Annual School Excursion to Tokyo Sea Life Park

(by guest blogger)

Jonathan's school organised an annual school trip to theTokyo Sea Life Park at Kasai Rinkai. Justin tagged along as he was on school holidays. Mommy conveniently asked me, the busy man, to take a day off from work and follow the kids. Well, you can't put down your wife's request right? So there I was, on a cold day (it actually snowed in the middle of April) walking around the Sea Life Park, showing the kids various types of fishes, and playing nanny to them. I think a picture paints a thousand words, so here they are. Enjoy.




You can see from here that Jon was all wrapped up. The wind was ferocious and cold. I can imagine mommy in the warmth of the house now….*grrrrr*









Well, it was never easy to get these two fellas to look at the camera at the same time.








The stingray was the day's highlight as the boys were fascinated at being so close (touching distance) to the stingray. The stingray was coming up to the surface, as if asking for food.










I left the boys to navigate the place by themselves….good training for national service next time. Wouldn’t want them to be “topo king”, would I?

Till next time,
the guest blogger

Asia - AFC Champions League: Kawasaki Frontale vs Seongnam IIhwa Chunma

Papa had tickets to the AFC Champions League match between Kawasaki Frontale and Seongnam IIhwa Chunwa (South Korean team). We went to Kawasaki Frontale's home stadium at Todoroki Athletics Stadium, South of Tokyo.

Sea of blue supporters for the home team

Having our packed dinner

Game starts

Justin engrossed in the game

Penalty kick

GOAL!!!!

Supporters cheering

Different atmosphere from watching at home

Justin enjoyed watching the game very much.

Final score: Kawasaki Frontale 3 - 0 Seongnam IIhwa Chunwa

The Tooth Fairy who didn't take my teeth

Justin's two lower front teeth had been shaky for a few weeks. I didn't want to pull them out, or tie a string from the tooth to the door and slam it shut like what my grandparents did. **LOL**

I brought him to the dentist for a regular checkup and the dentist suggested removing them as the permanent ones were emerging from the gums. The dentist used pliers first, but decided that it was easier to use his hands instead. One tug to the left, then right, then left again, and in a final right pull, his tooth came out. The second one came out quite easily too.

After the bleeding stopped, Justin gleamed happily with his toothless smile. Another developmental milestone reached! The dentist gave him a little "tooth" container to put his teeth in. He is so happy now that he can eat properly. His teeth had been shaky and he couldn't tear his food using his incisors. Papa told him he wouldn't be able to pronounce the F in Fish when his tooth came out. But he still could because it was his lower incisors that were out, "Papa said I can't pronounce my F, but I can! Hear me ... fff fff fff....."

So, what happened that night? Did the tooth fairy come?

Justin was excited and took some time to fall asleep. He had many questions too:-

- Will the tooth fairy come?
- How will she come in? The main door or the window?
- Why does she have to take my teeth?
- What's that noise? Is it her?

And finally just before he slept, he said in a worried and agitated voice, "Mommy, go and sleep. The tooth fairy won't come if you are awake......"

Teeth in the tooth case around Ours' arms

The cute fella had his tooth case slung over Ours' (pronounced as 'Oose' in French) arms. The next day, he woke up, found some money and a letter from the tooth fairy under Ours' pillow! The best thing was that the tooth case was still in Ours' arms! The tooth fairy told him that he could keep the teeth even though she usually gave kids money in exchange for them. The next time he loses his teeth, he had to write to tell her that he wanted to keep it.

Tooth fairy's letter

After coming back home from groceries, I found a letter at my bedside table addressed to the Tooth Fairy.



I took a sneek peak before the Tooth Fairy came......

Letter to the tooth fairy
(Notice the teeth marks below the letter?)

Hot soba

Soba Noodles

We had a simple but heartwarming bowl of soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) for dinner tonight. This is my first time cooking soba noodles at home. I took whatever ingredients I could find in my fridge - soba, naruto (Japanese fish cake with the swirl), shitake mushroom, toufu skin, slices of pork, carrots, egg and pre-boiled spinach.

School Excursion to the Pony Park

Jonathan went for an excursion to the Pony Park next to The Tokyo Riding Club. It was a nice and sunny day when we arrived at the park. The kids petted, fed carrots, and rode on the ponies. At 11am, we proceeded to a nearby park to have lunch together and view the cherry blossoms. The teachers found a nice spot in the middle of the park and we laid our tarp for the picnic.

After lunch, we took some photos with the cherry blossoms before playing with the parachute. The children enjoyed themselves walking and jumping around with the chute in hand, as well as running under the canopy when the parachute rose.

Now for some interesting news to share. Jonathan has a particular liking for a girl in his class. I shall name her M. And that's not all. Another boy, L, is always with M. And when Jonathan sees M & L together, he will go to and play with them. After looking at the photos, I realised that they are next to each other in some of the photos. *LOL*

Jon's New Haircut

New posts on The Boys' Artwork and Ski Trip - Palcall Tsumagoi Resort. I have been procrastinating with my updates and the entries are beginning to build up. So yesterday, I decided to clear up some back log, currently sorting out the pictures and all. There is still one more post - Hanami picnic which we went for last weekend. Will update in a couple of days.

Back to today's post, Papa brought the kids out for a hair cut today. From this hairstyle :

Taken a day before

Jonathan's hair became :

REALLY SHORT !!!

My jaw dropped when I saw him. His fringe was cut way too short. My cute Japanese looking boy, no more. (*Sob!*) Apparently, Papa told the barber to cut "onaji" (which means the same) as Justin's haircut. Justin looks good in short hair but not Jonathan.

Ah well, guess his hair will grow back again. At the moment, I am still getting use to his new hairdo.

Hanami 2010

We went for Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) at Yoyogi Koen on Saturday. Justin and papa were at the park at 9:30am to reserve a nice spot under the cherry blossom tree. I brought Jonathan to the park an hour later after preparing the picnic basket.

The weather was good, food was delicious and the company was great! Our homemade picnic included onigiri, (rice balls), pumpkin salad, gyoza, edamame, mexican rice, tortillas, guacamole, salsa, grilled vegetables and meat on skewers marinated with mexican beer, sausage buns, chicken wings, fruits, etc.

By noon, the park was packed with thousands of people enjoying the cherry blossoms in full bloom. It was a unique atmosphere to see everyone enjoying themselves sitting under the cherry blossoms with packed lunches and drinks.

After lunch, we had a few games of "Chor Tai Di" while the boys happily ran around, wrestled and threw the boomerangs.