Crush the Watermelon and Hanabi

After the farewell party with the Handa International Association, I returned home with the Takeuchi family and we had a small party at their home.  Yura and her family came over.  We played "Crush the Watermelon" just like we did at the barbecue with Handa International Association. The first attempt hit the watermelon and cracked it, but everyone just hit the ground and missed the watermelon after that.  We started out being blindfolded and spinning then we stopped being spun at the beginning of our turn.  That was still too difficult, so we just stood next to the watermelon and hit it until it broke.  After eating some of the watermelon, we moved on to hanabi (fireworks).  Everything was basically a sparkler except the senko hanabi which just forms a glowing orange ball and sparkles a little near the end of its life.  It was really fun.  Yura's brother was quite upset when they had to go home because he didn't want me to leave.  I told him that he should come to America to visit me.  He seemed to like that idea.  I also gave him two pencils: one with a Michigan theme and the other with an American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.  After Yura's family left, we did karaoke (I just watched and listened) and ate sweets.  Tonight was really fun.

me trying to crush the watermelong

Yura's brother preparing to strike the watermelon

I tried again

hanabi (fireworks)

more sparler-like hanabi