Sleepover

Ellie and her school friend Lisa, had a sleepover at our house. Girls had so much fun together.

エリの幼稚園のお友達が、お泊りに来てくれました。

They had fun with the pool upstairs on the deck, played at the park together, watched movie together, etc. I think JuJu was the one who was having the funnest time with Lisa.

屋上でプール遊びをしたり、一緒に公園に行ったり、映画を見たり…。ジュジュもノアも、皆でとっても楽しそうに遊んでおりました。

Ueno Zoo Outing

Ellie went to the Ueno Zoo with Reina and Ivy (technically we met there, but I think it counts.) It was a really hot summer day and we were not there too long, but it was a fun outing.

エリの夏休み。お友達のReinaとIvyと一緒に上野動物園に行ってきました。猛暑のとっても暑い日で体力消耗が激しく長時間は居られなかったのですが、でもお友達と楽しいひと時を過ごしました。

Ellie being a monkey. You can see how hot it was by her sweat.

エリのおサルです。本当に暑かったので、汗びっしょりです。

Ellie holding a mouse.

ねずみさんと一緒のエリです。

Reina and Ellie holding guinea pigs.

エリ、お友達とモルモットを抱っこです。

Here's Ellie feeding a baby deer.

鹿のあかちゃんに、エサをあげてみました。

On the Way to Palette One Day

Julia and Noah on the way to Palette one morning. Brother and Sister holding hands and they were cute together.

ある朝の、ノアとジュリアです。兄弟で手をつなぎ、走ったり歩いたり。

Hoji

We had memorial (Hoji) service for my parents and we went down to Mishima again. My mother was a Buddhist and everything was done in Buddhist way. It was my mother's 23rd and father's 17th anniversary.

おじいちゃまとおばあちゃまの法事に、三島に行ってきました。さすがに十七回忌、二十三回忌なので、家族だけで行って参りました。

Kids were dressed nicely, so they knew it was a special occasion. But that does not mean they can sit still of course...

法事なので、と思い、落ち着いた色のお洋服を探したのですが…。ジュリアのドレスは少々小さく、ノアのシャツは少々大きすぎ…。

This is where we had Hoji service. Kids were having too much fun at the Hoji place (Buddhism temple) and they were running around during the monk chant...

It was not a quiet setting and I felt bad for the monk. I'm so glad it is over...

法要の間も、全く落ち着きのないコドモタチでした…。とりあえず、終わってホッとしてます。

On the way back, we stopped at my middle school friend's house. They had a little girl who is about Julia's age and girls had fun playing with their friends.

帰りに中学時代のお友達のおうちにお邪魔しました。ジュリアと同じ年齢の女の子がいて、ガールズみんなで楽しそうに遊んでおりました。

Lisa's Birthday Cake

We were invited to Ellie's friend, Lisa's birthday up in her cabin. And I made a cake for her birthday. I had to bring the cake from home to her cabin and it was a 2 hour drive. I put plenty of ice in the cooler, but still it melted a little bit. Plus I had to divide the bottom layer and top layer for transporting purpose, so I didn't get to coordinate the color. And it was such a hot weather. So, it doesn't look as good as it should. Sorry, Lisa.

エリのお友達のお誕生日におよばれです。ケーキを作ったのですが、お誕生会はお友達の別荘で２時間のドライブ、持ち運び用に上下２つに分けての作成、カラーコーディネート出来ず、更に酷暑の夏でペーストは溶け出しまくり、人形も溶けまくり…。というわけで、出来はかなり不満だらけです。

Well, kids enjoyed, so I guess all is good.

ま、子供たちは楽しかったようなので、良しとしましょう。

Girls's Ballet Recital

Girls had their ballet recital. It was Ellie's second and Julia's first. They danced so well!

エリとジュリアのバレエ発表会。エリは今回で2回目でしたが、ジュリアは今回が初。まぁ、お姉ちゃんほど良く踊ってはいませんでしたが、がんばりました。

Daddy was on his business trip until the recital day. Mommy had to be at the recital hall for setting up the place, so I got a lot of help from everyone. Thanks so much! Daddy arrived at Narita airport 2 hours before the recital started and rushed back Tokyo (about 1.5 hour travel from the airport) He barely made it to the girls' dance.

ダディは2週間の出張で、発表会の日にアメリカから帰国。発表会2時間前に成田の到着し、ものすごい急いで東京に戻り、ぎりぎりセーフでエリとジュジュのバレエに間に合いました。ふぅー。マミーは会場セッティングがあり、たくさんの方々にいっぱい助けていただきました。皆様に大感謝です。

Bunch of friends came and they were both really happy!

お友達もたくさんいらしていただいて、エリもジュリアもハッピーでした♪

The recital was a little too long for Noah. He certainly didn't want to sit still during the program. But he was happy when it was over...

発表会はノアにはちょっと退屈だったようで、途中と～～～～っても大変でした…。終わったらハッピーなノアです。

Visiting Our Friend's Cabin at Lake Yamanakako

Ellie's school friend, Lisa, had invited us over to her cabin up in Lake Yamanakako. It has been so hot in Tokyo, so it was really REALLY nice to get away from Tokyo heat and go up in the mountains.

Cabin was really nice. It was in the gated area and house was designed in western style with nice garage. (I'm sure Garage part is Lisa's Dad's preference.)

エリの幼稚園のお友達の別荘にご招待いただき、山中湖に行ってきました。東京は猛暑を超え酷暑だったので、涼しい山の気候は極楽です。別荘もとてもゴージャスで、素敵な夏を過ごすことができました。

Girls had too much fun with their friend. Noah also had a fun time with the girls.

ガールズは、お友達とはしゃぎまくり…。もちろんノアも一緒にはしゃぎまくり。（後ろに見える足はノアです）

Don't ask me why Noah has no clothes... It was his choice...

We went to the park nearby. It was in the woods and kids had so much fun there.

忍野八海の近くの公園に足を運びました。子供向け遊具や広々とした芝生があり、子供たちは大興奮。

Noah was trying to be a cowboy.

ノア、カウボーイに変身！

Ellie is like a monkey climbing really high up!

エリは一番てっぺんまで登り、まるでおサルの様。

Julia being scared of everything, she of course didn't want to go too high, but she wanted to do just like her big sister was doing. So she tried her best. (and of course there was a cry involved since she could not get down by herself.)

ジュジュは何においても怖がりなのですが、でもエリのやっている事と同じことをしたい！というわけで、そんなに高い所まではいけませんでしたががんばりました！（もちろん一人で降りれなくなり、泣きました…）

There was a little pond at the park and kids had a fun time there too.

公園には、子供が遊べるちょっとした池もあり、子供たちはずぶ濡れで遊んでました。

We also drove to Lake Kawaguchiko and visited monkey park. We got to see the monkey show. Kids had a lot of fun. Noah was fascinated with it and he was staying still and watching 40 minutes monkey show.

山中湖から、近くの河口湖までドライブ。河口湖猿回し劇場に行ってきました。この猿回しのショーが子供たちには大ヒット！ノアは、40分のショーをとっても興味深そうにじーっとおとなしく見てました。

This is the monkey who performed.

こちらが、猿回しを披露してくれたおサルさんです。

This is Ellie trying to feed the monkey.

こちらは外にいたおサルさんたち。エリがエサをあげています。

Ellie and Noah got to shake hands with the monkey. Of course it was too scary for JuJu.

エリとノアは、おサルさんと握手もしました。ジュジュは、「こわい～～！！」とのことで、握手なんぞもってのほかです。