Mullets and McDonald's

The big buzz in 5-6th grade today was a 6th grade boy's new perm. He's rocking the mullet hairstyle back in style these days, and the 'super cool kids' get the long part permed. Well, the cool part was up for debate. Not sure how many of his classmates actually thought it looked good. Definitely a minority.

There's a different sub coming in to this classroom tomorrow. (I'm taking the day off teaching tomorrow to catch up on things around the house.) I tried to make notes of handy things to know/where to find things to make her day go smoother. I'm teaching again Thursday, so I'll find out how things go! 

For supper tonight, I took the girls to McDonald's (their request) so they could experience it in America. We called ahead to see what the Happy Meal toy is these days: Hello Kitty, eight toy options available. Ironically, Hello Kitty is Yua's favorite. Even her instagram page is Hello Kitty themed!

On the drive, Yua ranked the options from the kind she wanted most to least. Hohomi said she was happy with anything. They also wanted to dine-in to get the full experience.

Obviously, they ordered Happy Meals. One hamburger meal and one chicken nuggets meal so they could split. They were surprised by the side of apples included. In Japan, they pick rice or corn. The girls weren't a fan of the flavor of the apples. The burger and nuggets though, they loved it; they said the taste is the same as Japan. 

When it came time to reveal their Happy Meal toys, they made a big production of it. Hohomi pulled out... the frog! which happened to be the one she wanted most. Yua pulled out... the frog! #8 on her list. She was bummed. I said we could ask about switching after we ate. They said that's not allowed in Japan, so they weren't too optimistic. I wasn't either, but I thought playing the Japanese visitors card might work. 

Earlier in our visit, a young high school worker had cleaned off the table for us before we sat down and as she cleaned I had shared that Hohomi and Yua were visiting from Japan. She'd thought it was the coolest thing ever, so I thought maybe I could tug at her heartstrings a little bit. 

She said normally they only open one box of toys at a time and they might not even have another variety, but she would check with her manager. While we waited, Yua made plans to buy a second meal if she couldn't trade, hoping meal two would have something different. I had to burst her bubble. 

A few minutes later, the worker came back with two different Hello Kitties in her hands! And... one of them was Yua's top choice! Cute the squees of glee from both of my girls. The worker couldn't stop smiling. Yua teared up a little I think. On our way out, I told the worker that she had made our day. She replied, "No, you guys made my day! I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here!" Such a lovely young lady.

The rest of the evening was pretty low key. I did some baking: granola for the girls to take home at the end of the week and a plum pie I meant to bake for G's birthday. We had bedtime tea and pie and ice cream. Good end to the night.