Soleil Spoon Dance

Keep your eye on Sam. Not sure what brought on this burst of energy in either of them.

Well it was pretty dang funny to Ericka and I.

Orbicularis Oris

I have a feeling Ericka took these photos of Miki on their way back from school for the day. It`s not uncommon for her to exercise her many facial muscles when she is tired and giddy.

The Vinyl Tree

Our first plastic Christmas tree ever. In fact, this is the first tree in 7 years that I haven`t had to cut down myself! Oh, well, what`s a woodchuck in Tokyo to do?

Ericka brought home the 150cm. high tree this year and we assembled it about a week ago (I know, I`m a bit slow with the updates recently). Miki and Ericka have been making ornaments out of construction paper and pinecones. It`s all good.

Illumination

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Shinjuku South Terrace Illumination Event for the Christmas & New Years holiday. We visited one day last weekend with the girls and it dawned on Ericka and I later that same night that she & I were here 10 years ago and so witnessed the 1st event. Yippee.

Anyway, it is pretty impressive, even if you don`t have little ones in tow. Loads of people come out and stroll around and dozens of amateur photographers pose their tripods and jockey for the right angle.

By this point in the evening, we had been out and about for most of the day, Miki was quite tired and silly. Hence the funny faces you see here.

Merry "lights up" Christmas!

VIDEO: Chicken-chicken, peck-peck

VIDEO: Click on the play button.

Sam learning that a chicken "pecks" its food.

VIDEO: Boogie Feet

VIDEO: Click on the play button.

Miki cutting the rug one silly afternoon.

Autumn Swing

A beautiful fall day last weekend and we visited "our" park for an afternoon swing and scramble around the monkey bars.

Voodoo Wazoo

Finally bought a bike. I have been looking forward to the day for about a year and a half now.

Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision. Ever since converting my mountain bike in B.C. for commuting purposes about 7 years ago, I have been envious of all those skinny-tired, non-shock absorbing forks folks who I saw whizz by basking in their efficiently pedaled glow.

Since I wanted all the sleekness and rigidity of a road bike but knew I'd be pulling our Chariot child carrier behind me some days, I decided on a steel frame rather than aluminum. I eventually chose a cyclocross bike by Voodoo; the Wazoo. The guy at the shop gave me a deal since it was the last such model in the store. Carbon fiber forks, sliding dropouts (in case I want to convert it to a single speed), clipless pedals, Ritchey handlebars, FSA Omega cranks and Shimano components. Beautiful.

And the best part of all? I absolutely love to ride it. It's the best bike I've owned (apart from my 1st bike, of course). It's fast, responsive, comfortable and smooth.

Autumn...

"Aki" (pronounced: ah-key), in Japanese...

...has sprung, or fallen as the case may be. Today was actually a cold day. It has been raining heavily here for the past 2 days and the wind sends it sideways. Umbrellas are pretty useless.

Anyway, the change in the weather came as a disappointing surprise because the previous week had been absolutely gorgeous. Crisp, clear sky and sunny. T-shirts and for those who could stay out of the shadows, shorts were adequate. Just a few days ago I said to Ericka, "Can you believe this is mid-November weather? If we were in Nanaimo now the wood stove would be roaring!" And yes, although there is a nice cozy place and time for all that, it is nice after 7 seasons to be in warmer (drier) climate this time of year.

Happy Autumn!

Kewpie

Pronounced "Q-pee", is a strange little baby in diapers mascot for a brand of mayonaise here. The baby even has a tuft of hair sticking up like a rooster. Here's Sam doing her best imitation.

Gettin' her ya-ya's out

Miki, a wee bit tired on the way home from school the other day, was struck with a case of the sillies and started dancing on the manhole cover. If you think the photo is good, you should see the video.

More Halloween Photos

Our apartment complex hosted a Halloween trick-or-treat gathering for all the kids a few weeks back and although it started early (4pm, so I was still at work), Ericka took some photos of the girls in their costumes.

On a sunny, warm day in...November?

Yup, hard to believe when you consider that our last 7 fall seasons have been in the rain-drenched, cloudy and frigid Pacific northwest.

A few Saturdays ago I put Miki in the Chariot (our awesome "transformer" stroller), clipped her to my bike and we pedaled into the next town over, Machida. As I have never biked there before and with only my photographic memory recall of the area on Google Earth the night before, we set out. Loads of fun. Made it in about 20 minutes, met Mama & Sam at a coffee shop and we sat on the mini-veranda for tea while Miki had a matcha green tea doughnut.

Yoyogi Koen

Yoyogi Park.

The autumn season is here and although the foliage has nothing on Vermont (or the rest of New England, for that matter) we decided to check out one of the largest parks in Tokyo to see how the colours were coming along. Turns out, it's too early. We still had a good time, however. Weather was great, Miki got to run around silly in the park and Ericka and I got to explore some interesting side streets. We even found a great organic restaurant for lunch in some out of the way neighborhood that offered quiet patio dining. Before jumping back on the train to head home, we strolled thru a famous shrine complex called Meiji Jingu. Late afternoon soon, very peaceful, it was a great way to cap our family Sunday afternoon.