so, you probably want to know all about the birthday. well...it didn't start out all that well. and i don't mean the shots...

first, it's kind of a long drive. yoshi hasn't been feeling well lately (i chalk that up to his changing his sleeping habits) and he had a headache in the car. then, when we got to the aquarium, i discovered that the juice i had prepared for hiro had leaked all over, and the cheerful manner i was trying to keep up for yoshi immediately disappeared. *sigh* but the kick in the pants was the school groups visiting the aquarium. we arrived just before noon, which is about the time that any school group in japan has just finished up their bentos and they are unleashed on whatever museum/zoo/public facility they are visiting.

there were at least two kindergarten groups, an elementary group consisting of several grades (and maybe more than one school) and a junior high group. now, while i understand that being outside of the school setting is exciting, and hanging out with your friends at the aquarium is fun, sometimes i see such lack of discipline that it makes me so angry. my impression of young japanese boys (and to a lesser extent, girls) is not very high. there was one group of boys, maybe fourth or fifth grader, who i just wanted to take aside and give a 'time-out'. but, since they had no respect for any adult, and no obvious adult supervision (parent or teacher), there really wasn't anything to do but endure. and that's what japanese people do so well...*sigh*

the trip to the aquarium was not turning out as i had expected. i didn't think we'd be the only ones there, but i didn't expect several groups of school children running, jumping, shouting, banging on tanks and hitting other students to be there either. thankfully, thankfully, they were pretty much gone by 2 pm. after that we enjoyed another dolphin show (the first one was crowded, and i pretty much missed it because i was feeding hiro his bento.), looked at the big tank with all the sharks again and pretty much enjoyed the nice atmosphere of the place. i don't know if we'll go back any time soon. hiro looked at some things but in general didn't really seem to get the point...

oh, and i made these beautiful bentos, but i forgot to take a picture! how silly of me! anyway, i made tofu burgers and put them on top of sauted bean sprouts, steamed carrots, scrambled eggs with garlic and spinach and half a mikan. i added some sliced cucumber to give it a little more color. it was quite delicious, if i do say so myself!

after the aquarium we went to a aeon shopping center in kashiinohama. it was starting to get rainy, so it was nice to walk around the mall. i now have an appointment for a massage in a couple of weeks...we also had dinner there, but since it was 4:30, we were able to get lunch-time prices. cool!

all in all, it was an enjoyable day, as soon as my mood improved...*sigh* my poor boys...