New Year, New Attitude

Hello from New Year's Eve 2012. I haven't posted much lately, mostly because I have been in a big ole funk. I think that the honeymoon period of moving to such an exciting place is over, and the holiday blues set in big time around Thanksgiving. I've been sort of sulking and angry about not being able to attend family weddings, not being home for my mom's Christmas Eve pork roast, and generally feeling estranged and out of sorts here.

Cause here is the thing: Japan is definitely off the charts in terms of an exciting adventure, and we all know I love a good adventure. And I have always dreamed of traveling as a way of life. Since I can remember I envisioned seeing the world in the way the Navy allows us to do. (If you look up the term "wanderlust" you will probably see my picture next to the definition.)

BUT.

But...

At the end of the day, no matter where you live, you still have to go to the grocery store, do the dishes, make your kids go to bed, and wonder when your husband might work normal hours ever again. I don't know if I am just tired from dealing with 2 toddlers, or completely over the Navy's idea of what normal working hours are, or if I'm just getting older. Whatever it is, I am starting to see that settling down might be in my future for the first time in my life.

Don't get me wrong - I am loving giving the boys the opportunity to experience another culture, and I think the coping skills they are (hopefully) learning will be invaluable later. I am just realizing (slowly, of course) that life is so short, it's important to be around family - the ones you were born with as well as the ones you create along the way. On the other hand, we are here in Japan now, so I am going to start the new year off right and vow to make the very most of our time here.

SO, I am ringing in the new year with a new attitude. I am planning on taking advantage of every opportunity, and I am going to stop sulking about the ones I have missed, for whatever reason.

On that note, HAPPY 2013. I will be posting soon about a few day trips we are taking in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, enjoy the new year, wherever you are.

Just Read This Article

I'm feeling sort of blah tonight. Maybe it's the holiday blues; maybe it's because now that I'm settled here I fully understand that 14 - 17 time zones is a damn long way from all my friends and family; maybe it's that the true meaning of "sea duty" is slowly but surely beginning to reveal itself to me and the boys... whatever the reason, I just want to drink a hot toddy and crawl into bed.

However, I did find an article that sort of echos my "Old Vs. New" post from a few weeks ago. It's a list of things about Japan that might surprise you. It made me crack up, which felt good, and it also made me go, "Oh yeah!" Especially #2, which talks about the fact that you will probably always be an outsider here, even if you live here for many years and speak fluent Japanese. Not that I have been here long enough to have really experienced this --- but, one thing I have noticed is that there is no "blending in" here. I mean, in America, no matter what race you are people usually assume you are American unless you open your mouth and have an accent or speak a different language. In Europe it's the same - you can keep your mouth shut and sort of get by. Here, no ma'am. If you're black or white or brown, you are foreign. Enough so that people usually look at you once or twice or smile exxxxtra nicely at your kids. It has been something of interest to me since arriving.

Anyway, just read it, and don't forget to read all the captions under the photos cause that is what made me LOL the hardest:

http://www.cracked.com/article_20118_5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-living-in-japan.html

And don't forget to make yourself a hot toddy before you start reading (thanks for sharing the recipe, Eliza!):

http://www.shutterbean.com/2011/hot-toddy/

Japanksgiving!

I have never cooked a turkey before. Somehow, every year I manage to get out of it. In the past several years we have ordered turduckens from the Cajun Grocer, which arrive in the mail, deboned, seasoned, and stuffed, so all you have to do is throw them in the oven for 3 hours. That doesn't count! Otherwise I've always been at my mom's or at someone else's house where I wasn't in charge of the turkey.

I've also never made stuffing. I sort of hate stuffing and don't understand its purpose. I assume it was first created when people had to do something with their leftover stale bread and the parts of the turkey no one wanted to eat? But nowadays if you google "stuffing", you get more than 50 varieties to choose from. Just varieties! The individual recipes are endless!

So this year we are far, far away from home where the Cajun Grocer doesn't ship. Fortunately, we were really lucky and were invited to our new friends' house for Thanksgiving, so I was able to have the Thanksgiving I am used to and love - the one where I don't have the pressure of the turkey! They fried a turkey, which was aaaawwwweesome!

 
They also made macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole, a ham, cheesecake, the works! I was only in charge of the sweet potato casserole and the pecan pie. Those, I can handle. Except for the tiny part where I forgot that I live in a foreign country and that the commissary is somewhat lacking, even on the best of days... Here is a list of what the commissary was out of the Sunday before Thanksgiving:

butter
brown sugar
karo syrup
sweet potatoes
pie crusts (I don't make my own - I use those roll-put ones in the refrigerated section)

Butter?! This is not good, people. I tried to get butter at our local Japanese store - no dice. All of the options there were salted (a no-no in baking, apparently). They did have the brown sugar, so that was good. Karo syrup - yeah, right. The sweet potatoes I ended up finding at Costco, but they were the Japanese sweet potatoes - a different texture, and also sort of yellow, rather than orange.

Pie crusts, I resigned myself to making my own, if only I could find the damn BUTTER! I went back to the commissary on Tuesday of that week. I asked a man who looked like he was in charge if there might possibly be any butter in the back? He went to the back and was gone for what seemed like 20 years. He came back with one small brown box filled with about 10 lonely pounds of unsalted butter! I took 4 immediately. Karo syrup was still a no-go, so that I had to do without.

Back to the kitchen, where my oven is the size of a shoe box: between the toaster oven and the tiny oven I managed to make the pie and casserole. The pie had no karo in it, and the crust was crumbly, but it was edible. The casserole was actually pretty good! Different texture, but the taste of those Japanese sweet potatoes was not bad at all. And most importantly, it was a great day, one that reminded me that no matter how far from home I am, good people can make a holiday great. We were very thankful to have new friends that day.

 
However! We also had a visitor coming for the weekend and another Thanksgiving to get ready for! Adam's cousin, who lives in Japan, was scheduled to arrive on Friday and stay for the weekend, and I thought it would be great if we could have Thanksgiving while she was here. She has lived in Japan for 4 years and hasn't had a proper Thanksgiving the entire time she has been here. This meant, of course, that I was going to have to cook a turkey. NOOOOOO!

I decided to face this head on and look up recipes on Food Network. (Sorry, Ross!) I found one that seemed relatively straight-forward. I was going to have to brine it, but I've heard about brining for the last several years and figured I could handle it. Except.... Hmmm, where to store the brining turkey since the refrigerator is about half the size of regular refrigerators and is now crammed with butter, among other things? I ended up going with the cooler on the balcony, hoping that it would be cold enough outside to keep the turkey from rising above the dreaded 40 degrees.

Next up, apparently I have to remove the "gizzards" from the inside of the turkey? This was revealed to me during a skype conversation with my parents while the brining was going on. Not what I expected, but what the hell? Did that with a plastic bag tied around my hand/arm. Then I did the toaster oven / tiny oven dance for apple pie, pecan pie, and the sweet potato casserole. That worked out ok. Then, finally I had to try to shove the turkey into the tiny oven. It fit, barely!

And finally I attempt the stuffing. I decided to go with the sausage and leek variety. I had no idea what I was doing; just winging it with stale bread and a lot of sausage. That went into the tiny oven after the turkey came out. Green beans sauteed in a pan and voila, turkey day, Japan style, part 2, is served.

Not so bad considering all the road blocks involved! And entertaining all around!

Thanks for being guinea pigs, Adam and Kayla! (Please note the look of fear on Adam's face.)

The De-Casualization of My Wardrobe

I am a casual girl. This is a well-known fact. Growing up, I used to drive my mother insane with what I wore, or didn't wear. I remember clearly going shopping before starting high school at Baton Rouge High, where, for the first time in my life, I would not be wearing a uniform to school everyday. I wanted to buy 5 different pairs of jeans and a million T-shirts, while my mom wanted me to wear skirts and blouses. In college I wore flannel shirts and hiking boots. While my mom still thinks it is important to dress up when flying on an airplane, I want to wear my PJ's; while she never leaves the house without make-up, I barely know how to apply it. You get the point.

I did manage to step it up when I moved to New York because it just wouldn't DO to go to work there without a "put together" ensemble. Even dressing down is a studied art in New York; being casual is, in fact, much more difficult than dressing up there because you have to make sure it looks thrown together yet completely trendy and cute all at once. Still, even after living there for 7 years and working on it a bit, I am far from what you would call a "fashionable" person. Every now and then I stumble upon a look that works for me, and I wear it for about 10 years. I do have a few cute pieces, but again, this is mostly by accident. My closet is spare and mostly contains black or neutrals. (Another no-no in my mom's opinion!) There is also no middle ground: I have about 10 cocktail and ball dresses, about 1 million pairs of gym shorts, and nothing in between.

Living in Hawaii and Washington State did NOTHING to help this. In the former, flip flops were considered high fashion, and in the latter the temperature never got high enough to consider taking off my sweatshirt. In addition, trying to cram in going to the gym and taking care of the tiny terrors everyday meant that I mostly never made it out of my gym clothes, for real.

While it never seemed to present much of a problem in life considering the fact that it's all pretty casual in the states, this summer I had a bit of a talk with myself about this. I felt that at the age of 37 I should probably start leaving the house looking like a grown up more often. A friend took pity on me and took me shopping to pick out some staples that were more coordinated and polished than anything I usually wear. I felt a little bit like I was on "What Not To Wear" and came away with some things that coordinated and could be changed with an accessory or two. Yippee!

Anyway, it turns out this was a really good idea because MAN do people dress up here! I definitely feel like I'm back in NYC again. People do not just go out in gym clothes here. In fact, even on base there are signs up all over the place saying that you can't go into the commissary or the NEX in gym clothes. And when I go to the boys' bus stop at 8 AM, all the Japanese moms look like they have stepped right out of the H&M catalog. Even with all the new clothes I bought this summer, I have still frantically been online shopping during the last month for fake uggs, puffy vests, cute rain boots, scarves, and other stuff so that I can feel at least somewhat "with it" leaving the house. I secretly plan in advance what I will "throw on" in the morning before taking the boys to the bus stop. I am so sure.

Anyway, I guess my realization that I need to step it up a notch came at a good time! And boy would my mom be proud.

Gratuitous Food and Shopping Post No. 2

Technically this should be called "Gratuitous Food Shopping Post" because we're going to the grocery store! But whatever, it can go under the "Food and Shopping" category.

This is our local grocery store:

I took that picture from our balcony. The store is just over the canal right behind our house. It makes for great people watching. (And I'm sure the people I am watching are watching us back since the boys like to run around in underwear on the balcony.)

Anyway, it's small, but it is just as delightful as the other grocery stores I have been to around here. Of course everything is written in Japanese on the packaging, but thanks to translation apps on my phone and lots of pictures, I can usually figure out what I'm looking at.

Here are things I miss about grocery shopping in the states: big aisles to push your stroller or cart down, Whole Foods, variety of choices, Target.

Here are the fun things you can find in the grocery store in Japan:

Sake. Lots of sake:

A lot of fish:

Gyoza (!):

Thinly sliced beef so you can try to make those sesame beef bowls. (It's better if you just get it cooked already at the convenience store, but worth a try!):

Here are new products from the Japanese grocery store that we LOVE:

Rice crackers - these are sweet and salty all at once, and the boys love to take them in their lunches to school. Note: you can also get these at the 100yen store, but in smaller amounts:

Chu-hi. Sparkling, not too sweet, fruity alcoholic goodness. Comes in all flavors depending on season. Right now I'm loving the lemon and lime. Watch out for the "strong" chu-hi - it's got 8% alcohol!

Canned coffee. These are really popular in vending machines. Note: vending machines come with "hot" and "cold" sections, and you can get the canned coffee in either version. Adam likes to get these by the case and take them to work with him:

And here are things that I'm slightly disturbed by:

Why are the eggs kept outside of the refrigerated section?

These, in general:

I have heard from many people that they are delicious, but I can't get on board yet!

And no trip to the grocery store would be complete without a trip down the sweets aisle:

The ice cream here is also really cool. Not only are there really interesting flavors:

But even the familiar brands have a twist: these haagen-daaz come in tiny 1/2 cup servings. So cute, and convenient! Please note that this particular box of flavors is called "Lover's Collection." LOL!

And that concludes our tour of the local grocery store. It's completely fun everytime we go! Even the boys don't mind shopping when they know they can get the rice crackers at the end of the journey. YAY!

Kids

Ever since I arrived, I have felt that my kids are the most obnoxious ones around. To be fair, they are probably among the most obnoxious kids anywhere they go, but here it's definitely a stark contrast considering Japanese 3-year-olds know how to bow properly and can use chopsticks already. That takes an amount of concentration I rarely ever see in kids of that age. People are also much quieter in general here than in the states, children included. So my loud as hell boys definitely don't fit in.

But here's the weird part - while kids are more reserved and quieter in general here, the preschool the boys go to is the LOUDEST place ever. I mentioned before about the teacher getting off the bus in the morning and having all the kids line up, bow, and say "good morning," right? Well, when I said that they "say" good morning, I really meant that they SHOUT IT. And if you go to the school in the middle of the day, it's completely deafening. I am thinking that maybe people here just know to compartmentalize stuff better than we do. Like, at school they yell a lot, but on the train they know to not speak at all? I'm not sure, but this is my latest theory.

Also, while in some ways I am always feeling like I need to shush the boys and say "excuse me" for them ("su-mi-mas-sen", if you are interested), at the same time, the Japanese LOVE them. Well, it's actually that they just think all Western-looking kids are adorable, for some reason, but anyway... our neighbors already pat their heads everytime they see them. 3 different neighbors have given them presents in the 2 months we have been here --- one gave them persimmons yesterday, another matchbox cars, and another gave them Halloween buckets of candy this week. Also, people (usually women) regularly stop on the street to say "cute!" ("Ka-waii!") about them to me. Oh, and if the boys are cooperating and say "Konichiwa" to these people, they pretty much jump for joy.

Another thing I've noticed is that while people are definitely always really sweet and kind to children in general here, they also do not treat them like they are fragile, as we do in the states. There are no car seat laws here. Zero. You can just throw your kids in the car like it's 1975. And moms often have not one, but TWO baby seats on their bikes, riding around doing errands like it's nothing - and no one is wearing helmets:

I also mentioned the kid running into the street after the ball the other day - let me elaborate: it was not a side street - it was a busy 4-lane street. And there was a lot of traffic! I can't imagine a kid in America doing that without severe consequences from a parent or teacher. I mean, that's just dangerous! But no one really seemed to be bothered by it.

And again, the preschool. There are SO many things that are so different (aside from the uniforms, of course!!!) Take the bus - I mean, there's a bus! And all the preschools have them! A few people from home have been somewhat shocked that I let my 3-year-olds get on a bus and ride off into urban Japan. But it seems to be a safer thing to do here than it would be in the states. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's that the bus is specifically for the young children? I imagine in America it would be 3-year-olds mixed in with 8th graders throwing spitballs or something? I don't know. Also, in their lunches I have to pack wet washcloths in plastic bags so they can make sure they wipe their hands before and after eating. So polite and dainty!!!

I can't get my head around how it works ---- on the one hand, kids here seem to behave better and not really cause scenes like they do in other countries, as if they are conditioned and monitored closely all the time. But on the other, they are given a lot more independence here, in a way. Another fascinating thing about this place!

I'll end with a great intercultural experience I had the other day involving kids. We found a small park in our neighborhood, and the boys and I went to play on the slide. There were about 5 Japanese kids playing with a soccer ball. Anthony started to get really upset because he wanted to play but didn't know how to ask them if he could. He kept sort of running along side them for a minute but then getting shy and coming back to me. So I said, "Why don't we go get our own ball and you can come back and see if they will play with you if you offer?" So we did just that, and immediately there were 3 or 4 kids kicking the ball with him. He had a great time! Jackson couldn't tear himself away from the slide long enough to kick the ball, naturally. But he had a great time too. And the other moms were nice as well! All in all, a successful foray into kids' Japan.

I didn't have my camera with me that day, but here is a picture of the park on another day. I think the boys are trying to bury their cars in the dirt?

Old vs. New

One thing I'm noticing more and more is that this country is a really interesting mix of old and new. On the one hand, Japan is always on the cutting edge of technology. On the other, tradition and old school rules of etiquette rule the daily lives and routines of the Japanese.

The toilets I mentioned are just one of many electronically controlled items in our house. The floors are warmed (just press a button on the wall), there are intercoms and security cameras, and the shower temperature is controlled by a panel on the wall, rather than just turning the knob right or left.

Here is the installation guy trying to explain to me how the shower works:

There are 7 different remote controls for this house for everything from AC units and fans to the floor warmers. In addition, train stations, belt sushi restaurants, banks, even vending machines, are all electronic, user friendly, and completely intuative. It makes interacting with machines fun, rather than frustrating.

Also, the fashion in Tokyo is light years ahead of anything in the states or Europe; recycling is beyond anything I've ever seen; and, the driving laws are so strict that yesterday I saw a boy run out into the middle of the road after a ball, everyone stop on a dime, the boy pick up the ball, smile and bow deeply to the cars, and then just trot back up on the sidewalk with his ball! No one batted an eyelash. I mean, this is an advanced country, people.

And yet!

There is so much red tape to get anything done (the house and car, just for starters), so many old fashioned rules, and the people are seemingly so "quaint" at times that I sort of love it and sort of want to scream all at once. I hate to use the word "quaint" though, because I think I am probably just picking up the polite mask they put on. Like, they probably want to me to think they are quaint or something. Sometimes I want to cause a scene just to see what will happen, but I'm pretty sure people would just continue on their way, politely ignoring whatever I was doing.

Here is the latest bit of red tape and old fashioned process I have been involved in: in order to open a bank account here, you must first obtain a Hanko, or stamp. It's a special stamp you have made with your name spelled out in Katakana so that you can "sign" all your documents with it. You cannot open a bank account without this stamp. It reminds me of the wax seals used back in medieval Europe. Here's mine:

And don't even think that you will actually be able to open the bank account just because you have the hanko. I am having to provide lots and lots of documentation to get this done, and they made me copy down my address on the application form in Kanji! It looked like one of the boys wrote it when I was done. Of course the man in the bank kept saying, "Yes! Looks good!" Polite liar!

Also, people still trade name cards when they meet, and ladies regularly walk around in Kimono. You will see a lot of hip kids, businessmen, and regular Western-looking housewives right along side grandma in her kimono going to the grocery store. Or just waiting for a train:

In traditional cities such as Kyoto, Geisha still perform ceremonies and entertain at tea houses for real. It's not just a tourist attraction; they really entertain traveling businessmen or political leaders:

And I am always feeling there is more than meets the eye here. The juxtaposition of old and new is a never-ending source of fascination for me.

Anyway, I'm totally exhausted, but I feel that I must read more about all this. Then off to bed! Tomorrow is another long one. I hope I get to see more kimonos.

Trash Day, EVERYDAY!

First, an update --- we have internet!!!! I feel as if I have re-entered the 21st century. Woo HOOOO!

So now that we have been in our house "out in town" (as the people who live on base like to say) for almost 3 weeks, I have started to get used to some of the quirks of living in a Japanese home. Part of this has been cramming our stuff into a much smaller space than we are used to... Please witness the pantry / laundry room / cleaning supply closet:

Another part has been quickly learning some Kanji (the symbols used in one of the 3 written languages in Japan) in order to be able to do things like flush the toilet. And the toilets! WOW - they are works of art. So much attention has been paid to something most people try not to think about at all. [I feel this says something about Japan (and about the rest of the world), but I haven't figured out what.] Anyway, you don't manually flush these toilets. They are controlled by an electric panel on the wall. There is one button for pee and one button for poop, naturally. And there are many more options than just flushing. My favorites include the seat warmer and the boy and girl bidet options:

 
In addition, the toilets get their own rooms, which don't usually include a sink. But don't worry! There is a sink ON TOP of the toilet that automatically turns on as soon as you press the flush button. Efficient AND hygienic all at once. This country thinks of everything! Check it:

One of the other things that has taken me awhile to get used to is the trash separating. Let me just say up front that, for me, the trash seems like a full-time job. First I had to get FIVE trash cans for the different types of trash that have to be kept separately: Burnable, Non-Burnable, Plastic, Plastic Bottles, and Paper.

Each day of the week a different category has to be put out.

Your trash has to be in clear bags, and if you include something in one category that should be in another, they very politely bring your trash back to you and tell you to please re-do it, thank you very much.

The real estate agent gave me a BOOKLET on what goes in which category.

And it's complicated, too. For example, if you drink bottled water, first you have to tear off the label and unscrew the cap. The cap and the label go in "Plastic" while the bottle itself goes in "Plastic Bottle".

Anyway, this has been hard to get used to, but I have to say that it has made me a LOT more conscious about "refuse, reuse, and recycle". I mean, I would rather get big bottle of juice and portion it out to the boys in their reusable cups than have to deal with throwing away 8 million juice boxes.

In our AOB class, they told us that Japan's landmass is the size of California, but that only 17% of that land is habitable. In addition, there are 127,650,000 people living in Japan. That's half of the population of the United States living in a space 17% of the size of California. I guess they just don't have room for trash.

In conclusion, trash or no trash, I am pretty much over the moon to be in our house, using internet at my own kitchen table, and looking at pictures on our walls. CHEERS!

Interim Solution

I still don't have internet service. I am not convinced that I will ever have internet service. The owner of this house said "hell, no, you cannot drill a hole in my wall." So, there's that. There is a second internet provider coming out to take a look at the house tomorrow, but I can't imagine the answer will be much different about drilling a hole in the wall in order to pull together the proper wiring for internet service. Meanwhile, I remembered over the weekend that our cell phone company mentioned way back on day 1 when we bought our phones that they can be used as their own hotspots and that you can "tether" your computer to it to get internet service. So I immediately hooked this up. It's not perfect, but it will DO for now.

If you are asking yourself, "Why the hell won't the owner let a hole be drilled for a basic utility?" you are asking the same question I am. I have discovered that people here are somewhat rigid, and the rules are endless. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize that, in most of my travels, people in general usually seem to be a bit more rigid than in the states. I think that in all Americans there exists a certain amount of the old wild west. Meaning, we all sort of think that we can make things work in some way, even if we have been told we can't. We will bend the rules or talk someone into something if necessary, but damn it, we will make it work. But in other countries there seem to be more rigid rules, and people seem to be more apt to fall in line and abide by them. When the answer is, "No," you don't see people here saying, "Oh, yeah, well let me talk to your boss and we will see about that!" or going around or under or over whatever blockade there is in order to get what they want anyway. If this new internet company doesn't work I am going to have to look into a bigger version of what my phone already does. Hopefully I can make this happen without going too wild west on anyone.

In other news, the boys started preschool yesterday. Praise the lord, is what I say to that. I am excited for me, I mean them, on many levels. Circumstances have made it somewhat difficult up to this point for me to get a job that would pay enough to justify any sort of daycare for 2 kids, so I have been at home with them for most of 3 years. While a lot of that has been fun, a lot of it has also been exhausting and frustrating. I mean, let's face it: infants are a lot of work, and toddlers, while super funny and cute sometimes, are really just tiny tyrants hell-bent on getting their way at all costs. (Oh wait, that sounds like all the Americans I was just describing.) Anyway, the former is physically exhausting, the latter is so mentally exhausting I am surprised I haven't ended up on Jerry Springer yet for hurling one or the other of them out a window. Just kidding! No I'm not, yes I am, no I'm not.

But I digress. I am excited for them (truly) because they are going to be around lots of other kids, which they so need right now, they get to run around like maniacs, and hopefully they get to pick up at least some Japanese. They had a great first day, and tomorrow they go back for more. Yahoo! This preschool is unbelievable, too. The bus that picks them up has flowers and bunnies all over it, there is a giant rocket ship slide, they do things like plant potatoes, and the one English-speaking teacher called me the night after their first day to tell me how they did. It's like they go to Japanese Narnia twice a week. When the teacher on the bus came to get them, she had all of the kids at the bust stop line up with hands by their sides and shout, "OHIYO GOZIEMAS!" ("Good morning!") And when the bus dropped them off in the afternoon they all had to do the same thing and shout, "SYONARA!" ("Goodbye!) It was pretty much the most dear thing I've ever seen. If you are interested: http://mikuni.ed.jp/en/english/index_e_e.htm

Oh, and the UNIFORMS! The uniforms are flipping awesome. All school kids in Japan wear uniforms. They are all different depending on school and class, age, and gender. In general, the uniforms for preschool, kindergarten, and grammar school are hilarious. But they look even crazier on young American boys who normally wear things that can get dirty easily. I laughed the entire time I was helping them get dressed yesterday. Bottom line is that this is pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened yet. I can't wait to see how it goes on their second day!

Here are some pictures from the big morning...

Anthony and Jackson put on their shoes. (This is a BIG deal! You have to take off your shoes when you go into the school, so the boys had to learn to do this themselves before school started!)

The boys and I. (Please note how much more excited I am than they are at this moment.)

Boys waiting for the bus!

Goodbye, bus! Have fun, boys!!!