End of School year

Last Thursday night, Rio's school's band had its last concert. It started earlier than usual, and Rio wanted to arrive even earlier to watch the orchestra play, so James, Anthony and Marcus decided to stay home. My mother-in-law came to see, as usual, so it was just the two of us watching Rio perform. She always makes an effort to get involved with my kids' life, and I really appreciate that.

先週の木曜日はリオの学校のバンドの最後のコンサートでした。今回のコンサートは開始時間が早かったので、私だけ見に行きました。もちろん、お義母さんは見に来てくれたのですけれどね。お義母さんは、いつも子供たちのサッカーやコンサートなどわざわざ来てくれる、とても良いグランマなのです。

Her middle school music teacher does a pretty good job, and they all sounded fine. Well, I can't say "great" because most of them are beginners. They all improved compared to their performance at the beginning of the school year, and that's the important thing, I think.

リオの中学校の音楽の先生は生徒に人気の良い先生です。バンド、オーケストラ、合唱部、ジャス部などがありますが、皆まあまあ上手です。1年間に4回コンサートがありますが、最初のコンサートからすると進歩しているのが良く分かります。

Now, it's only one week left (until the school is over) for Rio and Anthony, and two weeks left for Marcus. I need to work until the end of June, so James is taking a few weeks off in June to watch the kids. Summer is always hard for us because Anthony is home for nearly three months, and it's always a challenge to keep him busy or to just be with him all the time! I was hoping to get some help in August since I need to go back to work, and Rio will be the only one to stay home with him (Marcus will start a new school year at the end of July). 

I don't feel comfortable leaving them home by themselves, so I need to come up with something!

今学年が終了するまでアントニーとリオはあと1週間、マーカスは2週間です。私は仕事が6月末までなのでジェームズが数週間休みを取って子供たちを見てくれることになっています。
アントニーの夏休みがほぼ3ヶ月あるので、夏休みは毎年大変！私とマーカスは7月末に学校、仕事が始まるので8月はリオとアントニーが2人きりで家にいることになります。それはちょっと危ないし心配なので、なんとかしなくては、と思っていますが．．．

We want to go to Japan in August because my family is going to have a special ceremony for my dad. I don't think we can, though, since 1. James doesn't have any days off,  2. Marcus will be in school, and 3. We don't have money, especially since we just upgraded Marcus's violin on last Saturday (at this shop). He has outgrown his 1/2 size violin, so now we went to buy a 3/4 size violin. We also upgraded the quality of the violin, so it cost more than four times the price of his previous violin. The store was doing the annual sale, so I was able to save over $800, and it was not that expensive for the music instrument standard. How come musical instruments have to cost so much?  I thought that James would have a heart attack when I told him how much I paid. On the way home, I said to Marcus, "Daddy will kill me," then he answered "Well, your new cute hair cut will save you." (I had a hair cut that morning.) What a funny kid...

8月は本当は日本にお盆休みに帰りたいのですよね。父の精霊流しに参加したいのです。でも、主人の休みが取れそうもないし、マーカスは学校始まっているし、そして肝心のお金がない！特に、昨日マーカスのバイオリンを買い換えたのでかなり金欠です。楽器ってどうしてこんなに高いのでしょうね。買い換えたバイオリンは3/4サイズで、前のバイオリンと比べると質が2ランク上のバイオリン。お値段も5倍です。それでも、バイオリンの世界ではたいしたことない金額なのが怖いです。

新しいバイオリンを買って帰宅の際、マーカスに「ダディに殺されそう(すごく怒られそうという意味です）」とつぶやくと、マーカスは「新しい可愛い髪型が救ってくれるよ！」ですって。(その日の午前にカットに行ったばかりだったのです。）

I miss my family and I wish we could see each other more often. I know that James and the kids miss them, too. Marcus often asks me when we will go to Japan again. I wish Japan wasn't so far away!

日本の家族がとても恋しいですが、会いに行けるのは当分無理かな。ジェームズも子供たちも日本の皆に会いたい！って思っているみたいです。マーカスは「今度いつ日本に行くの？」としょっちゅう聞きます。もっと近いといいのになぁ～