The Francis 4

Beatlemania (10/16/09)

2009-11-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

We attended 'Beatlemania' in Tokyo at a hotel contracted out to the American government.
The boys came with us so we could spend the night, swim, and just enjoy being downtown.
Each of the tables were decorated with black and/or white plastic hats, reflective sunglasses with the peace symbol on them, neon bracelets/necklaces, balloons and plastic records with a Beatle hit on it. There was a full buffet line with soups, bread, cheeses, salads, seafood, prime rib, various potatoes, rices, and veggies and of course, desserts. We sat with our friends from base and a couple that they knew.
There's a video so you can here the band. We were told that we were lucky this year b/c this band spoke English beyond the words of the songs and would talk in between some of the songs. Last year, the band spoke no English beyond knowing how to sing the songs.
(The video upload is really bad, but you'll get the idea.)
Oh, and the hotel we stayed at each of the suites have a state's name. The OHIO one was across the hall from us and we could not resist taking the picture. (yes, it would have been really cool if that had been suite but it was the first time we had seen so it was still fun).

The next day before we headed home we went and checked out the park by the hotel.

Our Homeschool Field Trip

2009-11-26T19:48:00.001-08:00

We were fortunate enough to get to see one of the helicopters as a field trip.

E's School Zoo Field Trip (11/10/09)

2009-11-26T19:32:00.001-08:00

E's teacher

"Do you need help....I can get my mom."

The name tags they wore around their neck.

My group reading the map and "leading the way"!

View from the Lion Bus

E did not care for the smell!

Time to go home!

Our New View

2009-11-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

They are working on a new Child Development Center in the field outside our "backyard" where the kids use to have a playground and Nerf wars. I know I have more pics of this and will be adding to this post when I came across them. I know they are probably not very entertaining pics but they are significant to us for a couple of reasons. 1) we REALLY miss "our" field and 2) the NOISE!! for instance even during Thanksgiving dinner (on Thanksgiving Day) Enya was accompanied by the subtle beat jackhammering, pipe clanging, drilling, and the ra-tat-tat of nail hammering.

Let's try this....

2009-11-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Since I have been so bad about updating our blog, I have decided to try something new. I am going to start posting, but working our way BACK instead of forward. Trying to get caught up is too overwhelming for me (:~) so maybe this "new" approach will work better. If not, I am going to have a very hard time finding a new excuse (LOL)! At this point though, I think y'all are just ready to see some new pics (:~). Shall we begin.....
Lots of love,
The Francis 4

Weekend trip to see Gundam Robot

2009-08-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

The "glass" facing the sidewalk (the outdoor tables)
is actually open - this is a bad picture, it looked
a lot cooler in person

The "Japanese" Hummer

S.W.A.T. vans

This is a gas station - full serve and the gas lines
are hanging down from the ceiling. The yellow square
behind the car, is the car wash. I should have taken
a picture of the surrounding bldgs so you could
understand just how packed in this was!

S.W.A.T. vans

An entire showroom of them!

Sign on the train

SURE, you were scratching your nose....

Eli's always got to get an ear (he was wore out!)

My growing boy - I love his smile :~)

The train being passed by a car carrier truck

59ft Gundam Robot - it was very cool

Dakota picking up the 59ft robot :~)

We haven't seen the real one, but this was cool to
see in Japan!

America Camp '09

2009-08-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Every August our good friends at BEC school have "America Camp" and it is where the children from the school stay at some kind of campsite and the Americans are invited. We play games and cook out and such. This was the first year they actually stayed in tents and it was our first year participating. We participated in the activites, but spent the night in the lodge beside the camping grounds - we don't mind the heat, but when it comes to sleep we need cool!
(Glad to see our homestays again!)

another homestay!

the owner of BEC school is on the right

after the kids did their balloon toss, the adults
had one...Tony and our friend were the furthest
apart and did not drop it!

someone hung a make shift rope swing for the kids
with 2 loops on the end for their feet

playing frisbee

the men v/s the kids

Eli reading "Green Eggs and Ham" to us at
breakfast the next morning

Homestays '09

2009-08-16T13:49:00.001-07:00

This summer we had some Japanese children stay with us. There were 3 groups (2 groups of girls and 1 group of boys). The Japanese call this a "homestay" and it is something quite common between the schools and the bases. They were loads of fun for all of us. These are pictures from all 3 groups.
The first group was the largest (3 girls) and I had put them in Eli's room. My thinking was that 1 could sleep on the bed and the other 2 on the air bed we have...however, they all slept on the air bed in fear of falling out of the "big" bed. It is only a twin but it sits so high off the ground in their eyes. So, I quicky learned my first lesson in having them stay with us!

The parents come and visit for an hour or so before leaving their children in your care. So, they all posed for their parents with Tony's guitar...after playing a few...ummm...notes (?) through the computer (Tony has something hooked up and it sounds like you're playing through an amp so it was really loud and they just thought that was very cool :~)

This young lady has actually lived in the states
longer than she had in Japan because of her father's
job.

This was the sister of one the girls. The girl was too shy
to get her picture taken and this sister was too shy to
stay with us :~)

Tony playing for them. As you can tell, I wasn't
planning on having everyone in my room or I would
have found somewhere else to store the laundry
baskets - thank goodness they were empty :~)

PIZZA!!!!

She was cold!

So, I asked them...are all of you cold??? Yessss, they
said, so Dakota had to lend them all a sweatshirt!! And
yes, we did turn down the air.

Making heart-shaped biscuits for breakfast....

to go with the pancakes being made on the other
counter!

The pancakes are almost done.

Everyone's ready to eat!

Time for group 1 to say good-bye and go home
with their parents.

Group 2 like having a "nob" fire and making
s'mores...actually they just liked burning the
marshmallows and catching their sticks on fire.

Our charcoal writings...they wrote their names
in Kanji under their English spellings

This is Dakota on the high dive!!
ALL the groups LOVED going swimming in the
the "huge" pool. I don't think uncrowed, big
public pools are common in Japan.

Our last group was boys and Dakota couldn't have
been happier :~) Games, games and more games -
the universal boy langauge!

We went bowling too!

"Volcanic Ash" Day

2009-07-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

They closed the schools when Mt. Asama erupted.

We had to wear masks for the day because the ash
can be very dangerous to breathe in. However, while it is true
the ash is/can be dangerous there was definitely a debate
as to whether or not the schools were closed because
of the ash or because everyone wanted to be able to watch the
SuperBowl we was that day :~)

We did not know school was closed, so Tony and
I were out so I could take him to work. The ash
looked like gray snow.

The Ball Swing

2009-06-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

Slide video

2009-06-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hill Park (1/27/09)

2009-06-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

We don't know the real name of this park,
but we call it Hill Park because it is built up
along and on a couple of hills.

Working his way across the swinging logs

I did it!

My dear friend's daughter

Never at a lost for words....

my dear friend helping Eli, climb the mountain

say "hello"

the slide (be sure to watch the video)

My dear friend's son

How many people does it take to help Eli
do the ball swing

what lovely ladies :~)

Brotherly love!

CHEEZ

Tony's 40!!

2009-06-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

More IKEA trip

2009-06-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

more apartments

Tony took this picture of his side view mirror

YEAH!! WE MADE IT!!

We parked on the roof and took some pics of the view

Dakota got his cowboy hat for Christmas from
G&G Francis and wore it 24/7.....

Eli trying on the "fruit hat" and Dakota
seeing if it is any good - LOL!

Eli LOVED the kitchen area

I am so lucky...

I just love.....

all these men in my life!!

Time to go home.

It's been a long day

This picture is for dad because if we could take all
the stuff he has in his garage to one of these they'd
be rich - LOL! They buy and resale items that you would
find in a garage. They have them for books, CD's/DVD's,
household products, everything!

Trip to IKEA (1/1/09)

2009-06-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Seeing Fuji on the way there

We started out expecting this trip to take us
about 1.5hrs (even though it is only about 30mi away)
it ended up taking us 3, that's THREE hours to drive
30 miles to go SHOPPING! 3 of the 4 of us were not
very happy.....so lots of pics were taken to try to entertain
themselves.

Apartments on the mountain side

The ferris wheel at the water parkThe happy travelers

Paying the toll

the signal man

Toll booth worker

We were laughing at how confusing these signs were

Seeing this restaurant cracked us up

This says Toy R Us

More traffic signs :~)

Apartments

These are all apartments

Mt. Fuji (12/14/08)

2009-06-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

I took these on my way home from taking Tony to work.

Panoramic view

Eli just got out the chalk and drew this face :~)

Our 1st Thanksgiving in Japan

2009-06-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Not only was it our 1st Thanksgiving in Japan,
but it was also the 1st Thanksgiving that all
the boys helped mom prepare the meal. It
was a really GREAT Thanksgiving. Mom had
so much to be thankful for - THANKS GUYS!
I love you!
Eli and Daddy were in charge of making the pie.

Dakota was in charge of the Green Bean Casserole.

Mom peeling potatoes.

Daddy "enjoying" being Eli's "assistant".

Time to EAT!

Dessert is ready!

Gyoza Heaven restaurant

2009-06-25T05:56:00.001-07:00

This restaurant is very small, we are sharing our
table with 4 other people that we did not know.

Gyoza - these had different "stuffings" and are
not normally this big, which is the reason of the
name of the restaurant.

Thanksgiving at BEC school

2009-06-25T05:20:00.001-07:00

BEC school is a private Japanese school that teaches
English. We visit them quite a bit throughout the year.
A few us made the "fixin's" for a Thanksgiving dinner
for them. Dakota gets put on the spot at the front of the
class. Notice how short his hair is - this was RIGHT
after a #2 haircut - Uncle J. would be proud :~)
This teacher is from NYC.

Eli doesn't really care who can understand him
when he has a story to tell :~)
This teacher is from Australia.

They were amazed at the turkey - "how do you
cook a chicken that big???"

The teachers are primarily from the U.S. and
Australia.

The man on the right is Mr. Takeno, the owner
of the school.

Mr. Takeno and Dakota

This is the food that Mr. Takeno's wife made
for those of us who brought and served the food.

a Thank You treat for us to take home

but Skip said I could have 10....

2009-06-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

We had our friends over for dinner and as they
were getting ready to leave (around 10p) Eli asked
if he could have another cookie. Our friend, Skip said,
"yeah, go ahead and have 10". We walked our friends to
the door and when we came back into the living, there was
Eli with his TEN cookies. I told him he had to put them back
he told me, "but Skip said I could have TEN".

Happy 12 yrs!

2009-06-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

12 years old!!!

2009-06-25T04:26:00.001-07:00

Halloween (10/31/08)

2009-06-25T04:09:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Rie, experiencing her 1st
American Halloween on the base.

Eli

Eli and Dakota

Dakota (in the middle holding up the Nerf gun)
with all his friends before they took off to go
trick or treating. Eli is in the Spiderman costume.

A Balcony Visitor (10/24/08)

2009-06-25T04:07:00.000-07:00

I wish I had taken one from further away
because he was very hard to see until you
got very close.

Our 1st NOB (not Bon) Fire (10/23/08)

2009-06-25T03:54:00.000-07:00

We were missing the fall bonfires that we had grown accustom to having so utilizing what little space we have, we made due and created a little bit of home here :~) But we renamed it from a bonfire (which is usually somewhat of a large fire) to Nobfire (backwards bon - nob - somewhat of small fire)
There's not a change in time, I used the flash on some pics and not on others.

Eating the s'mores