Bikes, Food & Arcades

Today we took the plunge and bought a minivan. 

Okay, not exactly... 

We've seen plenty of moms hauling 2 kids around the city on these. We decided to invest in one, especially given the amount of walking we've been doing. I've personally been pretty in shape, given the nature of my job at Staples. However, when you leave that car-fueled society, you easily recognize the depths of our dependence upon them. And my legs sure do recognize that pain!

Noah got to pick out a sweet ride also, complete with basket and pedal-powered headlight: 

Tomorrow should be my day, although I'm also hoping to find a second hand bike store. You can easily find a decent new bike here, but I'd like to see what's out there. They've got everything from "old people" bikes (here the elderly actually still are out and about pedaling and walking everywhere) to motor-assisted models under $800. But I'm going for basic. 

We also hit the Sega arcade at the mall, which had games for the whole family - Sydney's age to the older gambling crowd. 

Obviously, the kids loved it. 

We rounded out the day with some play time at the park, and spaghetti dinner. Yesterday we made tacos and had Coldstone at the mall. Believe it or not, you can find or improvise most ingredients for American meals. We're dying to try Indian and some REAL ramen, but when you've got little ones.. We'll get there. They're adjusting and trying new things each day. 

This was my coffee try today. 

Coffee Boss machines are everywhere. Actually, for those who don't know, Japan loves vending machines. There's one behind our building. There's one around the corner next to our park. There's a few in front of the grocery store next to the park, etc...

They've got bottled water, green tea (the actual good, unsweetened kind), coffee, maybe a Coke, and usually a few kids fruity drinks. I will try to remember to take a picture of them. And our apartment... We're almost settled in (Angela and Sydney are sleeping on inflatable mattresses, the boys on futons, and myself on a folded comforter). Tomorrow we get three more futons delivered, which was our most major purchase. We might get a bunk bed for the boys, but probably holding off until our paychecks start arriving. We start work next Monday, and are lucky to have this week to settle in and so much help from our neighbor/fellow teacher! 

Good night! (Or good morning I suppose)