Champions!!

The team Brian plays for here in Japan, the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, just clinched the Pacific League title a few days ago! They finished the regular season in first place, which gives us a bye in the first round of the playoffs, but means we don't play any games until October 14th!! So we have 18 days of just waiting for the playoffs to start...of course Brian will have to go to practice most of the days, but it's still a long time to wait to play!! We are really enjoying having Brian home though and loving the family time we are getting, like dinners together every night, we love it...it sort of feels like the off season, such a tease!! If we win the playoffs, we go to the Japan Series (their version of the world series over here). That doesn't start until October 30th...so who knows, we could be here for a whole lot longer!!

It was so exciting watching the team clinch first place, they were playing on the road when they found out they got first, so Austin, Brooke and I got to watch them celebrate on the TV. They had a great ceremony on the field after their game, even tossing their manager up and down in the air in the crowd of players! I put some video clips I found on Japan You Tube and some random photos from the web to give you a little glimpse of the team celebrating their victory!! They're not the best, but it was all I could find! We are so excited the team has done so well this year, even if it means keeping us from "home" a bit longer!

Celebrating first place by throwing their manager in the air!!

It's tradition here to wash the bats in Sake (yes, the alcoholic beverage) after a big victory! We're not sure why, but it looks like they are having fun doing it!

Small picture sorry, but found it on the web of the whole team celebrating their victory with the traditional beer spraying!

The team arriving back to Fukuoka the morning after they clinched first place! You can see Brian way in the back! Check out all those fans!!

Here are some random video clips I found of the team celebrating...

Check the 3:39 mark on this one for a quick cameo from Brian :)

GO HAWKS!!

11 day road trip...

A few weeks ago Brian and the team left for an 11 day road trip. 11 days is a long time, we never look forward to those long road trips!! We made sure to keep ourselves really busy though, and planned out lots of activities to make the time fly by! We had a lot of fun and before we knew it, Brian was home again :) Here's just some of the things we did:

One of the first things, was to go to the Night Aquarium with our friends the Houlton's. During the summer months here, they open the aquarium at night when it's a bit cooler out and let you see the fish in their nocturnal states! They even put on a dolphin show which is beautiful with the city skyline, the sea and the stars all in the background! The kids had such a fun time, they love going to the aquarium, and thought it was the best thing ever going at night!

The first exhibit, the two horned fish...oh wait, that's Brooke!!

If you could only hear their excitement in this picture, they were going crazy over seeing the fish!

Brooke loves baby Brady!

Our brave one. Brooke stuck her hand right in the touch tank. Austin wouldn't go near it!

We're off to see the seals!

It was really funny watching the kids walk on the glass window that the seals swim under...Brooke wouldn't dare walk on the glass part and shimmied all around the tiny edge!

The kids trying to wake up a sleeping seal. The seal wasn't budging!

Austin and Brooke checking out the biggest sting ray ever.

Austin, Brooke & Tessa!

So excited for the dolphin show to start!

It was a beautiful night at the aquarium!

One of the nights we made dinner at the Houlton's apartment and let the kids play. Then we made cookies after, they had a blast!

Brooke, Tessa and Austin enjoying their cookies on the princess couch :)

Yummy cookies!

Austin is getting better at using the camera, he took this one!

We also spent some time letting the kids play at the Wonderland Amusement Park inside the Hawks Town mall by the stadium. It's packed full of everything you can imagine and it sure entertains the kids!

Tessa making a beeline for it the minute Brooke started driving!

Austin driving a bus!

The girls loved the Hello Kitty piano!

Brooke forcing her brother out of the drivers seat!

Birthday Parties...

It's not very often we get to "go out" here in Japan. Brian plays baseball pretty much everyday, so getting dressed in "real" clothes and going to the games is about as exciting as it gets around here!! We have been lucky though to get to celebrate 3 friend's birthdays while over here, and they all just so happened to be from the family of one of Brian's teammates, Jose Ortiz. And the Ortiz family sure knows how to throw a fun birthday party. One party was back in June for Jose & their son J.D., and the other was just the other night for their daughter Anniesa. Both nights were spent having a lot of fun with our friends here and enjoying a "night out" with the family! We sure look forward to those!!

Me and the kiddos all dressed up and ready to go to Anniesa's birthday party!

Brooke wasted no time enjoying the food at the party!

Then decided it would be fun to make faces at the people on the street outside the party!

Me & Austin...this kid LOVES taking self portraits with me, he thinks it's hilarious :)

Brookie and her Dadda!

Brooke with the birthday girl Anniesa!

Austin enjoying the birthday cake!

Brooke is never too far from her dadda, she sure loves him :)

Brooke, Tessa & Austin enjoying the other guests singing Karaoke!

Enjoying our night out together!

Can't get enough of these two!

Me and Brooke back in the beginning of June at J.D. and Jose's birthday party!

Austin having a blast hanging out with all the kids watching the balloon man! He couldn't get enough of this!

Austin and Brooke showing off their balloon creations!

All the guys at the party trying to blow up the balloons like the balloon man. Not one of them could do it! It was funny watching them try!

Typhoon...

Back in August, we were greeted with a few days of heavy rain and wind thanks to Typhoon Dianmu. Luckily we didn't get the worst of it, but it did bring on some serious cabin fever out in our parts. So what to do when it's raining out and you have two kids going stir crazy?!! We headed outside of course, and took advantage of the serious puddle jumping opportunity the typhoon brought us! Austin had an absolute blast running and jumping in the puddles...I think he really enjoyed the rain :) It sure helped that it was still in the 90's outside too, so even with all the rain, it was still warm out! Rain isn't so bad when it's not cold!!

"But Mom, I don't want to be inside getting my hair cut...I want to be out jumping in the puddles!!!"

Ok, Ok, quick haircut, THEN off to the puddles, I can manage that!!

YAY PUDDLES!!

This puddle is SO BIG!!!

Uh-oh, a puddle! A big, muddy puddle. We can't go over it, we can't go under it...we've got to go THROUGH IT!!!!!

Brookie doesn't have any rain boots, so she got stuck with me under the umbrella!

Back inside, all dried off sharing a snack together! Puddle jumping is hard work!

"Man Brookie, did you see that huge puddle I stomped through, that was awesome huh!!"

Austin protecting Brooke from the "thunder" going on outside.