Anna's Birthday Weekend!

This weekend we had Anna's 5th birthday party at our house. Her best friend Honoka and her family were able to come over for some great barbecue. The picture here is me and Honoka's dad, Yoshiyuki. My wife took the picture because she said we looked like we coordinated our clothes for the day (It's not true).

My wife bought two layers of cake and some chocolate foof in a can that she used as frosting. There Honoka and Anna both blew out the candles and had a great time. With the heat though the whip cream began melting immediately off the cake. I think it really takes Americans to make some real thick frosting that resists melting unless you put it on a hot cake.

Then, since we had a three day weekend here in Japan, I took Anna and Hiroko to the Narita Athletic course again for some good, getting dirty fun. Everyone went home with allot of sweat and dirt layers from all of the obstacles. I could not try my centrifugal escape method from the demon's bowl due to the slippery slides on the side though. It would have been really cool and I think that my wife would have been very impressed with my ingenuity if I avoided bonking my head on a tree on the way out like I did last time.

Makinosato Minami Chonaikai Natsu Matsuri 2008

This year I was appointed block leader for block #12 in the Kobayashi Daimonshita district. This is not because of an election or anything but because it is our house's turn. So, this years big event was the Summer Festival at the park across the street from Kobayashi JHS.

On Friday before the festival day we set up the tents, tables, and stage in the park. That afternoon, since my block was in charge of potatoes and butter (Jaga Batah) we had to wash and pack the them for the next day's festivities. On Saturday we baked potatoes. They had this HUGE WOK that would be primarily used in case of an earthquake to feed the whole area if need be. We hooked up a kerosene tank to this electric motor that powered a fan to blow a fuel mix to a burner underneath the wok (Think of it like a flame thrower for your stir-fry). Needless to say, this thing shot a flame that seemed to be hotter than the sun. Most everyone, including myself tried to stay as far away as possible. We then prepared all 200 potatoes and waited for people to some by.

Even with the torrential rain that came down later in the day, we ended up selling out of potatoes due to my superior sales techniques. Also, my daughter enjoyed the ice cones with her best friend Honoka.