More fun to be had at Misono Park

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.

The train

One of the early words Ken adopted has been the word train. He demands to see it daily (and often goes into fits when he can`t). One of the beauties of Misono Central Park is that the train runs right next to it and we can play and watch the train to our hearts content.

Bird`s nest

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.

Very sadly a day or two after this pictures were taken, the nest was showing damage and the baby birds were no longer present. I can only guess that some predator (my only guess is the nasty crows that swoop around the garbage spot) had taken them. Very sad.

Food and character love developing

While looking quite serious about his eating, he really has started to develop a good palette and interest in various foods (heading into late July in catching up).
Witness this fine specimen of okonomiyaki, or Japanese pizza.
He love it and can eat a whole one (which is quite filling) on a good day.
He also has started to really recognize certain characters like his favorite, Elmo- as you can see his love for his Elmo PJ`s. He also at this point knew Barbapapa (though I am not sure why, you don`t see them a lot...) and Stitch.
On top of that the Japanese cartoon character, Anpanman. A superhero that is actually bread filled with anko bean paste, every week he bakes up some fun. Here Ken is modelling his recently bought Anpanman rain coat.

Arfie`s cage

What with Ritsy a month and a half into he pregnancy- leisure time becomes important, and the big blue ball is great for some simple stomach exercises...(or as a foot stool)
Cheese!
Ken thought it fun to get into Arfie's cage.
Arfie wants to put a stop to it.
And gets in to sort things out. Who is annoying now, Arfie!?

Of Boy and Ball

I took Ken out to central Hamamatsu with me to hang a sign for my company and then potentially play. Though he fell asleep soon after this lunch and I had to carry him home on the train.

He starts with his new `cheese` sign.
Oh look at the wonder that is `ball`.
What splendid sorrow `tis but to throw thee.
Overforthwith I shalt smite thine pestilent rage with mine ball of orangeness.
As a ball exists and, I too, have a soul connected with roundness- I too... am.

Errr, a little nonsensical today........I hope you enjoyed! :-)

Annoying Arfie

I noticed with recent posts that the preview pictures don`t look so great. If you click on them though, you will get a beautiful (hopefully not too big) version of each picture to get the full effect.
Arfie has figured out quite quickly his job in the home is to annoy everyone as much as possible. Witness this situation with Ken and his diaper.
He zooms by, spotting his prey.
Makes his move, Ken realizes his diaper is in danger.
Arfie attacks relentlessly.
On top of getting on Ken`s nerves, recently the cats can`t move at all with out getting swooped on by the little rodent-like dog. Amusing to watch, but when you are the target, not so fun...

May 31 Ken at Misono park

As has become a bit of a pattern lately with Ritsy working weekends, I was left in charge of Ken one Sunday. So I took him and the new camera down to Misono Park, the local basketball court/playground. Here he has mastery of 2 balls at once.
In short order, he returned the ball to Chris.
And started giving him directions to the nearest Vegemite retailer.
The directions were very involved.
Next up, Ken hit the playground.
And he eyeballed the giant slide, where we could find another foreign national, Stuart with his son climbing the outside...
Ken took a go at the slide and was fearless. Very soon he started going face first.
Back to the main play area.
And another slide with Chris. It was a good time, and yielded some great pictures!

Ritsy`s gift

Ritsy`s gift wasn`t exactly just her gift. But as we had been thinking of buying this for a little while I ended up paying most of her half of it on top of my half ,so she winds up with a majority ownership... All I know is that Santa liked the bag it came in.
Lanma`s curiosity was piqued...
Arfie was just staring...
And Ken was just shocked....

Ritsy`s old camera had been damaged by Ken, it would no longer open or turn on. So I was originally thinking of getting a digital camera, but as we wanted a better camera like an SLR and I was finished with my car payments (yay!). I decided to break the budget and go with a low range SLR camera. In Japan it is called the EOS Kiss X2- but in N America I think it is the digital rebel. It is a pretty decent camera and made for a decent present! (though you may notice the first pics are pretty blurry, I am working on the quality!)

Ritsy`s birthday

At the end of May there is Ritsy`s birthday, so she was treated to one of our favorites, the crab restaurant Kora (we may have done the same last year if you are having deja vu).
Ken was lounging large while waiting for the food.
Finally he got up and immediately started to play with my phone.
Finally the food came and we enjoyed a big feast with Ken going between Ritsy and I to steal the best bits.
It was a nice birthday. After eating, we went to pick up Ritsy`s present...