I promised the kids (and Jim) that I would schedule a sakura photo session before we left Japan. With time running out, it is now or never!!! Thankfully, I was able to get on Peter Branch's schedule. He is a military spouse who is a WONDERFUL photographer. We met him down by a really popular park on the Tama river. Not only were the sakura still beautiful, but also the tulips were FANTASTIC! I won't spoil the reveal with a sneak peak, but we did take a couple of photos with the tulips in the background.
If you thought March had a lot of soccer, then stand by. April had even more (if that is possible). I am soaking up all the soccer I can because the DoDEA season is super short. I feel bad for Ben. We haven't really traveled to watch him play baseball this spring. To be fair, this is Lilly's senior season and Ben is a freshman. We will have three more seasons to watch him play, and hope he understands.
Speaking of Ben, he is still working on his path to Eagle with the completion of a few more merit badges. He is slowly chipping away at it.
Easter Sunday snuck up on us, but we were able to squeeze in another Easter Egg Hunt (miraculously), even though the big draw is of course cash eggs. We fooled them this time. All the money eggs had the same amount in them! Hee hee
Jim had to jump on a plane right after our hunt to travel back to the states. He was able to make it in time to have a second Easter with his sister and her family.
Last month I was able to talk Lilly into going with me to a nearby shrine to take some pictures, but that was just a rehearsal for her actual Senior pictures which we were lucky enough to book with the fabulous Peter Branch! We are going to have a hard time narrowing down the choices. My friends have been telling me for over a year that the senior year FLIES by and I chose not to believe them. But of course they were right. How is it already April? Seems like this school year just started!!
Another successful Model UN awards ceremony kicked off the beginning of the end for our time here. From now until the time we leave, all of our activities will be "last times". So sad! Lilly really enjoyed her time in this club and the advisor, Mr. Wagner, had lots of really nice things to say about her performance.
Ben's baseball team hasn't had many home games this season, so I haven't been able to watch him play as much as I would like. This week they have two back to back! He was able to get some great contact on a ball in this game and knocked it out of the park!!! He was soo thrilled! The girls were even able to come and watch him play! The only one who missed it was Jim 😐
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| He was SOOOO Excited!!! First home run of the season for the Panthers! |
Jim got back just in time for our first repeat visitor!! Yes, Mark Jessen gets that unique honor. He was back over for business and we somehow were able to coordinate another great dinner. He and Jim were even able to squeeze in a game of golf!
While Jim and Mark were chasing a tiny white ball around Tama Hills, I took the girls to one of my favorite shrine sales at Takahata Fudo. Lucy had been asking to go to this one for a while and when my friends asked if I was interested in going (I always am) I asked the girls and they surprised me by saying YES! We picked up a few last minute small treasures. Jim has started to sound like a broken record about not going over weight for our upcoming HouseHold Goods move - ugh.
I have shown GREAT restraint in not filling this edition will only soccer and baseball. For that you are welcome. However, I have to talk about both for a bit since we are bearing down on the end of the season. First up is Senior Night! The lady panthers played CAJ Knights and at the end of the game, were victorious! Of course both girls had outstanding play, but we are totally biased. I am going to miss the thank you bows at the end of the games.
In between the girls and boys games, the seniors on both teams were recognized. We had banners made and some balloon wands to go with the traditional posters and baskets of goodies. I like that each team's seniors were recognized. I am pretty sure this doesn't happen in the states.
Shortly after senior night, Jim had to go back to the states for a week. He hit multiple states, but was able to squeeze in a visit with his parents and his sister's precious little ones.
The last week in April found Ben headed to Osan, South Korea for the baseball Far East Tournament while the girls headed to Misawa for theirs. I considered going to South Korea since I have not been, but in the end I decided to drive up to Misawa to watch the girls play in their final tournament as Panthers. The weather wasn't great. We had horrible wind and threatening rain until the last day where all it did was rain. Ugh! Luckily, several other parents also made the 7+ hour drive and we managed to bring up our shelter and a few tarps to ensure we stayed somewhat dry for the final day of games.
The lady panthers won their group and after winning the first game of the 3rd day, found themselves in the final verses the Sasebo Cobras who had a much rougher trip to the finals. In the end the girls weren't able to convert two much needed goals and they had to settle for second place. Not exactly the outcome we were hoping for but all in all the girls had a great time. Lilly and Lucy both made all tournament team and Lucy picked up her second Defensive player award.
After the game, Lilly decided to ride back in the car with me so she could log some experience driving on the freeway. She has only recently been able to drive off base and never over 50 mph so having her drive 100 kmh (which is still like 62 mph) was a big deal. She logged about 4 hours and then I took over so she could get some sleep.
Ben, meanwhile, was having a pretty good baseball tournament in Osan, and they ended up coming in 3rd place for the tournament. We were able to watch some of the games on facebook which is huge. I am not sure why DoDEA doesn't have this option for everything (not just sports) since the schools are so spread out and it isn't always possible to travel to watch the game in person.
To round out the kids sports here in Yokota, a second and third place isn't too shabby!
With just a little over a month left in Japan, we are really having to get busy on the bucket list. The Ghibli Museum has been high on the list for the girls and I was finally able to figure out how to get tickets. The English website is almost impossible, but if you use the Japanese site you have a pretty good chance. The museum itself is a rabbling building is equal parts technology/fine arts/children's museum and a cafe, bookstore and theater. The kids have all been bitten by the anime bug while over here and in particular have all been indoctrinated into the Ghibli cult. It is a real thing! Needless to say, it wasn't hard to get them to agree to go.
We round out the month of April by taking in the natural wonder that is a flower park in Japan. End of April is Azalea and Wisteria season and boy do the Japanese know how to showcase a flower. There is a huge garden about an hour away and both girls really wanted to go. Ben had another event to attend so he declined. We couldn't find a day to make the trip, so we decided to go during the evening. The Japanese don't let a little thing like darkness stop them from enjoying their flowers. Many parks also have special illumination events. What follows are probably way more pictures of wisteria than you ever want to see, but my god it was beautiful! There were several "rest" areas where you could just sit in very comfortable chairs and take in the sights. Incredible!
On the way home we stopped at the Hanyu Parking area thinking we were going to be getting the standard rest stop experience and were blown away by what we got instead! The whole rest stop was built to look like a traditional village from the Edo period! The inside was set up to resemble a Japanese market and even the ceiling was designed to look like the night sky. It was crazy! Sadly, most of the food stalls were already closed for the day, but we were able to get a few things to eat and drink. America really needs to take a page out of the Japanese play book when it comes to rest stops and connivence stores.
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