No Ordinary Thing

The last day of summer was a scorcher and I'm guessing we've got another month of hot weather on the way. The last week or so, we've had a lot of thunder storms. One morning the thunder was so big and loud it shook our apartment (felt like a small earthquake)!!!

Aki is starting to get much bigger now and she is feeling the baby moving, however I'm still waiting to feel it move.......We went to the clinic yesterday to have an ultrasound. This time we could see the baby's fingers moving so much. We have decided not to learn the sex until the big day comes, so we are thinking of names for boys and girls. It's now over the halfway stage for Aki, so just 4 1/2 months to go!!!!!

Baby bump

This month at work was a lot of fun. It's been summer holidays, so we havn't had as many kids, this meant we could do a lot more things. We took fieldtrips to two big boats (Nippon Maru & Hikawa Maru) and two science museums and held a mini-Olympics. The last few days we had training and preparation for the second term. On Thursday, we were painting the classroom (I don't think it's been painted for a long time!), when suddenly security forces busted in and told us we had to stop. Apparently a few people in our neighbouring offices had complained of the fumes. The painting is only half done (and there happens to be a big "Brendan Rulez" on the wall!), and now we have to go through the red tape channels to finish it, which will probably take a week or two.

Hikawa Maru; The room where Charlie Chaplin stayed on his voyages; Minato Mirai skyline - I work in the tallest building and our home is behind the two towers on the right.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Minakami to stay with Mark. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible, but it was the weekend the ABs beat the Boks 19-0, so I had a good night!

Aki enjoys a foot spa; Tiny frog on a flower; Minakami mountains; People trying to catch fish

We are looking to move into a house in a couple of months when Aki finishes work. The new house is a lot bigger (about twice as big as our current apartment), but it is a bit old, so will need a fair bit of work. It's also a lot further from.......everywhere, so this means we'll need to get a car. We had a quick look at cars today to get a rough idea of what we want - something cheap (less than NZ$10,000) & small (1500-1800cc), but with a bit of space in the back. Hopefully we'll find one by the end of October, before we move.

Car shopping

This month we don't have much planned except for a long weekend of camping with Aki's family. It should be fun, but I'm gonna miss the ABs beating the Wallabies!!

Daydreamin'

We've been struggling through another hot summer, with temperatures constantly sitting over 30 degrees. This makes it very hard to get out and do things and there's been plenty of sleepness nights in the humid and heat. Back in NZ, summer was my favourite season, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not the same here. I guess a big reason is the lack of public pools (causing crazy overcrowding) and dirty beaches and jellyfish close to the city make it undesirable to go to a nearby beach. So not being able to cool off in some nice water is very frustrating for me!!!

Despite that, we've had a fun month. Summer in Japan means fireworks - and lots of them. We enjoyed the Hanabi in Yokohama with Aki's family. It was the fist time that I went prepared (well, actually Hajime did the preparing, I just joined in), so we had a good spot to watch from, yummy food and beers. It made it a lot more fun to watch!

Aki, Nagi and her cousin enjoy the bento; Big explosions - can you find the cat?

Liam celebrated his 6th birthday last week. We were happy to see him and enjoy a nice meal together. He got a lot of cool presents that should keep him busy until Christmas!!!


Aki and Liam talk about toys; Liam with Dad and Uncle; Liam and Bday prezzies

...........and finally.........Some BIG NEWS!!!!!! Aki and I are very pleased to announce that our first child is on the way! It is a great feeling for us both and we're getting very excited about the upcoming months (and years!) ahead. Our baby is due on January 14. Unfortunately this means we will be unable to come back to NZ in January for Steve and Roshannas Wedding (terrible timing, eh), but hopefully we will be over at the end of next year.

Sonogram showing the next Trotter (16 weeks)