Big Brother Party!

We had a Big Brother Party for Louis to celebrate his becoming a big brother soon. Louis loved all the balloons we decorated with in the morning and his new train set.

After pancakes for breakfast, we headed to the Science Museum to meet up with friends. Loius was excited to carry his own umbrella for the first time.

At the museum...

We finished the day with banana splits!

Making pictures for Army soldier

Derek asked us to work on pictures for a U.S. Army soldier stationed in Iraq as he had found a site (http://www.anysoldier.com/) that coordinated mail to soldiers. Louis had fun making a couple red, white, & blue pictures to send the soldier.

Setagaya Koen (Setagaya Park)

We found this nice park/playground and had a picnic lunch followed by playing, riding the train and driving the go-karts.

On the subway trip to the park. Louis loves to see the conductor at the front of the train as well as the tunnel.

Riding the train

Driving school

Louis is the first in our family to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train).

Fun with Play-doh

Louis has on his "helmet" which he enjoys wearing.

Shinjuku Chuo Koen (Shinjuku Central Park)

After meeting Derek for lunch, Louis and I found Shinjuku Central Park - which has a nice fountain/natural area plus a great playground.

Ebisu Splash Pool

Our playgroup met at a splash pool + playground in Ebisu (short walk + couple subway stops). The weather has been warm and sunny so it was perfect! Louis loved it!




Afterwards, Louis and I went with a couple other moms/kids to a nearby playground (after a short nap for the kids and coffee/tea for the moms).


Louis & his girlfriends Pearly and Phoebe

Kyu Shiba-rikyu Gardens

Louis and I met up with some other moms & kids at this nearby garden/park. Louis loved climbing the hills (Louis said he 'climbed mt. Fuji'), walking across the bridges and playing with the pebbles on the paths. There was also a small playground in front of the garden entrance that we visited for a little while on our way home.

Puro Yakyu

I went with some friends from work to watch a baseball game. I opted for the Yakult Swallows game instead of a Yomiuri Giants game because of a few reasons:
1. Sports should played outdoors whenever possible (see Jingu Stadium)
2. The Giants are pretty much the Yankees of Japan.
3. The Swallows have many home games each year against the Hanshin Tigers. (Hanshin fans are reported to be the most fanatical in Japan).

The Swallows mascot.
Swallows at bat.
Beer-Girls carry mini-kegs through the stands. Hooray Beer!
I don't read much Kangi, but this wasn't too hard to figure out.
The swallows fans have a funny tradition: Whenever their team scores a run, they all hold up small umbrellas; telling the opposing pitcher he should hit the showers.
The Tigers fans have a tradition of blowing up and letting go thousands of balloons during the 7th inning stretch (Japanese baseball has the stretch before the 7th inning, instead of between the halves)

Otsuki-san, Arai-san, me, and Shiono-san

The two most-different-from-MLB things I learned about Japanese baseball:
1. People sitting on the right side of the field cheer for the home team. People sitting on the left side of the field cheer for the visiting team. If you can't get tickets for your team's side, you sit quietly during the game.
2. Cheering is done only by the fans of team on offense. You stand and cheer for your half of the inning and then sit quietly for the other half. Your team just threw a man out at home? Quiet!!!

The two things that are most the same:
1. Beer
2. Good Times

Louis is-a makin' you a nice-a pizza pie!

Louis' playgroup had an outing to a make-your-own pizza restaurant. Louis had a great time making the pizza, but Kelli said that he wasn't as interested in eating it. Then Louis went for a walk with some of his friends.

Hibiya Koen

We took the subway to Hibiya Koen because Kelli read it had a nice playground. Turns out that it also has a nice live-music area (loud enough to hear throughout the park, so there was no need to sit and watch the band). Louis especially enjoyed the zip-line and the fountain, and of course the ice cream.

Hot Wheels are Awesome

When my brothers and I were young, we had an assortment of Hot Wheels track to build amazing courses for our cars. Here's Louis showing off his very first stunt track set! Hooray for sharing my favorite childhood toys with my son!

National Museum of Nature and Science

After leaving the temple, we headed to the National Science Museum. It seemed like a much more interesting place for Louis to spend Children's Day.

Louis' favorite type of exhibit is, "mash the buttons".

Followed closely by, "pet the dead and stuffed mammal"

I thought this "tree-of-life" exhibit was really neat. There were hundreds of species around the walls, connected by lighted lines to their close evolutionary relatives.

Louis had a perfectly satisfactory Children's Day. He would like to note that Babo also approves of the Science Museum.