When my wife and I moved into our house last summer, there wasn't a path between the house and the garage.  Not having a path made it difficult (and muddy) to walk between the house and the garage during the wintertime.  Having no path also made it quite difficult to shovel a walkway to and from the garage. I decided that I would do something about that this summer vacation. Over the past week, I had been bringing home 5-6 18" square bricks and a couple bags of sand on the way ba...

Hello there friends! Not much today.  My four-day work week is over.  It was a tough one.  The mornings were spent teaching basic English grammar, then the afternoons were spent preparing my new classroom, and working on curriculum for next year.  I am glad that this week is over.  Only two weeks left 'til summer vacation starts for real! The biggest news around the house is that baby Kenny learned how to clap his hands.  It is really cute.  Now he'll...

There wasn't any mail on Friday.  That means that there was a whole mess of mail in the mailbox today.  Inside that mess was an envelope that I had been waiting for for a few weeks. After seeing Nina Diva performing on "WB Superstar USA," I looked into whether she had a presence on the internet.  It turns out that she does.  On her website, she sells autographed 8x10s and three-song CDs.  Curiousity got the best of me, and I ordered the picture and the CD. H...

Hello my friends!  I hope that you're having a happy day.  It is a lovely, sunny, Saturday morning here in Monticello, MN (pop. 8000.)  I was just outside with my wife and baby hanging up clothes.  I took a look at my garden, and it seems that everything is growing quite well. Tomatoes are making fruit.  My peppers, cucumbers, shiso, beans, and corn are all growing tall and strong.  After I write this, I am going to plant a hydrangea out by the garage.  (We ...

Today my wife, the baby, and I spent the first day of my summer vacation in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The main purpose of our trip was for me to borrow some English-teaching videotapes from my old work.  (I am going to use them for my three-week summer school course that starts next week.)  After picking up the videos, I got my transmission fluid flushed, and we went shopping at an Asian grocery. Following our errands, we went to see our friends Rob and Nancy.  They are new hom...

Recently our baby has gotten around to scooting around the house. By combining rolling, turning, and lunging, he is now able to explore various low-lying areas in our house. Where's Kenny? There he is!!

Hey there friends.  I hope that you are all having a happy weekend.  We're doing fine at my house. Yesterday was the last day of school for the kids.  When they come back next year there will be lots of changes for the kids that I work with.  Instead of me working in three schools, my program will be based in one school.  (Kids will have to move.)  The kids with whom I will continue to work will have more intense service from myself and my assistant. I am ...

Recently, a package arrived from my wife's family in Japan.  Inside the package was the usual assortment of videos, snack food, toys, and other presents. Among the presents was a cute little Anpanman costume for baby Kenny. Anpanman is a super hero loved by young children in Japan and in Asia.  His head is made out of a sweet bean paste bun.  He can let his friends eat part of his head to help them get energy.  If Anpanman's head gets wet, he has to have a new one ...

Yesterday when we were at the hospital to see my mom, we bought some watermelon from the cafeteria.  My wife mashed up some of it, and we gave it to baby Kenny.  He didn't like it. We tried giving him watermelon again while we were at a Chinese buffet for lunch.  We had similar results. Watermelon goes in: And the face goes "Ucko!"

Hey there friends.  I hope that you're having a good weekend. My wife, my son, and I were having lunch at Panera in Elk River.  After lunch, I went into the bathroom to wash my hands.  I looked into the mirror and saw that my hair was getting really long and shaggy. Since there was a hair salon next door, I decided to get my haircut. I asked for the barber to use the "number 8 clipper."  (I thought that's what I usually get!) Apparently I don't usually get the num...

Hey there friends!  I hope that you've been having a good week. This week seems to have gone on forever.  I have been awfully busy at work.  I need to get lots of stuff done before the kids leave for the summer.  At around Tuesday afternoon I was feeling like it was Friday. In today's weblog I just have some pictures of the baby (and me) at WalMart.  We were shopping for some plants to put in the garden.  Kenny LOVES plants.  He likes to look at trees and...

221 Hello there.  I hope that you are all having as nice of a weekend as possible.  We're doing fine over here.  I have been able to snap a few nice pictures around the yard today.  Here's what I came up with: There has been a nice crowd of birds around the bird feeder recently.  I got this shot of three different kinds of birds and a chipmunk enjoying themselves under the bird feeder. Here's a closeup of the chipmunk.  He looks like Pika-chu. ...

220 Recently we have had more and more birds in our yard.  One of our newer visitors is a Baltimore Oriole.  Orioles are really pretty birds with really nice singing voices.  I took these pictures out of my kitchen window.  (The orioles get scared pretty easily, so I couldn't go outside to take its picture.)

216 When we used to live in Japan, we would enjoy going to hanami parties in the spring.  "Hanami" means "looking at flowers."  It is a time of year when groups of people go to their favorite parks, gather around a blossoming cherry tree, and enjoy a picnic lunch. Japanese hanami parties are usually held in late-March or early-April.  Since we live in Minnesota, we have to wait until mid-May before we can enjoy a hanami because our trees have only recently blossomed. ...

208 Hello there friends.  I hope that you are having a nice weekend.  My wife, my son, and I had a happy day today. We left our house in the late-morning to meet some friends at the "Festival of Nations" in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At the festival, we were able to eat all sorts of yummy foods from many different countries.  The best thing that I ate was some tandoori chicken (Indian), Kazuko really enjoued some noodles (Chap-Jae) from Korea.  We were also able to brows...