jojoebi designs

Have you landed in the right place?

2024-10-23T15:05:00.007+09:00

This is just quick update, in case you landed here accidentally.

This was my original blog started in 2007 and I have kept it (but not really updated it) because there are a lot of useful posts hidden in the depths.

Where you can find me now - on a regular basis is blogging at jojoebi.com. Where I'm still bloggng about Montessori and helping kids lear at home but also expanded to helping moms get more done, bringing my productivity coach know-how to the blog.

If you have got kids in the 4-10 year old age range then 193 Little Adventures might be of interest to you, this is my passion project, helping kids to learn about the world.

If you want to connect @jojoebi on insta is for the productivity, time saving side of things and @

193_little_adventures

for the kids stuff. If you do follow, shoot me a message and say hello!

To get free access to the 193 Little Adventures free library (new resources added each week) CLICK HERE

Where we are with our homeschool journey

2019-09-11T18:04:00.000+09:00

Term time starts in April here, we took August off so this is where we are this September:

⭐️ Core subjects, grade 3 Junior High. Maths, Japanese and science he uses @study sapuri and studies in Japanese, although he also uses Khan Academy for maths because he doesn't like the Japanese math teacher.

⭐️ English, he reads daily, has a workbook which we work through together and is doing a creative writing class on Outschool this term.

⭐️ French, after 300 days of Spanish he decided to switch to French, he does the daily lessons on Duolingo. Once he has the basics down we will look for a conversation class for him.

⭐️ Humanities, High School he is about 1/2 way through those so he will just continue with them. (in Japanese using Study Sapuri)

⭐️ Game theory - he has gotten really interested in this the last couple of months and has been researching it so we signed him up for a course on Coursera to go deeper into that. (research in Japanese, course is in English)

⭐️ Culinary arts, still a favourite, he is working through all the chefs on MasterClass and experimenting a lot in the kitchen. (mostly English)

⭐️ PE - he does aikido twice a week and goes climbing 3 times and does training at home to build muscle for climbing.

⭐️ Coding - Lego Mindstorms EV3 with Zedkai and they also do classes debating various topics and live lectures. (Japanese)

⭐️ Occasional classes with JUNEC (Japanese)

⭐️ Art - I signed up for a course on Domestika and he has been joining in.

I think that is it! Looks like a lot but some of these are just once or twice a month. He is enjoying being able to pick and mix whatever he wants to study and to be able to learn at his own pace.

Ebi-kun is happy, I would say the only downside is that he doesn't see his friends so much now, we knew this would happen and unfortunately, there are not many homeschoolers his age around.

We have developed a routine, he does the bulk of his studying in the morning and I work, we stop for lunch and after we have eaten we will watch a TED talk or Masterclass. Then we will go bouldering or do something together or he will work on a project. In the evening he meets online with his mates and plays and generally hangs out normal teenage boy stuff!

And that is it.

I've been missing the blog, so I plan to pop by more often, I miss just sitting down first thing and banging out a blog post! TBH my work blog is a lot of work, I have to consider keywords and SEO, getting the right title and all that jazz, really sucks the fun out of things!

So over here it will just be my rambles and rants, like the good old days!

If you are reading, please drop me a comment, I'd love to re-connect with my old followers

Keep being wonderful,

Jo

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Homeschool Update...

2018-03-06T06:00:00.000+09:00

To be honest, I haven't got much to update about!

So last time I talked about filling the forms in at city hall. That is about it really. We haven't heard anything else, which does have me a tad worried, you know how much the Japanese love red tape and bureaucracy!

Ebi-kun told his class teacher that he was going to homeschool fro junior high. At first, sensei was OK, if that's what you want to do. But then a few days later he said to Ebi-kun that he didn't think it was "allowed" that he had to go to school. Hubby has explained all the rules to Ebi-kun in Japanese so that he can answer all these types of questions which no doubt will come up in the future.

Last week the 6th graders were going for a tour of the junior high, any kids that are not going to that school were allowed to go home instead. There are a handful of students that will go to private JH schools and of course, Ebi-kun. I had to go and pick him up, so whilst the rest of the kids are touring the school, we went for ice-cream #homeschoollife!

We then popped to the supermarket so he could pick up the ingredients to cook dinner, I'm telling you, I'm loving this already!

The other thing that has come up, Ebi-kun currently goes to football school once a week and wanted to continue but there is no JH age class. On Saturday he had a make-up class so afterwards I suggested we did a very un-Japanese thing and ask if they can let him join a class next year (the year starts April).

We had a long chat with the coaches and explained what was happening and why he couldn't join the JH team, had to explain a bit about homeschooling and they were absolutely lovely about it.

They suggested he joined a class for the next couple of weeks which is a higher level than the one he is in now to see if he liked that kind of training and they would talk to the head coach to see about him being allowed to join a class or if there is enough interest to start a JH class.

They said that they really wanted to support us and would try and work something out.

Ebi-kun was chuffed to bits so it's fingers crossed now that they are good to their word and do work something out.

Ebi-kun will keep doing his aikido and he has been trying the bouldering club out too so I think if we can keep the football in the mix he should have enough to keep him busy out of the house. (and me!)

I will keep you posted on what happens next, it's very much a see-how-it-goes type of adventure!

If you are homeschooling too, let me know!

Jo

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The trouble with blogging these days...

2018-03-04T11:04:00.001+09:00

The trouble with blogging these days...

I was talking to my biz coach the other day and she made a point of saying how much she loved my writing style and wanted to know why I don't write more.

I started with the same ole same ole excuses and lack of time yadda yadda yadda but then I though some more about it.

It isn't down to lack of time at all, if anything since Ebi-kun has been at school, I have more time! When to think back when I was most prolific with my blogging, that was when I was the most busy. So what really changed?

The business of blogging I think is a big factor.

You see when I started, I knew nothing about SEO (Seacrh Engline Optimization) or keywords, the important of alt text on images and the layout that coverts the best or any of that stuff. And to be brutely honest, I had zero interest in it either.

I was blogging initially for me and my family (this was pre-Facebook days, do you remember them?)

I wrote because I enjoyed it, it was a creative outlet. I didn't worry about the terrible grammar (confessin alert, I would type and hit publish, without even reading it through...!)

I didn't worry about how professional I sounded or if I was using the latest terminolgy and jargon. I just wrote whatever came to mind and that was that.

Totally random unicorn chocolate photos because... why not?

Being a multipotenialite meant that there was never a clear niche for this blog, it was always a general, this is my life and what I'm up to right now kind of thing. It was called A Bit Of This And A Bit Of That when I first started. No planning, not deciding on what will go out in Q1, Q2 or anything like that.

It was very much me, just writing.

Then when I started My Organized Chaos (now jojoebi) I discovered I hadn't been doing things properly and the following I had gained totally organically was a bit of a happy accident!

I started following the advice of the "gurus" on when and how to post, keyword research, optimised blog titles, SEO and all of that and you know what, it sucked the fun out of writing.

Combine that with how easy it is to write a quick update on what's going on over on Facebook and well, this blog took quite a beating.

I have had coaches in the past who told me to to move this blog over to the new site, my gut has always been against the idea, and my brain was screaming WHAT? 3000 POSTS, ARE YOU INSANE? Needless to say, we are still here and I'm happy with that.

So thanks to my current coach I was able to nail what it was that was holiding me back. This blog has never been about the money, it was always a creative outlet and connecting with like minded folk.

I want to get back to that just sitting down and rambling, spur of the moments kind of posts, those ones where you have a flash of inspiration in the bath and you just have to get out and share, even if you're dripping all over the keyboard.

I miss the days of the conversations and connections through the comments section, I feel like facebook spolied much of that. I feel like I'm on Facebook waaaay to much and the connections are not truely there, especially with the constant algorithm changes. I still love my groups but I do feel in the last 6 months or so I have drifted away.

So for the future...

Expect more of this, free form waffle, hopefully it will be a bit more amusing and exciting to read! I will be documenting our homeschool journey too, although now there will be less hands on stuff from me.

And of course the random comings and goings of life in Japan and our adventures.

I did contemplate remving everything and going for a total minamilist look but my inner entrepreneur called me bat-shit crazy for even thinking that, because at the end of the day, I still need to be making money!

The moms that I help over on jojoebi and The Kaizen Revolution, came from here initially so there still needs to be some kind of connection.

I'm looking forward to not doing keyword research, not going SEO crazy and not worrying about if I'm doing it it right or wrong. Just going with the flow!

I hope you enjoy it to!

I'll be seeing you again soon,

Jo

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Create Every Week #4 - Blow Fish Party

2018-02-15T17:30:00.001+09:00

I admit it, I have been slacking off on the creativity side but I did have a play around the other day with this.

I am hoping to up my "kawaii illustrations" game so I decided to combine different expressions with blowfish (fugu as it is known in Japan).

I'll probably paint it with water colours but upload and clean it up a bit so I can play around with digital painting too.

I have been using this book: Kawaii: How to draw really cute stuff and a reference book. Which I'm really enjoying, Ebi-kun too. It has step by step for drawing all kinds of things from people to transport to buildings and how to kawaiify them.

Obviously in Japan everything is kawaii, they have a knack of making everything cute - which other nation would come up with a cute poop emoji? I rest my case.
All the prefectures have their own cute mascots, we have a pigeon, I know right, of all the creatures they pick a bloody pigeon!

But it doesn't stop there, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, even prisions have mascots too - it's a HUGE business. One thing that surprised me when I first came over to Japan was seeing full grown men with cute mascot pens, key-chains and the such like. After being here so long it all seems perfectly normal.

So... what have you been creating this week?

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Instant Pot: Italian Bean Stew and Dumplings

2018-02-08T09:32:00.001+09:00

Instant Pot Convert Here!

I bought an instant pot last November, mainly because we eat a lot of stews, soups and casseroles over the winter and standing over the stove is not my idea of a barrel of laughs.

Initially, I was going to go for a Crock Pot but when I started reading reviews I kept seeing Instant Pot pop up, so I did some more digging.

It seemed to be the bee's knees so I ordered one.

I have never owned or used any kind of pressure cooker so I was a bit worried about blowing up the kitchen, so far so good!

Quick disclaimer: I often use affiliate links in my post and on my site, this means that I get a small percentage of the same if you choose to buy through my link, at no cost to you.

I feel like my biggest gripe with the Instant Pot - which I love incidentally, is more to do with the wild claims of food bloggers. When I was trawling Pinterest for recipes and reviews I saw all these amazing claims "Rice cooked in 5 minutes", "Whole roast chicken in 30 minutes" and the such like.

Now these claims are not wrong but what they don't mention is that you have to add in the time it takes for the pot to come to pressure, 5-10 minutes and then the time it takes to release afterwards. As a pressure cooker newbie, I was clueless about this and was sucked in by the super fast cooking times.

Due to my ignorance, for the first few weeks, my cooking times were well off and I was having trouble getting a meal to come together, now I pretty much prepare the Instant Pot portion of the meal in advance so I don't have to think about it!

I got the Instant Pot DUO80 8 Qt 7-in-1 Multi- Use Programmable Pressure Cooker I haven't yet tried the yoghurt function, need to get onto that!

For those in Japan, I ordered this one here - please note that it has an earth on the plug, luckily we have an earthed socket next to the oven so it all plugged in fine but I know other people have had to buy an adapter to make it work for them. Voltage wise it works fine.

Now we have that out of the way... onto the recipe!

Stufato Di Fagioli Con Polpettine Di Pane

Or in other words, Italian bean Stew With Bread Dumplings

This is meat free but still very filling, it's like a hug in a bowl! Perfect for wintery evenings and was pretty quick to throw together. It got a great 9/10 from the family, so this is going on the winners list and into my evernote file of fall back recipes.

I adapted the recipe from Gino's D'Campo's Italian Escape book, mom got it me for Christmas, purely because she fancies Gino!

Serves 4

For the bean stew

2 TBSP Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 pinches dried red chilli flakes
1 TSP fresh chopped rosemary
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes + 1/2 can of water
1 x 400g tinned borlotti beans, drained and rinsed*
1 x 400g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper

*For those in Japan I get my beans from Yamaya International Liquor store - if you haven't discovered this store yet, go and hunt it out, it's a gem!

For the dumplings

200g ciabatta bread*
200ml milk
1 egg beaten
2 TSP fresh chopped rosemary (recipe called for parsley)
1 TBSP flour
Olive oil

*I didn't have any ciabatta so I dug some random bread leftovers, a couple of homemade buns and the end of a french stick, out of the freezer. Let them defrost and added the milk, I needed a bit more than the recipe stated but that might have been down to the type of bread.

Put the olive oil in the instant pot and set to saute.
Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the chilli pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Throw in the rest of the ingredients, give a good stir.
Change the setting from saute to soup.

Takes 11 minutes cooking time but remember to add the coming up and releasing the pressure!

Dumplings...

Chop the bread into small cubes.
Warm the milk then pour over the bread, I needed to add a bit more milk, maybe due to the fact it wasn't ciabatta.
Leave to soak for 10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in the rosemary, egg and flour. The recipe called for lemon zest too but I didn't have any so skipped that bit completely.
It should make a sticky type dough.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, scoop the dough into walnut sized balls and cook until golden all over.

Serve on top of the bean stew.

Done!

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The Start Of Our Homeschool Journey In Japan

2018-02-06T10:43:00.002+09:00

The Start Of Our Homeschool Journey In Japan

I have a BIG announcement...

Yes, we are going to start homeschooling full time. Ebi-kun will finish Elementary school in March and so we will start our homeschool journey.

For some of you, this won't be a surprise, it is something we have been considering all along but now it's crunch time and we have to jump one way or the other.

We did look at one of the local school which although it is government run, the system they use is slightly different and we thought it would be a compromise. He took the entrance test and didn't get in (only 2 kids from his elementary school did pass the test and then there is an interview). So that made our mind up for us.

To answer the most glaring question first... WHY?

As you know, I am passionate about Montessori and deeply believe that the "follow the child" or child-led learning as it is also known is the best way for a child to learn.

When a child follows their passions and intrinsic motivation - the planes of development as Montessori called them, the child learns at a much deeper level, gets a much better understanding of the subject matter and doesn't get bored by the education process.

Also when a child follows an area of interest it brings in subject areas from many different places. For example, Ebi-kun is interested in food, which is what started the whole Ebi-kun Eats thing but it is so much more than just trying new foods.

He is interested in flavour combinations, he will often try different flavours together to see if they work. He loves to find out the history of a type of food, how it is made and he is an avid ingredients reader.

He will follow a recipe to the tee for the first try but then will experiment by adding things in and taking things out, cooking it in a different way. It's a big science experiment.

So although cooking is the main subject it also brings in maths, chemistry, food safety, history, culture... and he is also learning to take notes in a scientific way, to explore and push boundaries, to ask questions and see where the answers lead him.

This is a very different approach to learning how to make cupcakes in a classroom.

This goes for any other subject he decides to deep dive into. Japanese history is something he is very much interested in now. He is a voracious reader and when he finds an interesting fact in a book he will take that and explore it further.

This is the way I believe education should be, following our passions and exploring them to a deeper level.

I am 100% sure that there are things that both you and I learned at school that have never ever used. Osmosis - has that ever been used in my life, nope. Trigonometry is the one that is usually banded about because unless you follow the path or maths and engineering, there is very little chance you will have need of it.

That said, I do believe a foundation in the basics is important, Maths, English, Japanese so these will be none negotiables. The rest he can choose to study as he likes.

The other reason is that Japanese Junior High works extremely well on the Victorian schooling system, the schools were set up initially to prepare kids to work in the factories. Kids learned that everything had to be done a specific way, to do as your told, when you are told and by the time you had finished, you were ready to join the workforce.

That is all very good and well if you want to go 'into the system' but I don't believe it is a healthy system, the stupidly long hours, lack of time to spend with family and the whole "hammer the nail down that sticks up ethic" If you don't fit the mold, they will make you fit the mold.

As a square peg myself this really, really doesn't sit well with me.

We all have a place in this world, no matter who we are, what we do and what our quirks are, we should be accepted for who we are.

This thing of making everyone equal and the same is totally against everything I believe and stand for, I couldn't put my child through that system. Some people might be OK with it. I am not.

So that is the WHY and now onto the HOW...

Obviously, Ebi-kun has been part of the conversation. His main concern is friends or lack of but we think we can work this out. He will still go to aikido, he's interested in joining the bouldering club, we are looking into volunteering places to join and there are plenty of classes he can join both on and offline.

His biggest complaint about school is that he is bored because the pace is too slow. He does his homework in class (this year the sensei is OK with that) and doesn't get to study the things he is interested in. He is excited to be homeschooling and not to wear a uniform!

We already use Khan Academy and I have looked into other online courses. He is also signed up for this Japanese site Study Sapuri which covers the everything up to university entrance exams. So we will probably use this for maths and Japanese and social studies.

We will also consider juku (cram school) or tutor if he needs it for help on the Japanese side of things.

The Legalities...

Full disclaimer here! I am not a lawyer in any shape or form and we are finding our way through this by ourselves, just taking it as it comes. My husband is 'The Research Type' so he and Google have become very good friends! But I wanted to share our journey to help anyone else who decided to take the same path.

In Japan, the law states that a child has a legal right to education until they are of age to graduate Junior High School (roughly 16 depending on their birthday). The law does not specify how or where the education needs to take place.

It is possible to be registered with the local Junior High, this seems to depend on the headmaster/BOE from what I can gather. The child is registered and will get a graduation certificate but doesn't need to attend the school.

I have read that some schools allow the child to join the club activities or specific classes but Ebi-kun was adamant he wasn't up for that.

Today we went down to the town hall and filled in a form in the Education Committee Section ( 区域外就学・指定校変更届け ) stating what our plans were and why. It took about 10 minutes, seemed fairly straightforward. At this point we don't know what happens next, I will update with another post when we know!

We are expecting an interview somewhere along the line and maybe a yearly update but at this point, who knows!

Now, if you are reading this, there are a lot of stories where parents have run into resistance and struggled to get the BOE on side if your child has dual nationality, you can play the foreigner card and basically, from what I understand the BOE will leave you to your own devices as the law is only directed at Japanese kids.

I'm hoping that we won't need to go down that route but it's a backup plan just in case.

What About My Business?

I have always built my business with the idea that it fits with the family so that won't change. Iw ill work alongside Ebi-kuns study. I will have to cut the hours back a bit, be more productive in some areas. Generally speaking, nothing will change.

I have decided to retired a couple of my services and concentrate more on the passive income. I am keeping The Kaizen Revolution going so that will be my main focus.

Homeschooling will give us a lot more freedom, we don't have to stick to school holidays for starters, so we can explore more, hopefully, travel more and not necessarily in school holiday time, although we are still tied to my husbands work schedule!

That is where we are at right now.

Graduation is towards the end of March so the adventure will officially start then but I will update here when we have any new information!

Create Every Week - Week #3

2018-01-26T02:00:00.000+09:00

We had SNOW!

I know for many people that isn't very exciting but I LOVE the snow and we don't get it very often here.

I wasn't the only one who was stupidly excited about it, admitedly the rest of the lcoals were under the age of 13 hahaaha

Although I had planned to do some drawing this week I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading out in the snow and not only the snow, we had a misty morning out too - it was stunning.

I love the snow for so many reasons, being a winter babe probably has something to do with it but I also love...

I love the chance to be the first to walk across an untouched path of snow, it is the one of the times when you can truely be The First.

I love the way that it changes the scenery, making the usual boring and mundane look mysterious and intresting.

I love how it changes the sounds, everything seems quieter and sounds are more intense.

I love the smell, that fresh, clean air that your lungs just can't get enough of.

I love the patterns that nature brings us with the snow, the way that the wind blows it or the way that it covers cabbages in the field making them look like mini mountains.

I love how it changes the energy, kids squeal with excitement, adulats remembering the days they went sledging or the best snowman they ever made.

I love that it is a free creative tool that, when just right you can build amazing sculptures or igloos or snow trolls!

I love the chaos that it brings becuae it makes you appreciaite everything when it's running normally.

I also love that I work from home and don't have to commute in the chaos :D

So here are a few, unedited shots from my 2 and half hour walk! I mamnaged to get my 10K steps in before 10am!

18 for 2018 - family bucket list

2018-01-25T17:17:00.001+09:00

We decided as a family to put together a bucket list for 2018.

It had to contain a stretch goal, something the cost nothing, something fun, something to challenge us and something taht we could do every month. They were the general rules anyway!

It too a while to come up with 18 but we finally did it, this is sperate from my create every week misssion!

If you prefer to read about the whole list, I wrote about it over HERE or you can sit back and watch the short video...

Let me know if you are doing something similar!

So far we have tried 2 new cafes, one is just a 10 minute walk up the road and we had no idea it was there. It's a great find as they also have a foot spa! I can see me spending a lot more time over there...

They also have a small shop where they sell oils, herbs and handmade goods, absolute gem of a find! The menu is limited but tasty.

The second new cafe is about 3km away, also very nice, everything sourced locally when they can. Bit of an odd menu but we all enjoyed it! No doubt we will be going back soon! I could probabaly bike over alough it means going along the scary main road, so to be honest, I probably won't!

That brings us onto pancakes, I tried THIS recipe, well I based it on that recipe, I made some tweaks. You have to cook them on a very low temperature otherwise they are still soggy in the middle!

I want to try them again, when I am sure I have it right I'll share my tweaked, Japan friendly version!

And the fun family photo - mision complete, New Years skiing in Niigata. The first day I wasn't feeling too good, the scond day was lovely, great snow, great weather!

Then day three was a right off, the weather was terrible, most of the lifts were closed so we gave up and came home early but at least we got a decent photo!

Create Every Week - Week #2

2018-01-15T13:41:00.000+09:00

Create Every Week

This year I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative just for me, I do a lot of creative things for work but sometimes it feels like everything is work focused and less on having fun and just enjoying the process.

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Week #2 - Photography

I love taking pictures but it is a long time since I did any kind of formal training and I'd love to get out of the habit of putting my DSLR on auto!

I have a Pentax K-50 and it's bright PINK! I went with Pentax because that is what my old camera was and we used them in college, so it's a bit like an updated, snazzier version of an old friend!

Ebi-kun is still off school so we went for a walk, both taking our cameras and just enjoyed the time outside. Not having a focus or theme, just pictures of whatever.

These are my three favourite shots of the day...

I'm not sure what this plant is but they grow in abundance in the neglected rice paddies, they looked so delegate against the winter sky...

Next up were chestnuts, there were found surrounding a little shrine which was guarded by foxes - statues, not the real thing, I don't actually live in a Miyazaki movie.

The colour of the chestnuts grabbed my attention, I love that rich brown colour, always reminds me of autumn and delicious food.

The final one today is taken through the wooden grill at the little fox shrine, the grill actually framing what was inside.

The fox shrine is actually an Inari Shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are almost 3000 of these shrines dotted around Japan, I am better this is one of the smallest! Most of these shrines have a pair of foxes gardening the gate.

So that wraps up week #1 if you are joining in let me know what you are up to! I'm hoping this challenge will keep me a bit more consistent with my posting too!

Create Every Week - week #1

2018-01-08T14:02:00.000+09:00

Create Every Week

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Disclaimer - I sometimes include affiliate links in my posts, that means that if you click the link and make a perchase I get a small percentage of the sale, at no cost to you.

Week #1 - ipad apps

I am forever downloading apps to play with, some make the cut and some get deleted almost immediately. What I wanted to do is find a way to sketch then digitally colour my sketches - I have product ideas in mind but I need to figure out a process that suits me first!

My favourite app is Sketches which is free and extremely powerful, nothing groundbreaking for far as art goes yet but I do really like it and so it is going into the 'to keep' folder. It's really easy to use, has lots of pen types and works with my wacom pen.

This sketch started in Sketches as a line drawing but then I wanted to use the paintbucket to colour it so I opened it up in Pigment, which a colouring book style of app.

It has several free colouring pages and you can upgrade to get more, you can also import your own images to colour in.

I like how it turned out, still a bit rough around the eges but now I have a process down so I can concentrate more on getting my images more polished.

I've ordered a couple of books on how to draw kawaii things, so expect more kawaii goodness coming this way!

That wraps up this weeks Create Every Week post, if you want to join the journey, let me know! I would love some company!

Taste tests: Ebi-kun Eats and taste tests - Cough candy KitKat

2018-01-07T06:00:00.000+09:00

Cough Candy Kit-Kat - Strange Kit-Kat Flavours

I have to admit, when I saw this I did wonder what on earth is going on down at Kit-Kat HQ? What have they been taking because who in their right mind would think that cough candy chocolate would be a good idea?

I hope that there were repercussions for this foolish endeavour, I am certainly not taking out shares in Kit-Kat if this kind of foolishness continues. Mint kit-kat I can cope with but this is just plain silly. Anyway, enough of my ranting about the crazy antics of kit-kat flavour makers (I wonder if that is their real job description?)

Watch Ebi-Kun's video to see if this delicacy is really worth the ¥200 I forked out for it...

Remember to pop over to his channel and subscribe and leave him a comment,
he does reply to all of them!

New Year Skiing In Niigata

2018-01-05T06:30:00.000+09:00

New Year Skiing/Snowboarding At Yuzawa Nakazato

Summary: Snowdrifts, mogul head-butting, drinking sake bath water and horse sacrifices.

We headed off to the mountains for our annual new year's ski trip. The first day we decided to try a different resort, it is further from the station and it more like a village rather than run by one company. So there are several ski hire shops and small restaurants, it had a 1970 vibe going on, I liked it!

Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling good, each time I got halfway down the slope I felt really dizzy and sick, I was somewhat worried that the vertigo was back. The boys enjoyed themselves and it was good to try somewhere new but as a days skiing, it wasn't much fun.

The next day we headed to our usual haunt, Yuzawa Nakazato, the weather was great, snowy but not windy. Lots of fresh snow, lovely to ski on and I felt much better, a couple of dizzy spells but better than the day before. It wasn't busy either, I do love it when there is no one else about! We also discovered a new run that goes through the forest when was brilliant!

Ebi-un is that fast these days I can hardly keep up, the only time I do catch up with him is when he is stuck in a snow drift! He loves it! The last run down though he went down the moguls and somehow headbutted one, the mogul won, he came away with a big nose bleed. No other damage, thankfully!

Top Tip: rubbing snow on a jacket covered in blood does actually remove the blood!

Yasutoki is a big fan of sake and Yuzawa/Niigata is famous for his sake, I think he would have like to smuggle a couple of these bottles home. I'm not sure how you would get a bottle that big back home thinking about it, you'd probably have to buy an extra train ticket and we were lucky to get seats as it was.

The final day, the weather had turned, it was no day to be up a mountain so we went to the station, the boys had a sake bath, apparently, it is not the done thing to drink the bath water. It's a good job I didn't go in because I would have totally tried that, not that I like sake but, hey, a bath full of booze, who am I to turn my nose up at that?

Like I said, I didn't go in, I'm not much of a fan of onsen, well that is a lie. I like taking the onsen bath what I don't like is sharing it with a lot of other women who have to stare at all your bits because your a foreigner and obviously your bits are far more interesting than their bits.

As an introvert and someone who hated PE not just for the running around a cold soggy field but because of communal changing rooms, sharing a bath with a bunch of nosy strangers really isn't my idea of a barrel of laughs. I'd rather have a hot cocoa and read my book. So that is exactly what I did whilst the boys did not drink hot sake bath water.

I don't have a picture of the boys in the sake bath so here is one of a load of sake labels, almost as interesting.

We also had to stop for sasadango, which is sweet bean paste inside mochi (beaten rice cake) all wrapped and steamed in bamboo leaves, it tastes like leaves, personally, I would rather have a bar of chocolate.

Sometimes I wonder if he really is my child...

Now being organized peeps that we are, hubby had booked a train back with seats at 5.45pm by 10.30am we were already bored. The trains were busy because everyone was heading back to Tokyo after the new years break so we couldn't swap the tickets.

We decided to take a flyer and try and try and get seats on the non-reserved train carriage, it was busy but the Universe had our back so we got seats - cheers big U and it's a good job hubby didn't buy that giant bottle of sake because I can't imagine anyone being happy about having to stand because a bottle of sake was taking up a seat.

After we had some lunch we then went off to the shrine to by a new magic arrow for the entranceway and Ebi-kun wrote a wish on a bit of wood. In the olden days, you had to sacrifice a horse to go with a wish.

Luckily we don't have to do that now because there aren't many horses around here. There is a riding school but I can't imagine that they would be happy about sacrificing a horse for a wish to get into a specific junior high school, but you never know, if it was an old horse, on its last legs they might be willing to give it up. But would the education gods be happy with a knackered old nag on its last legs? Probably not.

And anyway, I am a horse lover so would never allow horse sacrifice on my watch.

The education gods had to do with the wooden plaque and load of loose change and 3 prayers, here's hoping that that is enough!

Happy New Year!

2018-01-04T10:24:00.000+09:00

A Quick Recap...

So I failed miserably at updating before Christmas, it all got a bit chaotic and although I was doing a lot online, not a lot of it was happening over here!

Our Christmas was a bit of a wonky affair, hubby was working away until the night of the 23rd, he got back really late. He was home for the 24th and then had to leave at 3pm on the 25th which meant our usual Christmas shenanigans was cut short!

And just o throw an extra spanner in the works, Ebi-kun is applying to a junior high school* where he had to hand his application form in, by hand on Christmas morning!

So yes, by all accounts it was a bit of a shambles. Couple that with the decision to get a turkey crown instead of the full thing, which turned out to be tiny and just about did Christmas dinner with a wee bit left over, I couldn't even console myself with turkey butties for the week!

The good thing was that I decided to take time off, I feel like I have been attached to the internet pretty much permanently over the last few months and really needed to get back to the real world. So over the break, I have cracked open the paints, started to practice hand lettering and read a lot!

The boy wanted a new jacket and had his eye on this one, I'm not sure I'm ready for all this, I think I'm going to need a shitty stick to beat off all the girls! Although he really is going to have to start brushing his hair at some point!

*about junior high school. I am really not a fan of the JH system here, and we have seriously looked into homeschooling. I have no issues with the syllabus and reckon we could manage the education side with no problem the problem is friends/socialization.

Homeschooling is kind of frowned upon here, it is seen as what happens to kids who can't 'fit in' to school life the outcasts and the ultra-religious. It's not like the US or UK where there are normal people homeschooling regular kids who meet up in a co-op and have social interactions. Far from it.

And when kids get to JH age they get involved with the school club activities (pack mentality here) and very little happens outside school. The Football club he is in only has classes up to 6th grade elementary and aikido the kids drop out when they hit JH. So it really is a struggle to find anyone to hangout with.

I haven't been able to find anyone around his age who is homeschooled anywhere near us and being a non-religious family, with open minds and a love of curiosity our values do not match the ultra-religious lot.

So... the compromise was to look at different schools, we are in luck that one of the local schools has an excellent reputation BUT it is quite hard to get in. He needs to take an exam and if passes that an interview and then there is a lottery... please send your good vibes this way!

We have a couple more days off before work and school start again, I'm trying to enjoy them by doing as little as possible!

I have missed blogging so I feel like this year will be a bit of a revival!

Hello Old Friend...

2017-12-07T21:09:00.002+09:00

Surprisingly, I haven't fallen off the end of the world, although it does feel like it some days!

Many, many times I have thought about the blog and promised myself to get back to it, I never intended to take such an extended break!

I have been thinking about it a lot though, why I stopped posting and what was stopping me from starting up again.

I think the long and short of it was that life got busy and a lot of it was busy-on-the-computer work so when it came to blogging - which used to be the fun stuff, it was feeling like a chore and I really just wanted a break from the computer!

That and well, Ebi-kun is growing up, we don't get to craft and make stuff together so much these days. He gets home from school later and doesn't have as much free time.

And creativity wise, work has me creating so I am using that side of my brain but I haven't been doing so much outside work related stuff.

That I do want to fix, I miss it! I miss making a mess and just creating for the sake of creating.

So I have been thinking, to keep my creative self-accountable, I'm going to post at least one creative inspired post a week. I don't know what it will be yet, it could be painting or sewing, photography or cooking or anything else that takes my fancy. No restraints.

Maybe there should be a hashtag #52weeksofcreativity2018 - are you in?

Here is a little monster to kick it all off....

Although I've not been active over here, I am all over Facebook like a toddler with chickenpox! make sure you follow my jojoebi page, I do live videos almost every week and come and join Moms That Rock, which is a great community and that's where I hang out most of the time!

I have the Kaizen Coffee Chats going on at the moment and will be closing the doors to The Kaizen Revolution in a few days.

As you can see, I haven't been laying around binge-watching Netflix, who has time for that!

But neither have I been binge creating so we need to fix that. In fact, if you are in the Saitama area and want to get together for a crafternoon/ crafterlunch type of thing, drop me a line, I am trying to get a group together!

Well, I think that just about wraps things up. I will attempt to do a couple of catch up posts for all the stuff I have missed, this blog is somewhat like my family history book too!

I feel like I am back and ready to do this!

Thank you for sticking around :)

New Hair, Don't Care

2017-08-27T12:11:00.000+09:00

[Aug 15th]
Ebi-kuns first trip to an English barbershop.

He usually goes to the ¥1000 barbers, it's quick and easy. Obviously, I have never been to have my hair done at a barber so I had no idea what to ask for, so he took a picture of Ronaldo and asked to have it done like that.

There were 3 guys working, the first was super quick and did 4 people whilst we were waiting but all the blokes left with the same cut. The second bloke was slower but obviously went to the same school of hairdressing!

The third bloke was taking his time and looked like he was actually styling the hair properly so we crossed our fingers that we would get him! The Big U answered and Ebi-kun was happy with the final result...

Family Fun With The Cockfields

2017-08-13T11:32:00.000+09:00

Our trip back from Iceland was uneventful but long! We had to be up at 3.30am to catch a bus to get us to the airport on time. We basically slept in what we were travelling so we could just get up and leave. We flew back to Gatwick and then took a train into London, where we met a lovely mom and a boy who was happy to play Top Trumps with Ebi-kun!
Then we had to hang around for a couple of hours to get the train home. We got back about 6.30pm and collapsed!

The next day we had a meeting of the Cockfield clan, these are my cousins that I grew up with, they lived not far from us so there was a lot of family time together. Jude and Mattie now have their own kids, we have given up trying to figure out what the relationship is to Ebi-kun so they are all collectively known as "The Cousins"

We were blessed with beautifully weather and my uncle put on a great spread so we picked our food inside then picnicked on the lawn.

This is the youngest member of the clan but the Boss, he had me in stitches, it seemed that I was always in "Bad Books" (said in a strong potters accent). His dad had bought a water gun to play with, it all started quite innocently, F squirting everyone and running away laughing.

And no one got particularly wet, he isn't a very good shot! But then the rest of the guns came out and all the kids - and some of the adults, ended up soaked! Of course we had no idea this was going to happen so no one had a spare set of clothes!

The kids had a blast, lots of running, squealing and playing football. All was going well until I tried to get a shot of all of them on the swing... F wasn't having any of it!

He did agree to smile if we used the goal instead! As always, we came home with a great pile of food, Uncle Gra knows how to put on a great spread but he's not good at knowing how much he needs, everyone always goes home with a huge doggy bag!

Another great day, lots of fun and laughter, catching up and great food. It's a shame we have to wait another 12 months to do it again.

Videy Island, The Cathedral and Shopping

2017-08-11T23:40:00.000+09:00

Our last full day, the time seemed to fly by in some respects but we seemed to get a lot done in such a short time!

Now I know I swore that I was never getting on a boat again but... I bought the wrong bus ticket and it turned out that the ferry to Videy Island was included in the ticket price. I think the Hop On, Hop Off would have better value for money, never mind!

Our first challenge was finding a bus that was going to the ferry stop, we had no bus map and no idea of the number, luckily almost everyone speaks English so we found the right one.

The ferry takes about 10 minutes and even though the sea was a bit choppy, the ride was OK.

The ferry stop had free maps for the island, and when you land you can wander wherever the mood takes you.

We followed the path around and checked out some of the points of interest.

Ebi-kun guessing which was home is!

In the 30's and 40's there was a small village on the island and the foundations of many of the homes are still there, in front of each one is the information about the home and who lived there. I have to say, it looked like a hard life for all of them!

The old school house has been restored and is open for you to go in and look around, it also has a toilet - good to know! It looks like they also hold classes or training in there sometimes.

We did one end of the Island then decided to get some lunch, there is only one place to eat, it's lovely but, like all the meals out, expensive! It is the oldest existing stone built building in Iceland and you can have a poke around the place, I think they also have functions there these days.

Ebi-kun really wanted to try some fresh Icelandic fish, so he had the catch of the day, it looked lovely and that is coming from me, who doesn't eat fish! I stuck with the veggie soup and we both had rhubarb lemonade, which was lovely.

We decided we didn't want to spend all day on the island and the ferry only runs once an hour, so we had a quick look at Yoko Ono's Peace Tower then went to catch the boat and bus back to town.

We decided to walk up to the Cathedral which is on the top of the hill overlooking Reykjavik. It's quite an imposing building, very modern looking inside but still very fitting for the place I thought.

After a poke around the Cathedral, we decided we couldn't be bothered to go up the tower! We headed into town to do some shopping. My aunt had given Ebi-kun ISK4000 to spend and there was no point in bringing it home with us, so he was on a mission to spend it all.

Fortunately, he decided Troll Snot wasn't worth the money...

We did eventually manage to empty his wallet! After going into almost every shop in the city! The city centre is pretty much all tourist shops, I'm not sure where the locals go shopping! It is a very pretty town centre!

We finished off with an Icelandic Hot Dog, we heard that they were the best in the world, we were thinking of doing an Ebi-kun Eats but to be honest we were both shattered and we just wanted to eat. The hot dogs were OK, nothing special and would have made for a pretty dull episode!

Just as we were heading home, we spotted the Icelandic Punk Museum, I would have loved to have gone in but it was getting later and we needed to be up at 3.45am the next day.

I didn't actually get much sleep because I was worried I would sleep through the alarm - I don't know why I have NEVER slept through an alarm! We had everything packed so it was just a matter of getting up and leaving, it was already pretty light which helped wake us up.

The journey back was long because we flew into Gatwick and then had to cath a train to London and then onto Congleton via Stoke, a very long day! But it was totally worth it, Iceland was amazing and if you get the chance to go, do it!

The Golden Circle and Secret Lagoon

2017-08-10T23:05:00.000+09:00

I'm pretty sure that every country has its own tourist "trap" and the Golden Circle is Iceland's. It covers three spots that are in a big loop when I was looking at all the different tours, the secret lagoon caught my eye. I would have loved to do one of the more adventurous ones but I wasn't sure how things would be with my vertigo.

I decided a nice soak in the lagoon would be a good way to end the day. I booked the tour through Arctic Adventures and we had a great driver/guide called Jorge who was actually from Greece.

First stop was Thingvellir National Park, which is famous as it is the first democratic parliament in the world, sat on the edge of a beautiful lake and between two tectonic plates, the North American and Euro-Asia Plates.

Game Of Throne fans, this is for you, apparently, some of GOT was filmed here, I can't tell you any more because I don't watch it and have absolutely no idea!

The guide dropped us off at one car park and we walked through the national park, down to the church and then up to the second carpark. The whole place is so beautiful, clean, clean water and gorgeous fresh air! On our way, we accidentally took the wrong route! We saw a black fox which was hunting, that was pretty exciting too!

Once we were done there we headed to the Geysir, the big one goes off every 7 minutes or so... going...

going...

gone!

Next up was the Gullfoss waterfall, voted as one of the top 10 beautiful waterfalls in the world! It's pretty impressive. We also stopped here for lunch, we had an hour to eat and take a look around.

The scenery is stunning and the photos don't do it justice at all! It reminded me very much of Lord Of The Rings and I can see why it was first choice for filming here.

After lunch our tour split in two, one group went off to do rafting and our group went to the secret lagoon, so-called because until 2 years ago, only the locals in the town knew about this place.

It is a natural hot spa but unlike the Blue Lagoon which was a pleasant hot in the hottest places, this one had some hot spots that were waaaaaay too hot to stand by! The system was much simpler too although you still have to wash before putting on your bathers, it was much smaller and laid back.

I did get out rather red in the face due to a combo of the water and the sun! Luckily I didn't burn!

You can walk around the outside of the pool but you need to be very careful and kids should be held onto because there are holes of boiling water dotted around and the dangerous sections have just a rope to keep you off them, so easy for a little one to duck under!

The locals also take advantage of the hot water and use it to power and heat greenhouses to grow veg in, which is quite ingenious!

Our guide said that this pool is amazing in the winter, in the snow with the Northern Lights, he told me that this is his favourite tour. I can see why since he gets a couple of hours of soaking in the lagoon on work hours!

We finished at the secret lagoon by about 4pm then we were taken to another waterfall and dropped of whilst the guide went back to pick up the rafting group. It was a really pretty spot, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

It was getting late by the time we got back so we just had a quick bite to eat and collapsed into bed!

If you happen to go, I can recommend Arctic Adventures, it was easy to book, they have loads of different options and the prices were reasonable. Our guide, although not Icelandic was very knowledgeable about the places we visited and funny too.

Whale Watching, Vomit & The Saga Museum

2017-08-09T17:53:00.000+09:00

Our second day in Iceland, we hadn't got anything booked, my idea was that if the weather was good we would go whale watching but if not we would check out the museums. It wasn't raining but it was a bit cold so we decided to walk down to the old harbour and decide from there.

That in itself was a bit of an adventure, we walked along the sea front, stopped at the Sun Voyager Monument along the way. As you can se the clouds looked heavy so I was a bit worried about the sea conditions.

We got close to the old harbour but couldn't get through because of all the construction work going on so we went on a slight detour and had to ask a dad pushing a pram for directions (Ebi-kun noted that it was strange seeing a viking pushing a pram!) He was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction. We ended up going through the town to get there.

We finally found the whale tour offices, there are plenty of companies that run the trips. I had googled beforehand and decided to go with Eldling Whale Company, they are eco friendly and are leading the way in green tourism, they are also the oldest whale watching company that operates out of Reykjavik.

Now, they did tell us that the sea was going to be rough and the do give you free sea sickness tablets. The guy at the ticket office said that the weather was supposed to get better by the end of the week but it's very changeable so it's anyones guess really.

One other thing this company does is that if you are unfortunately to have no animal sightings, you get a free ticket to use on another day. This is what swung our decision, if we went out and saw nothing, we could try again on the Friday.

Truth of the matter is, you would have had to drag me on the ship a second time! So it's a good job we did see some!

By law, all kids under 13 must wear a life jacket or one of these warm flotation suits, they are also available to all other passengers. It was cold out there so we put ours on straight away. From the picture above the sea didn't look too bad but don't be fooled, I was already feeling queasy before leaving the bay!

We did see a couple of minke whales and a couple of pods of dolphins, cuteness alert! This was in between me sharing my breakfast with everyone, pretty sure that they didn't sign up for that! Needless to say, I was having enough trouble keeping my stomach in place so photos were an after thought. You can just about see the fin of a white nosed dolphin, if you look hard...

After the longest 3 hours of my life we got back on dry land, I am certainly not cut out for a sailors life! Give me a horse any day.

We wandered around the town a bit, Ebi-kun didn't throw up on the boat but he was feeling queasy too, so we let our stomachs settle before having a late lunch.

Eating out is expensive, this meal, Ebi-kun had a burger and I had a lamb sandwich, the food was good but there was too much for us to finish, maybe we should have shared. We didn't buy drinks but the meal still cost around ¥5000.

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I'm not a big fan of lamb but this was delicious, so tender and melted in the mouth, veggies were a bit scarce, I had some pickled cabbage and a piece of lettuce!

After lunch we decided to have a look around the town and head to The Saga Museum, the city centre isn't very big and is basically full of tourist and coffee shops!

The Saga Museum was good, it wasn't as big as I expected, when you pay you can choose to leave your stuff in one of the free lockers and/or hang up your coat. I recommend doing that. Then you get given a headset and you get listen to the commentary as you walk around.

The wax work figures are very lifelike and it smells like the olden days too! There are 17 stations, each one explaining about the stories and histories of the sagas. It was interesting and not too long for the kids.

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When you have finished there is a room where you can try of traditional clothes. They had real chainmail, which was really heavy, I have no idea how they could have an epic battle wearing that! All in all it was a good couple of hours. They also have a cafe and shop.

We then wandered back home via the supermarket. One thing we noticed about the town were all these amazing murals on the side of buildings, Ebi-kun took to photographing them

But there was also a LOT of bad graffiti which is a shame because it's such a cute little city. If you are fit and healthy you can pretty much walk around the whole place.

Icelandic Horse Trekking and The Blue Lagoon

2017-08-08T19:23:00.000+09:00

For our first full day in Iceland I had booked a morning of horse trekking - I would have liked to do more but Ebi-kun hasn't ridden before so I thought it might be a bit much. We booked with Laxnes farm, which is a local family run farm about 20 minutes out of the capital.

They pick you up at the hotel in a mini bus and take you to the farm. The guy who picked us up was, as Ebi-kun said "a right jolly viking" he really did fit the stereotype to look at but was also a really happy chap!

Once you get there, they kit you out in helmet and jacket. The rules are very strict about brining your own equipment in, you need to have it disinfected and certified that it has been done and I think leather goods like saddles and bridles can't be bought into the country at all.

Then they ask about your riding experience and find a horse that is suited to your ability. Ebi-kun is a newbie so he got a lovely little plodder called "Bad Boy", he was far from it! And she gave me a mare with a bit more "umph" called Queen.

There were 4 guides all on horseback and the horses are obviously used to doing the route and just follow each other, the guide know which are the newbies and keep an eye on them and we started with just walking.

The scenery is stunning but the pictures doesn't really do it justice, we crossed a few small rivers, Bad Boy kept stopping to drink which was funny. Once everyone was comfortable with their horse, we did some trotting, the unusual thing about Icelandic horses is that they have a really smooth gait, unlike trotting on a pony normally which has you bouncing around all over the place.

At the half way point we had a rest and then they split the group into beginners and more advance, the beginners left first and then those of us who could ride (well some of them I'm not too sure about) went back at a fast pace, of course the horses knew that they were heading home so picked up the pack naturally.

It was great fun, am made me realise how much I miss riding and horses!

After the ride we were taken to the bus station where we got the bus to the Blue Lagoon. If you are planning to go you need to book a ticket for the lagoon beforehand.

I have to say I was super impressed with the Blue Lagoon, I'll do a post on it from a business point of view, as a customer, they were top notch.

When we arrived we asked for robes and because Ebi-kun is 12 he has to use the mens changing room. I was a bit worried about this but the staff were amazing and two members of staff took him through, showed him what to do and how to use the locker and then waiting with him on the other side until I got there to meet him.

You have t use swimming suits and you have to shower BEFORE you put your swim suit on. The locker key is an electronic wristband and you can also use it to buy drinks etc. You have to be careful, I nearly lost mine twice because it came loose.

Even though this was supposed to be the peak season, it wasn't crowded at all, we needed to wait about 10 minutes to get in but that was in. With the basic admission you get the free silica face masks, Ebi-kun LOVED them and we end up going back 4 times!

You go over to the bar and gat a handful of the silica, slap it on your face for 10 minutes then wash it off in the water. We both had beautifully clear skin afterwards! There are other face packs, in pool massages and treatments available. Plus steam rooms and saunas.

And the pool complex is massive, they do recommend putting conditioner in your hair before you get in because the water dries out your hair, mine felt pretty awful afterwards, despite the conditioner!

There is also a pool side bar, we got drinks even though they were expensive because... you have to really hahaha. Ebi-kun had a blue slushie aptly named "Krap" and I had a glass of white wine, my only alcoholic drink of the trip!

We spent 5 hours there, most of it in the water, the weather was cold and drizzly but it down't matter once you are in the pool. There are spots to get out and rest and there is a cafe and very expensive restaurant too.

When I eventually managed to drag the boy out we got changed and had some dinner. This was the only disappointing part really, they choice in the cafe was very limited to a few sandwiches, salad or sushi. Ebi-kun had sushi (he didn't think it was up to much!) I had a ham and cheese baguette and we both had a bottle of smoothie type drink. It came to $45 / GBP 35 / ¥5000 - ouch!

We then got the bus back to town and got dropped off at the hotel. The buses run every hour and will drop you either at the main bus station of at one of the designated hotels, luckily our apartment was right next to a hotel pick up point!

It was a fabulous day and we loved every minute of it, when we got in we basically just hit the sack! We both wanted to do it all again!

Laser Zone, lunch on the beach and football...

2017-08-06T18:44:00.000+09:00

For our last day in Brighton we took the boys to Laser Zone, the boys went in for the first game then me and Di joined them! I haven't played for years but it was great fun, I'm not sure if they have it in Japan but if they do I can see it in our future!

Then we headed down to the beach to meet Rob and we had lunch at the Lucky Beach Cafe which was delicious.

Ebi-kun decided to keep his tiger face on overnight, Ry wanted to keep his on too but he had gotten sweaty and most of it had rubbed off, he looked like he had a badly bruised face!

Birthday lunch and drinks on the beach, it never feels like you are on holiday until you have a fancy drink!

After lunch the boys went off to the Brighton Vs Atletico Madrid, even though Brighton lost they had a great time!

Di photobombing, makes a change from small boys doing it!

Ebi-kun loved it and had to give me a blow by blow account of the whole match *yawn* I'm really not that excited about football!

GOAL !!!

And whilst all that was going on, us moms had a nice mooch around the shops, stopped for fancy hipster coffee served in a milk bottle!

And the G&T on the deck whilst we waited for the boys to arrive home - bliss!

We finished off we a feast of fine food on the deck, great company and great weather! Can't wait to see these guys in a few months when they come to Japan.

Brighton Pride and dinner with the cousins

2017-08-05T16:09:00.000+09:00

Rob took the boys to goalie practice first thing and whilst he was there got some bad news about a friend so although he had planned to join us for the day he stayed home and we got out of the way so he could call round and let his friends know what had happened.

The Pride parade and festival was fun, very colourful and lots of happy vibes going on. We walked down to watch some of the parade, Ebi-kun hasn't seen a non Japanese festival/parade before so he was a bit bewildered but it was a good way to open up the conversation if he had questions about it all.

It was great to see people of all shapes, sizes and colours letting go and enjoying themselves

And of course it was very colourful, loud and fun. Lots of dancing, cheering and high fives

And of course, plenty of fabulous outfits, I could certainly get into the outfit making side of things.

I can't believe the footwear that some of them were walking in and had managed to walk 3 miles in, I would have given up after the first 10 yards!

It looks quite sunny here but as the end of the parade went past the heavens opened and we all got soaked - 4 of us trying to shelter under one brolly!

Di had won tickets to the festival site and the kids got in free. To be honest they hadn't got the organization down at all. The staff were all telling us different things. We ended up in the main arena which wasn't too bad in the middle of the day but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be suitable for kids later in the day!

Eventually we managed to find the kids area which was great. They had a load of free entertainment on which included face-painting. Ebi-kun decided he wanted his doing and of course because he had his done Ry wanted his doing too. The woman doing the painting did a great job, Ebi-kun loved it! The heavens opened again so we were a bit late in leaving to get to my uncle Si's house.

The boys looking adorable - don't let them know that I said that!

My uncle is just 4 years older than me so his kids are my cousins, which is a bit weird, having cousins 40 years younger than you! It all gets very confusing with the who cousin situation because my other cousins have got kids that are more Ebi-kuns age, so we have given up trying to decide what kind of cousin they are and they all get the blanket "cousin" title!

Even though the kids only get to see each other once a year, they just got on with it and went to play straight away, so us adults could get down to some serious wine drinking and catch up!

Si had given the kids shots of smoothies, I don't think F was impressed hahaha.

A Day Trip To London - The Tate, The Dungeon and The Mexican

2017-08-04T19:25:00.000+09:00

We had a big day out in London starting with meeting our old uni mate Brogs at The Tate Modern. They have added an extension to it, so we went to check that out. The Tate is great for kids because it's so big and open, it's OK for the kids to run around a bit and let off steam. And the exhibits are always a bit weird and interesting, good conversation starters with the kids. These were big concrete balls attached by ropes and some had speakers, I'm not entirely sure what it was all about!

You can now walk around on the 10th floor, there is a small cafe so it's a nice place to stop for a cuppa and you get a good view of the city.

The Tate is all free except for the special exhibits, which is always a bonus. I rather liked this one... I don't remember the artists name though!

The boys looking dashing against the orange carpet wall...

Di teaching the boys how to make shadow animals and other such silliness. I think this is one of the best things about London, there are so many parks, museums and galleries that are free, you can have a great day out without spending much money, especially if you take a packed a lunch with you.

Just hanging and being cool... as you do!

We stopped to get some lunch and spotted a small shop doing bubble waffles, of course, we recorded an Ebi-kun eats so you will have to wait for that to be published to find out if it was any good! Might be in a couple of weeks time, we need to catch up on the episodes.

After lunch we split up. Di and Ry headed off to Ripley's and Ebi-kun, Broggy and myself went to the London Dungeon. We luckily had complimentary tickets and I think they advise that isn't suitable for kids under 12 but it doesn't look like they enforce the rule.

I think that really they should, it is quite scary and there were a couple of kids, maybe three and seven, who were clearly terrified. You can't actually take photos inside, this is just where we were waiting to get in.

The actual tour is great, there are a couple of rides inside to take you to different sections. Each area has an actor that tells you about that period of time in gruesome detail. There is often water and jets of air or things moving about to make you jump and it is all in dimly lit rooms.

We really enjoyed it and had a big discussion on which are the scariest parts - I won't share, just in case you want to go too. All in all it is fun, educational and gory! But really not suitable for little ones!

We managed to time it just right and came out just as Di got back from Ripley's, so we had a wander down the Southbank. I do love it down there, you never know what is going to be along there, with the street artists and performers.

We happened upon a random band, which was fun to watch as they went by...

We had a bit of time to kill so we stopped to watch the skaters, we seem to do this every year, but Ebi-kun still has no interest in taking up Skateboarding.

We finished off the day at Wahaca for Mexican. Rob and Roger joined us after work, I'm not sure what we ate but we ate a lot of it! Great meal and service, not too spicy! And they do kids menus.

All in all it was a fab day and great to catch up with everyone. The boys had a great time and were all shattered by the time we got home.

Besties in Brighton...

2017-08-02T19:07:00.000+09:00

[2nd]

It was back to Brighton to see my bestie, Di. Luckily the boys get on really well and both of them were really excited to see each other again. They are both football mad which is great so we just leave them to it!

And of course it was a good to catch up with a glass of wine and a good natter. When we arrived it was raining cats and dogs so we were all soaked by the time we go to the house, luckily the weather picked up for the rest of the week and I even had to crack open the sun cream.

The boys were a bit put out that they couldn't play football outside so they ended up playing on the wii instead. I think with them both being only kids they enjoy having a "brother" for a few days. Ebi-kun is really good with younger kids and Ry looks up to him.

We just chilled for the rest of the day, ready for the adventures ahead...

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Instant Pot: Italian Bean Stew and Dumplings

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Stufato Di Fagioli Con Polpettine Di Pane Or in other words, Italian bean Stew With Bread Dumplings

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Stufato Di Fagioli Con Polpettine Di Pane

Or in other words, Italian bean Stew With Bread Dumplings