Well, for those of you who have been involved with our little attempts at getting Charlie onto the toilet, you will be able to appreciate this headline! For the rest of you, allow me to illuminate you!

Several months ago, whilst shopping at BJ’s, we spotted a plush-covered hippity hop (this is a bouncy ball for kids to sit on, with a handle on it). The plush on the bouncy ball, in this case, was in the shape of a kangaroo with a joey in it’s pouch. Well, Charlie fell in love at first sight. I agreed to purchase it for her, if she would go to the toilet all day. She, of course, said yes, and didn’t make it through the day.

For the last few months, the Hippity-hop has been sitting in our dining room closet, waiting for the day that Charlie would stay dry (and clean) from the time she woke in the morning, to bedtime…

Yesterday (29th September 2003) was that day!!!!

Now, I know that all you experienced moms, etc. are saying, “Yeah, that’s just one day — she’s not toilet trained yet…” And, of course, we realize that. But it is, undeniably, a most notable day in our little family’s life!

So, on that happy and enthuastic note, I will leave you with the knowledge (or just the thought) that, you can make someone increadibly happy, just by going to the toilet!!! Isn’t life grand???!!!

Well, it’s almost the end of July — Suzie will be 6 months old on the 1st of August — I can’t believe it! Charlie’s been in a “summer camp” two mornings a week for the last few weeks (basically for July and August). Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-1pm. She seems to have fun there, but whenever we leave home to go to “school” she cries that she doesn’t want to go “… because the teacher will tell me what to do!!!” To which I usually reply that that’s part of the reason why she needs to go to school — to learn how to listen to people when they ask her to do things (something we still battle with at home, sometimes). On the whole, the kids are doing well, although Suzie’s still not sleeping through the night. Oh, well — it can’t go on forever, right? Anyway, that’s about it for my little update. Don’t forget to register at www.shiobara.com if you haven’t done so already — we’re going to be adding new features (hopefully soon!). Take care, all!

Well, a new batch of pictures are up on the website … and the homepage now highlights two of our favorites. Suzie, learning the classic Shiobara slacker pose and Charlie discovering that she really likes Fun Dip.

There’s a couple of broken thumbnails in May 2003 — still looking into why those didn’t publish correctly. Just ignore those …

For the record, Suzie is now 5 months old and Charlie’s 3 years and 4 months old.

Ed doesn’t like “Chuck E. Cheese” but Charlie loves it. While I do agree that “Kidz Cafe” is really nice too, it’s just a bit further of a drive, and it doesn’t have as many games for Charlie to play, and most of the games it has take 2 tokens (whereas “Chuck E. Cheese” only needs 1 for ALL games & rides). Also, you have to PAY to get into “Kidz Cafe” and entry to “Chuck E. Cheese” is FREE!!! Plus, the security at “Chuck E. Cheese” is exponentially better than either “Funtime Junction” or “Kidz Cafe” — they actually check you on your way out at “Chuck E. Cheese”!!!

BOTTOM LINE: “Kidz Cafe” is nice for it’s play-area, but “Chuck E. Cheese” still RULES for security, games and fun (especially since Charlie’s big enough to climb their playground now).

Unless New Jersey has suddenly become Seattle, I don’t know what’s up with our June weather. I get the feeling I should be building an ark but my weekends are busy enough playing with my two kids.

Since the weather’s been so miserable through the weekend, I took Charlie and Suzie out to Kidz Cafe, an indoor playground in Totowa, NJ, off Route 46 East. I like the place a lot more than Chuck E. Cheese (or, Chucky Disease as some of us call it) or FunTime Junction. Charlie always seems to have fun at any of the three places, but given my choice, I prefer to take her to Kidz Cafe.

Also, I booked the airline ticket for my cousin-in-law, Kazuhiko, who works for YKK America and is now in the Atlanta, Georgia area. We’re flying him up to stay with us over the Fourth of July holiday. We met him for the first time when we went to Japan this past year in July and August of 2002. It’ll be really nice to see him again.