Summer in the City

Time has slipped away on me again with three weeks seeming to vanish into thin air. While I write an actual post about our lives, here are some photos of what our summer has looked like so far.

On July 1st we celebrated our third Canada Day in Japan. I made poutine and the boys tried it for the first time. Theo seemed to really like it, but as always with anything containing potatoes, William was not too excited.

Rosie was happiest of all with her piece of barbecued corn on the cob.

Even though we barbecue A LOT in the summer, we occasionally head over to the local 100 yen sushi restaurant to change things up a bit. The boys decided that during this meal they would be sushi zombies. 

Rosie, who can never be left out of their shenanigans, tried her hardest to be a sushi zombie too.

We've also been working on removing the training wheels from Theo's bicycle. He has been wanting us to do this for a while, but his balance still needs a little work. Here he is taking a popsicle break on one of our biking trips.

Summer time at our house means trying to avoid using the air conditioner as much as possible. Instead I boot the kids outside and let them splash around in the kiddie pool if they get sweaty.

"I yam wot I yam and that's all wot I yam!"

Rosie enjoying taking a stroll around the block.

Inspecting a large caterpillar we found on the bike shelter. 

The Japanese star festival, Tanabata, is held on July 7th. People write wishes on coloured strips of paper and hang them along with paper cut into pretty shapes and designs on a young bamboo tree. Here are the boys posing in front of a Tanabata tree we found at a local department store.

Some people also go star gazing on the evening of the 7th, but since it was pouring rain it was kind of out of the question. With all this rain we've been having, I got to see a gorgeous double rainbow.

Another way we enjoy summer is with one of our favourite traditional Mennonite meals, rollkuchen and watermelon. It is quick to make and really light but best of all there are never any complaints no matter how many times we have it in a week.

And that's a little glimpse into our world these past few weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get a real post up soon! 

Ringing in the Summer

We have had a very cool and rainy spring and the first two days of summer have not been much better. There has been the occasional wonderfully warm and summery day sprinkled here and there, one of which was Father's Day. We had a get together at my in-laws' where summer was officially pronounced by the presence of rollkuchen and watermelon.

rollkuchen basking in the hot sun

For those of you who haven't been introduced to the impending heart attack that is Mennonite cooking, rollkuchen it is a deep fried square of dough sprinkled with salt, and eaten with golden syrup and watermelon. Dustin's family has close relationship with all of their traditional foods and rollkuchen (which apparently must be said with an over the top rolling of the "r") and watermelon tops the list of hot weather outdoor meals. When I first encountered this meal back in the days when Dustin and I were dating, I was incredulous that anyone would only want to eat solely fried dough and watermelon for supper. A snack or dessert maybe, but a whole meal? I could feel my arteries recoiling in horror. I still mostly feel this way, but through the years I have become gradually more and more excited when the first brimming bowl of rollkuchen emerges. I suppose because it has become intrinsically tied into my good memories of the extremely short but wonderful Manitoban summer.

Theo enjoying another summer time favourite

Like pretty much all Mennonite food, I don't think I will ever make these little bundles of joy myself, but I really enjoy the once or twice a year that I have them over at my in-laws'. I don't think Dustin will complain too much that I won't be making these since he has a strange aversion to watermelon. I think it is wonderful that Dustin's family has so many traditional foods, since my family has managed to lose pretty much all semblance of their original culture through years of traveling and living in other countries. If Dustin would ever choose to continue the family tradition and learn to make the smörgåsbord of Mennonite "shame based" foods, I would support him whole heartedly. As for me though, I am content to leave it as one more reason to enjoy visits with my in-laws.