A weekend of the nicest kind

This weekend was one of those that I wish all weekends could be like. I have classes on two Saturdays a month and then the other Saturdays are usually filled with household stuff that needs to be done or events or whatnot from either Issei's school or after-school program or Koji's daycare. Yesterday? Nothing. Nada. nani mo nai. I was free. And so....I spent the day...being very busy...doing what I wanted....just me (for most of the day!)....and it was great.

First....I woke up about 5:30 so I could get ready, get Issei's bento made and take Koji to the daycare because I had to be on the road by 7:30. I....was on a mission.

Me....on the road.

Since most of the hour and a half trip was around Omura Bay, this was the view on my right.
Just to let you know that it was an absolutely gorgeous day....almost hot and on October 18...I was wearing flip-flops!!! I LOVE IT!!!
So.....where was I going on such a wonderful day? Well....to make a long story short....a friend of a friend of a friend is a Hawaiian lady who teaches hula on the military base in Sasebo. I'm constantly amazed at how the connections of friends work sometimes.....the first friend is one of my students who has become much more than "just a friend". Her friend, who she met on the Japanese version of Facebook, is a woman married to an American stationed at the base (they just got moved here from Hawaii). Her daughter takes hula from Aunty Maile. I gently finagled an invitation to visit her class....and immediately in love with her....and with everyone in that class. There are about 8 or 10 students....most of them Japanese women with some connection to the base...and a few Americans, one being Angel, who is 16.

I love my class that I take here in Nagasaki. My sensei (teacher) is wonderful and the other people in the group are great. But.....something is missing. I was hoping that Maile could help me find that something. The first class I attended.....Maile met me at the bus station with a flower for my hair and a hug and......that was it.

I wish I could put into words what it is like to be in her presence. Just to spend the time with her....watching her dance....listening to her advice....just breathing in her space.....it's all so energizing. It's....that something I was looking for. When I am in her class, I find that dances that I have never done before are easy to follow and I can soon do them with the rest of the class. She is true inspiration for me.

If you have the time....watch this video that my friend Keiko took of Maile. It's short but, you can get an idea of her energy....of which I try to take as much as I can with me when I leave...enough to last until the next month when I can get there.

Mahalo, Maile, Keiko, Angel, Takako, K-chan and everyone else.... from the bottom of my heart, mahalo!

Keiko gave the boys witch hats....and we had some dry ice in the sink....Koji was very interested in how that dry ice was working...which made for a great photo!!!

Saturday was the K-man's birthday....for dinner we had a bit of a celebration....first we started with a couple of cold ones.

Then we moved on to some yaki niku, which is beef, pork, and various veggies cooked on a grill in the center of the table, then dipped in a sauce. It's a DIY way of cooking....everyone takes what they want when it's ready. Add a bowl of rice and some soup and call it dinner. I do love meals like this!!!

Of course we had cake!!! Every time someone has a birthday, we always say "Oh, we should have gotten one of those ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins." This year, that is exactly what I did. There was a shop (but here, it's called "31 Flavors"!!) near the station where I parked so after the staff reassured me that the dry ice would keep the cake frozen for 3 hours, I said, "ok". Oh...and FYI.....I think the ice would have probably lasted another hour!!

Hmmmmm....candles on an ice cream cake?? Good thing we only had 10 candles!!!

This was the "Chocolate Nut" cake....and yeah, uh-huh...it was scrumptious!!! From the bottom...chocolate cake, fudge ice cream, chocolate cake, some other kind of ice cream, a cookie layer, vanilla ice cream with almonds and caramel sauce...all topped with a frozen chocolate fluffy-stuff and drizzled with more caramel....and then a few dollops of whipped cream and some more nuts and call it absolutely sinful!!!! Yep, you can also call it gone!!! We ate it all!!!

This morning started with this....and the paper....and then two more of this.

Because I had something that looked like this in my bathroom (picture from Google Images!!) that I needed to get started on. (Thanks to the three cups of coffee for energy, (and a really dry day!) it all got washed, hung out and then folded and put away by late afternoon...plus...ran the vacuum, cleaned the toilet, dusted and did some organizing in my room. ~~whew~~)

We had breakfast with the warlocks.

While the boys were all outside playing (well, the K-man was working in the garden and then.....in his room playing guitar and whatnot), I got out the Halloween decorations and put some of them up. (Sorry about the graininess of the pictures, but, I used my cell phone camera. Must look about getting new phone with better camera!!!)

Ssssssh.......don't tell anyone that this is still behind the door to the kitchen!!!! {smile}

And now....the day is done....and I'm relaxed....it's been a great weekend. I'm going to ignore the multiplying posts in my Google Reader until tomorrow...after I post this I'm doing some planning for classes tomorrow and then...."Goodnight, Gracie."!

I hope you have a great Sunday....if you have good weather, go out and enjoy it. If the weather's not so good, then...stay in, watch a movie, play a game...enjoy the day. And if you are a football fan and watching a game....."Go (insert your team name here)!!"