Adventures with Hiro - part 2

There wasn't any way we could avoid having to work Saturday so Hiro and The Extrovert came to the shop with us for the morning and at lunch time we let them go across the road to the shopping center for lunch and a brief look around.  It is important in Japan to buy souvenirs for family and friends back home and this gave Hiro another opportunity to shop for gifts.  The Extrovert was hoping that Hiro would want sushi for lunch as it is his favourite, but he opted for Chinese.  Thankfully there is also a place selling sushi in the food court so they both had what they wanted.

I have already said that we went out for Italian Saturday night and by the time we came home Hiro was looking very tired.  I think that the late night Friday at youth group and the intense week of study was catching up with him.  The Extrovert had hoped that they would both get up early on Sunday morning and head to church as The Extrovert was taking The Thinker's rostered spot helping out in Children's Church.  But we told him to just let Hiro sleep until he woke up as he really needed his rest.  As it turned out he must have been really tired as he almost missed breakfast.  He then asked if he could stay home and study for the morning so The LOML and Hiro spent the morning at home.

That afternoon we had planned to take Hiro to Fremantle for a look around the markets and stay for fish and chips with friends at a place right on the water.  My mom collected The Thinker from camp and after he had showered and cleaned up they met up with us.  We wandered around the markets with The Princess after sending the boys off on their own and tried to find something that wasn't the usual run-of-the-mill touristy gift for Hiro's parents.  We found a little shop selling prints and originals by a local artist.  They were somewhat quirky designs and we bought his parents coasters featuring Aussie animals.

A photo of their gallery

Fremantle is a port town and a famous tourist destination.  On the weekend and most days in summer there is plenty of street entertainment and this day we watched a crazy pirate sword swallower.  He was nuts!!!!  He is even in the Guiness Book of Records for sword swallowing.  After cringing at sword swallowing while on the top of a pole, we headed off to the small beach in Fremantle.  My kids took their shoes off and jumped right in (remember that it is winter here!) and Hiro looked at me as if to say "can I do that too?".  As soon as he realised that he could remove his shoes to splash too and he was in like a two year old!

Wandering around the marina.

The Princess and The Extrovert were first into the water!

What would a beach trip be like without writing in the sand?!?!?!?

The Extrovert and Hiro wandering  along the beach

Looking through the old jetty.  The Extrovert is running towards us.

The Extrovert being silly

The Princess playing too.

After a splash around on the beach the kids all cleaned their feet as our friends had arrived and we were off to enjoy fish and chips.  There are two very big fish companies in the marina and both catch their own fish.  It was left up to us to decided which one we went for and we chose Kailis Fish.  Their boats are moored right next to where we eat (you can just see them in the photo below) and at one end they sell fish to take home.  My friend also had an exchange student from Japan but from a different area and school.

We bought a family plate of fish and chips just for our four kids (four fish filets and LOTS of chips) while The LOML and I had snapper and chips.  It was sooooooooooooo YUM!  The kids polished off all theirs quick smart.  The three girls at the back hardly made a dent in theirs LOL.  My four definitely have huge appetites.

We went home later that evening after another quick trip to the markets for The Thinker to get some morish nuts (nuts covered with caramel).  This was a very close to perfect day.

Chipper