Growing up and a new Bicycle for Steve

Hello All,



Well the kids are growing, and as many of you also know at this point, our family is growing, too. We are expecting our 4th child, and we just found out this one is a BOY. So we are going to be b;g;g;b, all about 2 years apart. Well it is time to get busy again.



Well here we are. We have had 2 birthdays in as many weeks. Hanano is 2 and Joe is now 6. Hard to believe it. They are all getting so big. Next week is the Sports Festival for the kids school, which is a huge deal. Not just for the kids, but for the teachers and parents too. For example, Miyabi's teacher called us at 9PM the other night to talk about something, and she all the other teachers were still at school. This was a Friday night too. Before the sports festival, this is pretty common. And for the parents, they have to bring a box lunch for the family to eat in front of all the other families. This lunch will be looked at and un-officially judged by all that attend. This lunch will take 2-4 hours to make. I really am serious about this. Shiho helped a friend do their bento last year, and they woke up at 5AM, and spent 3 hours on it. It has to taste good, but more importantly must LOOK GOOD. Anyways, will take some pics and will post after we have the event on the 21st.



I got a contract job for 2 weeks to start, subing for a guy that quit a Jr. High position. I am looking forward to it really. It will be interesting to see how the relationship is with the kids and teachers. Each school really has a different feel with all the various dynamics.



To this end, I ended up buying a used bicycle for commuting back and forth to work. It is about 9km each way, so it will be a nice little workout. I think it should take about 25-30 minutes or so. On the way home, maybe I can change my route somedays to make it a little further. Maybe go into the mountains a little to really get a workout on some hills.



The bike is a Bridgestone belt driven bike. It has 3 speeds, with a rear rack and a nice basket in the front. The typical grandma bike that is popular in Japan. For the flats it will be great, but it will be hard on the hills. I hope to ride it to Fukuoka from Kitakyushu sometime. I think this will be around 60km or 40 miles. Maybe I can make it on my new grandma bike in 3-4 hours. When I rode the Waves to Wine race in Sonoma years ago on my mountain bike with slicks, it took 6-7 hours for 200KM. Although that was many a year ago. I am a lot slower now, and this bike is not like my Gary Fisher. It is really smooth riding though, with the belt drive system.



Shiho...

From the recycling shop, Steve rode the new used bicycle and I took the kids home. We thought we would be home before him even with stopping at a store to get some food, but we were all wrong! Steve IS still very fast! When he called me from our house, we were still at the store! Here is the cute thing that Joe said - "How come Daddy got home first?! His bicycle has only two tires and our car has four!!! Why, Mama?"

All the kids, of course, looked at Daddy with respect and amazement when we got home ;)



Hope you are all fine and talk to you soon,

Steve, Shiho and family