Saturday's usual hodgepodge of activities

What have I done today?

Got up at 7am to go and see my 11 y.o. run in another cross-country meet. A bit of a challenge because it was drizzling with promise to deteriorate over the morning. Unfortunately I didn't wear enough clothes. All week it has been warm enough to wear long pants with simply a t-shirt. Not today. By the end of our 1 1/2 hours in the park, we were damp and chilly. It was fun to see him run, however. He has such a spring in his step. Ever since he began walking at 10 months of age he's been on the move, sometimes driving us up the wall. It is good to see that energy channelled into a sport like this.

Because we were damp and shivering we didn't stay to see the high schoolers run, but there was a hitch. The park we were in (Koganei) is an old favourite and close to a favourite restaurant of ours. We'd planned to go there for lunch, but at 10.30 it was too early to have lunch. Thankfully my husband remembered a large toy store just up the road, so we went there and the boys spent a happy hour roaming through possible Christmas presents. We got some ideas too! And dried off a bit.


Then we motored off down the road to my favourite Japanese restaurant. Yamada udon Not a flash restaurant, in fact quite cheap, but they have great noodles, nice atmosphere and get the food out there quick. They also don't pretend to do any Western food like other family restaurants in this country. They've even banned smoking over the lunch period, so it is even more pleasant.


After our tummies were warm and full we headed home. Crashed for a little while and then got back into the afternoon activities:

• Swimming lessons, several doors down the road, for the two younger boys (bribed the middle one who refused to go last week). 
• Maths Presentation Practise for the older one. Corrected his logic regarding people's concerns about the Aging Population of Japan. People are most concerned about not having enough money as opposed to not being able to work!
• Calling our Australian bank to try, once again, to get my credit card activated. It is now nearly three months since it was posted to us. Failed again. Three phone calls and two letters to the bank later and we are still no closer to getting a functional credit card!
• Had a quick Skype call with my Dad and convinced him that even though he didn't have any photos of his new grandson, he could forward on an email from my brother-in-law with those photos.
• Replied to an email from a man in the US who is interested in serving with our mission in Japan. This is a new job I've taken on this week - responding to emails from OMF's website. It is proving to be interesting.
• My husband is currently sorting through wardrobes to decide on what clothes are needed for our boys in the coming winter season. Thrift Shop (CAJ's twice-yearly massive bazaar) is coming up in a couple of weeks and we're making a list. Periodically the boys are rushing down the stairs to show me the 'new' clothes they've discovered in the 'to grow into' boxes.
• Soon I need to get up and make dinner. We're having eggs and bacon and damper (like yeast-less bread). Yum!

 So that is this Saturday. Sound something like a normal household?