Halloween Party

AJ joined a Halloween Party in Green Surround City. As you can see, he wasn't too happy wearing a pumpkin suit...maybe he needs something a bit more grown up next time!

First, we had a show in our Salon Hall. AJ liked it when the music was on but most of the time he was more interested in running arround and chasing other children....hhhhh















After the show, we went out trick or treating. There were three places to go in order to get sweets. Aiko needed to feed AJ to get to next place otherwise he never get sweets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFvZLDrdx2E

At home with the Woodcocks

Purely by chance Aiko met Jun-chan who is also married to an Englishman. On Saturday night we braved the weather to go and have dinner with the Woodcocks at their place in the center of Tsunashima. There was a typhoon passing Japan so it was windy and rainy but the biggest storm was Archie who was in a foul mood as we left and didn't want to be in or out of the push chair. Millie, meanwhile, rode in the baby carrier and seemed OK but like Archie she didn't have a coat on- parents got themselves sorted but forgot the kids!!

When we finally made it we had a great evening- As soon as Archie saw Nat-chan and Dan-chan his mood completely changed and the rest of the evening was fun, fun, fun! The adults enjoyed their food- especially the homemade pie and cheesecake and John and Chris enjoyed mixing their drinks -Beer, wine and whiskey!

Nat-chan comfortably beat John on the Wii Baseball but (competitive) John managed to get some revenge at the 10 pin bowling before his stamina ran out- hard work these modern computer games!! whatever happened to jetsetwilly and manic miner....

The boys had a bath together- thankfully most Japanese baths are wet rooms otherwise it would have been total chaos!! Then we just had enough time for a bit of Spiderman action before it was home to bed- as you can see Millie was sound asleep!!

Disco Dancing - Millie 2 months old

This fetching groovy outift was given to Millie by The Burtons of Bristol (Thanks) - She's already filling it well and bustin some disco moves....When she's older sure Dad will teach her some advance gimping!!

She's piling on the weight and is now 2 months and 6.3Kg. She's 61 cm so growing well but is quite a porker as you can see- her large cheeks means that her face is as wide as it is tall!!

I just looooooove Anpanman - part 2

We're being brave and taking a 1.5 hour flight to Hiroshima with only 2 seats and 4 of us. As a plan to try and make this bearable we've bought an Anpanman DVD for the journey- Archie was so happy .....he fell asleep!

First shoes

OK so as she's only 2 months old and not walking, crawling or anything yet it's a bit early but a lady can't be without a new pair of shoes.

A lovely dainty gift from the Fowlers (Thanks!!) on the end of some rather un-dainty meaty legs!!

Maybe she'll be a powerlifter when she grows up!

Henington Party

We finally managed to get ourselves organised and rented the party room out. No blarring music, flashing lights or disco balls- just a selection of food and the opportunity to watch a few people from Johns work have too much to drink. Lots of red faces and lost memory and for once it wasn't John!!
There was a good range of children there as well so had the usual endless chasing around and general mayhem to contend with- By the end of the night Archie was tired- too tired!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_em2IpEjko0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP4t1B9uOZQ

Millie was fantastically well behaved and despite the noise managed to spend most of the night asleep in the corner.

At the end of the night we retired home and Archie and his new friend Alen had some fun with Thomas. After all the running around it's amazing they had any energy left!! Even had some left to knock a glass of wine over as well!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQZL0lyjco

Cheers!!!

Before we get calls of underage drinking and peer pressure the beer that Archie has is actually apple juice made to look like beer. Why you would to make a kids drink look like beer is a mystery...

John meanwhile sticks to the tried and tested red wine- which actually is red wine and not the special amazing weight loss drink that he really needs.

Actually John has started running again although currently it's probably still just fast walking.... 10km race in under two weeks time- mmmm he's really looking forward to that!!!

Afro hair do

Millie after a bath with fluffy hair!!

I just looooooove Anpanman!!!!

Not much to say about this one......

Recent AJ & Millie

Millie is really beginning to blossom as a little character and Archie is...well Archie. He has a good series of faces and tries in his own little way to remain in the apple of our eyes. However Millie is coming on strong and despite piling on the pounds she is a real threat to his cuteness champion status- besides she doesn't throw her food around...yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsjQLnmYzno

Apologies but John had to appear- Archie trying out his old carrier

George & Lucy

John's friend from work came over with his girlfriend to meet Archie and Millie. Just want to point out that it's not John's only friend.....













George was a dab hand with both kids although it did prove to be hard to get a good photo with Millie- women!!!

Later we went to our favourite shopping mall to have some Okonomiyaki- well Hiroshima style but to us that IS Okonomiyaki. Outside of the restaurant on display they have various articles that relate to Carp (Hiroshima baseball team) and as usual Archie needed to be entertained....

School Bazaar

The School that our friends children go to had a Bazaar, festival thingy - Basically lots of food stalls, beverages (?!) and lots of things for children to do. John entertained the wine sellers- or maybe they realised a money spinner when they saw one- then again they started giving serious discounts.....Can you spot the other westerner/gaijin?














Sadly the weather wasn't too kind but luckily to the engineering prowess of a few(no doubt led by Mr Varty) a substantial canopy was created. Not that a bit of bad weather stops Archie from getting completely covered in mud!




Yumi Varty hard at work selling her dango- a traditional Japanese sweet, very good according to Aiko- John was too busy 'sipping' red wine.... in fact any wine!

Millie was disappointed that Mummy and Daddy won nothing at the Bingo but didn't seem to let on too much...then again she doesn't do much!!!

Training AJ

Not a lot to say about this one but Archie is a big fan of trains and when he was lucky enough to get this present recently he got very excited....Aiko and Millie look on.

Sadly the wheel came off soon after and it took us a few days to find the spindle....still it gave John a chance to get his glue box out....yes he does have a glue box!

OOOhhhh Araldite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNuNrUTXX-U

Tsunashima Undokai(Sports Day)

Something a little different this weekend!

Rather than go shopping we spent Sunday at a sports day held at a local school- Monday is Taiiku no hi, Japan's National holiday for sports/health. Lots of children running around and John also entered into a couple of events for Green Surround City- the tug of war and the assault course relay race.













Sadly in the tug of war we were two men down and replaced them with ladies and despite a valiant effort the lack of weight meant we lost in the first round. In the assault course relay we did a bit better coming in 3rd. Not sure how the scoring worked but G.S.C. is the number on the far left- so we were a distant last by the time we left.

As you can see from the video it was a vintage performance from John- high speed running but got caught in the net and then too fat to get into the sack quickly....never mind maybe we'll do better next year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A48br03Mv18

Archie only wanted to play at the back of the school and maybe he thought he was being abducted by a fat alien- in the end he was quite grumpy- oh the joy of a 2.5year old!

Millie was not too fussed by the events and even the loud music blaring out everywhere didn't seem to bother her!

Which is AJ or Millie? -2

Q1


































Q2

Q3

Millie - 1 month old

Millie has just become one month year old and she is a bit big for her age.
She had a check up and weighed 5060g and her height was 56.3cm. Looks like she could be another chunky child!