last weekend we drove down to kagoshima. midori was having a birthday party for her son, and we were invited. at first we didn't think we could go, since we had other plans for golden week (miyazaki!!) but in the end we decided to go. which was a good thing, since midori asked me to get a cake at costco and they said that delivering it would wreck it!

so, we got up sparkling early on saturday morning, loaded up the car (me worrying about the cake the entire time) and started on our way. we were on the road by five a.m., and i thought that hiro would sleep, but the novelty of being in the car so early was too much to fight and he stayed awake until seven-thirty. *sigh* and, we visited nearly every rest stop on the highway until we got close to medea's house. lousy pregnancy!

it was supposed to be a lovely sunny day, but it never materialized. since it was kagoshima, i had even dressed in summery clothes (with a sweatshirt of course) and was kinda cold. *sigh* we got to medea's house and weren't there for long before her husband called and asked how yoshi was! haha! then he wanted to know if hiro was ok. hmmmmmm LOL

we got to midori's place a little after twelve, all of us and a completely fine cake, and admired the new apartment. lovely. and beautiful view of sakurajima, if it's not hazy. then we started helping midori set up. of course, she had done most of it, but she asked us to make egg-salad sandwiches (she's allergic to eggs and didn't quite know how to make them) and medea also made tuna fish sandwiches. i just stood around a lot and talked!

it was a really fun birthday party. hiro was shy but had a lot of fun with joey's toys. they don't really have anything the same so it was like a fairy playland for him! here was hiro on the balcony with yoshi, but when joey came out, hiro came back inside!



here's a shot of the cake and the tons of food midori provided.



after hours and hours of talking, eating and playing, we finally had to go. medea had put a roast in the slow cooker, and her husband was at home waiting for us (he had to work and couldn't make it to the party). we were all so exhausted, especially hiro, but dinner was so yummy! thanks medea.

on sunday yoshi really wanted to use the weed eater that medea's husband had got (borrowed maybe?) but i wouldn't let him while hiro was around. medea, hiro and i went to the city to meet midori and joey, and we had a fantastic time, even though i forgot the stroller. midori had a harness for joey, but i had left mine in fukuoka, because i had planned on using the stroller! thankfully between the three of us we were able to keep hiro out of trouble and we had a nice lunch and shopping in amu plaza. we ended up at starbucks for some much needed sitting-down time where the boys ate snacks and we enjoyed the beautiful weather (we sat outside). i really wish i lived closer to the two of them.

hiro has this new thing of putting his hands in the air when i say, 'yay hiro!!'. so here are some shots of hiro saying yay! (i think it comes from when i was home last and we taught him 'touchdown!')

after climbing onto a rock:


after using two phones at once:


after going out medea's door: