Mentee Turns 13 = Hanayori!!!

At our church we have a Mentee/Mentor program where children who are entering 6th grade can choose someone from the church to be their mentor for the next 6 yrs...till they graduate. Fall of 2009 a young lady name Emma asked me to be her Mentor! We're suppose to do something once a month but that doesn't always happen. Activities that we have done so far from Nov. 2009-Oct. 2010 are going to a magic show @ the mall, Christmas breakfast @ church, hung together @ my house, help w/call to worship, drama, & scripture reading for worship, sleep over @ my house, volunteer @ the Mennonite Relief Sale selling drinks, & then this last event which I am blogging about is taking her out to eat for her 13th birthday on Oct. 8, 2010. My parents came over to watch Jaydon (who is 4 mo. old then).

First of all when Emma got to my house, I gave her a BD gift of scrapbooking supplies to get her started! After I took her picture w/her gift, Braylon says "take a picture of Emma & I together!"

My absolute favoritest place is Hanayori, a Japanese Tepan steakhouse restaurant in Mishawaka! It's expensive so I usually only get to go there about once a year, if even that! Unfortunately for me, but fortunate for my wallet. The tables are shaped in a U form. They sit 8 people around these tables. The waiter (it's always been guys that do this) stands @ the opening or top of the U shape table & cooks your dinner right in front of you. And they are always sooo funny! They are always cracking jokes. For example: he'll roll the egg on the skillet area & say "egg roll!" or they'll try to flip the shrimp tails into someone's glass or catch it in the top of their chef hat or the pocket on their shirt. My favorite is the "volcano" where they'll pile the rings of onions from biggest ring to smallest ring on top to resemble a volcano & then they'll put butter or oil or something inside the rings & then ignite it & whoosh it looks like a volcano erupting! Then they'll shake salt on top of it so it looks like "lava." Everyone gets their delicious salad, soup, & rice & veggie mixture. All you order is your meat: chicken, lobster, shrimp, or steak. It is sooo delicious! I dare you to go & check it out for yourself! :)

And it gets even better...if you have leftovers, they'll wrap it up into a swan foil holder (upon request!)