Mason...

Mason is staying busy! Mason took his first test at the Japanese swim school. He got his first patch. The kids sew their patches onto their swim caps. He's pretty excited. He had to swim 25m with a kick board, without floats, but keep his head under water. He could come up for air, but had to prove he could keep his body in position. The Japanese instructors are pretty strict. 2 out of the 4 in his group passed. He's hoping to get to test again on Friday for another patch. He still doesn't understand what the teacher says. He said he just copies the other kids.

He has his first baseball game this Sat. He's doing really well with the older boys. He's playing with the 7-8 yr olds. He still has more fun picking around in the dirt!

Mason still takes drum lessons. He is getting better and better. Thank goodness for electronic drum kits!!

Busy Jessie..

Jessie has been busy! She swam in her first swim meet last weekend. She placed 5th in the 50m backstroke. She is having a hard time not being #1. She only placed in one out of four races. I think she finally relaxed when I reminded her she been only swimming on the team for a few weeks and that the kids that are beating her have been swimming for a few seasons. They were only beating her by a few seconds and she was getting really frustrated.

She was invited to play her guitar for background music at the end of the year, teachers' luncheon. She played a wide variety of songs and received lots of compliments. She did a great job.

She has her first softball game this weekend. She is playing with girls as old as 15. It should be very entertaining!

More Japanese students

These last two groups were lots of fun. They played Connect Four half the afternoon.

Mason graduates Kindergarten....

Mason is officially a 1st grader! He had a great year and really excelled!

For those of you that don't know, we are going back to homeschooling next year. We weren't very fond of the amount of homework Jessie was getting. She was always stressed out.

Summer is here...

The kids have already been doing a lot of swimming. Jessie is swimming on the base swim team. She practices 3 times a week. Mason is swimming out in town at a Japanese swim school. He swims twice a week. He got a little reality check last week. He got disciplined by the Japanese teacher when him and 2 other Japanese boys wouldn't stop splashing each other. The teacher reached over and pinched his cheek. He panicked and gave me a "Mommy come help me," look! I guess that's the equivelent of a swat on the butt. Needless to say he was perfect for the rest of the class.
They both love hanging out at the pool on base. Here are some pics of them jumping off the diving board.