Tag: family

A night at the ballpark

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Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO640
 Round Rock, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

This evening, Koa and I went to the Dell Diamond in Round Rock to see the Round Rock Express take on the visiting Iowa Cubs. We bought discounted tickets because the Little League Koa plays in has a special promotion. It was only a dollar off each ticket, but it was fun to go to the ballpark and watch some minor-league baseball.

Tonight was opening night, and also Fireworks Friday, but we didn’t stay til the end because it was getting very late and Koa has Japanese school tomorrow morning so no fireworks for us. But Koa had a great time hanging out with friends, playing in the “Kids Zone” where they have a basketball court and also a radar-gun so you can see how fast your pitches are. Koa was clocked throwing 51 mph heaters. Pretty impressive!

Round Rock, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 Round Rock, 2016

The Dell Diamond is a very nice ballpark, just like a MLB stadium, just on a smaller scale. General admission tickets for sitting on the lawn are only $7 so it’s a good deal. But the food is like an MLB park. $10 for a large beer! Ouch. I passed on the beer tonight…

It was a beautiful clear evening, but the great weather will not last long. On Sunday a heavy storm will move into town bringing hail and nastiness. If you live here in Central Texas, take care and stay safe!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

Busy Sunday

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/10 sec, ISO400
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello!

Wow, my body is exhausted… yesterday we received 1 cubic yard of dirt to use in our front and backyards, so today I shoveled it all into the wheelbarrow and distributed it around our lawns, to fill in low spots. We get heavy rains sometimes and it washes away a lot of dirt. So once in a while, it is good to replenish! But it’s a lot of hard work and my arms are so sore. Plus the mosquitoes are in full-force in Central Texas, so it wasn’t a relaxing bit of work. But it all got done, and I have a good feeling of accomplishment!

In other news, we bought a couple new fish for our aquarium, plus I asked the store for several Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Our tank has developed a lot of brown algae, and these snails are supposed to help keep everything clean. Right after I dumped them into our tank they got straight to work! I wonder how good a job they’ll do, and how long it will take to see any progress. It will be fun to see!

Today’s photo is of Koa, eating dinner using chopsticks while riding the exercise bike and watching television. He can multi-task like a pro!

Well, I need to sleep early… my body needs rest. 😄

See you tomorrow! おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Bowling party

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Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 Austin, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

Today Koa celebrated his birthday 🎂 with his friends at “The Main Event” which is an entertainment space that has bowling, glow golf, laser tag, indoor rock climbing, arcade games, billiards, shuffleboard, etc. It was our first time hosting a birthday party there, and it turned out great. The facility has several different birthday packages, and the one we chose was for tweens and teens and included an hour of bowling on two lanes, light dinner, one session of laser tag, and ten $10 game cards for the arcade.

There was a host who coordinated the bowling and food portion of the party, and the whole thing cost about $200. It really is a bargain for hosting 10 kids (we actually had 9 kids attend, but the minimum is 10). At first, I thought that it was really expensive, but after adding up the normal price of game cards ($100), two lanes for an hour ($72), one laser tag session for 10 kids ($86), and food (~$90), the party package is quite a good deal!

Besides the financial aspect of it, the kids had A LOT of fun! I’m so happy that they all got along great and totally enjoyed themselves. And Mariko and I got to relax and enjoy a beer 🍺 and pizza 🍕 while we watched the Dodgers beat the Giants in extra innings. 🎉 (There are many big screens around the facility showing sports of all kinds)

If you want a no-fuss, high-enjoyment-factor party, I’d recommend The Main Event.

It’s Saturday night, and getting late, but the nice thing is that this is the one night of the week where I don’t feel like I have to get to bed because I need to wake up early! Yay! But of course I will probably be up at my normal time tomorrow. 😜

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Birthday boy’s dinner

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"Mountain of Karaage" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO640
 “Mountain of Karaage” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Happy Monday!

Today is Koa’s 12th birthday 🎂… just one more year before he becomes a teenager. He’s still a little kid in so many ways, but he’s growing up too fast! It’s really true what they say about how they become grown before you know it. Actually, it seems like they were young boys for a long time, but suddenly at about 6th grade they change and are little adults. The time really flies by! I still can’t believe Bay is a freshman in high school. 😮

Today’s photo is of a mountain of Japanese fried chicken , which is called “karaage”. We like to call it JFC. 😋 It is so yummy, and Koa requested NO VEGGIES. But we did have grilled asparagus as well, although I don’t think Koa ate any. We let him pass on it on his special day.

The karaage was so good that now I am thinking that I want to request it for my Father’s Day dinner. This year, my family will be with me for Father’s Day, which hasn’t happened in a long time! Usually they are in Japan for over a month in early summer, so I am alone on Father’s Day, but this summer they are making their Japan trip a month or so later than usual.

Time flies so quickly these days that I know that summer is just around the corner!

Take care, and good night for now. おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

A-Z Challenge – C

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C is for “Chop”

hanko-seal-chop

The term “chop” is a common name for a stamp used in Asian cultures which shows your name. Here are two “Gagō-in” that I have… the one on the left is from my grandfather, who was an artist and art teacher when he was alive. In the chop he gave me, the family name “Fujimoto” is written above the letter “B”, and I have used this in some of my paintings that I did when I was in art school. This chop is one of my cherished possessions. The other chop is one that I bought when I visited Hong Kong, and it is a more stylized version, left-to-right, and my first name below.

These two are not used in official documents – for that, my wife and I have another smaller seal, called a Mitome-in, which is used to sign documents in Japan. I won’t display that here, of course, but it’s really nothing special. I think we bought it at a stationery store for ¥1,000.

Below is a photo of the chop that I bought in Hong Kong. It’s made of stone, and has a really nice dragon carving on the top. I think it’s pretty cool!

Black Dragon