Friends and Family catching up~and more~~

When Ischin was here (until January 7th, when Kahori stayed on after he flew back to Japan) we got to have time with Grandmom, Uncle Lynn and Lorraine.

Grandmom will be 91 in May!

And then we got a special treat, well especially ME, I got to see my dear old friend LENA MORIMOTO!!!

And we got to meet her friends that we'd been in touch with but had not been able to connect with until they all drove down from S.F.Lena and I met when Ischin and her son Yuya were about a year old! So 25 years ago?!! Lena also was our midwife for when Zen was born~ and...and... oh the tales! There's her youngest, Sen all the way to the left, just younger than our boy Zen. (And friends Mark and Junko from S.F. all of us down on Pleasant Point Beach)

It's been RAINY in California for more than a week. I've never gotten into the habit of using clothes dryers, I prefer hanging our clothes to dry, and this is where I've had to do it. Our fireplace is gas and doesn't generate a whole heck of a lot of heat, but... enough to help during these rainy days~

Otherwise our hanger (which I brought to California from Japan) is outside drying our clothes in the sun usually~ (notice the planter pots upside down drying~they'd overflowed with all the rain, I was trying to do right by the plants)
Oh and here is some cool work our boy has had for school tests. His final test for Trigonometry, these were notes he was allowed to take into class to use on the final exam.I wish I could get some of his big brother's school work to share with you too! Our kids are working hard and I must admit I am proud!!

Between California and Japan, where I've been these days~

I flew back to California, after a one week trip to Japan. The shortest I have ever done. I must admit, waking up in the dark hours of the morn these days, I wake up and first thought is "Oh- I need to fly somewhere today?".
So, with Ischin, and our friend Yaari (below) they got me to the airport.
And I have to admit, when dropping Sheon off at work before leaving for the airport, and then after leaving these guys, I cried. There's nothing like being torn between leaving children "behind" to be with another child, and also the man I love, Taka.

  But we do what we must do.

  I would have loved to have "visited" these Japanese baths in the Tokyo airport. Instead I had a beer bought from the convenience store next door, and plugged in, got on line, and wrote on the 'net.

  Hey, speaking of places for relief! I found this one john in the Portland airport with these devices happening! To save water!!
How cool is this? Pull up for...

liquid wastes, and push down for that other crap~ for the bigger flush! Very cool, no?! (hey, this is coming from me, after having lived in Japan with outhouses INSIDE our homes for ten years I lived there! No FIFTEEN years!!!)

But yeah, me back in the States right now. I think it's going to take a little while to feel settled back into where Taka and Zen have called home for these days. Santa Cruz. Anyway, I arrived in San Francisco airport, after having gotten to watch Michael Jackson's movie on the plane, and went on into San Fran instead of driving straight back to Santa Cruz.

Taka and I drove back to Santa Cruz. Zen's team had a game that night. An important game, and since Zen fractured his thumb, he's not been able to play. But that game was a DOOZY!!! Zen's team won by one point against their rival team Harbor.

I hope to have photos up re that game soon, minus Zen, but still great!!!

Sheon's big day!!! SEIJINSHIKI 1/10/09

We didn't get to go into the ceremony auditorium, but they had this set up for us family members~spectators~ pretty good alternative!

How many 20 year olds WERE there?!!

Lots, swarming, in the cold, but there was SUNSHINE in lotsa ways!!

Sheon, with one of her best and oldest friends Mari~

And Sheon, with her matching accessories~ THANK YOU Again Kahori!!

They looked amazing and oh, so happy!

They did keep talking about how they didn't match one another

Old friends~ yes, some guys wore suits, the tanned boy in blue and stripes was not wearing the "norm" for sure! The guy in white was closer to the normal traditional garb, except for the hairdo

Sheon's boyfriend, Fumiya, Sheon, me and Ischin

Three of my children "done" (ha, never done!!!) one to go! xoxoxox

Kahori and Ischin in California~

Kahori, Ischin and Zen, with Taka and me, at Mr. Toots Coffee shop, near our home in Capitola, California.
A beautiful day...only a few with Ischin and Kahori there together...

Not a whole lot of sight seeing... but some good Food and Drink!!! Uncle Lynn recommended Ischin try this lot of ten beers to taste test (we helped him of course). I'm afraid that was enough beer for the rest of Ischin's life?!

And a night before I had to leave them for a short trip to Japan, we got to have Lorraine, Grandmom, Uncle Lynn over to our apartment for a Japanese dinner.

We have been using Grandmom's great big dinner table, so we all fit in and enjoyed FAMILY and of course good food!!!

Once again, within the month, back to Japan

I needed to get back to Japan to finish tax work, but the more wonderful event will be our daughter, Sheon-chan, her Coming of Age Ceremony, SEIJINSHIKI...oh, what's the kanji?

成人式? All the kids who turned twenty years old last year take part in this. And do they get decked out!!! It's also sort of a reunion for them as well~

The morning the day before the ceremony, I went with Sheon to this rental clothing shop, where Naomi had also gone for her SEIJINSHIKI.

Surrounded by kimonos, Sheon-chan. waiting for the woman to bring her OBI, the belt Sheon was renting to wear with her kimono.

Below, the woman showing us how the OBI looks with her kimono

Sheon told me, the day she went to choose one OBI to match her kimono, she was exhausted tired, and didn't take the time to choose carefully. Sheon dreaded that she'd chosen the wrong design and colors to match, so had even begun thinking she would give up going to this ceremony because of this "mistake".

However, the women commended her, and with smiles they set about trying it on casually. Not putting it on seriously yet. That will be another woman being paid the morning of the ceremony to dress Sheon properly.

So, here, casually and on top of what Sheon was wearing the woman shows Sheon how it's going to look basically.

Tying that OBI in the back too muscle!!! I missed taking a photo of the woman getting into quite the stance to pull through the ends of the Obi to make a loose fitting tie. Muscle!

And Sheon-chan looking happier!!

Yes, real fur, borrowed! Compliments of Kahori (Thank you so much Kahori for helping our little girl get everything together!!! )

The woman had a nice list to check with Sheon that she had all the proper pieces and ties in this case, also borrowed from Kahori. And then one special accessory from Sheon's Oba-chan. Oba-chan and Oji-chan, her Japanese Grandparents. They were with our older kids for this special day, but they have both passed away. Sheon has this from Oba-chan to wear though. A special set of hair pieces.

Paying to borrow that OBI, more than $100.00.

On the way out, a display... I've been informed, it's just to show off whatt this tie will look like on the BACK, though at first I thought they were dressing young women with it looking like THIS on the front!

I left Sheon, she went off to finish getting her nails done...go to a tanning salon...shop for more hair pieces, get her hair done, and then the ceremonial day will begin the next morning!

Me, I raced off to see a basketball game! Got there for the fourth quarter to see YUTO! And his coach Kitabayashi, the last quarter of a tournament game, where Yuto played wonderfully, along with other old teammates of Zen's.

After the win!!

My First-Born's in the U.S. for New Year's!!

Taka and I went to SF airport 12/31/09 to meet Ischin-kun and Kahori.

Is it only SF Airport that has these cool cameras to see people getting through the exit doors from Immigration and heading out to all of us waiting to pick them up?

Ischin's GREEN SWEATER!!! FINALLY, after waiting almost two hours the computers went down for the foreigners. So, Ischin with his U.S. passport could get through,
but he had to wait for Kahori to get through

Ohhh, the dear tired buggers made it!!

We whipped them out of there to travel out of the airport. 11am. Their flight for the countdown in Las Vegas was at 4:30 pm

We took them to Golden Gate Bridge!!!

At Fisherman's Wharf, to get a bite to eat and a little shopping in, where we parked was this beautiful woman cop on a horse posing for everyone brave enough to stand next to that big powerful horse.

Then back to the airport, to watch them wearily proceed onto their next leg of the trip.

The day before we got to visit with Victor, Aria and Rue at the final game of a three day tournament which Zen's H.S. team was in.

Rue and Zen. Looking like SUCH the brothers!!!