It's July and it's hot.

We're experiencing a pretty rainless rainy season here in Tokyo. Usually it rains a lot during the summer rainy season, and then all of a sudden becomes bright and unbearably hot. We're already at that point, without having ended the offical rainy season...! I guess that means more sun and heat than usual...

Anyway, things have been going fine here. Rhianna is doing great as usual, and changing every day. She loves to smile and laugh, and and enjoys walking as much as she can. She especially loves to wave at people while sitting on dad's shoulders and being walked around. Sales people in department stores love this! Recently, Rhianna walks up to her dad and puts her hands up, asking to be carried. And while she used to be only held, now she puts her arms around the holder's neck and actually holds on. We bought her a tricycle with a push handle, almost like a stroller, and she really loves to be pushed around our neighborhood. Still, recently she also likes even more to walk alongside it while it's being pushed by dad.

Rhianna caught a cold last week, which is a rarity for her (maybe her first or possibly second real cold ever). She got a 102 degree fever, and we actually brought her to the local St. Lukes hospital late at night just in case. Luckily, she had her appetite and didnt have any problems with dehydration, so they just sent us home with a little cough medicine. No problems since then.

Mom had been doing a great job with her company, and has been really selling a lot. She enjoys her web-shop, and gets great reviews from people who purchase from her site. Every day she gets orders from people all over Japan, from Hokkaido, in the North, to Okinawa, in the South. She then prepares their orders from her inventory of imported items, and sends it out the next day. A shipping agent visits our apartment every night and usually picks up several packages for shipment. It keesp Shinako really busy (not to mention watching after Rhianna while dad is out at work), but even still she has managed to make a great business, and one of the more highly ranked baby clothing stores on the Rakuten Ichiba website that she uses.

Here are a bunch of pictures from over the past month!

Hanging out with Ronald McDonald

Shinako, Rhianna, and John Gump (Those are not my feet, by the way)

Eating cake!

Eating Cake

Eating cake!!!!

At the Odaiba Beach with mom and dad


Rhianna at the beach

Rhianna at the beach

Rhianna and mom

Rhianna and mom

At the beach

Rhianna's Wheels

Sitting on dad at Tokyo Station

Out for Yakiniku Dinner in Ginza

Ready to go out


More Soon

Rhianna's First Birthday Party

Rhianna had her first birthday party last weekend (I had business trips all week and during her actual birthday, so we celebrated during the following weekend). Shinako made a cake from scratch, and we all loved it, especially Rhianna, who ate it with her own hands. I'm including several pictures and videos. More soon!!!


Making Cake

Making Cake!

Rhianna's Birthday Cake

Yum!

Garlic Cheesburger (made from dad, based on the famous DePauw Unversity food)

Cake!

More cake!

Yum!

Eating Bread

Yum!

Out for lunch with mom and dad

Sleepy!

Opening presents

Opening presents

Looking at new books

Eating presents

Rhianna

Happy day

Riding her horse

Rhianna

Videos

Who's Number One!!??

Rhianna's number one. Today, May 27th, is her first birthday. One year ago today at 3:15 p.m., she was born at Eiju General Hospital, in Ueno, Tokyo. It's sure hard to believe a year has gone by!! Unfortunately, dad will have to spend most of this week on business trips, so Rhianna's birthday will be celebrated this coming weekend.

Recently, Rhianna has become a big walker. She loves to walk around the house. On top of that, she loves to carry things--especially bags. Check out the video I've posted of her wandering around the mall with her Startbucks bag. She also loves to drag my work bag around the house. My bag is pretty heavy, so she spends most of her time putting all of her energy into pulling...it's pretty funny.

She has been very talkative as usual, and we are pretty sure she says mama and dada, but we're still not exactly sure. She also still loves to wave her hands and smile at pretty anybody she sees on the street. She continues to be Miss Popularity.

Recent foods she likes include tapiocca, mongolian beef barbecue, natto (fermented soy beans), rice, and pasta. She also loves the little cookie/cracker balls that mom gives her to keep her busy at restaurants.

Im including several videos and pictures, including her riding her horse, walking around, eating an apple, and many other things.

Oh! A local festival happened to walk past our apartment the other day too--I'll post a video of that, too.

More soon!

Rhianna Runs!!

Mommy!!

On the bench

Walking by dad's office

Area around Dad's office (Tokyo's Little Italy)

Dad's office building

Where's my dinner!?!

Waiting at the mall

Playing on the grass

Playing on the grass

Walking at the mall with her favorite bag!

Going shopping

Having lunch in Ginza at dad's favorite place (Quizno's)


Walking through Ueno Train Station

Rhianna modelling

More modelling

Standing by the Sumida River near our home

In front of new French restaurant near our home

Videos

Rhianna Eating an Apple

Rhianna about to ride the train

Local Festival

Local Festival

Horse Riding

Walking

Walking