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Canada Round-up

See below for what happens when you don’t visit davidandkiko.com

Why do you make the baby Noa cry? Does Baby Awesome (click that for some awesomeness) deserve this?

(No… I’m just joking. he’s crying because I beat him for being too cute.)

Although we still haven’t found a place to settle in yet here in Tokyo, that doesn’t mean we have a whole lot of excitement to share from our trip back to Canada. (ie. I still haven’t been able to get our photos off the camera yet. So these are a bit older…)

How about some Niagara Falls action? (one picture by me, one by Kiko)

How about some good friends?

How about family?

What about shocking good looks?

See? I am clever and funny. 😉

Ok heres what you really wanted…

The boys in Brampton

weird… I was waiting for this post to go up a few days ago and decided to check it out. Apparently I didn’t actually post it.

oops.

It turns out I am not perfect. Just pretty damn close. (my stomach hurts and its making me delirious.)

I have some exciting news about me and my good friend Hideki, but watch for that in an upcoming post.

For today, I would like to share some photos of my good friends that made the long trip all the way out to the B-dot to visit. Dan, Graham, Marc, Matt, it was great to see you guys. Noa had a blast and it was great just to hang out. Like I said, Dan & Graham (not to mention Franky!) it’s about time you make the trip to Japan.

Thanks again boys.

Love David, Kiko & Noa.

Miscellaenous Noa…

Back by popular demand…. miscellaenous Noa photos.

(When Noa is bad we ~~Kiko~~ I make him stare into the sun.)

Friends from Japan

Sorry about the delay in posting…
oh wait. I update the site like 10 times a week. are you guys crazy!?!?! just can’t get enough of us? that’s what I thought.

In case you didn’t remember, I forgot my flash card reader, so I have no way of getting my pictures off my camera until I am somewhere with a reader. Hence the delay between posting and between events and pictures (look for a great visit from some good friends in a few days!)

In the meantime, Kiko, Noa and I were really lucky to have some good friends from Kagawa come to Canada to visit. Ishikawa-sensei (my supervisor) and his family came to Toronto to visit. We got some Toronto, Niagara and Ottawa action in. The tri-fecta of tourism. A big thanks to Tray, Thomas, Chris, Franz and Shane for all your help.
Speaking of Shane… here is a picture.

(Just so you know, and I’m not making this up, the previous picture in the series shows Noa poking his own eye out.)

Here are some pictures from Ishikawa-sensei’s family trip to Canada.

We took them to Asian Legend (the best Chinese food in Toronto!) with Thomas, Tracy, and Shane, as well as a trip to Brampton to see Mom and the dogs.

As I mentioned, we got most of the major tourism points down. Some Ottawa,

some Toronto, some Niagara, and a whole bunch of excitement at Tracy’s in Hamilton.

Thank you everyone for your help, and a big thanks to the Ishikawa family for coming all the way to Canada!

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A few days ago we were very lucky to have a little bit of Matt and Graham action.

Kiko, Noa and I went to lunch with two of my very good friends. It had been a long time since we have all hung out, so it was absolutely amazing to see them both and for them to finally get a chance to meet Noa.

Matt has a website and Graham is thinking about putting one up, so if it is ok, how bout we adds some links? let me know!

In the meantime here are a few photos from that day. There were more but I don’t think that Graham nor Matt would appreciate them being put up as they didn’t come out so great…. (not blaming anyone, ahem ~~kiko~~ ahem) … I’m just joking. We all know that any bad photos on our site belong to Lee. (who is in Japan, but thats besides the point) 😉

Matt, Graham, thanks for lunch! As always great to see you and Noa loved meeting you both. He told me with his words.

(nice hair by the way noa. i blame that on kiko’s people.)

Noa in Korea! (대한민국)

On our way back to Canada, we had a mini-vacation-type 3 day 2 night stopover in Korea. Although we ended up spending the majority of our time relaxing in our very nice hotel, we did eat some amazing korean bbq and Noa had his first swimming pool experience.

Here are a few pictures from our Korea adventure.

(Noa thought he would ride with us until I shoved him in the suitcase.)

‘Help me’ he said. I said “no.” ‘Get back in your suitcase.”

No Korean adventure is complete without public protests,

~~Korean flags flown everywhere~~ accordians,

and Shane Jeans.

As I mentioned above, Noa had his first pool experience. He absolutely loved it. He loved it (and I’m being serious) right up until I dunked him underneath the water to see what would happen. I had read somewhere that babies automagically hold their breath when they are pushed underwater.

They don’t. Who knew? (actually, Kiko knew. She tried to prevent me.)

jesus christ my legs are hairy. and you love it.

Finally, when Noa climbed out of the suitcase we let the gigantic korean baby eating bear after him.

Noa’s Training

Along with his rigourous ninja training, we also train Noa to do more mundane things.

…like using dagger to destroy a plum (his first!)…

An even better showcase of Noa’s brillance is him responding to his own name. Here is some video of Kiko calling out his name (“Bennett Noa-kun!” [Japanese name order and -kun, a Japanese honorific] and Noa respoding by raising his hand and saying “Hai!” [yes!]. My baby can kick your baby’s ass. Even if your baby doesn’t even exist yet.

DOWNLOAD NOA’S SELF-AWARENESS VIDEO HERE

希空くんのビデオ (お返事)

Lee’s Family Photos … our family

We have arrived safely in Canada!! Suffice it to say, we are extremely jet lagged.

unfortunately, after arriving in Canada I realized I forgot to bring my usb cable to get our pictures off of the Camera(s). I will figure something out… don’t fret. In the meantime, now that we have Lee’s permission, we would like to share some of our favourite pictures from Lee Gribbon’s amazing family photo shoot.

The full shoot is available here.

That is all. (He’s amazing! THANK YOU SO MUCH LEE!!!) 😮

Getting ready to leave Manno (Chunan / Kagawa)

That’s right… our two year stint in Chunan (now: Manno) in Kagawa Prefecture is coming to a close. We leave on Tuesday morning but still have a ton of packing to do. Here are a few photos that we have taken over the past few days that we thought you might enjoy.

This first photo is actually a scan of an article that appeared in the Shikoku Shinbun (the big paper in our area.) The article is a thank you to me and saying goodbye to our family.

My liberal translation:

Thank you, David! David Bennett (26) who has been working and living in Chunan Town (now Manno Town) since August of 2004 as an international relations co-ordinator will be leaving us. As a student, David spent two years on exchange in Yokohama and Tokyo. In his current role David was very active around the community through numerous events, school visits, and English classes. He also brought internationalization to the local community groups through his visits. David came to Chunan with his wife, Kiko. Their first son, Noa, was born last year in November. (That pretty much covers it. I rushed the translation, so if you think you could do a better job… do it.) 😮

At least 3 times a month Jim and I ate at the local kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi place. It was fantastic. (Especially the oinky bits [read: meat susghi] and the salmon!) Definitely will miss the sushi… and possibly Jim.