christmas concert

Sota and kaito went to Shimajiro's Christmas concert.
https://kodomo.benesse.ne.jp/hiroba_concert/xmas/index.html

It's an hour and 15minutes (with a 10 minute break) full of Christmas songs & dancing and both Sota and kaito's eyes were glued to the stage. (FYI: The songs are all in Japanese)

The concert is til next week so if you have time check it out.

You can chose your seats if you purchase the tickets on eplus
http://eplus.jp/sys/main.jsp

cars2

TSUTAYA was giving out Cars 2 stickers!
Yippee! It'll be in theatres next July!

kaito was getting excited just by seeing the stickers (LOL)

TSUTAYA was promoting Cars 2 along with Toy Story 3's DVD so
you can probably get the stickers at your nearby TSUTAYA too.

Cars2.jp
Can't wait

christmas party

Sota & kaito had an early Christmas party with good friends.
There was 11 adults & 8 kids so we rented the party space and kids room in kaito's complex.

Sota mommy's carrot cake

kaito mommy's bagna cauda

lamb, lasagna, shrimp and lots of other delicious dishes that all the mommies brought.


mommies drinking champagne and talking, kids having fun playing in the kids room.
just getting together is fun but the main event of the day was...

Santa coming to visit the party!


Sota was thrilled to get an Anpanman gift.

kaito seemed a little scared of Santa but wanted the Thomas gift


Seems that that night all the kids were talking about Santa.
It must have been a memorable party for the kids.

Sushiro

A fun lunch place to go is Sushiro, a rotating sushi restaurant.
It was Sota's first time and he seemed to have a lot of fun!

All the plates are 100 yen, so the parents can let the kids eat whatever they want without worrying about the price.

They also have udon in the menu, in case your child can't eat raw fish.
Another family friendly reason is that they have a few tables connected to the conveyor belt.

Weekends are crowded with families so go early or for a late lunch to avoid waiting.
http://www.akindo-sushiro.co.jp/

Disney's CARS

kaito loves Disney's CARS so I've been on the search for the CARS sneakers (in size 14).

Online and even the stores were always sold out so as my last resort I actually called the company that sells the shoes↓
http://www.moonstar.co.jp/
to track down when & where the new stock will be arriving.

Finally after 2 months we got a pair!

He's been wearing it all day so it was totally worth the wait.

kaito also loves his CARS tableware which is sold at DAISO 100 Yen shops.


And rumor has it that CARS 2 will be coming to theaters next summer so I'm hoping it'll be easier to get CARS stuff in Japan.

BOOK-OFF SUPER BAZAAR

We recently went to the newly opened BOOK-OFF SUPER BAZAAR in Kawasaki Minatocho.

Unlike the store name BOOK-OFF, it's not only books but alot of other used stuff.
The stores are limited but some have kids clothes, baby supplies, toys and of course kids DVDs, CDs and book.

Even though it's used alot of the stuff is in good shape and of course cheaper than the original price. They have pretty much everything from baby strollers, bath items, hats, shoes, baby carriers and etc.

Kids grow out of their clothes and items so fast so why not get it for cheap or sell the stuff you don't need anymore.
Check the site to see which store close to you sells/buys kids clothes and items.
http://www.bookoff.co.jp/buy/reuse.html#kids

The BOOK-OFF in Kawasaki Minatocho is right next to Ito Yokado so after an afternoon of shopping,

we had lunch and let the kids play in the game center.

trick or treat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Sota & kaito went trick or treating for the first time!

Sota-man and kaitobug

It was actually the first time for the daddies too.

We trick or treated til it became dark.

Some houses were pretty scary and the neighbohood's Halloween vibe was just like the states!

Can't wait til next year...

Halloween

With Halloween becoming more common in Japan, there's lots of Halloween events going on!

Even our local children's hall had a Halloween party.

On the day of, kaito and Sota are gonna join a friend who lives in an international neighborhood to go trick or treating.

But if you can't go trick or treating (since it's not too common) and still wanna enjoy the Halloween spirit check out the places with Halloween events taking place.

Roppongi Hills Happy! Halloween

http://www.roppongihills.com/feature/halloween2010/

Kawasaki Halloween

http://lacittadella.co.jp/halloween/

Halloween in Tama Center

http://www.tamacenter-cm.com/halloween/

Umegaoka Cats Halloween

http://www.umegaoka.net/2010halloween/index.html

Yamate-Seiyoukan Hallowee Walk

http://www.yamate-seiyoukan.org/event/event-halloween2010.html

LEKUE Ice Cream Molds

Even though summer is over,

kaito is always saying "ice, ice".

Unfortunately, they don't sell MUJI'S 100% fruit ice which he loves so

I bought Lekue's ice cream molds It's 3500 Yen for a set of 4
which they don't sell at stores (cause it's out of season)
but luckily I found it on the net.

kaito seemed confused at first but loved it.
It's easy to make and great cause you can use 100% juice.
So even though winter is right around the corner our freezer will always be stocked with kaito's favorite ice.

Crayons for the window

I was recently introduced to Kitpas crayons which can be used to draw on the window (or white board, glass & alot of other stuff).

Sota loves to draw and uses up a whole pad of paper when he's "in the drawing mood".

So now that we have the Kitapas crayons, he can draw & erase, draw & erase on the window as many times as he wants. (Great for mommies cause it saves $ and paper)

And it makes it double the fun, to think you're drawing on something you're not really allowed to draw on.

It's about 1000 Yen for a box with 12 colors.

http://www.rikagaku.co.jp/items/kitpaskids.htm

(Japanese site only)

GAP kids model contest

If you think you're child is the cutest, enter them in the
2011 babyGap & GapKids model contest!!

It's an easy application process via PC by Nov. 14th!
(Unfortunately, the form is only in Japanese)
http://gap.co.jp/star/

MOTOSUMIYOSHI station

October 14th is known as Railway Day in Japan

so we went train-watching at Motosumiyoshi (Toyoko Line/ Meguro Line).

It's the perfect spot cause right infront of the ticket gate is rooftop garden

where the kids can watch all the trains pass.

It's a recommended hangout for train loving kids.
And luckily there's a bunch of benches so the mommies can sit down.
Bring lunch and you can spend the whole afternoon there.

Motosumiyoshi is famous for their local shopping street with bakeries, bento stores and lots more so you can buy lunch there.

Arakawa Amusement Park

When we're looking for something to do on the weekends, we check to see if there's any Anpanman shows going on at this site↓
http://anpanman.jp/shisetsu/event/nuigurumi/n_schedule_kt.html
Luckily, there were 3 locations that had the shows today so we chose to go to the closest called Arakawa Yuen. There were 2 shows (11:30am and 2:30pm) each 20 minutes long with a meet & greet afterwards.

They have some shows scheduled in October/November. and as long as you pay the 200 Yen admission for adults, you can enjoy the show.

As for the park itself it's the perfect size and a lot of fun for the kids. 　You can enjoy the 'Norimono Hiroba' with a ferris wheel, merry-go-round and smaller rides for the little ones;

see cute animals in the 'Doubutsu Hiroba,' play in the ball house in 'Fu-a Fu-a Land';

fish at the fishing pond;

color at the coloring corner; play on the slides in the park section.

If you get hungry, they have a mini restaurant and a kiosk to buy food at (& draft beer for the mommies and daddies).

It's only a 3-minute walk from Arakawa-Yuenchi-mae sta. on the Toden Arakawa Line.

http://www1.tcn-catv.ne.jp/acc/arakawa_yuen/yuuen01.html

(Japanese only)

ANPANMAN POOL

The last pool of the summer for kaito was spent at Yomiuriland's Anpanman Pool!

The Anpanman pool was huge compared to the usual local pool along with SL man slides, Uncle Jam's Bread factory, a section to play with water guns...definitely a fun place for kids.

There are also small waterslides and a wave pool making it fun for both parents and kids.
It's a great way to end your summer so check it out tomorrow (which is the last day)!

Adults 2800 Yen

Kids (over 3) 1800 Yen

To check more details see:

http://www.yomiuriland.co.jp/english/wai/

Chopsticks

If you're looking for training chopsticks for your kids,

Edison Chopsticks is recommended!

We've tried combi's chopsticks which was hard to use but Edison chopsticks were easy. Just place your fingers thru the rings and then you move your hands and you're guided to grab the food.

From the 1st time he used it, Sota was able to grab food and was so proud each time.

It's about 1,200 Yen and they have chopsticks for lefty's too.

http://doctorpeople.jp/goods/hasi_one.php