Ferris Wheel

I love spending the weekend with my family. Today Mako had a day off so we went to Rinku Town for some shopping.

Each time we go there Oliver is asking me if he could go on the ferris wheel. And again, he was begging me as we walked towards it and funnily enough a man approached us and gave the kids discount tickets to go on it.

Well I guess I had to take them up... So I did.

We had to wait for a while until the right one came up - the one with a giant soft toy sitting inside plus had to be YELLOW for someone obsessed with that colour.



It was a warm day but quite windy and not really a clear sky... But they loved it!



Normally we can see the airport clearly...





The highest point:



YEEEELLOW!!!!



It only took 17min to go around and long enough for me - quite windy and the boys were moving so much I was getting stressed... Maybe next time I have to pick  better weather :)

New deck

We had a very small deck or a long bench I should say along the wide window we have towards our backyard but after 7 years it started to look very tired and some parts were actually started to rot.

So since we will be spending the next few months here we decided to order a new one! In Japan it is very convenient you just find something you want online and it will be at your front door in no time!

I didn't want to spend a fortune (as we wont always be here) plus needed something easy to assemble. But most importantly big enough for the kids to play on.

We unpacked it the other day and lucky I have some handy boys even tho Matthew is away!

Yosuke and Rui put it together for me :)



Our boys were more into the empty cardboard boxes...
Drawing a big map and playing cars on them:







It only took 2 hours or so altogether (we got distracted by the boys for a while as they needed help playing with their cars etc).



Taaaaddaaaa our new deck:



Now the boys can play and enjoy some snacks :)



The weather is getting better and better. I am sure they will be spending most of the time in our backyard!

Kindy updates

Oliver is doing so well at his Japanese kindy. He is so super happy being there and cannot have enough of it.

He was asking me why he cannot go there over the weekend. He says he should be there every single day!

It is amazing what a little boy can pick up in just a week. He has already learned a few Japanese nursery songs and lots and lots of words.

He is even understanding what they are studying - for example, they must be learning about butterflies, he tells me they have a long straw and can get juice etc. Quite impressed!

It made me smile when I heard him talking in his sleep - he said "Okasan, okasan" (mummy mummy in Japanese!) and after a while said something in English :)

He still thinks he should go back to his Singapore kindy too tho, as he misses his teachers and his friends.

Luca has improved a lot too - still crying when he goes on the bus but started to enjoy the activities each day. He is showing me how to do all sorts of hand movements for different songs when he gets home. He can even sing in Japanese! Just so cute!!

Relaxed parents

Matthew and I had a very relaxing time together and had a nice lunch at a hotel restaurant without our boys interrupting our conversation!!



After lunch we went to a shopping mall and did all the shopping we had to do and had a nice spring walk home. Such a precious time! It has been a while since we had our own time alone...

First day at Japanese kindy

It was such a gorgeous spring day - A perfect day for a new beginning!

Oliver, 3 (4 in May) and Luca, 1 (2 in June):









And the bus arrived!!





Luca was very suspicious and ended up crying once he was on the bus... :(
We know it will take a while for him to enjoy the kindy but at least he will have his big brother looking after him!

Fancy lunch

Today was the day Oliver has been looking forward to (and us parents too). To check out the Japanese kindy and find out about his friends and teachers. Oliver was a bit shy but got more excited about the kindy by the time we finished the informational session and health check up. Luca was a bit too overwhelmed by the number of children running around and crying...

We are looking forward to tomorrow morning when the "yellow" (Luca's favourite colour) school bus will appear at our front door.

We wanted to do something special to treat the boys so we took them for lunch in a fancy cafe I went with mum the other day.







As this cafe is right in front of the kindy some other parents had the same idea. Oliver already made his "favourite friend". He is sitting on the other side of the window in green top, can you see? They were waving to each other and making funny faces the whole time they were eating and he even came around later to introduce himself and wanted to know Oliver's name! What a great start!

Sudoku

Head Spa with my boys

Who said you can only enjoy spa/hair treatment with your daughters? I had a fab time with my lovely boys! While they were having hair cut/shampoo/blow dry I took the opportunity to pamper myself!

Luca getting his hair done:





Mummy is looking very relaxed...





Getting his hair dried:



Oliver just looooooves going to the hairdresser now. He is an addict!







Aren't we looking great!?



Maybe Matthew can join us next time instead of watching us relax :) :) :)

Easter Egg hunt

Yes! The Easter bunny arrived just in time to celebrate Easter Monday with us. In Japan it is a non-event so I didn't have any Easter eggs for the boys - Matthew arrived from Singapore with some chocolate! Before getting the boys on a sugar high we went back to the same park to check out the Sakura trees (Matthew hadn't seen them yet this year) and a good run around.

Rua just came back from nursery so we took her along too (just practising how to handle three kids at the same time you know!).



Luca especially so excited to have his daddy back!





We remembered to take some cardboard pieces with us to use on the slide this time:





This is much better!



Yeeeehaaa!





I found this strong pinky cherry blossom on the other side of the park - Just stunning!







This time we walked to the other side of the lake. It is one of my favourite spots, as you can see so many cherry blossoms all along the path!





There were some bushes along the side to hide some Easter eggs :)













Not to mention after the first find, the boys were crazy looking into the bushes. People walking by thought we have some strange kids... Looking into the bushes instead of looking up the sakura trees...

Thank you Easter Bunny for bringing some chocolates!
Oliver was slightly confused and thought the Easter Bunny is like Santa? and will come back at night time and leave some more eggs in his bed... and guess what?
He came back and left one more egg each for the boys! Happy Easter :)