Grandparents Arrive (and other firsts)

It has been an incredibly busy week for Rhianna, Shinako and John. It all started with a sudden business trip for me to Hong Kong. The last time I went to Hong Kong, in 1997, it was still part of England, so I was interested to see how it had become part of China. Unfortunately, I was in the country for less than 24 hours and returned to Tokyo before I had much chance to check it out, but it was still pretty amazing. The new airport is beautiful, and the city is as crazy and exciting as ever (although very polluted--the pictures you see of the harbor from my hotel window show how hazy the city is from air pollution)

A couple days after I returned, my parents (Rhianna's grandparents) arrived from the U.S. It was the first time for them to meet Rhianna, and we were all really excited. The first pictures with my parents are at the Tokyo City Air Terminal Bus Station near our home.

Unfortunately, Great-Grandma Betty was unable to come this time, but we will look forward to seeing her over Christmas when Rhianna makes her first trip to Colorado.

Since the grandparents arrived, we've kept very busy, eating delicious meals prepared by Shinako, and even had lunch at the Park Hyatt's New York Grill, in Shinjuku (make sure to see the video with the gorgeous view of the city. Most of the time we go there it happens to be rainy or hazy, so we dont have that great of a view, but this time the view was spectacular).

We also had a pleasant surprise (though not so much so for Rhianna today) when we discovered her first tooth coming up. We gave her a teething toy, so we hope that helps her irritation.

This evening, we all made Chinese Dumplings (gyoza) together. Shinachan put together the contents, and we all wrapped them up in the wraps, and then Shinachan cooked them (Okay, Shinachan actually did most of the work, and we did most of the eating--it was delicious!).

Im including lots of pictures (both of Hong Kong and of the time since my parents have been here) and a few videos. Enjoy!