Home Again

Before I begin....a side note that the spider that Mike saw in the backyard is known as a Huntsman Spider.

Yes, Josh and I are back in Yokosuka. Although I was happy to come home, it was hard to leave home/America this time. Despite the wonderful friendships and experiences I have here in Japan, I really miss the familiarity of home sometimes.

Our return marks the end of the Summer season as well. I've always really looked forward to Autumn although this year it's been difficult because of the short Summer that we've had. Summer in our neighborhood is really the time when people come out to play. However, soon there will be yummy Yaki-imo.

Tomorrow will be Josh's first day at school. I was planning on taking him on Wednesday but I think the jet lag would have just been too much for him to get over in one night. This way, we had a couple days to rest up and then meet the teacher and come into the classroom and look around before I just dropped him off. The preschool will be much more organized than the hourly program I sometimes take him to. In the morning, they will line up outside of the school with their class and walk in with the teacher. Each classroom is designated a theme & color (Red Teddy Bears for Josh's class). Josh is assigned a specific table and chair along with a cubby to put his backpack and lunch. I am required to pack a lunch for him. No peanut butter or other nuts allowed as some children have allergies. Apparently, nut allergies have gone up drastically since we were young children (who would have known??). The preschool is a Co-op organization which means the Mike and I have to put in a lot of volunteer hours during the school year. It excites me though. This way we'll really be "in the know" when it comes to his curriculum. All and all, the teachers in his classroom and his school in general seems great. Mike and I are both planning on being there tomorrow to take pictures, so stay tuned on that one. This has definitely been a time in my motherhood where I've become a weepy woman. After all, "My little boy is starting to grow up!"

One thing I didn't expect to come home to was more visitors in our backyard! I looked out the window at one of our backyard trees to see 200-400 fuzzy caterpillars just munching away. In the meantime, I glare at several of our orb weaving friends in the branches thinking 'Hello do your job!' If our eight legged friends only realized that there was an all you can eat buffet just inches away. The small homemade birdbath wasn't attracting any predators either. I only recently found out, however, that some caterpillars don't taste so good to the birds. I decided it was time to take action before our tree bit the dust. I had no idea what kind of spray to buy in the store nor did I know what was legal to spray in our area so I ended up going the natural route... Chili spray. It consists of water, lots of chili powder and a few drops of liquid soap. It worked beautifully. Several of the furry vermin fell in to the webs on their way down and were quickly wrapped up and devoured by the joro-gumo. I was able to get rid of most of them. Some of them (about 100 more) survived the caterpillar genocide and I'm sure are laying more eggs as I type this. Click on the pictures to see some shots Mike took of the little hedge trimmers.

One of the purchases that I made in the states was Josh's Halloween costume. He's going to be Peter Pan this year, complete with a sword for fighting Captain Hook. He thinks I should be the crocodile and Daddy should be Hook. A tip for newbies living on base... stock up on your candy! Halloween is very popular with Japanese children as well and many of them come in large groups to trick or treat on base. Many residence on base flew through 7 bags of candy before 6:30PM last year. Again, stock up and be stingy! Especially if you're in a townhouse.