all things d@vidb
Happy 1 week!!! (Don’t worry, this won’t be a regular thing!) 
As promised… here are some pictures of Noa from his 1st week in Japan (or anywhere!) from Kiko’s cellphone. I will begin with one of our favourite pictures so far…
Look… he’s sleeping. Because he is cute. And that’s what cute babies do…
That is all.
I cave to what the people want. (Or what I want to give the people.)
Kiko and I will be putting up more photos when I get some sleep. But worry not! This will not turn into a Noa-only website. Expect to see lots of stuff from all of us over the next few weeks. (That being said, this is also a good place to get lots of Noa pictures as well.)
"waaahhh.. give me books!"
… and send presents. I spoke with Noa and for his birthday he wants presents: English books, CD’s, anything that will enable him to communicate with you!
Here are some pictures… enjoy!
Kiko is fine and anxious to get some so we can spend time together as a family.
And yes, I recognize how studly I look in that picture above. It was either that picture (which favours Noa), or the one below, which favours me. I chose the one above (the mark of a good father.)
She currently has Noa captive with her in the hospital.
That is all.
Love, David, Kiko, & Noa.
Not that big of an update. (baby wise anyways…) But it did take me a hell of a long time to get everything ready. So you best be reading this.
First of all, quite a few people have noted that this website has turned into a baby-watch. It’s true. Our visitors are up by about 8 times what they usually are. This will definitely be the first place pictures are posted (don’t get too excited!). I will be e-mailing in photos from the hospital and they should automatically get displayed online so you will know right around the same time I do.
Secondly, some of you may be seeing some weird crazy pages when you visit. Sorry! I’m trying to get 4.0 online so that when the baby comes it’s all ready to show you tons of pictures… ‘cuz that’s what you want to see… maybe. That’s what I want to see anyways. Besides, I figure that if you are actually visiting this site you have a vested interest in what Kiko and I are doing.. right? I suspect the baby will be a big part of what we are doing so you get to look at the billion pictures that I take (with our crappy camera. thanks everyone! 
)
At any rate, the reason this is a big update is because I am going to be sending up pictures that have been sitting here for ages. I have also updated some of the photo galleries. Expect all of this to be re-done in time for the baby … (lots of pictures, easy to read entries and other fun stuff!)
By the way, thanks for all of those who called/wrote to wish me a happy birthday. 
It meant a lot to me. (That’s the closest happy face I could find to a birthday hat…) to those who didn’t…. 
I’m not naming the baby after you.
So here goes…
Recenetly, in Takamatsu, at the Kagawa International Festa (weird, no homepage… but look here.) my Tug of War team took first place in all of Kagawa. Yes, I have a tug of war team. Yes, I was clearly the deciding factor in the win (laugh now, but I was the anchor and had some good skill. I beat other anchors who were three times my size.) We also destroyed the girl-scout team in the semi-finals. It was exciting…
Can’t get enough of all that Tug of War action? Getting excited by that Tug of War pose I have? Look here for more pictures.
Last (maybe) but not least, remember the Halloween Party? (Of course you do.) Well I also had a Halloween event in my town on November 6th (the greatest day to have a Halloween party.) With the help of my good friends Nikki and Jim (thanks Jim!) we took 25 elementary kids (only 10 signed up) and got them to cut tiny ass little green Japanese pumpkins into something resembling a jack’o’lantern. It also marked the first time in my life where I have ever made my own pumpkin (all by myself.) … Here are a few choice scenes. Go here for the entire album (my pumpkin is the one on the chair with the candles in it!)
Damn it! I knew I was forgetting something…. in one of my kindergarten classes I recently received a love note. It was really really cute. A little 4 year old girl (named Madoka) came up to me after class and handed it to me. I was going to read it but then she said I should put it in my pocket and read it when I was alone… 
crazy…
I will translate:
David-sensei (teacher): I love you. Let’s keep studying English together.
Please make note that she went to the extra special effort to write from left to right instead of right to left (so that my white brain could understand…)
That is all… maybe the next update will be baby news?
10 months!??! Those advanced Japanese people. Babies in Japan gestate (??) for 10 months.
Not really … I bet you believed me for a 2nd, right??! (I actually thought this was the case when I was first told about this 10 month deal.) No, actually they start counting from an earlier date and the baby is said to be in the womb for 10 months.
Backwards little yellow people? Advanced future overlords? I’ll leave it to you to decide.
At any rate, here is the beautiful Kiko at 10 months (or 2 weeks from the due date.) See how nice she looks? 
(I’m happy by the way.. that’s my picture face.) 
This entry was actually entitled "Update on Kiko" but she didn’t like the photo I was going to upload. She promised I could post one tomorrow, so expect an update tomorrow. She looks… umm… big. But cute…
Anyways… yes, it’s the Potato Party. Remember how Kiko used to work at one of my schools? Well they invited us back for a Potato Party. The actual translation was "The Honourable Potato Party"… but well… umm… that’s stupid.
Now what do you do at a potato party you ask?
Well, first you take cut-up sweet potato, put them on Ritz crackers with whip cream, add some more whip cream and sprinkle liberally with chocolate chips and sprinkles
Then what do you do? (Do you really have to ask?) You have a potato quiz, sing the potato song and talk about potatoes. (He is pointing at a sign that says "Potato Quiz" by the way.
You’re jealous right? And why shouldn’t you be.
Do you know difficult it would be for me to update this site daily? Not that I don’t have the chance.. (I do!) – I check it everyday… It’s more of the fact that I don’t have enough stuff to write about.
How many times can you look at a picture of some vegetable we have grown, or how big Kiko has gotten? 
That being said… expect (more) regular updates coming soon. The last few months have been busy with the site re-design, but both Kiko and I have decided to focus more on writing stuff. That being said, when the baby comes expect more baby pictures than you will ever want to look at.
In the meantime, look at this crazy huge Sweet Potato I grew. Are you jealous? (and admire the beautiful model…) (yes… I am sweet.)
hey hey hey.
Just going to put a bunch of random stuff here because I have a few pictures that I’ve been meaning to put up. To be honest, things are getting quite hectic with the arrival of the baby. Expect more baby announcements soon. (not MORE babies, more announcements…)
It seems like I never really got davidandkiko.com 3.0 out the door, but that’s ok, 4.0 is on the way. It will be ready before the baby and will look a lot nicer, be easier to update, and hopefuly a little more fun. Surprisingly we still have tons of traffic, just not as much interaction as we used to… 🙂 That’s ok, this site is both for Kiko and I, and for when you feel like seeing what we are up to (not that that has to be regular at all!)
As well as the upcoming site-overhaul I have finally managed to upload some pictures from our trip to Tanegashima. Take a look –> HERE <–.
In the meantime, let’s look at some pics I have stored up. First off, when I was in Tanegashima we went to this stooooopidly small and crappy shoe store called Footpark. Low and behold, what did they have their? Shoes. tons of them. But what else? The best pair of Pumas I have ever seen. no joke, I really really really want one.
Tell me that isn’t cool? …. I am accepting gifts.
I forgot to mention that we will be putting up pics of all the baby stuff we have got and bought. We have spent almost $1000 on baby shit and that is us being super thrifty and begging as much stuff as we could get. Apparently babies in Japan sleep on baby futons which cost a billion dollars. The only explanation I got was that since babies sleep all the time, they need to sleep well. wtf?
This is another picture that I’ve been meaning to put up for the longest time. A few weeks ago Kiko, I, and a whole bunch of JETs (new and old) went bowling. It was a lot of fun… you also get to see my good friends Nikki and Jim.
Super swell.
I hope you are all learning how to play Shogi. I need someone to play online with me, so get to work!! (they have a cool picture on that link, so look at it!)
That is all.
Love David & kiko.
ps. Take a look at my new soccer team (formerly known as the Sanuki Udons. We are working on a new name…!)
Ruke…I am your father.
David and I went to parenting school last weekend. David doesn’t know much about Japanese parenting, so I think it was good study for him. Now I will soon be 8 months and my stomach is very heavy. David had to wear a suit and see how hard it is for me and my stomach. 
先週末、初めて両親学級なるものに行ってきました！Davidにとっては初めての事ばかりで「ほほ～」なんて感心したり納得したり・・・いい勉強になりま した。妊婦体験スーツを着て床に落ちている物を拾ったり寝転がったりして、８ヶ月の大きいお腹がいかに大変かを実感したようです。
(edited by David) Here is another one for good measure!
ps. Why the hell did they have to add breasts to the suit? I feel and look and am retarded.
Well, it was actually yesterday, but I had a pretty crazy day. Not only was there a killer typhoon, but a number of other … stuff … happened. Here is a quick summary.
The Good 
Look at my new printer? It is an Epson PM-A870. It is a copier/scanner/printer all in one. It specializes in photos and also has a negative scanner as well as memory card inputs to print your photos directly. The thing is a beast!!
in more ways than one. It’s friggin huge. Here, take a look:
It prints fantastic pictures by the way!! Super friggin excited.
The Bad 
MY COMPUTER BROKE!!! Not only did it break a little… it broke a lot. 🙁 I am very sad. It wasn’t my main computer, it was the Linux machine that runs my MythTV server, my phone server, parts of davidandkiko.com (the parts you guys don’t visit!) and held davidandkiko.com 4.0. (We are skipping 3.0 in case you didn’t notice…)
What the fuck?
So there was a typhoon yesterday, right? Anyways, I wish I had taken a picture, but there is this dog that is always locked up outside of his house. (like every other dog in Japan.) He always barks but is super lazy so just kind of wanders around his little house barking at people half-assedly if hes not too tired to get up. Because my computer broke I was depressed and decided to head out in to the typhoon for some lemon coke. A little part of me expected to not see the dog there, the day of one of the biggest typhoons to hit Japan in a long time.
… he was there alright, but don’t think his owners didn’t care. In front of his little house they had nailed up a peace of light wood. So this poor dog was locked in his house and nailed shut by a flimsy peace of wood that didn’t cover the entire door.
Nice…
Anyways… on a brighter note here are some more exciting pictures. (Yes, I am trying to draw my readers back with bribes of pictures.. bastards.) 😉
A big congratulations to our good friends Mike and Tomoko who recently added "Kaito" in to the mix. Look at how cute he is? When my baby is older he is going to wrestle Kaito… or something.
How about a picture of Kiko’s little garden pre-typhoon? She loves it.. most of the plants blew away though.
And finally… since I’m all about giving the people what they want, here is what everyone needs. A giant kiko. (photo by Greg!) Thanks!
That is all.Love David & Kiko