hello

Well, we just had a really nice weekend. Saturday was Tyler's Undoukai, or sports festival. It's an anual event for Kindergartens in Japan, and a really big thing for a lot of parents. Every family was represented by at least one video and one still camera, many accompanied by a variety of accessories like tripods, lenses etc. Lots of fun.

Saturday night we went to a special function we were invited to by our family doctor. Turns out he's the president of the Sanda Rugby League Football Club and is in some way affilliated with the Wahroonga Tigers. Saturday night was a special welcoming ceremony for the Tigers under 13's who had just arrived in Japan for a 10 day stay, right here in Sanda. So we went along, met a few people, had some food and drinks and heard the Australian national anthem and Waltzing Matilda being sung in Sanda for the first time. Very cool.

Since the Autumn equinox the weather's cooled down and dried out a lot. It's very pleasant now, about 25 and low humidity. We spent yesterday in the park enjoying a bento lunch and letting Tyler run around. He's able to recognise colours now, and can repeat anything we say, in a fashion, once at least. But I sense the terrible two's coming. He's very determined and persistant and doesn't take well to being made to do something he doesn't particularly feel like at the time. He's usually very good, and not a problem at all, but sometimes he might decide he wants a couple of toys he's picked up in a shop, one in each hand, and will protest bitterly if we suggest he parts with even just one of them. But he's a lot of fun to play with now - he loves hide and seek and chasing each other around the house. He's learnt the names of a lot of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters too.