The First Thanksgiving

Here's a good Thanksgiving web site to check out with your kids while you eat turkey sandwiches and leftover pie. T, R, and I just spent some time looking around and learning things like "each pilgrim family was allotted around 800 square feet--about the size of a small apartment." (But a couple hundred square feet bigger than our apartment in Tokyo. Hmmm.)

(Scholastic Thanksgiving)

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

No, I haven't abandoned this blog. Other things, mostly good things, have gotten in the way. This is my first post since June. I won't try to catch up on everything but here are a few highlights.

Summer vacation with grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family was great! The kids ended up having about six birthday celebrations among all the traveling.

Our children continue to delight us. Every day when D goes to preschool with Tomomi to drop off R, he walks right up to the easel, puts a piece of paper on it, and paints something colorful. The painting only takes up the bottom third of the paper because that's as high as he can reach.

T is learning multiplication. Here is a conversation he and R had this afternoon.

T: Thirteen times one is thirteen. Know what sixteen times one is?
R: Um, sixteen?
T: No way! How do you know all about multiplication?!?!

I've been reading a lot recently. Here's a sampling:

• The Chronicles of Narnia (because T's reading them and his excitement reignited something in me). This time around Puddleglum in The Silver Chair was my favorite character. Lewis made him so heroic and so comical. He's like a cross between Eeyore and Lieutenant Dan with a touch of what Lucas tried but failed to do with Jar Jar Binks.

• George MacDonald: An Anthology compiled and edited by C. S. Lewis. There are 365 brief, yet rich readings. Here's an example. "While a satisfied justice is an unavoidable eternal event, a satisfied revenge is an eternal impossibility."

• Several books on preschool and elementary education like The Schools Our Children Deserve, Any Child Can Write, Teach a Child to Read with Children's Books, Writing with Ease, and How to Teach Any Child to Spell. I've been trying to understand the debate between phonics proponents and whole language proponents. Like most issues where intelligent, well-meaning people disagree hotly, it looks like both approaches have their merits. They can be combined effectively and much depends individual teaching and learning styles. If I have time, I'll write more later about specific things I'm applying to my teaching.

I've recently started using facebook as a way to stay in touch. It seems like a more appropriate place than this to share family events and photos. This blog will be more of a journal of what I'm reading, thinking about, and experimenting with. It won't be updated very frequently so if you want to see what I write, I recommend mousing to the upper right corner of this page and subscribing either for email updates or rss. If you use facebook and we know each other "in real life," let's connect there.

Welcome to Japan! Here's your heat wave.

I've got a lot to write but the biggest thing that has happened recently is that my parents came out from California to visit . . .


and especially to meet D.


We went to a big "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" exhibit in Sunshine City, Ikebukero. We were herded through something like a maze containing pictures of Thomas characters set up for easy photo ops like this:


Of course the main attraction was the life-size(?) model of Thomas. I think James and Percy were there too. This is what the crowd was like . . .


But we finally made it up close and have the photos to prove it:


Because we were in a major heat wave, the kind where they update the death toll on the news every day, we didn't get out and about much. We played cards and did a lot of this:


The annual high school baseball tournament at Koshien was happening all week. Each prefecture in Japan sends their best team. (I think big prefectures get to send more than one.) Anyway, T learned all about baseball: the rules, strategy, etc. It was fun for three generations of Seminoffs to watch the games together. R even got into it and asked if she could have a bat for her birthday.

This shot is my current desktop background. Click it to see it bigger.

Because Papa and Grammy had to leave a few days before R's birthday she got to celebrate early. She loves the doll clothes that she got (because she doesn't get to dress and undress D) and as you can see above, the bat is popular too.


Anyway, we had one day of relief from the heat and spent it a Hikarigaoka Park, our current favorite hangout.





The kids played on the playground and we ate way too many ice cream cones (what else can you do when they keep giving you two-for-one coupons?). All too soon it was off to the airport and back home for Papa and Grammy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, sushi, and goya. Sushi and goya?! Yes, we celebrated another Thanksgiving in Japan. Here is the spread:

We celebrated at our preschool / church / community life center. About ninety people showed up for the festivities, many from the church but also several preschool students and their families. An American guy explained the historical roots of the holiday, we feasted on turkey (and less traditional things), played some silly games, talked about what we're thankful for, and called it a day. What I'm thankful for, now more than ever, is my wonderful family. Here they are: