Laser Zone, lunch on the beach and football...

For our last day in Brighton we took the boys to Laser Zone, the boys went in for the first game then me and Di joined them! I haven't played for years but it was great fun, I'm not sure if they have it in Japan but if they do I can see it in our future!

Then we headed down to the beach to meet Rob and we had lunch at the Lucky Beach Cafe which was delicious.

Ebi-kun decided to keep his tiger face on overnight, Ry wanted to keep his on too but he had gotten sweaty and most of it had rubbed off, he looked like he had a badly bruised face!

Birthday lunch and drinks on the beach, it never feels like you are on holiday until you have a fancy drink!

After lunch the boys went off to the Brighton Vs Atletico Madrid, even though Brighton lost they had a great time!

Di photobombing, makes a change from small boys doing it!

Ebi-kun loved it and had to give me a blow by blow account of the whole match *yawn* I'm really not that excited about football!

GOAL !!!

And whilst all that was going on, us moms had a nice mooch around the shops, stopped for fancy hipster coffee served in a milk bottle!

And the G&T on the deck whilst we waited for the boys to arrive home - bliss!

We finished off we a feast of fine food on the deck, great company and great weather! Can't wait to see these guys in a few months when they come to Japan.

Euro Tour 2016 - Brighton BBQ with friends and family

[13th Aug]

Not only does my best mate live in Brighton, my uncle lives there too, he is just 4 years older than me, so he has always been more like a cousin or annoying older brother than an uncle. Di kindly offered to do a BBQ so we could invite uncle Si and the family around along with some other random friends.

But first the boys needed to burn off some energy so it was down the park for football training with Mark. This is the third year that Ebi-kun has joined, he really enjoys it, which baffles me because Mark is very old school in his coaching techniques. No pussy footing around, he bollocks the kids if they are getting it wrong and praises them when they get it right, his favourite phrase is ... you doughnut!

After training Ebi-kun came into the kitchen as said "Mark really likes his doughnuts doesn't he?" Mark is, shall we say, quite portly so Di was aghast and thought Ebi-kun was quite out of character being so rude! Ebi-kun was referring to Marks favourite phrase though, certainly made me laugh.

Annoyingly Ebi-kun has picked up the phrase and is now calling everyone a doughnut! gah!

Rob got his BBQ on, he did a great job, everything got demolished! I don't think there were any leftovers!

It was quite an eclectic mix of people, Rob's best mates, my uncle and family and the next door neighbours. The kids got on well and we didn't have any fights - which is always a good thing if you ask me! 

They were quite busy playing football, rugby sevens and shooting each other with nerf guns.

I think there was some team plotting going on here, Ebi-kun and my littlest cousin...

We had to get the family shot, this is actually the best one of the bunch, which doesn't say much for the rest really!

And Neil got the job of rescuing the balls that had gone over the fence, luckily Ry has about 15 footballs, so it takes them a while to run out of balls!

The drink flowed and the kids were still running around shooting each other quite late, it was a good job I had packed the bags before the madness began! Great day with old friends and new and lovely to catch up with family too!

Euro tour 2016 - Brighton i360

[12th Aug]

The 11th we had a pretty low key day, Ebi-kun had a bit of a dodgy tum so we hung around at home with a quick play in the park. And plenty of olympics watching, the boys really got into the rugby sevens!

The next day was a busy day which started with the boys making toblerone cheesecake...

And of course licking out the bowl/licking the spoons!

Then we headed down to the beach, we went along the coast a bit to find the "sandy!" beach. Next to the beach was a buttie shop, it made me laugh that the sandwiches were served on real plates with a side salad and crisps, which blew off due to the wind! People were also drinking cups of tea in proper cups on the beach too! How English.

This is our 3rd trip to Brighton and this was the first time it has been hot enough to venture into the sea, there were rock pools too which kept the boys busy.

And the water was lovely and clear too!

We arranged to meet Rob at the ice-crem shop but we ended up waiting over and hour for a bus so we had to skip the ice-cream shop we wanted to go to and just picked on up along the front, I paid a tenner for all our ice-creams and the Di spotted something on the floor - a ten pound note! Ice-creams paid for by the big U!

We met up with Di and Robs friend Merlin (yes, that's his real name) and waited for our turn for the Bright i360. It had only opened the week before, it's like a giant doughnut on a stick! 

It's actually a viewing platform, the ride takes about 30 minutes it rises slowly to the top of the stick and gives you time to wander around taking the view in from, you guessed it. 360 degrees! 

It was a beautifully clear day and we could se for miles. You do get a great view from the top but Brighton's landmarks can't really be seen from the top. I do think they could have done better by having info about the i360 and things that you can see from the top. There was a bar, we didn't venture to that though. I'm glad we went up but I doubt I'd go again.

After our viewing we headed into town, I had a couple of bits to pick up and Di and Rob wanted to get Ebi-kun a birthday present, Lego of course! Then we headed to Wahaca for dinner, which was delicious. We caught the bus back up to Di's, got the boys in the bath then Di and I headed out for the night.

It was, of course an occasion to get out.... I got this for Di years ago in Harajuku and it's still going strong!

We did a bit of a pub crawl, the prices for a round are not what they used to be, I used to have a bloody good night out and money left over for a curry - OK chicken omlette and a chapatti - don't judge it until you've tried it! From a tenner, not these days, small change from one round!

We went to a strange collection of pubs, one of Di's locals, a recommended pub which did have good music but only 2 people in it, including the barmaid, then a complete loonie came in and started ranting about Simon Cowell! So we moved onto the Revolator, not the best for a conversation, hardcore heavy metal was the name f the game! Our penultimate pub was a cozy little place, looked a bit like a cave, it wasn't until we were leaving that we realised it was a lesbian bar and then we found a place open until 2.00pm so we stayed there and caught up on the olympics - as you do on a night out!

Good night!

Time For A Lazy Sunday...

After a very late night, a lazy morning was in order. Rob kindly got up with the boys and let us have a bit of a lie in! Then we had a late breakfast before heading down to the beach. It was really windy, which definitely blew the cobwebs away! We dried playing Frisbee but after it ended up in the road twice, we gave up and played tag instead (well the boys did, we watched!)

It was way too blustery to venture to the sea...

So we dropped by a little festival and tried a spot of hoopla-hooping instead! We also found a bargain of books, 5 horrible history books, all new, a pound each! Brilliant!

We were getting hungry so we headed to the car via the park for a bit of climbing, of course Ebi-kun decides he needs the toilet, so the others go back to the car and we go to the loo, as we came out the heavens opened - which meant a made crazy dash for the car, we didn't get too wet, surprisingly!

We had a fabulous pub lunch, BIG portions and rolled back down the hill to Di's. Then is was Star Wars (and an afternoon nap for us) finished off with some crazy light saber battles...

A full on day at Brighton

Our first day in Brighton we met up with my uncle and his family, when we first got to his house it was peeing down, but after a cup of tea the sun came out. We walked into town and headed for the Pavilion for a picnic...

Then we had a whirlwind visit to the museum in the Dome (excuse to use the toilets!)

Then it was time to hit the pier, not until Darth Vader had been defeated

Comedy photo moment of course...

We tried the Horror Hotel first but Ebi-kun announced it was rubbish! Next up was the log flume, Ebi-kun LOVED it (it was his first time) and went on again with my uncle Si, Charlo and C.

Then it was time for the bumper cars...

It was a windy day so some of the rides were closed, Zoltar was on top form though....

By this time were ready for a drink...

So we took a ride on the oldest electric train in the world...

To the Yellow Wave, barefoot cafe which has a sandpit for the kids to play in.

Uncle Si went to get the car since the kids were tired and it is a bit of a yomp up a big hill back to theirs, so we went to throw rocks in the sea, it was rather choppy!

Then it was back to Si's for dinner, great day with great company. The kids were absolutely shattered and were asleep in record time.