We are the Champions!

What an amazing 2 months of World Cup!!
I managed to watch a lot of games (thanks to a very patient wife!) and enjoyed the whole tournament down to the last whistle! There are many great rugby memories from this World Cup....
* Went to Roppongi, Tokyo for the opening game. I had the day off work so got to the pub very early (I was actually thye first there!). Lucky though, coz about 30 minutes later it started filling up and was packed by kick-off. The mostly kiwi crowd seemed very proud of the opening ceremony, as was I. Good start for the ABs too.
* The first weekend had some amazing games that set the scene for the pool play- Romania pushed Scotland to the end, Japan gave France a scare, England and Argentina played their "who can miss the most kicks game", and Wales was unlucky against SA.
* New Zealand v Japan was a lot of fun to watch here, a bit like a reversal of watching a Japanese Whaling boat slaughter an NZ whale!!! NZ looked pretty sharp for their other pool games too.
* The two big upsets were amazing - Ireland over Aussie and Tonga over France....nobody would've guessed that.
* DC getting injured - not a highlight, but something that won't be forgotten.
* Quarters - Great games, setting up a repeat of the '87 semi finalists. Watched game with ATs mate who is coaching Ricoh. Saw Ma'a Nonus house (next door to coaches house) and met Tamati Ellison at the Ricoh training grounds. Awesome!
* Semis - Can't believe the Wales red card and then their spirit to stay in the game. Unfortunate they lost. It was also time to head back to Roppongi for the All Blacks v Aussie game. Got there an hour before kick-off and all the pubs were packed!!! We actually managed to get a primo spot to watch the game in Hobgoblins pub and the atmosphere was electric!!!
* Final - A very long week waiting for this day. Back to Roppongi where a few of us met for lunch then off to Hobgoblins again. Unfortunately our spot had been reserved but a bit of quick thinking soon led to us getting some of the best seats in the house! Again, it was an amazing atmosphere, and while the game itself wasn't such a great spectacle, we came out on top. I'm proud to say that there were tears of happiness from me and a few other kiwis in the crowd!

.....back to reality.....

Aki and the boys didn't miss me too much!!

Kyle is growing, smiling, grabbling and dribbling a lot. We're trying to get him to roll and he is getting closer, just needs a bit more practice. We'll start giving him some food from this week (he just turned 5 months old), so he'll probably be pooping a lot more soon!

Joshua is great! He has been doing potty training and is getting there slowly....still not quite ready for undies yet.

Aki had a nice birthday as we all went out for lunch, then watched a movie at night (a rarity) and we're off to Disneyland this week to celebrate! She has also been loving her new ipad.

I grew a good beard for the All Blacks and will keep it for another day as I'm goonna be a pirate for halloween tomorrow.

Cutie!

We went to Yamanashi but it rained all weekend!

So we did a lot of karaoke!

Sleepyheads

Potty and brush

On the Minatomirai ferris wheel

Josh using his training chopsticks

Imagine Activity Day

Bye cars - it's my box!

Banana Boy!

Start training now...

Josh talks to Jack and Lucy

Kyle was a magazine model!

Happy brothers!

Josh loves lining his cars up

Trotter boys

Nappyhead

Fishing at festival

Train rider

Wrapped up like a spring roll

Josh loves ambulances but got a bit shy to see a real one!

See you soon everyone!!!

It's now less than 2 months until we get to NZ (Dec 29-Jan 16!). Can't wait for my first NZ summer since 2005!! See you all soon!

Catch up

It's been a non-eventful summer for us, which was pretty much the plan as we watched Kyles early weeks of life (3 months old today!). He is now getting really big, a lot chubbier than Joshua was, and is showing many facial expressions including a gorgeous smile!

Joshua has also done a lot of growing up lately and has been a great big brother. He is talking more everyday and now has a 50-50 mix of English and Japanese. He can say most of his words and phrases in both languages and can learn new words so fast. Joshua is really obsessed with cars still (& firetrucks, ambulances..... He plays with his toy cars every day, he watches car DVD's and loves watching me playing Forza on xbox. When we go for a ride in the car it is really fun as he gets all excited to see big vehicles on the roads. Josh has also started going to sleep by himself at nights - a huge accomplishment that did not take long for him to get used to!! With the World Cup coming, I want to go out and watch games, but it would've been hard for Aki to get Josh to bed (because he liked someone to lie with him for 1 hour plus until he slept) and take care of Kyle. I told Aki I would sort Josh out and sort him out I did! Every night I took him to bed and stayed with him for just 20 minutes or so then made an excuse, like "I have to go to the toilet" or "I have to help mummy". This was sometimes met with resistance but he would eventually let me go without crying. Occassionally he would go to the door and call out for me, so I would go and lie down for a minute and leave again. Now I'm able to read a book, turn the light off and say goodnight. 9 times out of 10, he is totally fine, while sometimes he gets up and turns the light on and starts reading, which is really cute because when I go up, he jumps up, says "light", turns it off and goes to sleep! So now I can go watch the rugby and know that Josh won't give Aki any trouble at bedtime!

The summer has been pretty hot, but not as hot as other years, even having some cool days in August! Most weekends have been at home as Kyle has been too young to take out, but he's big enough to go out now so we went to a restaurant last week for the first time, and yesterday we went to my bosses house for a BBQ. We'll be going away next weekend to Yamanashi as well, so life is starting to get back to normal without baby enforced restrictions. The other big thing happening is our contest on Facebook. It looks like I can win a free trip home - will know for sure this week - so we are getting Kyle's passport and starting to think about dates. It's still going to be bloody expensive with Joshua now paying 75% fare, but hopefully we can be home this summer!!

The Heat is on!

Once again, summer has arrived without knocking at the door, with temperatures racing past 30 degrees in the last couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the new outdoor swimming pool opening in a couple of weeks. It's only 5 mins walk so I hope to take Joshua there a few times in the summer.
The last month has gone very fast with Kyle at home. He is getting bigger (looks a lot chubbier than Josh did), sleeps well and drinks well. In other words - no problems!
Joshua is getting used to having Kyle around. He still gives him the occassional whack but not often. Recently he includes Kyle in his conversations and has been sharing his cars by putting them into Kyle's crib. Josh keeps using new words every day, in Japanese and English, and is growing tall - he is getting taller than other kids in his class who are 6-9 months older than him.
No plans for this summer (although we would love a trip to a nice beach!), so just taking it easy and watching the boys grow up :)

Ninja

"That's my brother", "Thats's my sister"

New cuzzies

Josh loves I-Spy books. He has about 6 of them and knows where everything is!

The Tower

Butterfly!

Josh in jail after hitting Kyle

The boys

Naptime

Giving Kyle some cars to play with

Awesome brothers!

Kyle wants to read, too!