New Belt

Haruki practiced Shorinji with his new yellow belt.

He looked very happy and he touched it very often in practice time.

He will have demonstration in Japan festival at BSU in March.

From next week, he practice some special training for that demonstration.

He is looking forward to go and play at BSU. He like Broncos very much!

Pajama party

Haruki's class had pajama party today.

I ask Haruki what is the pajama party?

He said, there are some classes for studying, but before noon its party was starting.

They lay down on a blanket with stuffed animal which was brought from home.

And watching TV with eating some snacks.

I was surprised it. Is that school class? Actually I envy him it seems little bit fun.

Anyway he came home from school with big his grin!

Kanami had fever

Kanami had fever this morning.
So she could not go to day care center.
Otomi had gone there only one, but she looked nothing happen.

In my home, almost every girls are stronger than I and Haruki.
If they have cold or fever, they do not become bad condition.
That's a happy to us.
The other day Haruki had severe cold and he had some dripping and we got on ambulance.
Today I got that bill and I was very surprised it's cost.
If I have no insurance, I might be bankruptcy???

C#

New challenge!
"C#"
Have you ever seen that word?
It is programming language.
I am not familiar with recently programming, I used to study FORTRAN77 in my college student days.

When you type C# in google, you can see a lot of information about it.
So I don't know how to start it.
But good teacher come from Japan by E-mail.
Who was my old boss and I gonna try to get new skill!

Cold day

It was so cold this morning.

And my truck's door was partially frozen.

I often heard "Inversion" recently, it means the temperature reverse between mountain and town.

This phenomenon might affect chilly days??

In Japan we do not usually use Fahrenheit, we use Celsius.
Convert Fahrenheit into Celsius.
C=(F-32)x5/9

Why American do not use SI units?
Inch, feet, mile and so on,those are confuse me.......

Little demon

Otomi is youngest daughter.

She is only 1 year and 7 months old now.

She is very mischief.

Yesterday I and Ritsuko found some brown object.

"What is this? "

"Otomi wet her diaper? Maybe it was from Otomi?"

Today Ritsuko found brown another object.

So we can recognize what was that.

It was Chicken Bouillon.

It is similar to candy.

Probably Otomi took it from cooking shelf and try it little bit!!

Anyway we felt at ease that was not harmful to her.(She recognized it too much salty!)

Sunday life

Today we went to Boise shopping mall.

We had no plan to see special item.

My wife recommended me Abercrombie & American Eagle wear.

So I got some T-shirts and wears.

Minami was jealous of me. But she also her wear and some shoes.

Haruki was very helpful to take care of his sisters.

Kanami and Otomi was good walker, so we could enjoy shopping!

After shopping, we had Nabe-party.

We had special mushroom "Nameko" which was sended by my father from Japan.

He made and packed it last year.

There were lot of mushroom in his mountain retreat in Japan.

I hope he will send it to us this year again!

Friend came home!

Today we had nice guest, she is my wife's friend.

She is learning Japanese.

My wife met her in our children's extra class in their school.

She did volunteer at that time and help them.

Today my wife Ritsuko cooked Japanese popular food "Curry rice".

Before lunch, Haruki and Minami taught her Origami with my help.

She is good Origami folder!

Minami also ask her to read some books.(In English!)

And she looks fine to eat Japanese lunch(I believe!)

We had a great time with new friend!

Belt Test of shorinji

Haruki is learning Shorinji Kempo, which is a kind of Japanese martial arts.

Today he had big event, he took exam for grade up his stage.

This test has

1.Why do you want to learn Shorinji Kempo?

He must his word directly.(The teacher is Japanese, so he speaks it in Japanese.)

2.What are the promises that Shorinji Kempo kenshi to fulfil?

There are 4 promises;

Put your shoes neatly together.

Greet with other kenshi with Gassho

Do cleaning and other manual tasks without hesitation.

Clean clothes, good personal hygiene.

He can pass both of tests, and he will get new belt which color is yellow!

Congratulation Haruki!

Snow

It was snow day but very small snowflake.
I got home at 11 P.M. o'clock.
But still there is no snow cover.
I hope outside will be covered white tomorrow morning.
I like snowy world.

Next project

I have some projects.

Turning;
I will make some pen and letter opener for some kind of gifts.
To tell the truth, it would Christmas gift, but I could not finish it.........

Small furniture;
I have small room. But it was big when I was in Japan.
It keeps my kid's books and ours.
We need some organization for them again.
I gonna make the small furniture which has some shelf and drawer.
Probably I gonna imitate magazine's example...

I wish I have much time to do wood work..........

Day care

My daughter Kanami, she is 3 years old now.
She is going to day care center 3 days a week, usually from Tuesday to Thursday.

Today,When I took her to the center, she was crying and hold on to my hand.
That was not everyday, sometimes happen.
I also feel sad...
The root cause of this behavior;
Yesterday, it was holiday and today was starting day of week.
So she might think it was Monday today and she can play with her mom today.

At early evening, she greet her mom with big smile!

Clock for shop

I got nice clock for small shop.

It looks like radial arm saw.

When I found it in store, I decided to put it on my room or work area.

Next step, I gonna try to install dust duct and lathe tool strage.

Drawer organization2

After skiing, I had a big back pain.......

I tried small work at ease.

Make label and organize small screws to drawers.

I get a more space in my small work shop!

Next I try to make bike-training space!

Tamarack

Today I went to Tamarack resort for skiing just only me and with my friends.

It takes about two hours from my home to there.

The resort hotel is still under construction......There are no money to finish...

Ski resort is very nice and snow condition is very good.

We can see the nice view from top of mountain.

I went to there just only me without my family, it gave me too much skiing time and bad low back pain.............

Drawer for screw

Work shop need more organization.

Whta is the problem?

When I made something,

1. Look for tool.

I already improve tool space, all of them are hanged on the wall.

2. Look for screws!

They are stacked more and more....I need long time to pick I want.

So That's really bothersome.

This drawer might be solved!

Each drawer must need label for what they are in.

I gonna make label.

Appendicitis ??

I got a phone call from school nurse before lunch.

She said Haruki seems sick, he need to come back to school.

And my wife Ritsuko pick him quickly.

He had a fever 40 degree at that time.He is so sorry.

I made appointment our primary care doctor.

He said Haruki might be an Appendicitis and recommend to see emergency doctor.

We took him emergency center, but they also he might need surgery you must go to another hospital. I and Haruki were taken by ambulance to next hospital.

Off course we got in ambulance first time.

After that Dr double-checked Haruki, he did not need to surgery operation and he did not had appendicitis.He had strep throat but need to drip for about 3 hours......

They have several service for young kids in their hospital animal therapy and game therapy...

Anyway we can come home altogether, and his fever back to normal.

It is happy for us.

Boku

My son Haruki say "Boku" in recent days.
"Boku" means myself, and it was said by self when he speak about himself as first word.
He used to say himself "Haru" or "Haruki".
What is his turning point?
I and my wife Ritsuko discuss it.
We concluded the reason was depend on his Japanese friends they are same age.
We had the good bye year party in my home on New Year's Eve.
At that time he met his Japanese friend, and he heard they said themselves "Ole" or "Boku".
So he followed them!

Foggy night

Today I came back from office too late....

It was foggy day from this morning through night.

My car's front glass was frozen so I could not run my car quickly.

I had a time to think what should I write today's blog.

Some guy taught me, when it was more colder that fog became ice dust and tree was covered by it.

It seems so beautiful.

I hope see that scene in upcoming this winter.

Bike training

The other day I got indoor bike trainer.

In U.S.A., I did not have exercises very well, so I gained a lot of weight.

I 'm going to ride bike in my garage everyday??

I'm not sure I can do it everyday, so my choice is cheapest model of trainer.

My friends recommend model is a little expensive for me...

With seeing DVD or reading book!

Organization my shop

I do not finish organizing my work shop yet.
But the condition improbe little by little.

This picture is some month ago.

Now........
There is space to work on the desk!!

Next I clean up and shlf and put drawer for screws and little gears.

I am keeping to make better this space.

Beef tongue

We love Korean style barbecue.

I got beef tongue at grocery store yesterday.

I put it freezer and thaw it partially today.

This is the first time to strip the skin of tongue.

It was difficult for me but I could managed.

Then we could eat beef tongue for dinner!

It was so delicious.

There was still rest of tongue, wife boil it and pickle with miso.

I can eat it tomorrow! I'm looking forward to eating!!

Table game

My friend Po is living in near my home.

He loves toys and he is preparing room for playing.

He decided to get table game which has ping pong, air hockey and billiard games.

Finally yesterday he bought it and I helped to carry into his home.

It was so heavy that we can not move without dis assembly at all.

Today he reassembly it and I also helped fix big table again.

And we tried air hockey game at first,after that try ping pong and billiard also.

I'm jealous!

But I can go his home quickly even by walk!

Minami had a fever!

My daughter Minami is very active girl every day.
But when she got up this morning, she was very quiet and no loud.

So I and my wife were worry about her and then check her body it seemed too hot.
As expected she had a fever 39 degree.
Anyway we keep her home from school.

We have a plan to go to ski this weekend, but we change it to play cards game or something inside home together.

Son's great job

About my son Haruki,

He could not speak and write English,he could only read alphabet, when he came to U.S.A. in last end of May.

But he is almost serious student.

He keep on studying English everyday, then he can speak, read, and write English more than a little now.

He has spelling test every Thursday, almost every tests he take perfect score.

He brings book from school, he read it out to us.

I should emulate him!

Share day

Minami brought new homework today.
She have to introduce her favorite thing to her class mate.
She was thinking about what she should choose long long time.
She decided. She is going to show "Karuta".
Minami ask us, how to explain "Karuta"?
This is also my homework....
Karuta
This is Japanese card game.
Play it with about 4 to 5 player and 1 reader.
There are 2 kinds of the cards.
One cards are reading card and it has only text.
The other cards are picture and one word which is first word of the text.
Spread out the picture cards on the floor.
When the reader read out the text card at random.
Player hit or grab the picture card which is read out as fast as possible before another player catch.
After cards was gone away from the floor, count the card each player get.
The player with the most cards is the winner.

Bogus

I went to Bogus to ski using my 2 hours private time.

Last Sunday I went to there first time with my family.

I had no time to ski well, I could ride lift only 2 times...

Today I could try 5!!

So I could revenge a defeat!?

But now my hamstring muscles are starting to cry............

Ballet

Today it had a lot of snow in Boise.

Minami had a ballet class after school every Monday.

Usually my wife took her to class but she was not familiar with driving snow way.

So I did.

It was first time to see Minami's ballet practice.

She is the smallest in the room, but she had pliant body.

On the way to home Kids found the sign of donuts shop was lightning.

We get some sample and I bought 1 dozen box.

Bogus debut!

We family went to Bogus basin mountain to play skiing.

Haruki was 2nd time, Minami was 1st time to do.

They were looking forward to ski debut!

Haruki and Minami tried hard at first, bat their globe was not good.

They were perished with cold.

But they want to come again, so we are going to do next week!

Secret Box? Treasure Box!

Today we got the box from Japan, which was sent by wife's sister.

There wear lot of Japanese stamps on the top of the box.

So mail man called it "secret box" , for us it was treasure box!

They could not wait to open it.

We got many Japanese foods and small things.

Also I found Japanese cracker, I love it very much!

They started Snoopy dance in their delight.