Mohikans, Cousins and fireworks...

Snappy title don't you think? Still playing catch up here. We got back from our fishy day out and the Japanese cousins had arrived. T-kun is now in 5th grade and had a tonne of homework to do, I felt really sorry for him because he just wanted to play with the other two but no, he had to finish all his homework first. So whilst he was slaving away over a hot notebook, Ebi-kun and Y-chan got busy building and doing puzzles.

After a dinner of yes, sashimi, They got the fireworks out. I am not a fan and even less of one when the blokes running the show are both drunk! Luckily nobody got hurt (except for the 72 mosquito bites that I got in the space of 10 minutes) and the kids thought it was great.

Y-chan had got dressed up in her yukata so Ebi-kun wanted his hair doing then of course, as soon a T-kun saw it, he wanted his doing too, so a final pic of the cool kids....

Back home November 5th is the day we celebrate with fireworks, I still find it odd watching them in the summer, when is firework season where you are?

Water and fish

Our second day in Wakayama basically con sited of water and fish one way or another. First the boys went swimming, Ebi-kun has come along way in the pool, last year he would panic if his face got wet, this year he managed to swim about 5m with his face in the water. Not quite up to Olympic standards yet but slowly getting there.

Next was lunch and I have to say, this is the most fun kids lunch I have ever seen, anywhere. It was build your own sushi, so they get a tray with everything they need then they can make it themselves, Ebi-kun LOVED it.

After eating fish (well, not me) we went to the aquarium, it isn't as big as the one in Osaka but it was also about 1/10th of the price to get in.

When we arrived back at Jii-chan and Baa-chan's house, Ebi-kun's cousins had arrived, of course there was sashimi for dinner, the perfect way to finish off a fishy day!

A very busy Obon indeed...

It will take me a while to catch up since we managed to squash a lot of things in to such a short time! We usually go down to Wakayama, to my husbands hometown for Obon. Obon is the time where the majority of Japan goes on holiday and traditionally people travel back to their hometowns, travelling around is chaos and everywhere is crowded. It basically takes us all day to get down there, our local train, then a shinkansen into Tokyo, another shinkansen to Shin-Osaka and then the rapid (a very slow rapid) train to Wakayama and then Jii-chan picks us up from the station.

The second day we travelled to Baa-chans hometown, first we visited the grave, it is traditional to clean the grave at this time, I had to laugh when my husband pointed out a plot in the graveyard and told me it was his uncle's - who is still alive and kicking!

Then we went to visit hi-baa-chan, she is my husbands grandmother so, Ebi-kuns great gran and now 96. They hadn't told her we were going so it was a nice surprise for her, Ebi-kun was just one year old last the we saw her.

After visiting hi-baa-chan we stopped off at a lovely cafe for lunch, it was right by the sea, the weather wasn't great but the food was lovely, the place was packed, apparently there isn't much of a choice for places to eat out in that area. I must admit, I am not happy about being near the sea these days, I never was the biggest fan but after the tsunami I am really glad I live in a land-locked prefecture!

Yes, Ebi-kun is hugging a beast quest book in this picture!

Whenever we go down to Wakayama the boys overdose on sashimi, it is a port town so the fish is super fresh, for me fish, I can live without, I seem to live on a diet of salad and meat when we visit.

We got to see the last few days of the Olympics, Jii-chan was a police chief and all police officers in japan have to have a black belt in judo or kendo* and the riot police do a 12 month intensive course in aikido. This picture was on Jii-chans birthday, a mere 73 years old and still throwing the grand kids about! I forgot to take a photo but the big framed certificate behind them is a medal and certificate from the emperor for presented to Jii-chan for his police work.

*I think it is kendo, if not it is one of the other ~do sports, maybe not sumo!

Now I am just trying to get back into the swing of things, the grand unveiling on the new project is coming up soon, very exciting but I still have a lot to do....