Outfit

I LOVE this outfit - I think it was from Lida, not sure if she made it or bought it but it ROCKS.

A walk

Through the garden at the Meiji Shrine; koi, turtles and people getting married - a little oasis in the madness of Tokyo.

It just keeps on raining!

But Mum and Tim arrive next weekend - we are excited and cannot wait, hope it stops before they get here!

At the park...

At the park with Isla and her friend Matty. This place is near our house, it is huge and full of stuff for big and little kids, though I did notice they were setting a beer and BBQ restaurant up in there last week which is a little odd (though quite looking forward to it!)

Please note, Isla does not have any shoes yet, this has not been a problem until now for two reasons - she was not walking and here in Japan you ALWAYS take your shoes off indoors - even to go into changing rooms in shops. So please ignore the fact that she is t the playground in only socks, and sometimes only one sock!

Sorry

A couple of people have pointed out that I have not been posting nearly enough - SORRY! I promise to be better from now on.

Since we have been back from our Golden Week holiday I have been busy unpacking boxes, attending playdates and playgroups, organising and meeting some new people.

We were invited to a picnic for Matty and Louis 1st Birthday at Shinjuku Goyen, a beautiful park about half an hours walk from our place. It was good fun. As rookies we learned that even if the park rules say no alcohol, you ALWAYS bring a bottle to a party - even a 1st birthday party.

Hoi An

Hoi An - lovely bungalows.

Ha Noi

Some pictures from the hot dirty smelly busy crazy mental fun city that is Ha Noi. A bag of frogs, a red bridge, street food, motorbikes, pineapples, when it all gets too much, frogs legs and caterpillary grubs, lanterns and bamboo and flowers.

What we did in Hoi An

We are back and Grandma Lynn has left - boo hoo.

We visited Kyoto and stayed in a traditional ryokan, all of us sharing a room and sleeping on futons on the tatami, eating a 10 course traditional meal which was fishy and glutinous and a Japanese breakfast, seeing Geisha (fake or real?), a wedding and LOADS of temples on a great walking tour.

We had a great trip in Vietnam to Hoi An and Ha Noi, the Vietnamese people LOVED Isla and she was constantly surrounded. At dinner the waitresses would take her and fight over her, once a woman in the street came running over and took her and her friends all ran over to have a look and a touch. In Hoi An we stayed in a lovely small hotel where we had a villa and a room, we swam in the pool (Isla loved it), paddled in the sea (not so keen on this), trips to tailors, markets, cooking school, and early morning cycling for Grandma. In Ha Noi we walked into oncoming motorbike traffic with Isla in the pram, saw a water puppet show, had a fancy lunch in a fancy hotel (thanks Grandma!), did another great walking tour in 37 degree humid weather - imagine walking in a pre-heated oven. Fabulous!

Pictures to follow!