Haircut

You might have noticed from the previous post that all my boys were overdue for a haircut. Matthew normally gets his done in Singapore but I managed to convince him to have one in Japan for a change. He was pretty happy afterwords having a mini spa experience and a new hairstyle.

The boys always look cute after a haircut in Japan.

Somehow wherever we go to get the boys hair done in Singapore they look like other kids in the kindy. Yes, with a straight fringe and looks like they used a bowl.

Will it be a strange reason for taking the boys back to Japan every now and then? For a good haircut?!

Japanese Zoo

Matthew flew in for work and had 2 days in Osaka so we had to make the most of it by getting the kids out for an excursion. I really wanted to go into town to buy some new shoes so we combined that mission with a visit to the Zoo in Tennoji. Yuzuki was on her school break so we brought her along.

It is quite a popular spot having over 1,200,000 visitors a year according to their website! For sure we picked a perfect spring day - it was nice and warm but just slightly too many people (especially kindergarden kids).

The building behind is the newest attraction in the region - Japan's highest building, 300m above the ground with 60 stories of shops and offices inside.

We started off with the familiar animal zone. Koalas and a kiwi! It was a shame that we missed the feeding time for koalas and they were all asleep inside.

We could see the kiwi being very active but of course it was too dark to take any photos...

These bats were well lit and we caught them right at the feeding time. Luca was especially fascinated by them and spent a long time watching them.

It was very nice to have Yuzuki with us. The boys enjoyed the cousin time with her very much.

I was hoping to get Ashley with full bloom pink cherry blossoms but unfortunately we were one week too early...

Some of the animals the kids enjoyed: 

After a fun full day at the zoo we were lucky to catch up with my old boss. He has not changed, very soft spoken and funny and great with the kids. 

We had a nice afternoon tea together in a cafe:

The kids had enough by the time we finished in the cafe. Matthew kindly took them home so that I could do some shoe shopping with Ashley. It didn't take long for me to find what I wanted. I always bought shoes from this place when I was working. Their shoes are very comfortable, never gave me any blisters and full of unique/stylish designs.

I checked their website before I went and really wanted to buy this gorgeous looking pair.

Why why why!?  but they didn't have these in the branch I went to and Ashley was getting too tired to go to another branch :( But looking at the new spring collection, I couldn't resist so came home with 2 spring colour (pearl pink and ivory) pairs. Now I have another reason to go back to Japan again.

Quick visit to Japan

I decided at the last minute to take all the kids to Japan during the school holidays (my original plan was take only Ashley with me on Matthew's 4 days off, but in the end it got a bit tricky with flight timings etc). As usual the trip over to Japan with three kids was a little bit challenging by myself.

This time we took Malaysian Airlines flights to avoid 1) daytime flight, 2) transiting in the middle of the night, I really miss our easy direct Jetstar flights... First we were told at the check in counter there won't be enough seats from KL to Kansai so we might be stuck in KL for the night. I didn't really understand but in the end they told us there are 6 seats available from KL but we might get stuck if someone buys the last 6??. Well that's more than enough seats for us I thought. We didn't get our boarding pass until the very last minute, so I had to drag the kids and zoom through to the gate. As soon as we were on board (of course we were the last ones to board...) Luca and Oliver started screaming at each other arguing who should sit in the window seat... joy, joy, joy! I finally got them settled but had no luck keeping them awake for only one hour flight to KL. Luca especially was so so asleep I couldn't wake him up at all. So in the end I had to put him in Ashley's buggy and carry her in my front pack.

Once we transited in KL it was quite an easy ride. We didn't get a bassinet seat but having all the kids asleep made a big difference.

Anyway all this was well worth it to spend some quality time with our Japanese family.

Rua (2) and Ashley:

The weather was improving but it was still cold for us tropics residents. We really enjoyed walking around our neighborhood. I just love the start of Spring in Japan, you can smell, see, feel the Spring everywhere!

We watched the farmer harvesting some cabbage.

Or just spending afternoons in the backyard/road.

Yuzuki(8) and Ashley: 

We now have our own furniture upstairs and enough clothes to get by in our wardrobes - makes me feel very homey when we are here. Plus I get to eat mums yummy dinner everyday and having someone else entertaining the kids all the time. Great way to spend a school holiday I think!

Visitors from NZ

We had uncle Peter and aunty Jeannie staying overnight. They arrived from NZ and will be traveling the next 3 months through Asia and Europe (lucky them!). Unfortunately Matthew had to work during the day so only the kids and I got to enjoy having them with us.

We chilled out by the pool in the morning and had lunch in the food court.

In the afternoon we just stayed at home relaxing. They have done Singapore before and they have a big holiday ahead! The kids got to know them well and I certainly enjoyed catching up with them.

Have a great holiday! I am so jealous they will be spending lots of time in Spain.

Goodbye Watsons (for now)

We went to the airport to see the Watsons off to their new home country - Abu Dhabi. We (both the kids and Boel) had a very good "together time" last week so it was nice relaxing in the airport catching up.

Abu Dhabi certainly is further away compared to Brunei but we will make sure our next get together won't be too too far away. Enjoy the new chapter of your exciting life!

Holiday activity

I used to be better letting the boys to do painting, playdough, you know crafty things which takes extra support and time (for cleaning up especially without maids...).

I asked the boys what they would like to do during the holidays and they had a very clear answer - Painting! So that's what we did this morning. 

Both the boys were learning how you can make new colours by mixing certain colours. They enjoyed experimenting colour mix very much.
Oliver took a gentle approach:

And Luca - yes he took "Luca's wild" approach:

But he was concentrating very hard:

Oliver wanted to paint a police dog called "Chase"

Luca - I wan't too sure and I don't think he knew either...

Oliver always hashad a great concentration span but I was again surprised to see him sit happily and painted for a long time. Lots of thought went into this painting. 

This is now displayed on his bedroom door - Oliver's masterpiece "Chase"

I really enjoyed helping and watching the boys this morning. I wish I have more time for them.

The wettest BBQ ever

Ok, I have mentioned we are having VERY VERY dry weather at the moment. Until... you plan a BBQ & swim playdate on the weekend. We picked this day especially as all the other daddies work Mon-Fri (yes we do have non-pilot friends too!) hence they are only available on the weekends. When we got up it was looking very marginal but we weren't expecting this much rain.

We have watched the rain for over 30min deciding whether to cancel the BBQ or not, but our keen friends were very optimistic and they were sure it would clear up soon. Well... here are the kids in their gumboots and ready to walk out our condo. We were having the BBQ at the next condo so the walk wasn't long but...

We must have picked the worst time, as soon as we came to the front gate of our condo it bucketed down even more. Our buggy and the chilly bin were half floating in the water, the wind got worse so you couldn't really hold the umbrellas properly. Basically we were all soaked from heads to toes. At least you don't feel the cold here...

Nick and Madoka were much smarter, they arrived in their togs. It didn't bother them at all being in their swimmers to begin with.

Anyway we thought about it for a while but decided to go ahead.

Unlike our condo The Bayshore has their BBQ pits under cover - Phew! 

The kids were all wrapped up in their towels before they even hit the pool.

Matthew cooked super good ribs, he has been working on it for a while experimenting different rubs and sauces. Everyone there was so impressed and in no time they were all gone! Great job honey!

You cannot NOT have marshmallows - especially on a cold(?) rainy day! The kids enjoyed them not cooked tho.

After an hour or so into the BBQ the rain stopped and the sun came out. The kids had a ball both in and outside the pool.

We were all happy drinking and watching the kids play all nicely together in the end. This BBQ will be talked about for a long time I think. After packing up we decided to have dinner downstairs in our condo together. Not to mention us adults continued drinking and the kids were still in full swing till late.