Thomas was prominently sucking money throughout the park. First Ken enjoyed a ride with James.
Then Percy.
and Percy again with Mommy..
And the grand finale of Thomas
And with mommy too...
One would think this would have satiated his appetite, but there was still more demands for riding Thomas throughout the day.
Back in September, we had a bit of a bonus holiday, a rare aligning of a number of holidays to make a long weekend. They name the week Silver Week and it only happens every 7 years or so. Ritsy and I had been planning to go to Adventure World in Wakayama, and her sister and husband decided to come along too- and drove us in the above mini-van.
After a long night of driving, we arrived at Adventure World around 6 am. We were able to sleep a little bit ( I think I did about an hour) before going in. I guess this is a very usual Japanese holiday style.
Ken was in poor spirits. Just before we left, he emptied the contents of his stomach all over his grandma`s floor. But he did manage to sleep most of the night (though the highway is annoyingly a little too bright for little sleepers), and though he had a bit of a temperature was actually interested in the pandas, etc.
He wasn`t coming around very quickly though.
Ritsy had a chance with the new camera.
And produced a pretty good picture.
A little bit of money goes a long way as he brightened up soon after.
A couple of odds and ends to talk about. Back in August holiday season, I needed a bit of POM so I was able (thanks to Ritsy's understanding) to book myself in a hotel for a night in Tokyo and just do some window shopping and I was able to catch up with my old pals Nik whom I had gone to high school with (and worked briefly with) and Makoto. Unfortunately, I couldn`t catch up with everyone, so next time I will catch up with Martin!
One of my recent new classes sees me travelling a bit into the country side, luckily though, not too far from my home. I was intrigued by this sign on the side of the road promising the remains of a castle, Oidaira castle. Images of something like a wall or some interesting points to see sprung to mind. So I took Ken out with me on one day where I was watching him.
Ken was interested in the rocks.
A sign pointed up a steep stairway.
And we climbed up the steep stairs to the top, pretty high up. (Of course I had to carry Ken)
To find only this. Hmm disappointing.
Usually every year in early August, fireworks are held in Kajima, one of the biggest local fireworks festivals around here. But this year in August the Tenryu river levels were very high due to rain fall, and the scheduled day was overcast, so they were delayed to early September. We were invited by Shauna a JET that we had met earlier in the year to her apartment for an awesome view of the fireworks. Chris, Ken and I headed down to enjoy- with Ritsy working the night shift at her hospital.
Ken and I picked a choice seat for enjoyment.
The fireworks were, big loud and great- we had a fantastic view- without the crowd!
We also were able to meet a bunch of non-Japanese people, which is always a rare pleasure in Hamamatsu.
Ken really enjoyed the show.
Happiness.
He also met Claudia who had taken a liking to Ken and started dragging him around and playing with him. She was pretty cool and we enjoyed meeting her and everyone at the fireworks!
For my birthday, Ritsy came up with a new idea, a great steak restaurant near to Hamamatsu castle called Asakuma.
Ritsy and ken seriously contemplated the menu.
Ken and I enjoyed the initial cheers and drink.
And a serious picture...
Ken took a try at the chopsticks.
First attempt failed.
Second try was good.
Look near the bottom of the tree, we could see a Japanese raccoon dog, tanuki.
We were surprised with a free desert and a little music box playing "Happy Birthday" (We couldn't keep the box). A great birthday feast!
Ken really seems to enjoy bath time, so often we have a tough time to drag him outta the bath. This is a relief and we are trying to savour this as later it will probably become a struggle to get him to take one....
I tried to take picture that would spare him the humiliation of having his gear splashed across the Internet. Of course I have always been thankful that any photographic evidence of my sister and I in a bath when I was little were destroyed in our old Welland home (flooded lower basement I think?)
All clean and finally coaxed out...
... and time to clean up- what a good boy!
Other favorite activities at the Park are coming down the slide.
and going back up
Rolling your favorite ball around on the hill
Or playing with the giant abacus built into the playground.
And of course eyeballing the competition for your favorite Whale ride.
In early June, I noticed that some birds were leaving a bit of a mess outside of our front door, and as I feared, they were indeed trying to build a nest. The bird was Japanese Swallow (Tsubame). Finally nearing the end of June they had successfully built their nest.
And I could one day see a couple of heads sticking out of the top of the nest.
By the time I was taking these pictures, the parents were swooping around in wide circles and feeding the babies, when I stood on my step ladder to take the pictures they thought I was mommy coming in.
