Hiroko's Hitokoto

Beautiful weather, walked to Kogai park before the taiko practice. And we saw a couple of old friends there! Kids had fun playing with them.

Videos 1 , 2 , and 3 . He seems not scared of being on ice alone. He said he fell 4 times first, twice on second, then none on the 3rd time. He was so proud of himself!

Mo decided to go on ice this afternoon. I explained him that he would have to go on ice without me, and ask his sister's help while she was not in the class. He understood and get his ice skate gears on.

 She's into green tea stuff these days. He wanted a chocolate one...

One place used to be an Italian restaurant turned out to be an Indian curry restaurant now. They had 2nd anniversary and offered 500 yen lunch this week. So, why not! It was amazingly good and a keeper in the neighborhood!

He wanted to have curry for dinner so decided to cook it by himself.

Kids having snacks on a bench far from their moms...

A couple of videos here and here . Went to bouldering set up in the neighborhood with G&Y this afternoon. Kids loved it, kept going up and down the wall. It's amazing how they can go up pretty good!

Slow day at work as it's a Monday followed by another holiday coming up tomorrow, he came out for lunch with us. Mo was surprised to see him!

Photos here . A couple of friends came to have lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant.

Photos here . Same as last year, we played taiko (Japanese drums) at American Embassy Compound for Friendship Day.

A dumpling made with rice powder and bean paste steamed, covered with cinnamon leaves. Very good aroma!

Went to visit Akii who's back from Hawaii at her home town called Hannno. Kids made their debut on Wii, had some taiyaki, while their mom and friends were having conversation over coffee. Thank you very much, Akii's sister who looked after the kids!

So, at the end of the festival, they had a lottery for kids. Mo tried twice though he couldn't get what he wanted, he cried so bad I sent him home with jiji. Meanwhile, Ton won something she didn't like, then she spotted a friend of Mo's who was about to pick his prize, she told him which one to pick, then exchanged it with what she had....! It ended good for both ends as the one she gave to him was more well received than any other prizes he was going to get. Then, at the second round, she won a gold, the first prize. She had 3 items to chose among: a puzzle, a block figure of Pokemon, and a remote control car. She picked the remote control car and said she would give it to her brother. Oh the smile on his face when she showed him this prize at home. He was very happy he told me to take the all sides of the car photos. You guys are awesome!

Photos here . So, after the festival, we took taxi to Kaito's new residence for his 4th birthday party. The theme, as you can see, was dinosaur. His mom made all these food and decorations! Happy birthday, Kaito!

Photos here . Kids started with one in the neighborhood, and moved onto the other one which was the old neighborhood, which they'd been going for the past 5 years. They got lots of snacks and goodies on the way, and at the end prize fun!

ワッショイ！ School principal, vice principal, and home room teacher of my daughter's were there carrying the portable shrine.

Generally very sweet....

He told me to take his picture at dinner table.

Video here . Riding the bicycle at playground of his kindergarten after school.

Photos here . We had the last breakfast with Chris, checked out the hotel, and a car from the hotel drove us to the airport. Kids did fine on the plain, watching videos, playing games, etc. They fell asleep again about 2 hours before the landing...;-) Thank you very much for everyone for making our trip wonderful!!

Photos here . We took Uber to Arriolas for carnitas dinner. Jacob and Jen joined, too. Kids were playing with toys on the first floor, grown up kids were having fun over food and drinks on the second floor. Thank you very much, Arriolas!!

Photos here . Needed some change on breakfast, we left hotel and went to a bakery a couple blocks away. It was a bit cold in the outside but fun to do people watch while having breakfast. Emily came over to have pool together at the hotel. She was so happy she didn't bother not staying with her in water. Amazing. We walked to Ferry bldg, and Emily fell asleep on a stroller. Then we had lunch at San Francisco Fish Company there for lunch. Everybody enjoyed good sea food meal. Then ice cream for dessert, and coffee and waffle from Blue Bottle . To burn some calories, we hit the park. We walked back to the hotel, stopping by Will and Toddy's office and said good bye to Emily.

Photos here . Some coincidences the major team members were in San Francisco at the same time, thanks for Will's nice suggestion, the dinner was set for that night. Firs try was at Cheesecake Factory on top of the Macy's bldg., though it was a failure - 2.5 hours wait. So, we changed venue to E&O . Luckily they had a private room so we didn't have to worry about kids making noise. Thank you very much, everyone!

Photos here . Breakfast at buffet to start the day. I started having my veggie juice for my breakfast instead of having American breakfast they served at the hotel as my tummy was getting tired of heavy food in America... Anyhow, we left kids with Christ, we went for more shopping and Wholefoods in Ren's old 'hood. It was a pure happiness to be able to eat lots of green!

Photos here . Kids love Uncle Chris. They simply didn't leave him alone. They went to pool with him and Auntie Emi, and had lots of fun, even Riku was not afraid of water! As Ren had some business meetings, we went out with Chris to go meet Emily and her mom, Sacchi. We took muni N, and the driver made an announcement that it had to stop as it had to wait for police... Suspicious... We made a move and got off as it could take forever to start moving. Then we started walking, the muni started moving, too...! You fooled me... Anyhow, we walked about 7 blocks and managed to meet Emily and Sacchi at 9th & Irving. We had lunch at la Boulange , and walked to Academy of Science as it started raining and too cold to play in a play ground. It was very well organized, and we loved the rainforest dorm. And their cafe was wonderful, I should check out next time. We took muni back to hotel, and kids were all exhausted, fighting not to sleep on the ride.

Photos here . Big fun in the evening. Dinner with Dave & Sara, and her parents!! We ate too much... I always forget the size of the food in America... Great thing about the Chinese restaurant, especially family own/style, they don't mind kids playing on the floor. We could just let Mo rolling his cars everywhere while we were busy eating and talking. Then Chris showed up. Kids got more excited. It was wonderful having you all around the table!

Photos here . First thing we did was shopping at Old Navy, and made our humble contribution to the American economy. We took F because Mo insisted on getting on a different color one , although we couldn't tell which one was coming when...! So, we took street car to Ferry bldg., they had farmer's market. So, we picked up some food and fruits for lunch. We took a walk to Exploratorium . Checked out auto-cleaning public bathroom, water fountain, what used to be TCHO shop, etc., on the way. Kids (including the big kids) loved the exhibits! All kinds of touch-feel type of displays everywhere. Auntie Emi left for hotel, and we kept going as Ton & Mo wanted to take cable car. It was a little far for us to walk to the cable car stop, we took rikisha. It was a nice slow ride feeling the nice wind and sun. So, we get there, waited in line for about 30-40 min, finally we could get on the head of the car! Kids tried to hang on the side, though it made me a little nervous...

Photos here . Had breakfast with Barbara baba & Auntie Emi at buffet at the hotel. Chikage had many summer break homework assignments and one of them was a craft, so we asked the twins' help on making a bead bag for her. After working on it for some time, we went outside for the city adventure. Took F like tourists, went to Westfield mall, had big American size ice cream, etc. Then we took bus to Arisa's for dinner. We cooked GYOZA! Arisa's friend Kaori was there with her kids, too, and we celebrated her son's birthday. Ton & Mo had fun with them and Riki, Arisa's son. Thank you very much, Arisa!

Photos here . Got up in a tent, kids were very happy the could stay in the outside sleeping...! Peter made pancake & bacon breakfast for everyone. Ton, Mo, and Ren left to take ferry in the city, meanwhile Ockners and I went to a play date with Jacob's soon to be kindergarten friends. Then we drove in San Francisco to meet everybody at Alta Plaza Park. It was wonderful catching up with friends and families on this side of the ocean!! Kids were very happy playing with other friends, too! We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful people around! Then we took Uber to Palace Hotel. Mo passed out off course, everybody was too tired to go out, we just had dinner at a restaurant at the hotel.

Photos here . Enjoying the pool & hot tub. Lunch at Weezy's with sliders, and ice cream dessert at three twins . Kids wanted to go camping so decided to have a tent up in the backyard so that they can sleep there. Then you must have s'mores!! I gave up counting how many of those each kid had...

Photos here . After dropping off the boys at day camp, we went to shopping at Target! Then we made big salad and pasta for dinner.

Photos here . Hit Farmer's market again in the late morning, we picked up good fruits and veggies. Then Arriolas came by for pool and hot tub fun!

Photos here . After boys' day camp, we packed our lunch and took ferry ride to San Francisco. We met with Peter, Jacob's dad at Ferry Bldg for late lunch, then went to a new park nearby. Giant's game was on that evening, Peter decided to leave early with us around 4 in the afternoon.

Photos here . Jacob and Mo started Day Camp from today. After picking them up, we went to Northgate Mall to have lunch. Kids enjoyed the kiddy train ride inside the mall, picked up some pretzels to go, then we had pool again back home. Life in Marin!

Photos here . Checked out Farmer's Market at Civic Center and picked up some good fruits and vegetables. Kids wanted to ride bicycles so we went to the water park again and kids played a lot!

Photos here . Kids slept through the night and started a day with hot chocolate for breakfast. We spent our day local. Walked Teddy, went to a near by park called "water park", and had fun in pool. Life in suburbia!

Finally finished uploading all the photos from the trip in West Coast, and I'll start posting in groups. Photos here . So we took 10 hours flight to SFO. Jen came to pick us up, and we settled in her house. Teddy was super happy to see Ren again, both Ton and Mo did not slow down at all despite of the travel.

 Osaka style sushi for lunch. Girl loves sea eel! And off course gelato for dessert. Green tea for girl, mango for boy.

Breakfast at City Bakery. Today's soup is burdock.

Photos here . After the birthday party, we headed out to Lucas' for play date/dinner. There were some friends of Ton's from Nishimachi already, and they started playing together immediately. Nobody got hurt, they were quiet while watching a movie, not much screaming. Amazing. Lucas' mom&dad cooked wonderful dinner and we enjoyed sophisticated buffet style dinner with candles. Thank you very much, guys!

Photos here . Two of Ton's class mates had birthday party. The most of all class mates from the same class gathered, ran around, played around, watched an entertainer make balloons, and ate the cake, the whole cake without cutting. Lots of sugar!

"Summer break, ice skate, great fun."

The long line was gone this time, plus we saw Riku's friends from pre school there, kids wanted to try their French fries.