Welcome junior

At 19.39 today we got to say hello to Andersson junior 2nd. Mother and son are tired and healthy. Estimated date for birth was 11th of January but this little guy didn't want to wait for the new year. Or rather, he wanted to be out in time for new year celebrations. The statistics reads 3580g and 51cm.


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Location:Hjalmar Cederströms gata,Stockholm,Sweden

On the top of Stocholm

This weekend on saturday we had a tourist day in Stockholm and took the chance of going up on top of the Stocholm globe, the sky view lift. Don't know why I would come up with such (a stupid) idea considering my fear of hights. On the way up I thought I would end up with a panic attack, but after a while I managed to relax and it was quite all right. We got a magnificent view 360 degrees around Stocholm. Must say it is well worth doing.






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Skylar in the sky

Skylar on the way up for winter storage on land.



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Location:Lövholmsvägen,Stockholm,Sweden

Bye for now

Just about to board the flight back to scandinava. Kai doesn't look too happy about that right now. Today it is raining and temperature dropped significantly so the timing seems just perfect for leaving though.

Location:御料牧場,Narita,Japan

Farewell consert

 

As gratitude to Tokyo for having us for two weeks Kai played a farewell consert in Yurakucho BIC Camera store tonight.

Phone home

Kai calling farfar from a toy phone in BIC camera. Unfortunately there was no answer.

Picnic in the emperors park

 In the same way as last year we gathered friends for a picnic before leaving Tokyo. It was a fun day with good friends, a lot of food and playing with the children. A great day to finish our two nice weeks in Tokyo and Japan.

 The tent with playing balls was a lot of fun for the kids.

 Mia was born one week after Kai in the Same hospital and their mothers became friends. Today they were playing as friends themselves for the first time.

 Having a bubble gun is a great way of attracting new friends.

At most we were around 30 people in total, here is the bunch that was still there in the evening.

Sleep

 "Sova!" Kai said and went to bed in the Muji store in Ebisu.

Happy birthday Kai

 Today it was time for the second family member to have birthday during this trip as Kai turned 2. He got the traditional treatment of singing and cake in the morning, something he loves being part of for other people's birtday but today he mostly looked like he didn't know what was happening.















Blowing out candles is not so easy when you are two years old. A little help is appreciated.
















 Japanese way of decorating a cake. Not very unlike the western way considering the main message is written in english.

 A bubble gun with funky noises was one of the best received presents of the day.

 Yes mother, I have swallowed everything. Can I please be excused from the table?

Kai who loves running soon realised that the train could be a company running around the railway in absence of a real running friend.

Yokohama

 On the way home from Wakasa Kai and I stayed in Yokohama to catch up with friends. Here, again, eating hot dog in front of Landmark Tower.

 I like the view of Yokohama from the bay area. Here from the ferry terminal.

Having BBQ dinner with Yokohama friends.

The restaurant is in the old Marine Tower by the sea.

Squid fishing in the night

But the best thing to do this time of year in Wakasa is squid fishing in the night.

 We had two wonderful nights out with the boat with full moon, somewhere around thirty degrees warm and all quiet.














 Kai on his first attempt to do fishing.

The proof that we caught squid! We got around 10 squid per night which we thought was good. Until Maki's uncle told us that he got 37 the previous night all by himself. It was two great nights anyway, with or without the new Wakasa squid catch record.

No doubt that the squid is fresh if it keeps changing color on your plate like if it was still alive. Or maybe still is alive.

Things to do in Wakasa

 Kai got all excited when we found the two forklift trucks down by the dock.

While I enjoyed being in the warm water in the sea more. Until I got stung by a jelly fish for the first time in my life. Now I am not likely to take a swim again in any near future.

Going to Wakasa

 Today we got on the Shinkansen to go to Maki's relatives on the west coast. We have been visiting them several times and enjoy being in the small fisherman's village and enjoy to peace and quite and the fantastic seafood we get to eat there.

 Kai wanted to help with the bags at the transfers but looks like he gave up and fell asleep.

Outside the train station for our last trasnfer of the day. Again Kai firmly indicated that he, and I as well, should sit down and wait. This time I asked him what we should wait for. "Bilar" he said (cars). So we waited.














Getting on the last local train towards Obama. The small city that got well known when they gave their support to Obama the man in the previous president campaign.

Relaxing day in Harajuku and Omotesando

 Today we took a relaxing day shopping in the crowded areas of Harajuku and Omotesando.

 Even Kai thought the crowd was too much and decided to take a break and sit down. With a firm "vänta!" he just sat down and we waited ("väntade").
 

Eating gyoza in the favorite shop in Omotesando. Man this was good! Not sure why Kai started to strip off the clothes though. Maybe just wanted to show off the six pack in front of the camera.

Blowing in the wind

Kai discovered that the fan was both fun and refreshing.

Chiba seaside revisited

During the weekend we got a chance to go to Chiba to a friends beach house as we have done a couple of times before. No surfing this year but instead sand castle building with Kai. With sunny weather and temperatur of constantly around or over thirty it was nice to get a weekend by the sea.

For some reason Kai seemed scared of the waves so for the first time ever he was not so keen on swimming.

Sleeping in our genes

In our family we sleep regardless if we fall out of a (bunk) bed or if we are just halfway in it. Goes for father as well as for son.

Double joy

 Kai making the most out of it by combining his two favorite activities at once, eating hot dog and going down the slide. There is soon not a slide in Tokyo we haven't tried, this one close to where we used to live in Ebisu. I didn't notice it during the 2,5 years we lived here but Kai spotted it directly from far away.

Back in the working hoods

Tonight some of the guys from our old team took me out for dinner and drinks. Good to be back in Shinagawa where the Sony Ericsson office is and the restaurants we've been out so many times. And good fun to catch up with friends from the team again!

A text book example in service mindness

We dropped in to the store in Shibuya where we got the watch Maki gave me as wedding present 2 years ago. Not only did the man remember us and was polite as ever, he spent 15 minutes to give my watch a thorough deep clean (ultrasound?). Free of charge of course. Yes, if I ever buy a watch again I will come back to your store.

Refreshment drive in Japanese traffic rules

As my Japanese driving license has expired and I'm having trouble converting my motorcycle license to Sweden I decided to try and extend my Japanese driving license while I was here. After a decent time of explaining by Maki why I would need the license when we no longer live here it turned out to be fairly easy to extend it. I only had to fill in a few papers, make a new sight test and attend a two hour long traffic lesson. In Japanese. It didn't matter that I didn't understand at all or that I could not answer any of the questions in the test we got, I still had to attend the class. In the end I got the license so I am happy but you could argue for what use I was attending the class for 2 hours. Especially as half the students was deep asleep with no intention of hiding so. This is the country where you follow the book regardless the use of it.

Sleepy day

First day was a fight to keep awake, regardless if we were inside...

 ...or outside.

Kai made clear that we could forget about, or at least revise, our plans for shopping and making it to all the parts of Tokyo we wanted to go to. As soon as anything that looked like a playground came in sight we were there.

Somehow we all made it to the night and meeting with old friends! Sakura season in Jimbocho, a common meeting place after wednesday jogging and one of the  few places in Tokyo where you can order a tonyu sour (soy milk and shochu drink). Yummie, healthy(?) and good!

Happy Birthday Maki!

Kai who can't sleep alone shared bed - sorry, seat - with Maki.















As Maki had her birthday today as we arrived in Tokyo the SAS staff arranged a little something extra for her breakfast - cake, flowers and champagne. Not that Maki could drink the champagne but who am I not to help her with that!

On our way!

Maki will be one year older when getting off the flight in Tokyo.

Location:Driftvägen,Sigtuna Municipality,Sweden

Last boat trip of the year?

We took a short trip with Skylar to check that everything is ok before we leave. Kai did really well with the steering and for a while I thought he had learned the difference between right and left but not sure about that. Tomorrow we leave for 2 weeks in japan.

Location:Lövholmsvägen,Stockholm,Sweden