Will they one day be good buddies?!

These last couple of days, Yuuma and Luke have started playing together. Sometimes we hear them laughing and other times I hear someone is crying. It is so funny to watch what they are doing! This is typical things that they are doing everyday -- Luke plays with Yuuma or Kie's toys often, so Yuuma comes to Luke and says "NO! This is mine (or Kie's)." Yuuma really enjoys saying this phrase, so even though he originally gave his toys to Luke, he comes back and THEN he says the phrase... hahaha.

Also, Luke is interested in Yuuma, he likes to try to touch his short hair or grab his shirt, and sometimes he pinches Yuuma. Of course Yuuma doesn't like any of these things, so he starts pushing and kicking Luke. Yes, both of them don't know how to be cooperative or be gentle, or how to communicate with each other yet. My sister and I say to each other "Do you think they will get along someday?!" I hope they become best buddies one day!

He is a challenger!

Usually Luke is playing around in the kitchen when I'm preparing dinner. Lately he is not just playing with his toys or kitchen items... He picks up any kind of vegetable from inside the bucket that we gathered from the garden -- tomatoes, green bell peppers, eggplant and goya (a bitter Japanese squash), etc...

I'm proud of him for trying new tastes and he seems to enjoy doing it! The only negative thing is that he makes a big mess every time -- hahaha

Today he tried fresh green bell pepper (^-^)

Summer festival

This time of year in Japan there are summer festival everywhere, every tiny town has its own festival. Our hometown festival was on August 1st and 2nd this year -- the 1st night had a traditional dancing parade and the 2nd night had fireworks. It's been a long time since I when to the festival here, so I was excited and had a great time, especially since this is Luke's first time to experience a Japanese festival -- of course he has no idea and won't remember much! but it's okay --hahaha I took some pictures and videos to show you what a Japanese summer festival looks like (^-^)

We were planning to go to the festival around 4:00 pm, and have dinner there. But then there was a rain shower and thunderstorms in the afternoon... so we waited and waited, hopefully it will stop raining. My mother suggested to the kids "Let's pray!" -- even though she is not really religious, but she thought it will be fun to do it with kids. And we did! But yet, it didn't stop raining for a long time, so we had to change our plan -- quickly making dinner at home. BUT! While we were eating, the rain stopped!! Even though it was already after 6:00 pm, we quickly changed our clothes and got ready for the festival!

Luke (right) and his cousins, Yuuma (left) and Kie (center).
The boys are wearing the traditional Japanese festival outfit called jinbe. I think they are so cute!

Summer festivals always have a lot of small vending stalls -- with lots of different kinds of food, games, and toys, etc. -- like at a county fair in America. And I found out that there are so many NEW kinds of stalls now!

But my favorite festival game has always been kingyo sukui (goldfish scoop). The idea is that you have to scoop up a goldfish with a paper paddle -- it is very difficult to do without ripping the paper when it gets wet! There are always different sizes and various colored fish. I felt young again when I saw the game stalls this year! I always had fun times at the kingyo sukui when I was young.

Every town has its own style of dance and music. If you don't hear this song, you won't feel the real summer festival. But the music was too loud, Luke and Kie started to cry, so we knew it was time to go back to home (^-^) It was a fun night!

I took this video in the 2nd day at the festival -- the Naoe Kanetsugu parade. Kanetsugu was a Japanese samurai of the 16th-17th centuries. And he was born in our home town. This year we have a popular series about him on TV. And that makes our home town very famous and, believe it or not, there are a lot of tourists from all over Japan who visit here now. So, we had special Kanetsugu parade in this year's festival.

The last day of the festival, we always have a fireworks show! This is not a good video that I took in front of the house, but it gives you some idea. So many different colors and sizes of fireworks for an hour and a half. Summer festivals were such big things when my sister and I were young. When the last firework was done, we always felt a little bit sentimental, because we feel our summer was over -- little memories (^-^)

Cousins

My sister and her kids arrived at our family home in Niigata yesterday! I have been looking forward to seeing them this year, and introducing Luke to his cousins. Well, Luke is still too young to get to know them, but he does follow Yuuma around (sometimes), and he likes to touch Kie. In a few more years, they will all really enjoy hanging out with each other!

Yuuma (2 yrs old)
I was surprised how much he has grown since I saw him last time! I thought he was just a baby, but he is a big brother now -- whenever Luke tried to touch Kie (Yuuma's little sister), Yuuma rushed up to Kie and tried to protect her from Luke (^-^). Luke likes babies, so he just wanted to see her, but still Yuuma thinks Luke is going to hurt her -- hahaha

Kie (6 months old)
This was my first time meeting Kie. She is so cute and I love her chubby cheeks!!!! She is only 4 months younger than Luke, but she seems so small (I should say "delicate") compare to Luke. Boys and girls are definitely different!

Look at me!

For the past 3 or so weeks, Luke has been practicing walking everyday... and lately he likes holding onto a bucket when he's walking around. Check out the result of his practice (^0^).

Pretty good, isn't he?