Summer Fun

We have had a great summer!  We didn't go on any trips (aside church camp for my teens) but have been having fun enjoying the nice weather and no school.  

We built a tree house.  It is a work in progress, but it has a zip line rock wall, swings, and even a slide.

Everyone, Bob especially, has been spending tons of time at the property building the house.  This picture is a couple months old so I'll post an updated one later.  There have been so many days where after Bob got off work he picked up the kids and went to the property for a couple hours until I was able to come after work and bring them home.  Mostly the kids played on the tree house while Bob worked.

The kids went to a few library events including reading dogs.  We also went to the library lunch many times, the kids went to the movies with the library, and did a murder mystery.

I think this picture was the three of us right before they left for FSY.

We went to the park a few times.  We usually played pickleball and then the kids ate blackberries and played on the toys before we went home.

We went to the zoo a couple times.

We ran in a 5k.  Beatrix was the slowest runner out of everyone, but she was so thrilled about her medal.  She thinks she won. 

A trip to the bakery for donuts.

The kids made a lemonade stand.  Both times they made money!  I was surprised anyone stoped.  I'm thankful for generous neighbors.

We made sure to get our free slurpee's on 7/11 day.

I'll try to post more tomorrow!

Stair Slide and More

The only way to be outside in Japan during the summer is to be by the water.  If you can't do that I'd recommend staying inside in the air conditioning.

We were able to go to the beach and even the pool a couple times this year.

I also wanted to share some random pictures from our summer.  These next two finds were from the local thrift shop.  The kids always think these books about the peach boy are hilarious.  He is popular character here in Japan and it is totally normal to see pictures of him or his friends on food products as well.

I also found this gymnastics bar and just got it.  The kids have spent a significant amount of time spinning around it.  Because it is so hot outside I feel like we need some things to do in our house and I'm always trying to avoid electronics so this worked pretty well.

Since we had the bar all we really needed was a slide to complete our indoor play ground.  We already had a small toddler slide but now we have a full size slide.  It is actually pretty fast.  The kids love going down it and sending things down it as well.

I don't think anyone in our house is looking forward to going back to school, but the time has come.  First days are next week for everyone except Calista, who wills start the following week.

Dragon's Head

Friends showed us a beautiful waterfall about an hour from our house where we can swim and play.

Bob had to work the first time we went and the water was deeper than I expected so I almost had a mini heart attack keeping track of Calista and Beatrix.  Lots of the area was only ankle deep, but it did just drop off super deep so I was stressed the whole time.

This place actually has two water falls.  and the second one has a rope swing right next to it.

It was scary but after watching several people do it I gave it a try.  The water was freezing, but the rope swing was so fun.

Tucker really wanted to go on the rope swing.  I think he normally would have been really scared but he is so social that after his friends were all doing it he really wanted to (not sure that is a good thing).  He barely hesitated even though he has never jumped off anything like this into the water before.

We went out for lunch afterwards.

The next time we went I was sure to bring life jackets.  In fact I went to the store the night before and bought four just for this occasion.  It was so worth it.  Way less stressful.  Even some of my bigger kids wanted to wear them.  They prefer to float around instead of the effort of having to swim.

We got completely soaked walking through the woods to the waterfall.  It was raining so hard and there was lightning and thunder.  Beatrix was crying and our clothes socks and shoes were soaked through.  It started raining about a minute after we left the car.  I wouldn't have even gotten out of the car if it started raining a minute earlier.  I honestly would have turned back but Tucker was so far ahead that he never would have heard me shouting for him to come back.  I decided we needed to walk all the way to the waterfall so I could meet up with him and then we could go back.  But once we got there we all decided to wait and see if the rain stopped.  After about 20 minutes we were good to go.  

We had a good time.  And this time we not only did the rope swing but jumped off an even higher rock.  Penelope and Leon were even convinced to do the rope swing.  Check out the videos.

Summer Fun

We made it to Baskin Robins on the 31st of July!  They have cheap ice cream scoops on the 31st of every month and we almost always are busy or forget.  But I made a point to go this time.  The kids thought it was a real treat.

 I think Beatrix was surprised by the cold.

 Calista was a mess.

Aside from ice cream we have been filling our summer with reading.  I was so happy when I saw Scarlett sleeping amidst a pile of books.  She struggles with reading and I know she just has to get a little bit better for it to be enjoyable for her.  This is a sign to me that she is starting to get over that hump.  It didn't hurt that we went to the library that day and she checked out like twenty little mermaid books.  The other kids told me that she cleared the shelf into her bag. 

The kids put together these Leonardo Da Vinci weapons and have been building forts and shooting each other.  These two were named Death Launcher and Beware.

Tucker even made a video of them attacking each other.

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We also went to the beach!  It is getting so hot here.  Like I want to move away from Japan hot.  It is like about 31 degrees celsius everyday but because of the humidity feels about 100 fahrenheit.  It also only drops about ten degrees at night so there is no escaping the heat.  I'm glad we got to the beach because just after we went it has once again been deemed off limits because of covid.

The kids caught quite a few water animals.

Tucker's best friend, Bryce, is moving away so I made sure to get a picture with him.  It is really sad because they play together almost every day for like the last 2 and a half years.  He is really great and polite and played with all of the kids.  We will miss him.

Tucker made him a puzzle for his long journey back to the states.

Thats just a little of what we have been up to this summer.