Time for Baikingu

Baikingu is the theme for today's post.  Despite the scary similarity to our word for "biking" it has absolutely nothing to do with that.

Baikingu is the word for Japanese smorgasbord.

Shhhhh.....Dad instantly assumes thumb-sucking fetal position if the kids or I even mention the word "bike" these days, so we try to only say it a few times a day...  then we giggle.


Since July, besides avoiding certain intersections and making G and JE dress in disguise,

we have enjoyed (endured?) a smorgasbord of activities and I will try to give you a little taste of the most memorable ones!

We all know the first weeks of school are a confusing flurry of new names, new rules and new directions,  plus a snowstorm of medical forms, sports sign-up sheets and class schedules, and an avalanche of extra-curricular information and fees to pay...

My usual August...

 Add to that having to learn where your child will go during earthquakes, and knowing that IF your child misses the bus,  Mom has to accompany them on a hour-long train ride (not cheap!) to get out to the very remote campus.

In other words, I've been a little busier than usual getting my cherubs organized.

My house makes this look tidy....

  Mom has been to the school twice (for interviews and then orientation) and Mom is pretty sure she will never be able to find her way home alone.  So MY groggy, half-dressed, half-fed child will be on that stinkin' bus....period.  (Ohhh and actually they love the bus...pro-football teams would be envious.)

I have also been busy designing our new family crest...thanks in part to our Bumbling Bicycle Bozo Baby Boy and his affinity for clobbering contentious crones.

The aforementioned new family crest will be strategically placed on our cycling shirts, our helmets, maybe even our bike shorts.

You are the first to see my design:

Hopefully it will ward off any future litigious Nihon-jin.

Okay, so onto happier subjects...since my last post, JE celebrated turning 11 with a marathon of birthday events!!

Party Number One was just with the family, a little early (July) so that her Cake Boss sister could make an amazing confection and reveal her creation as a big surprise after our usual dinner at the TAC.


 The attached movie shows the surprise cake presentation!  (well, it might if I did it right)

E shows Kunio how she wants the cake sliced.

Birthday girl was thrilled with her sister's gift!!

We ended the first party with a few games at the TAC bowling alley.

G in action

Her smile says it all!!

Party Number Two was another dinner at the TAC...this time with school friends, and a lovely dessert plate presented as a gift by the staff of the Rainbow Cafe....SO NICE!!!!

Party Number Two was followed by a trip up the Tokyo Tower, with all of us bravely standing on the clear glass floor high above Tokyo on the dizzying heights of the Observation Deck.   WOW!

Tokyo Tower

Da boys

Da view

Da mom standing on the clear glass floor!!!

Not finished yet, Party Number Two continued on to our home, with a movie night sleepover, followed by homemade waffles for breakfast the next morning!!!

Ohh and by the way, my years of lower back pain may have some of you wondering how I am managing all this walking, biking and backpack grocery shopping????
I am convinced it is my new shoes!!!   I live in them so I have to share my discovery!!!!



Also in August, hoping to get a great "whole family" trip in before the big kids left for school, we attempted a trip to Hakone, with the hopes of getting a great family picture in front of Mount Fuji.

On the long train ride to Hakone (oh yeah...Mom tried pushing the matchy-shirt-color-for-our-family- trip thing again....Veruca said no.)

Ohhh but there ARE no decent weather forecasts for Fuji, (need a career?...try meteorologist in Japan...we need you!) so despite leaving on a sunny morning in Tokyo...we arrived to winds and skies that evoked memories of  Dorothy's day in Kansas.


Pretty sure we saw Auntie Em
fly by our gondola.

This one (gripping his valuables) high above the Earth presents a pretty convincing "calm" facade...

This one, (as we swing in the howling wind) manages to contain her fear to her facial expression...

This one never stopped shrieking, blubbering and drooling on her father's leg, while vowing to kill all of us if she survived.

A tries to escape before rain hits land.

So here is Hakone...best view we ever got...no Fuji to be seen.

View (ha!) of Swan Boats.  The weather actually managed to get worse while we attempted a drenching, wind-blown tour of the lake....E clinging to M's ankles, still vowing to kill him.

So...to sum up, this is the closest I have been to Fuji so far....my new grocery market having a Grand Opening Sale...so Fuji apples are ONLY $3.00 apiece!!!!!

And yes, we made another Saturday dinner trip to Andy's Shinhinomoto!  Andy snuck up behind me with an uncooked menu item he claimed to be a sea bull scrotum.  I squealed so loud the earthquake  alarm went off...

The fabulous HUGE scallops were a delightful way for him to apologize.

Okay, this next fish wasn't pretty, but it was sooooooo good!

Not to be conquered,  over the weekend I made another attempt at homemade bread.  Much better looking than my previous sad tortoiseshell thingy...but I think my problem is I am overly kneady.  Still, my family of locusts devoured it, so I'm not feeling too shabby in the baking department.

Last but not least, G found a GIANT G...and pose he did.

G at the "G" restaurant

And on that G note,  Goodnight for now from Tokyo!