Visit to Futagami Island

On the invitation of a friend of Yukari, we visited Futagami Island yesterday. We got to take a fishing boat over to the island. Hikaru and Noah had a great time playing in the ocean. Hikaru got a special bonus of diving for sazae (top shells). The waters where the sazae were located were just shallow enough that Hikaru was able to dive under and get one all by himself. As an added bonus, he picked up a live starfish as well.

Futagami Island has very small population of only a few hundred, and there are only 3 elementary school kids (all from the same family). Hikaru had such a good time that he kept talking about coming over to Futagami Island for the next school year (4th grade).

I didn't take any pictures of the in-the-water-action, but here are some photos from the day.

Hikaru's visit to the obakeyashiki

Hikaru loves obakeyashiki (haunted houses). Although Halloween is becoming more and more established here in Japan, the traditional time for obakeyashiki is during the obon season (mid-August). Hikaru went through 3 times. The first time he insisted that Noah and I come along and that we go with some other kids, but the second and third time he went by himself. (Of course, he had Bruce (the shark from Finding Nemo) to help fight off the demons of the night.) See if you can spot Hikaru shaking hands with one of the ghosts.

Noah and Daddy's Baseball Cap

While at the mall the other day, Noah had some fun playing with my baseball cap.









Also, here is a video clip:

Hikaru's new hair cut

Yesterday Hikaru and I got our hair cut. Hikaru asked for a zebra-style hair cut. What do you think?

Hikaru the photographer

Yesterday and today Hikaru has been playing photographer. That is to say, he has been taking digital snapshots with the video cam (mostly from within the car) like a wild man. After viewing the 178 pictures of mostly blurred cityscape he took today, I noticed that he actually took this very nice picture of Noah in front of Matsuyama University Hospital (where Noah was born BTW) when we went there today for Noah's checkup:

Big brother Darin and Kyle

Another nostalgic photo. I am not sure how old Darin and I were in this photo.

A chip off the old block?

I was going through my childhood album today and noticed that Noah and I look pretty similar. Here is one that had me think for a second that I was looking at Noah.



Here is a photo of Noah for comparision. Hmm....



Naw...I guess not.