Tokyo Tower

In the morning, our friend Andy took us in his car to Costco...one of the few times Jamey has ridden in his carseat.

That afternoon, we visited the Tokyo Tower, a copy of the Eiffel Tower (only taller).

Looking out the window. We didn't go all the way to the top but close enough :)

We thought the tower's "mascot" was interesting... You could buy just about anything with him on it in the gift shop, key chains, magnets, rulers, toys...

Louis had a blast in the play area set up for kids - probably as a treat after they endured the trip up/down with mom and dad in the tower. We were glad it was there (Louis wasn't very entertained by the view from the tower).

It was dark by the time we left.

Earthquake

Tonight we felt our first earthquake here. Since we arrived in Tokyo in February, there have been many earthquakes, but none that we felt. This one shook everything in the apartment - we first noticed our drink glasses on the table moving, then looked up and saw the mirror and the curtains shaking. Then we felt the building shaking. It was scary to me - Derek remained quite calm and herded us all under the table. He explained to Louis that we needed to be still and quiet under the table until it was safe.

After it was over, Louis was quite a bit upset by the whole thing and Derek took him on a tour of the apartment to show him all was okay.

We discovered it was a 7.1 earthquake (see the 1st listing for August 9, 2009 here http://www.iris.edu/seismon/last30days_N_Pacific.html) in the ocean. Wow. No wonder we felt it! I am not real anxious for the next big one...


Below is a screenshot of the earthquake information, in case the link above changes. Most of Japan is inside the large red circle...


UPDATE! We had 2 more large earthquakes this week that we felt...3 in 5 days! None since...

Tokyo Toy Museum

We went to the Tokyo Toy Museum. They have a lot of nice wooden toys for children to play with, including this 'ball pit'.

Summer Concert

Derek went with friends to go see his favorite music group (NIN) perform at a Summer festival. Looks like he had fun...no, I'm not sure what she's wearing on top but I don't think it's much!

The boys

Smile!

Derek took Louis to see fireworks

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan)

We visited the Miraikan Museum in Odaiba, a great science museum. Louis liked learning about the body and brain with daddy.

Exploring a submarine

A gift for Louis

Louis with a big brother gift (picture frame) from Jamey.