Happy Holidays!

Aki, Joshua and myself wish you all a very happy New Year and hope you had a great Christmas!
We've just finished our christmas celebrations, once again doing it Japanese style, having to work on the 25th, so we had a big feed today. At least next year it falls on a Saturday so we can do it on the right day for once! Joshua didn't have a clue what was going on, but I think he enjoyed seeing all his family in Japan and has been playing wth some new toys.
I have a week's holiday coming up, but we have no plans to go anywhere.....it's too cold! Just hoping we can enjoy a decent snowfall this year.
The last couple of months have been very busy for me at work, and we really haven't been doing a lot on weekends, except for enjoying time with Joshua. He is now crawling so fast, climbing onto the couch and walking with the aid of shelves, walls, chairs and anythging else he can hold on to. He is also making many more sounds and loves clapping his hands and waving bye-bye. It's hard to believe his first birthday is just around the corner - January 11th in case you wanted to get him a present ;)....just seems like a couple of months have passed since he was born!
Here's a few of the best shots from te last couple of months........

Blackout!

The wait was finally over as the All Blacks came to Tokyo! The whole game was everything I could've hoped for - nice weather, good seats, packed stadium & an ABz win! Aki also enjoyed it a lot, especially listening to us shout at anyone who came within earshot. The only kinda bad thing was the poor effort of the JRFU in trying to promote this game. They'll have to do a lot better when the World Cup comes to town. Anyway, here's a few picks of the occassion -

We also had our halloween party at school. Joshua came and joined us, looking extra cute as a dalmation. Me, I was just out for laughs!

Aotearoa '09 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good......

One of our biggest fears about coming home was how Joshua would be on the plane. Turned out that we had nothing to worry about. Apart from a 10 minute screaming session as we waited for the plane to take off from Tokyo, he was great! He slept off and on all night and was bright and happy when we arrived (unlike us!). His other plane trips (to and from Wellington, and back to Japan) were also very stress free as he enjoyed playing with his toys, feeding and sleeping.

Of course it was so great to see all the family. Joshua has now met all his relatives and formed quite a bond with some of them. This was the main reason to come back home, so everyone could see Joshua while he's still a baby. We got to do many things with the family that hadn't been done for years. Mike's 40th and Jack's birthday were fun affairs, as were our trip to the zoo, our (unsuccessful) fishing trip, and late nights playing cards.

It was also great to catch up with friends, although this was a bit limited in time. At least we managed to get everyone together for a BBQ at the same time. Hopefully some of you guys will come over here sometime for another catchup!

Joshua's christening was a great day. Although it's not legally official (and probably won't be for a while), his name is now Joshua Takashi Trotter. It was so nice to see the aunties and uncle that made the trip and spend the afternoon catching up.

Didn't think I'd talk to three All Blacks on my holiday, but I did! The first was Richard Kahui in the hospitality box at Waikato Stadium, where we were invited by Brian and Clare to watch Waikato v. Nth. Harbour (good game too). Aki was wondering why I didn't introduce her to my "friend", only finding out later that he was a rugby player. A couple of days later I was shopping in the Frankton markets and came across Liam Meesam selling T-shirts. Ended up buying one from him too! And then, on the plane trip back to Japan, lo and behold, who should be sitting across the aisle from me - none other than ex-All Black captain Reuben Thorne! He's currently playing rugby in Japan and in case you were wondering, he won't be making it to the Tokyo test, as he'll be back in NZ at that time.

The Bad........

Maybe I've been in Japan for too long, but the service received in some places were shocking. I won't go into details, but buying a new computer gave me a customer experience similar to being walked over by a cow with diarrhea - in both Dick Smith and Bond & Bond, I was treated like shit - and here was me handing over a grand for the service! Anyway, won't be shopping in either of those places again. A few other shops offered similar services - no smiles, no offers to help and barely a grunt out of them when you buy something. Quite different to Japan where some places actually have people bow to you when you leave the store and they stay there until you're out of sight!

We'd just bought a new camera about three months ago, after our other one died. Apparently, expensive digital cameras don't like us, as our new one decided to die just after we arrived in Wellington, five days into our trip. Steve came to the rescue as he lent us his camera for the rest of our trip, but apparently the jinx has continued, as his memory card was somehow corrupted, so the majority of our photo's seem to have been lost! When we returned the camera in Japan they gave us a brand new one on the spot, and so far it hasn't died.......yet!

& The Ugly........

"The weather's been absolutely beautiful", "It's been so warm lately", "Looks like summers coming" - these were the various things we heard about the weather before coming to NZ. In retrospect, it seems like someone was playing a cruel joke, as it rained all but 2 or 3 days while we were home. Unfortunately, it was just bad timing, but it did really put a dampener on the trip as we were limited to what we could do being stuck inside for most of the time. Now Aki has experienced an NZ winter (albeit in Spring), to go along with the autumn and spring she had previously seen. I'm thinking a January/February trip is on the cards for next time......

Superstylin'

It's been a busy and fun month as we enjoyed the summer heat - except when the heat was too unbearable to enjoy! It's actually been a pretty mild summer compared with the last few years that I've been here.

Joshua now has his first teeth! They started showing about a week ago and now he has two sharp little chompers at the bottom. We're still waiting to see him crawl, but for now he seems content to get around using his rolling and sliding technique. His most recent check-up at the doctor saw him weighing in at 7.77kg and 70.3 cm long.....almost 5kg and over 20 cm bigger than his birth!

A little blurry, but can just see teeth - hard to take new teeth pics!; Josh likes mummys new hair; playing with Shinosuke-kun; jamming on the G-tar; health check

We started the month with a BBQ for all my workmates. It was nice to get everyone together outside of work and enjoy a feed and drinks.

We then went to stay a night in Hakone with Aki's mum. The first day we went to the Hakone Open-Air Museum - a big park like place with lot's of intersting sculptures, including a building dedicated to Picasso. It was actually more enjoyable than I thought, with many interesting and crazy pieces to see. We enjoyed a nice meal and hot bath at the ryokan and planned to play golf the next day. Unfortunately, a typhoon decided to interrupt those plans so we just headed home instead.

Aki and Joshua went away the following week to stay in Yamanashi with her family. They had a lot of fun as they could enjoy the cooler temperatures outside.

We got the pool out again, and this time Joshua enjoyed it a lot more. He was happy to splash around and be dragged through the water.



As part of our training days at work, we went to our company president's beach house near Zushi. After about an hour of talking business we were free.to enjoy the rest of the day, which meant BBQ, swimming, lot's of alcohol and a jacuzzi. Aki and Joshua also joined us in the afternoon. It was an awesome day, with one of the highlights being in the jacuzzi, with a glass of champagne, watching the sun set over Mt. Fuji. Truely Beautiful! I also saw some stingray while swimming and got my first real tan of the summer.....just hope it wasn't too much coz I hate to peel! Hopefully Shachou will tell us where he leaves the keys, so we can go back some time soon.