Waga family fun and little things from this week

I realized last night when Steve asked where the next journal installment was that I hadn't written in a few days.  We've just been focusing on some general prep work for school and more sprucing up of the home.  On Thursday London and Emmy went to the day care center to play while Cannon and I painted his room.  He chose the color and the best way to describe it is BLUE!  I think it looks extra blue since everything else in the house is so white.  But it's colorful and fun and he likes it.  We also went to the store and got him some cool Japanese fish curtains to finish off the room.  Now for the rest of the furniture to come so he has something to put his endless Lego collection on...

I took Cannon for a back-to-school treat to the "Big Dip" - a very Americanized ice cream parlor with some very un-American flavors.  Like Okinawan salt cookie, sugar cane, Beni imo (sweet potato) and others that I didn't know.  Cannon had a HUGE cone with caramel macchiato and "dinosaur mud" flavors all covered in marshmallows.  The dinosaur mud tasted like this CapriSun type drink you can get here that has bits of jelly in it.  The ice cream had jelly bits in it too!  It was yummy!

Yesterday I took all the kids and Cannon's new friend, Isaac, to a play center called Wago.  It's sort of like a Chuck-E-Cheese, but without the pizza and the big mouse.  You pay per 15 minutes that you're there, but everything is then included.  The choices ranged from pool tables, karaoke, video games, batting cages, ball pits, trampolines, and padded play sets.  The kids had a ball!  Definitely need to revisit that one.  Of course the snack bar had items like curry rice, rice balls and spam and egg sandwiches.  I thought about getting the "mushroom piraf", opted for a rice ball for the kids and an icee.  I guess that's the Japanese phonetically way of spelling "pilaf".

After we left Wago we went to the boys' school to find out who their teachers will be and to see their classrooms.  London got a very nice young teacher who reminded me of Cannon's first grade teacher, Ms. Bartlett.  The classroom looks very similar to his room from last year so I think he'll adjust well.  Cannon got placed in a "multi-age" classroom which is a combined 4th and 5th grade class.  This was by our request and I hope that he'll benefit from being around older kids.  The teacher was very enthusiastic and was focused on meeting each child's needs on their particular level.  I hope this means she'll be able to challenge him.  The room was very inviting with no individual desks but round tables and lots of individual "stations" for them to read and work.  I've heard good things about Department of Defense schools so let's hope they live up to their reputation!

Meanwhile, Cannon and London have been outside for 3 hours yesterday afternoon and 3 hours this morning digging out a "fossil" they found in the hillside.  Isaac (Cannon's friend) apparently started digging this rock out of the hillside several weeks ago and now they have established an archeology camp for excavating it.  They are convinced they are going to sell it to the Okinawan museum (no joke!) for big bucks which they are all going to divide.  I actually think it might be a piece of concrete with some shells in it, but who am I to spoil the fun?  I hear it's ready to come out of the ground now, just waiting for the family with the wheelbarrow to come home...