Green tea shaved ice

Very first one for the year. Getting hot!

Miso soup bowls done!

Bowls kids curved in Yamanaka hotspring, Kanazawa arrived by delivery, after lacquer.

A little exercise at park

Videos of:
Papa Papa trying to flag pole.
Ton pretending flag pole.
Mo pretending flag pole.

Breakfast at City Bakery

Typical breakfast at City Bakery. They have bagel now!

Kaley's 3rd birthday party

The second birthday party for the day. Happy birthday, Kaley! Here's a short video of Mo enjoying his drink.

Dasty's 3 years old birthday party at a little park

Heart shaped pita bread

Pizza at Nakameguro Taproom

Evan was in town for business trip, so we met up with friends we had met through work years ago at Taproom in Nakameguro. As papa has shareholder's discount, it was pretty cheap! It was fun and we didn't bother taking photos.

Break at Sawamura, Hiroo after park

Mo made purple smoothie

He likes making smoothies these days. It's a blend of banana, blueberry, apple juice, and milk.

Kimono contest

Attended a kimono contest on last Sun, and won gold medal. I had to dress myself in KURO TOMESODE, which is a black formal kimono for married women, in 7 min. including OBI belt in formal style, too. I wasn't happy about how I could finish up on stage, 45 score out of 100 scale, personally. I was told it was because I could dress myself calmly on stage, but still wonder how I could won the award. Anyhow, the big event is over now, and I can relax a bit. Thank you very much for your support!!

Breakfast at City Bakery

Cheer myself up to get through the day.

Dinner at Homeworks with tired kids

After a long day of taiko and ice skate, we made it to Homeworks for dinner...

Paletas frozen bar at Midtown

New shop in Midtown called Paletas has popsicle made with fruits and vegetables. These are not too sweet and I like it!

Egg sandwiches

 Egg salad sandwich & green smoothie for breakfast

Egg omlet sandwich from Amanoya.

Birthday gift from Ikko kun

Mo's friend from kindergarten got him these birthday gifts. Bandana his dad was involved with production, and cookies from his mom. Thank you!

Kanazawa trip by Hokuriku Shinkansen for Mo's 6th birthday

So, for Mo's 6th birthday, we took Hokuriku Shinkansen, the latest one as he requested during golden week. He was so excited, woke up pretty early in the morning, and made his shinkansen flag with message. Before the departure, we hit Shirubia coffee in Shimbasehi, which conveniently opens from 7am, to have a breakfast. It was very quiet as the most of the people were gone for vacation.

Kanazawa station was mad crowded, off course. We tried one rotating sushi restaurant recommended by a friend near the station, but couldn't get in after 1.5 hour wait... So, we bought lunch at the station and took onto the next train to hot spring where we stayed for 2 nights.

Some videos:
Hokuriku Shinkansen entering
Kagayaki coming in to platform
Mo's impression of Hokuriku Honsen local train

Thunderbird coming in at Kanazawa station

At Kaga Onsen station, while waiting for the ryokan inn's bus departure, we watched some festival dance they performed to welcome tourists for the area.

After checking in at ryokan called Hana Tsubaki, we went to take bath, off course, and relaxed. They have 3 kinds of bath: 1 inside, 1 outside, and 1 outside and mix. Kids loved the one outside & mix as it wasn't too hot to sit in the hot tub. Dinner was a food fight, it kept coming...

On the day 2, we took a local tour bus to downtown to check out lacquer festival. They had food venders, all kinds of lacquer wears, and kids tried make your own bowl: 
Mo curving a bowl 1
Mo curving a bowl 2
Mo curving a bowl 3
Mo curving a bowl 4
Mo sanding a bowl

Ton curving a bowl 1
Ton curving a bowl 2
Ton curving a bowl 3
Ton sanding a bowl

These bowls should be finished with lacquer and shipped to us soon... Then we walked around the area, went up to a temple to pray and drink sweet tea for good health after Buddha's birthday, had some snacks here and there, met portable shrine from Hakusan Shrine, checked out the largest Japanese cedar, before going back to the ryokan. It started raining when we were in outside mix bath, and we gave up staying in the hot tub as it started pouring rain.

Photos here.

On day 3, we checked out the ryokan, head back to the Kaga Onsen station, took a train back to Kanazawa. Again, the station was super crowded, long lines of people waiting for the tour buses. Called the hotel we were staying, and took a local bus which wasn't crowded at all, and dropped off our luggage before starting the city tour. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk along the Sai river in front of the hotel. And we saw the rotating sushi restaurant (chain) we couldn't get in on the first day, from bus on the way to the hotel, we started walking for that for our lunch. There it was, no lines at all, we waited only a few minutes then got our seat! Kids were very happy as the latest shinkansen delivered the sushi to the table. As you can imagine, the local seafood they had were awesome, despite of the long holiday, which means no market.

Tank filled, we took a bus to check out touristy stuff. First we went to The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. It was a Child's Day, and they had several different kids of miniature trains running. And it was free! Then kids checked out 3D planetarium, several arts in public space, had pizza and gelato, and we enjoyed good coffee and the sun. Some videos:
Riding a mini SL
SL backing up
Mo on a ride
Mo on a train ride
Mo on a train ride coming back
Ton & Mama on a train ride
Turrell Room at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
"Colour activity house" by Olafur Eliasson
Elevator at the museum like an art

We took another tour bus to check out East side, and was some old buildings. Kids weren't thrilled about those and getting tired, we went to Ohmicho Market for dinner. This one is a video from a temple that had a rotating shelf filled with Buddhist scriptures.

Wazo, rotating shelf for sutras

 

We stayed at a small hotel called Yuya Ruru Saisai.  It worked out well as it's located on the other side of the Sai river, away from the tourist areas. After checked out, on the last day, we head to Kenrokuen, a famous garden in Kanazawa, and signed up for a tea sweet lesson. It was a fun lesson we could make 3 different kids of tea sweets. Kids also had fun, and we bought some gifts to take home, including the sweets we made. Then we walked over to Kanazawa castle. They had some event going on, and kids found a bouncy house. They spent almost an hour playing, and papa went to check out the castle. Then we bought bought some lunch to take on the shinkansen back to Tokyo, and ended the trip happily.

Photos here.

Vermicelli pulao

Using left over vermicelli we adopted from Y&G, made this Indian dish. I've never had a real one so can't tell if it's genuine, but it tasted good to me.

Helmet Mo made for happy Children's Day

Taiko at NIS Flea Market

Ton, Mo, and myself joined the taiko performance at Nishimachi International School for their Flea Market. Photos here. Videos below:

"Dragon vs Tiger" 1
"Dragon vs Tiger" 2
"Dragon vs Tiger" 3
"Dragon vs Tiger" 4
"Dragon vs Tiger" 5

"Dajin"

"Buchiawase Daiko" 1
"Buchiawase Daiko" 2

Picnic lunch on school trip at Arisugawa Park

First school trip of the year at kindergarten. We came back from Kanazawa the day before and purchased some of the pressed sushi which are Toyama pref. local gourmet for lunch. Orange one is trout, and white one is yellow tail. Nice weather, kids had fun!

Godzilla at Midtown

Sea eel rice for dinner

Bought my favorite sea eel rice bento box from Ueno, sold at TAU, a Hiroshima pref. antenna shop . Yum!

Ice cream break

Flying carp made by kids at kindergarten

Kids' art project of the month. They made flying carp with colorful plastic.

うえのの穴子飯 Sea eel rice from Ueno

Hassaku orange rice cake