Kate had her speech and after the ladies surprised her with a gift and flowers.

Kate met Colleen at school for a mother daugher activity.












Before we returned h0me we wanted to purhcase some stonework for our garden. We found a family owned and run place close to our home and decided to purchase from them. Kate stopped by to check on the progress and get some pictures of the father and son as they worked on them.

They even let Kate try her hand at carving some of the stones. She actually got to work on one of the ones that we were being made for us.

This week was my farewell party with my original department from work. A number of the associates I worked with made it out to the party, even though it was on a Wednesday.

At the end of the first party and before the 2nd and 2rd, everyone grouped in front of the restaurant and gathered around. I was not exaclty sure of what was going on, but I was grabbed and then thrown into the air 3 times. It is a good thing that I lost weight over the 2 year stay.

Next was my bicycling group party. All of my friends that I rode bicycles with during our stay were able to go. We had good food and a lot of great conversation. At the end they presented me with my very own custom cycling jersey. Ito sans friend is a graphic designer and designed the jersey. Originally they were going to present it to me at Motegi, but the jersey came in late. It was a great night.

Colleen had her last singing concert. This was the first chance for me to see her in action. She and the other girls did a great job. This time it was for exibition and not competition.

The event was at a Takanezawa community festival, so we also had the opportunity to eat her last choco bananna.

Liam picked up his last udon as well.

Kate had a farewell night out with the ladies.

We had our last Takanezawa community BBQ. The community gathered together. The community is divided into groups. Each group sets up a grill and starts cooking. Everyone chips in during the cooking. We liked cooking this style and decided to buy one of the pans before leaving for America so we can do the same style at home.

The cookout gave us the chance to see a number of neighbors again before we left.

The Yagishta sans (our next door neighbors) also attended the event.

The Nakamichi sans also came over one last time to visit. It was great to see them again and hang out. They are such a nice family..
The children played games while waiting for dinner. We were able to pick up a sushi dinner from the grocery store and hung out for the rest of the evening.




That is all for this post, have a great week...