so, sasha got a bike! her birthday is august 31, which is basically the last day of summer vacation. and sure, she can ride her bike after getting home from kindy, but she loves to ride hiro's bike and the bickering was getting out of control! so, tuesday morning, before 9 am, the fighting was driving me crazy and so i said, 'that's it! we're going to costco and getting sasha a bike!' so, we got ready and headed to costco. we actually made good time and got there before it opened. of course, that's exactly when sasha needed to go to the bathroom. instead of being the first customers to stroll into costco, we actually had to wait for the crowd to disperse before going in.

we headed straight for the kids stuff and tried to wrangle a bike onto a cart. the box was far bigger than the cart but i managed it somehow. then i found the latest issue for national geographic and then we were done! fastest costco trip ever! so we paid for the bike and then got some lunch. yum! it was an early lunch, but we all got hot dogs so i just cut the kids' dogs in half and they saved them for later.

tommy was having trouble with his shorts (hand-me-downs from hiro and the elastic was dead) so i stopped over at the gap to get him some new pants. they were having a 30% off everything sale and found a couple of t-shirts marked way down so i got him a couple of shirts, too.

then we were off to aeon in kashihama to go to the toys r us and look for a basket for sasha's bike. the didn't have any, but we did get hiro and sasha helmets! then back towards home but first i went to the coin laundry to dry some clothes while we went to the next place.

next on our to-do list was go to nafco (DIY store) to get something for zorro's leash, a light bulb and some kitty litter. i had no idea where the piece i needed for the leash was so i had to go down every aisle in the hardware department. suddenly hiro had to go the the bathroom. nafco is a big place, and the toilet is actually outside the building so we had to take time to do that. eventually i found the thing i needed, couldn't remember what kind of light bulb i wanted and so we headed over to the pet department. i got the kitty litter and then we checked out the pets. hiro was fascinated by the birds. there were actually a couple of kittens (awwww) and loads of puppies. not to mention the fish. so, anyway, after a little while i was ready to leave. i told the kids that it was time to go and hiro balked. i went to the register (which is next to the pet department) and tommy and sasha went with me. hiro refused. i paid for the stuff and told hiro i was going. i expected him to follow us, but when i got to the car, it was only sasha and tommy. hiro did not come to the car. so, we went back inside and couldn't find hiro! after looking for him in the pet department i went to the service counter (i hoped they could make an announcement or contact the employees by walkie-talkie) but then i found out the employees there are less than useful. *sigh* after immediately determining that i couldn't speak japanese (BS) the lady behind the counter called for the only employee that could speak english. which he could, but he was a nervous young man who had no experience (and perhaps nafco has little experience) in searching for small children in the store. anyway, a long 40 minutes later (in which only i and the man looked for hiro), hiro was found in the plants department. which is outside. ugh. anyway, that was a wasted afternoon and the kids couldn't go in the splash pool when we got home. we picked up the dry laundry and headed home.

after that ordeal poor sasha wanted me to put her bike together but i needed a break! after a bit, though, i got the bike out of the box. it was mostly put together, really all i needed to do was put on the training wheels! that was nice and easy. of course, i checked that the handle bars were ok and the brakes worked, and then sasha was off and riding! hiro is happy to have a riding partner and tommy wants a new bike. NOW! *sigh*

on sunday i went to kita-q to start teaching a private lesson. i have taken over for kuri for the time being, since she's about ready to pop and her student wants to continue lessons. i think this will be for a few months and then we'll all decide on where to move on from there. my thanks to kuri for this, it's been a long time since i've had any work and i really appreciate it!

while i was out, yoshi somehow managed to damage tommy (on accident!) and i ended up taking him to holiday hours at the local hospital on sunday night. poor little bloke got a staple, but he didn't cry, neither when the doctor swabbed the cut, nor when it was stapled closed. on monday morning i had to take him back to have it checked, and it's fine. we have to go back next monday, presumably to have the staple removed. not a lot of fun with three genki kids! they were mostly good, though, so i got them a snack for the car and we headed to costco! always a blast for them, and discovered that the snack bar is now selling hawaiian pizza. i was never a fan but now that i have been in japan for so long, any pizza that isn't corn and tuna infested is a treat! i ended up eating half a slice because the kids couldn't handle it (sasha wanted hawaiian, tommy wanted cheese and hiro wanted a hot dog. got the food and sasha decided she didn't like hawaiian pizza--can't blame her there--and tommy wanted a hotdog, but hiro didn't want to share. sasha and tommy swapped pizza, and actually ate that part and tommy 'sharked' hiro's hotdog, which means he grabbed it up when hiro put it down because he was full. still a big fight, though, because it was hiro's and even if he couldn't eat it, that didn't mean he didn't want anyone else to, either...) kuri and the pinglet met us there just in time for lunch, and then it was time for shopping!

got essentials for taking to gajin wife's house (vodka, lemons, combo pizza), plus had an ice cream while waiting for the pizza to cook. then we all headed back to our house, but a sudden crazy rain storm ended any ideas of the kids playing in the splash pool. but the pinglet was ready for that and instead asked to play with dress up clothes and was snow white for the rest of the afternoon. it was lovely to have them over, though it's probably the last time for a while. fingers crossed for an easy labor and recovery for kuri!

i think i'll write another post about our visit to oita and the ever popular gaijin wife!

yesterday the kids and i went to costco. it's been a long time since i've been to costco this time around! and it's an expensive endeavor when hiro is with us. especially when we go to see the bunnies (petting zoo near the movie theater). but it was great to go when i actually needed to go, not just because i wanted to. and i managed to stick to my list and didn't buy anything not on my list and ended up spending what i thought i would spend. win!

after costco (and before bunnies) we hit the gap outlet shop to get some clothes for spring and summer. got five shirts for hiro and loads of things for sasha, including three dresses. sasha even picked out a dress for herself. of course, i didn't have her try anything on at the store (she'd kind of between sizes) but did when we got home. experience has taught me to do this before cutting off tags and washing things, and we found out the dresses are too tight across her chest. luckily the shirts all fit and so did the shorts (too big, to be honest. slim hips, that's my girl!) but i knew we'd have to take the dresses back and get the next size up.

this morning dawned warm, you could really tell the difference even in the house. i was so ready to kick off the feather comforter. it is also really windy here today, not only at our house. straight from the south, it is a strong, warm wind (completely opposite from the wind we had on thursday, strong and cold from the north). i am ready to say that winter is over! yipee! so, anyway, after yoshi went to work (yes, i know it's saturday. he left at nine instead of six) i somehow managed to get the kids in the car and we went back to the gap. i had sasha try on the next size up dresses, and noticed one of them had a hole in the back near the zipper. it was the only one in that size, though, so they are sending it in to be repaired and we should hopefully have it by next week. i hope so, since it was my favorite of the bunch! LOL

we had a little snack at misudo and then had to come back home, because airhead me forgot the diaper bag (took it out of the car to replace some diapers. i should know better because the diaper bag never comes out of the car!!) and we were going to go to a big 'fureai park' here in town, but the wind is crazy and i think it's going to rain soon. gotta love spring!

so...nablopomo is posting every day. i just write what i always write, you know. i usually have an idea that i'll write something interesting, or something i've been thinking about, but usually, by the time i get to write, i'm just wiped out and just put something up just to meet the quota.

this morning sasha, tommy and i went to costco. i got some great deals, some dishes, some clothes, things like that. i also found the turkeys but i don't think i'm going to do thanksgiving dinner this year so i'll probably wait until next month before getting one. i have to go to the school on thanksgiving day, anyway. we also have to go to the school on christmas day, but only in the morning, so i hope to have a nice dinner then.

after putting all our purchases in the car, i herded my two lovelies to the glasses shop in the strip mall, because their contact lens care stuff is always 50% off. on the way i noticed some people with gap bags, more than one and i got excited: was there a gap here now? they've been remodeling and building around the mall so i walked a bit further and yep! there was a gap! i was so excited! i've been looking for shirts for sasha (just something plain--no prints, no stupid english, just solids!) and haven't been up to driving to the city (either fukuoka or kitakyushu) so yay! got some clothes at the gap. the store is actually a "the gap generation" which seems to be a kind of outlet, the prices were lower than a usual gap.

after that, we headed home and the kids slept in the car. nice, quiet drive home....

today the kids and i had a lot of fun! yoshi had to work today, i guess he had to work at some point this (holiday) weekend so he just did it all today. so, i took the kids to costco (um...how is that a fun day??) i just barely got the kids in the car on time, because on weekends and holidays, costco is something of a nightmare. but we got there about ten minutes before it opens (although it had just opened when we got there. sometimes they open the doors early when there's a huge crowd.) i made a bee-line for the game software, i really wanted the new wii fit plus. i got it (for 1600 yen, if you're interested) and bought it. then we had to do a potty break (sasha is in underpants full-time during the day now!) and then it was time for pizza. of course, after two bites (from hiro) and eating all the pepperoni (that was tommy and sasha) they all declared they were full and wanted to see the bunnies! i waffled over going back through costco and in the end plowed through one more time (in a couple of weeks a le creuset set is going to be on sale and i wanted to check it out: frying pan, dutch oven and 2 (?) utensils. the frying pan is smaller than the one i already have. the downside: it's orange, not one of my favorite colors) and get a couple of other things. we survived our second time through, checked out fairly quickly and then got in our car.

the new petting zoo (but looks like a lot of the former animals are still there. i wonder what they did during their 'vacation'...) is on the other side of the toriasu shopping center and i waffled (again) about driving over there or taking the shuttle bus. the kids would have loved the bus, but i had all that pizza and didn't want to be too far from the car....so we drove over to the cinema side and yep! all the parking was full. i was driving up the aisle and this car was trying to park, but they were NOT good at it at all. finally they gave up and drove off. another car which had been there longer than us drove past the spot so i just took it! yay for me! we went to the petting zoo (i have to pay 300 yen for three of us now. *sigh* but the kids really enjoyed it.) there were a lot of people there, but that meant the animals weren't starving (when i went there last week with sasha and tommy we were nearly stampeded!!) so we could enjoy giving them some grub. (in the monkeys' case, that is literal! LOL)

next we did a whirlwind view of the animals in the pet store, and then we went to the onsen. did you know there is an onsen there? at the toriasu shopping center? well, there is. and there's quite a few baths, too. regular big pool, funny 'beppu' pool (smells like sulpher (gah! i think mozilla wants me to write 'sulfur' neener neener)), jacuzzi, cold bath (man, the kids love that one! weirdos!), super hot bath, electric bath, 'medicine' bath (which changes day to day, i think) and the outside rotenburo bath (totally redundant there, i know, but not everyone who reads my blog understands japanese!) there are also two saunas, one 'regular' and one 'medicine'. shoot, i forgot what today's medicine was. kinda evergreen-y. anyway, the kids loved it, and so did i. we went into every bath, i even got into the electric bath, except it didn't shock me. how weird.

after our bath we went back to the car. i called my mom and had a short chat, and the kids wanted their pizza! funny kids. then we went home, and everyone fell asleep. i got to try out the new wii fit (fun!) and update project pictures on ravelry. then the kids woke up, had a snack, then yoshi got home and then they all went out. i am here with dinner finished and waiting for them to come home. all in all, a fun day. i think sasha and tommy miss hiro so it was a great opportunity for us to spend time together again.

(p.s. i woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so i went downstairs and started up wii fit again. i don't think i'll be getting up at four every morning, but it was good to have some 'quiet time' to do my exercises!)

so, i made a turkey yesterday, with stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, steamed vegetables and rolls. i also remembered to serve the cranberry sauce (that i forgot at christmas), which tommy and sasha remembered and pigged-out on. yoshi wanted to invite his co-worker and his family over some time, and since i had the turkey (which was marked down to a great price at costco) *and* it's still heavy-dinner weather (that is, winter-cold) we had a nice afternoon dinner with them. afterward wii was played and tired children were consoled, and then we went to costco (they had never been but really wanted to see what it was like). they are nice and their kids are about the same age as hiro and sasha, but oh, what a long day for me. especially since i stayed up late tidying and got up early to clean and prepare the food. i was also worried because as i was stuffing the turkey, i kept finding ice in it! i cooked the turkey on the steam option, and it was done in less than three hours, so now i know what the steam oven is capable of.

at costco sasha and hiro wanted to ride in the cart. i had put tommy in first so there was a lot of shouting and crying. eventually we put tommy in the other cart but then sasha got really worried, asking where tommy was. (we kind of separated as we had different interests) and then later on when we met up, tommy was anxious to be held (well, he also needed a diaper change!) but everyone survived, aided by lots of ice cream!

yoshi's co-worker is new in town, they've only been in fukuoka for about four months. i am sure we will be having them over again some time soon.

before my mom came to visit, i asked her to bring some 'light' pajamas for sasha. for most of the summer the kids slept in their diapers, because it's just so darn hot here. but as the weather changed and the nights got cooler, i didn't have anything for sasha to wear. she's a little stove and it didn't bother her much, but i felt bad as a mother. i had some old pajamas that were hiro's, but i wanted at least one pair of pajamas that were pink or said 'princess' or something. so, i asked my mom to get something.

well, mom brought several. it was awesome. we got kitties and ballerinas and cupcakes. pink and purple and teal.

then we went to costco. they had a six pack of kids' sleep-n-play outfits, so we got one for sasha (pink with hearts theme) on one for tomo (blue with sheep theme). but since we had so many new ones from mom, i didn't try to put one on sasha until earlier this week. even though we bought 18 months size, it was far too small. obviously NOT the right size too small. sasha has been eating very well lately and gaining weight, but she wasn't that big! i had already washed the clothes, cut off the tag (they came in a bag) and threw away the receipt. but costco took them back and gave them my money. yoshi may complain about paying a member fee every year, but that member's card proved that i bought the clothes there and got me my money back (um, but this means costco tracks what i buy, doesn't it...that's ok, that just means they'll continue to carry the stuff i like, right?) very pleased with costco.

now, if only they'd start carrying cheerios....