Sunday, August 23, 2009

bonding with Arfie

Sadly, due to the struggle with house training Arfie, we have since pulled this carpet from the living room. But before our frustrations started to boil, we had to bond with the little guy. Ritsy was ready for bonding.
Lanma was interested so joined in on the fun.
Arfie immediately attacked Ritsy`s face.
And then Lanny's.
And probably wanted a piece of ken, but was restrained.
And there was much rejoicing.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Engage Number 2

Well, I guess I kinda threw this out there in Facebook, so it`s probably time to mention now that we will be having another baby. The next baby is about 4 months along now and is due around January 5th. We are as of yet unsure about the sex- so I was trying to target a picture of a girl. The last time my representation of what Ken should look like, I made in Photoshop myself, this time I used a website called Photoflexer, where you can combine 2 pictures into one (under the Geek tab>Morph if you are trying for yourself). The picture is equally creepy in other ways; this time the baby appears to be having 4 eyes.

Anyway, we have had a fantastic time with Ken, and even though he is getting more willful and loves the word `no` we never regret a moment of it. So now we are really looking forward to the next baby- tentatively named `Number 2`

Monday, August 17, 2009

Arfie

As we wore into April, the cats seemed to be starting to get bored.
I love the perspective of the above picture, looks like Lanma is 10 times bigger than she really is.
Anyway we were shopping, and Ritsy and I were charmed by this little dog. He was actually discounted quite sharply and Ritsuko wanted to buy him. I personally thought we are a little too busy to train and care for the dog, but she seemed to have her heart set, so I agreed. His name is Arfie- as in `Arf Arf` and he is half Chihuahua and half Yorkshire Terrier.
We read up and it said that it wouldn't hurt to keep him in the cage until he gets acclimatized. Not a bad idea for the first few days, as Lanma was keeping a very close eye on him.
But they did venture out and make some greetings eventually.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

A visit with Warwick in late March

In late March, I was watching Ken one day and Tyler and Warwick came by for a visit. He has been going on about the virtues of the SLR cameras for a while and this was my first chance to see how much richer and fuller the pictures can be.
Ken even enjoyed a nibble on the lens cap.
And we could take a quality father/son shot.
Or two.
This day Tyler and Ken weren't interacting so much, felt more like they were staking out their territories. But by the end they had a few laughs together.
And there was happiness all around.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The present for a moment

Borrowed from Yahoo.com

It was bit of an apocalyptic scene here yesterday morning. While we were supposed to be getting hammered by a typhoon in the early hours of the morning (though to be honest I didn't hear anything) we were hit by the largest earthquake I have ever felt. Most people by now have heard about it- the 6.6 magnitude gave our house a good shake, and it wasn't a quick shake, it continued for a good 30-60 seconds. I was still sleeping so at first had pulled my blanket over my head, then thought about how easily a piece of broken glass could slice through, so I moved to the doorway and made sure Ritsy and Ken were okay. In the end nothing broke and no injuries. In the end the only damage I saw first hand was at a store that said their elevator broke. Brand new store too.
Borrowed from Tracey's Facebook page

It'a been a summer of nature rearing it's ugly head. My sister was evacuated for 4 days from Lillooet as a wildfire that couldn't be contained at all was making it's way dangerously close to town. Happily enough she was able to return to an intact town safely, but the fire is still going, so unless the rain comes, it could happen again.

The best news, though, is that everyone is okay and safe (knocking on wood as I type) and I think everyone takes a piece of a summer that we will all remember.

Monday, August 10, 2009

1 more set from Hawaii- Ritsy`s camera

Ken can relax anywhere, here on the floor at Nagoya's centrair airport I think...
Another family shot. Seems there aren`t enough of these...
She caught one of the best shots of the whales.
A nice moment from the wedding as Carrie started to walk the aisle.
And messing around while shopping after the wedding. Moving forward next time...

Sunday, August 9, 2009

More of Scott`s Pix- wedding day

Nice to sometimes see a candid picture of yourself...
Carl made a nice speech after the wedding which everyone really enjoyed, including Carrie`s sister, Jodie in the right side of the pic.
Never seen a more natural and happy smile than the one Carrie was wearing. Great picture from Scotty.
The coolness factor in the above picture is dangerously high.
....and finally a nice picture of Scott and B and the newlyweds. A nice set of pictures!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Going back home/Scott's pix

We came to the end of our journey, and headed back home. Luckily, Ken slept through the entire flights once again and my wallet turned up at Nagoya station completely intact- a successful trip!

So I turned to some of Scott's pictures from the trip.
This was taken on the original journey around the island at Iao Needle.
On the last night we tried to catch a tired Carrie and Carl at a Fish and Chip restaurant, but had sadly dilly-dallied too long and just caught them on the way out. Either way it was fantastic to catch up with them and everyone in a different setting, where everyone was out of their element so to speak.
We were still hungry so we carried on with our plans to enjoy Fish and Chips.
Another heavy meal, but another good time on a trip full of them as we got to spend it with our friends that we really miss!

Another high point was Ken starting to form some communication skills, on the trip he started to say 'cheese' (and he could understand it was both food and the word you say when taking pictures), 'juice' and 'car' or 'boo boo' the Japanese child's word for car. It was pretty exciting for me!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

After the Wedding Rush

Now married, Carrie and Carl stood united! And they both seemed quite naturally and legitimately happy, it was a very nice moment!
Also attending from Vancouver were Carl`s buddies Eeshon and Arjun. Sadly their other good pal, Luke was not in attendance.
Ken enjoyed his juice while everyone showered him with flowers.
Everyone could enjoy some drinks and a very nice view.
Ken was still interested in having the flowers placed on him.
And finally Ken fell asleep, but we could fit in to take a picture with the newlywed couple. It was a fantastic wedding and timing was excellent as well, as the rain clouds were moving in just as we headed off on the bus.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The wedding

Soon Carl was standing up front with the minister, and it was time to start the wedding.

Carrie knocked everyone out with her beautiful wedding dress, walking down the 'aisle' with her parents.
They were united and ready.
With a kiss on the cheek...
...and an exchange of vows, they were married.

The Hawaiian minister had a very unique style to the cermony and sang a song in Hawaiian, it was quite a nice touch, here is a bit (sorry for the blurred picture...)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Waiting for the festivities

As we all arrived, everyone took in the nice view and chatted with the other guests getting ready for the main event.
Benita helped with rassling up the always-exploring Ken.
Mommy took Ken down near the rocks to get a better look.

Finally it was time to take a seat and get ready for the big show.
And the Hawaiian-style minister was waiting.