It's a big day for the Reutter crew. Yes!
Joshua's first undoukai... No!
In elementary school. Oh, in elementary school.
And Sarah's first 3rd grade sports day.
That's right. And last, hopefully.
You only want one 3rd-year sports day.
Yea... After that should come number 4.
Yeah. Yeah.
Alright guys, let's go?
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
We are no stranger to Undoukai—the Japanese Sports Day that is held every year at the school
In fact several of our videos explain all about this unique part of Japanese culture.
But this year is Joshua’s first as an elementary school student,
and as such we are excited for him and hoping he does his best.
Where are you going to stand?
You're going to be right here?
I saw him! He was going towards the back.
Don’t let the cuteness fool you
this is an all-out game of capture of flag
where the students are trying to grab as many flags as they can off the opposing team.
The whole school is divided into two teams, red and white,
and they compete to see who will score the most points and win.
Each grade takes turn competing, starting with the 1st grade and ending with the 6th grade.
Even though all the students watch the undoukai,
only the parents of the competing grade can enter in to observe.
There are all kinds of different sports,
but one thing that is a consistent is a race to see who can run the fastest.
This year we will be cheering on Joshua in 1st grade and Sarah who is in 3rd grade.
With Joshua’s race over, it was time to go sit down and watch his big sister compete.
Her challenge would be a tug-of-war and a Japanese style basketball game.
In this game the teams compete to see who can make more balls in the basket.
The winners of the different matches get points
and throughout the day the score is tallied and displayed on the scoreboard for all to see.
Alright!
The kids did great and after they were done with their competitions
we had to go home and wait to hear the final result.
We lost. You lost?
That's OK.
Oh my goodness Dude! What's up?
Oh!!
Careful, Joshua, careful.
So Sarah, how was 3rd grade undoukai?
Fun... Yea?
Well a little sad because we lost. Aw, but you still did great!
I saw you. You did good in the tug of war,
You were amazing in the tug of war. Yea!
And the little ball thing.
Yeah, you were throwing the balls in the thing, that was really cool.
Yeah.
Joshua, what did you think about your first undoukai?
Pretty fun.
It was a lot of fun. I saw you cheering real big!
And you ran super fast, that was good!
I'm this fast...
Joshua’s first undoukai deserved a special celebration.
What do the kids want to eat after undoukai?
Indian food.
Leave it right here.
But it’s not just Joshua who had a big school first this year,
the girls are getting ready for their first big test and are a bit anxious.
How long have you girls been up?
Um, from 5:15 till now, so maybe one hour, one hour and a half.
What's happening today?
Early midterm test
Is that so? Turn the camera around!
Look at the snuggles over there! Oh my goodness!
I didn't get that snuggle!
What subjects are you tested on today?
[Singing] History, Math and English
I can't spell tongue-twister!
OK, I'm alright now.
Tomorrow there's science and Japanese.
Oh, OK. Very good.
That's nice.
I lost my eraser!
At Paz Coffee Shop, we’re working on something else that is a first for us
a broadcast quality live-streaming setup.
Over the last couple of months we've really been working on our online streaming system here
And it's really turning out cool
We're dialing it in just right
Getting the look perfect for our Paz Church online,
Very exciting.
If you haven't ever checked it out before, please check it out.
It's really cool.
John, what happened?!
I bought a car, baby!
You got a car!! Oh yea!
I'm now a proud owner of a 10-seater Hi-Ace.
Oh baby!
Let the family construction business begin!
Getting ready for one or two more kids!
We have room for 3 more now! Yea, there you go.
This system here is so cool...
We've got it all setup. You can control it automatically.
Paul has done some incredible work to make this awesome!
We’ve lived here over 8 years,
yet there are still places we’re discovering near us for the first time.
We've heard about a trail that we want to try out.
And today I have my beautiful girlfriend with me.
It is close to our place but we've never done it before.
I don't even know the name of this trail,
But it goes up the ridge and back down the other side
Where we can catch a train and go back home.
And do it all before the kids get out of school.
The river goes that way and we go this way.
Go back to the station?
That's right. That was it, go back to the station.
These bansais here are so pretty.
And right by the trailhead.
We got it. Here it is.
You are here. We are here.
We're actually in the middle of this trail system.
But we're going to go down here
And then make our way over to the Odakyu Line and catch a train there.
Alright. It looks like we will start climbing, huh?
Nothing like some stairs to get you going.
Wow, look at the view already!
I'm tired, can we go home? Yeah.
It certainly goes up!
This trail certainly starts climbing and lets you know it.
Flatness is my hiking. Flatness is your type of hiking, huh?
I hike in malls... from store to store.
This is true love. She's accompanying me today.
Here you go, that always makes you feel a little better inside, doesn't it?
You know you're on the right path.
As I trip. It's kind of cool.
Got some pretty cool views as we keep going up
And back down apparently
That's a ways down there.
Here's another fork in the road.
We are here, it looks like the trail goes straight,
But there is definitely sign posts here showing something.
It's like a big picnic area in here.
We're burning calories — that's nice!
Oh, I've gone 6,500 steps...
Whoa- nice!
I've only burnt — I burned 60 calories.
We're very close to Yomiurilando
And also the big ball stadium that's around here.
So this is an interesting little trail.
It looks very official.
There are tons of little turn offs and different trails
And it gets a little confusing in here.
But a lot of the trails meet back up so
That's what we're counting on for some of these at least.
We should get a picture here, Zoot.
Since I match?
Yea, since you're matchy-matchy with it?
So cool. What beautiful hydrangeas? Yea.
You go through people's yards.
I know - it's so crazy!
We've got a little confusing section here.
But... I think we turn this way
And go back- OH!
You scared me.
Oh, I need something.
You got yours, I got mine.
Drink up. The trail goes on.
Over there is the bottom part to the track of the Bandit in Yomiuriland.
That is crazy, that is close!
There's like porte-potties in the middle of the track.
There sure are!
That water was really cold so it was hard to guzzle
But I wanted to guzzle it down so I didn't have to carry my bottle with me.
Alright! Let's go.
How about this house?!
It is literally an island in the middle of the trail!
Yeah, I want to live in that house. That house right there?
It's got a basketball court! That is pretty awesome.
This neighborhood back here is almost like an American kind of subdivision.
And they're building away.
Look at all those marigolds. Yeah, those are some pretty marigolds.
We're definitely getting up there.
Well, at Yomiurilando there's the big drop.
That's intense.
Is that your style?
What do you think, girlfriend?
That's what I call a house.
That is a house. My goodness.
You don't see a lot of them like that here.
No you don't.
Well, I missed this but here it is, look.
The trail picks up, and goes down.
Hey, more nature again. That's nice.
I thought this was more stable, I wasn't expecting it to give.
Bamboo, yes!
Anybody else a huge fan of Bamboo? Is that like the national plant of Japan?
I don't know if it is, but it certainly could be.
It's so pretty.
Well the parts right when you start and especially this part here near the end of the trail is very nice.
I think this last part here though near Yomirunilando station, this has been the best so far.
It's really pretty.
It's not too much ups and downs with the stairs,
And you get some sunshine every once in a while, look at that.
Looks like we're almost out into the open!
Nailed it!
So what did you think? It was good.
It was a little intense for me.
I don't do stairs too well.
But the flat parts were great. And the covered flat parts were great.
Today, how did it go?
Good. Good?
What test did you have?
Early midterm test
So what are we going to do to celebrate for lunch?
Shyabu Shyabu!
[Thunder rumbles]
Do you hear that?! There is a storm coming.
[More thunder]
Oh boy.
This is what everyone recommended that we do. You put it in and you Shyabu Shyabu [swish swish]
Shyabu shyabu shyabu And try not to lose it.
And try not to lose it—look!
When the color gets like that...
And then here's the other suggestion...
You dip it in a sauce, right?
If you like pepper, like I do, put some pepper on it.
Mmmm, really good.
How is it Becca? It's good.
Oh my goodness.
Look at how much it rained while we were in there.
We were only in there like 30 minutes.
Yeah, that was crazy, wasn't it?
Look at the sky over there, my goodness!
If that just doesn't say "thunderstorm" I don't know what does!
Well I came out here to get some coffee and to work a little bit
But let me tell you what, the thunderstorms are not over for today.
Oh my goodness!
Oh man it's just great working in here...
The rain's coming down,
I'm working on my laptop,
And look at that, even the sun's trying to come through.
You got this thing Mr Sun, I know you're up there somewhere.
Does anyone else just love a good thunderstorm?
I'm not talking about the kind that creates destruction and destroys things, no no.
Nobody likes that. I'm talking about those clouds coming in,
The wind stirring up, the rain coming down, do you like that?
Do you know the first time a rainbow appeared, it appeared as a sign of God’s love for mankind.
It still gives hope today that no matter what storm you go through, there’s a rainbow on the other side of it.
And so life is full of firsts. For Joshua, it means reading in Japanese.
Alright Dude. You have your Japanese reading to do? Yep.
Let's see... how do you do?
Flower Street
Mr Bear found a bag.
"Hey, what's this? There's a lot in here."
Mr Bear went to his friend the squirrel to ask him about it.
Mr Bear opened the bag.
There was nothing.
"Oh no, a hole opened up."
A warm breeze began to blow.
A long flower road was made.
Wow Dude! You're doing so good!
I'm going to read it three more times because I'm supposed to read it four times.
OK, read it three more times.
Are you experiencing a first in your life right now?
It could be a new school, a first job, a growing family, a big move or a life-altering change.
Well I have some encouragement for you.
These firsts are significant, exciting and stressful all at the same time.
But when you have good support from family and friends,
any kind of first experience can be met with expectations of a good outcome.
Oh, so nice to be here today!
It's always so fun when I get a chance to share my heart with the church.