Second 'One'

The day after Auro's party, we left Kyoto and made the 2 hour trip to Dejima harbour in Osaka. There we had a second birthday party planned for Auro on Saturday afternoon. Because Jan Haring was scheduled to be hauled out of the water on the same day, we got up early and, while Remo prepared the boat (putting away the sails, lines and other stuff I don't know the correct name of), Auro and I got dressed for our last day in Japan and started preparing the things for the party in the afternoon (ordering pizza, buying snacks and drinks, laying out a couple of sheets for the children to play on...). We had everything carefully planned out, but because somebody (and it was not Remo!) had forgotten to keep the low tide of the early afternoon in mind, the boat could only be lifted out by 3 PM, which was unfortunately the exact time we had told all the guests the party was going to start. But, even though Remo therefore missed the first half of the party, it was a super super big and absolutely great birthday party! We had invited about 30 people and no less than 40 people showed up (8 children)! Auro was showered with birthday wishes and presents. Thank you all!!! And a special thanks to Nozaki-san, the harbour master, for letting us use the clubhouse, to the people of the harbour (Kido-san and Shinya) who came to sing 'happy birthday' to Auro (complete with guitar and drum!) and to mama-san (my former employer) who, without a doubt, brought the biggest toy (a complete entertainment board with buttons to push, pull and turn) and devoted her complete time to taking care of Auro and succeeded in keeping him entertained the whole time! And, thank you, Nakayama-san, for sending me these nice photos!