Hina matsuri

Courtesy of the Kawanaka-clan Millie was treated like a real princess for Hina matsuri .It's meant to be the 3rd of March but we did the photos a little early -there is also a boys version as well in May...
Hina matsuri is to wish your daughter's happiness and health - historically there used to be a lot of infant mortality so this was done to prevent that and allow your family to grow.
Dolls used to be the major toy so this is why they are decorated...anyway it's all very complicated, a long story and we can't manage to put it in here!!!! hina-ningyo are the dolls
that are used.

Aiko's parents had brought the Hina-ningyo all the way from Hiroshima- a 4 hour train journey along. Actually this version was a mini version and a full size (which Aiko has it in her parents house)is truly a monster- maybe they'll take them out from storage next year!

The dress was provided by the other side of the Grandparents so it was a real multicultural affair. As you can see Millie is a chunky lass so it was quite a squeeze!

The Henington Line expansion pt 1 2008

With Gordon in a siding waiting for the glue to dry and John's burns to heal we thought it was time for an expansion.

Archie has for some time called Thomas, Percy so we thought we would fix this by actually buying Percy....but John couldn't resist also buying a significant amount of additional track.... oh elevated section- isn't it wonderful!!!

Where will Millie lie?dribble?

mended by Daddy Henington

It was an emergency of epic proportions- never mind the towering inferno Gordon's wires had broken and he was no longer working!!! Actually we discovered later that he maybe good on the flat but when he gets to elevated sections (see later expansion of the Henington Line) he's a bit useless but nevermind this was a chance to dig out the soldering iron and burn myself.....ouch!

Recent AJ

Just a general update about this Archie-ness. Generally he's still using his high chair but Millie is almost at the point that she wouldn't nose plant everytime she was put in it so who now how long he will still use it. However as you can see the basic skill of getting the food directly in without touching the side is still a challenge for him.

Archie with three of his favourite things- Bob the builder, Anpanpan and food- the latter two don't last much longer after this photo was taken.....

Archie, I think they're a little too big for you....

AJ and Millie

Still so far so good- 5 months and Millie is still 100% intact with no injuries. Despite often retrieving his old toys (and even her new ones) Archie seems to be quite a decent big bro so far! She's getting bigger and stronger each day and seems to know what she likes and gets a bit huffy trying to get it- plastic bags are a favourite!

I love being in my daddy's arm !!!

Bit wierd but with a bit of foot tapping look what happened to Millie- Her head snapped off!

Tomica Show

Nothing to do with the Tomica show but a sight that it a bit unusual outside of Japan (or maybe just unusual in the UK) Sitting behind this bike is a man who has collected just a few cans and isn't a good Samaritan on his way to the can bank at Sainsburys- I doubt he makes a lot of money and I think he should have danger money as he will no doubt get on his bike soon after this shot was taken- bonkers!
This blog is actually about our brief day out at the Tomica show in Yokohama. All in all it wasn't great- the show wasn't great, Archie was due his nap, John had a fever and probably the most disappointing of all was that the publicised train track tower was lots of small loops on top of each other not one continuous piece of spiralling track that the train went up and then down again....
even Aiko was a bit disappointed with this and no doubt John will be working on his own project from now on- see later posts for his (rather sad) progress!!!

Archie still was quite excited about it all and tried to climb through all the barriers and get really huffy when he wasn't allowed.

Thank god for that- we managed to get the obligatory bad family pose in there- phew...I thought we had blown it!!












This is a great photo as it means we are relaxing having a coffee or a cake or usually both- funny how when they're sleeping we're normally pushing the caffeine or sugar in!!!

New Year

After the feast of fish and crab the night before we decided to take it easy on New Years day- Just time for a quick Family photo!! The next day we decided to do the traditional visit to the shrine- maybe it will be a bit quieter.......errr No!!!














As we're near to Tokyo we decided to go to Meiji Jungu near Harujuku in Tokyo and it was really really busy. There were loads of people and you had to queue to get in and it was like being in a football crowd leaving a cup final- but better behaved of course! You queued for all that time , threw a coin into a box, clapped your hands and that was it- Off for lunch and a beer!














Lots of Sake 'taru' (barrels?) on display at the shrine














If all else fails bribe him with Thomas and raw sugar!!!! Actually he didn't really like it and fed most of it to the adults!!


















It was a clear day and we were able to see Fuji-san from our balcony- it's the white thing through the trees and electricity pylons!















Elder Kawanaka and Young Henington!



















The Boys out for a bike ride- we bought that bike a year ago and he still can't work it- another year of saying he will grow into it!!!

New Year's Eve

We've normally spent New Year at Aiko's parents but this time we decided to stay in Yokohama and have them come to us- well it is warmer here!!!

Whilst they were here we decided to do a bit of sightseeing and have a few days out in Tokyo- this meant a trip to Tsukiji via Tokyo's rather confusing transport system- actually not as bad as it would seem but certainly a lot more lines that in London- different companies as well running the lines as well just to make things a bit more tricky.


Tsukiji is a busy fish market and whilst we didn't get there really early to see authentic fish market stuff happening it was still a lively place and you could buy a lot of err....fish. Aiko's mum bought a whole salmon and a crab which she then carried around in Archie's rucksac. He likes to get his hat on and rucksac on his back when he goes out but soon gives up so it was good that someone could carry it and use it.

We had lunch out near to the market and that meant fresh fish of course- the picture is fresh minced tuna with a raw egg- actually quite nice ; even John could eat it!
At night of course we had to eat the fish and the crab and John drank most of the champagne- well it was New Year!!!

By the end of the stay Archie didn't want to let Gran Kawanaka go!!! Maybe he just liked the ride!