Photos Galore - 2

Theo and his Disney "playmates" in our veranda.


The kisser strikes again! Photo taken at the city hall in Ueno.


Ready...set.... Of all things in the park, Theo loves the slide the most.


Theo is framed by a structure in another playground.




Theo goofs around. That orange thing on his head is half of a melon wrapper.


Theo surveys the landscape. Below is part of the platform of Nishi Nippori Station.

All of the photos were taken by Mommy D.

Theo's Pool

Without a doubt, the summer heat is upon us, and with global warming to boot, Japan's Meteorological Agency has predicted that this will be the hottest summer on record. And this is just June, mind you! The summer is always hottest and most unbearable from mid-July to mid-August. In other words, we ain't seen nothing yet.

Theo, however, is taking the summer in stride because he knows that we'll let him play with water. Unfortunately, however, space is at a premium in Tokyo, and our apartment only has a small veranda where we can let him dip in his "pool" (see photos below). Don't worry, we'll give him a bigger one soon. There's still an empty (but bigger) plastic box lying around, hehehe...






We also went to Ueno Park last Sunday where he enjoyed some of the rides. The entrance to Ueno Zoo is visible in the background.


We made fun of him last Monday by raising his shorts way up high and asking him to dance. He gamely obliged and we took this "bonjing" shot.


Mommy D has not shown her face in this blog since I started it almost 3 years ago. The main reason is that we had agreed that this blog should focus only on Theo, and that we should limit our own appearances here lest we shift the focus. This time, however, Mommy D suggested that I post a photo of her with Theo. This one was taken at Ueno Station last Tuesday after they went to the City Hall to process some papers. For those who haven't seen or met her yet, here she is.

Parks and Kisses

For people who have not been to Japan, they would imagine Tokyo as a place filled only with buildings and lots of steel, a concrete jungle so to speak. However, if one looks closely, there are actually small parks every few blocks, which are a testament to the city planners' vision of balance. Theo was in two of these parks last week together with Mommy D, and surely, he enjoyed these outings immensely.


This shot was taken at a park somewhere near Minowa Station, which is less than 5 minutes away by bus from our place. Minowa is also where Theo's Mama Tippi and Papa Ian used to reside when they were here. Theo liked this park so much because there's a huge fountain in the center. And when there's water to play with, Theo is drawn to it like a magnet, a cute magnet, that is.


This was taken at a park about 2 minutes away from my office. He loves to come here to look at the numerous turtles of various sizes. However, Mommy D is now avoiding this place because it is usually swarming with mosquitoes during summer. Theo was bit by one just a few minutes after this shot was taken.

Theo is one kid who has always been and will always be showered with hugs and kisses by his parents. And thus, it has also become a habit for him to kiss and hug the things that he loves, as you can see from the photos below.


This toy plays some music and each of its legs represents a letter of the alphabet. He likes it a lot, obviously.


Ernie here sings "London Bridge is Falling Down" if you use it as puppet. He's one of his friends.

Awake in Asakusa

We had to go to Asakusa again yesterday because there were things that we needed to purchase from Daiso, the 100 yen shop. And since we were already there, then why not allow Theo to mill around with the tourists in the famous shrine?

So here he is, posing in front of the tourist spots and looking as cute as ever.


In front of Kaminarimom, the gate to the shrine


Theo dances in front of the Sensoji Temple.


Theo raises his hand again in front of this small shrine, whose name I do not know.

These two photos below were taken in our Tokyo apartment.


Theo loves this toy monkey, given to him by his Tito Joey and Tita Ning more than a year ago,because it repeats whatever you say to it and then it jumps up and down.


This photo was taken after we returned from Asakusa. Theo is probably tired but he looks happy. He has become quite long, hasn't he?

Sleepy in Asakusa

One of the pleasures of having a Tokyo residence is that almost all of the fun and interesting places are just so within reach.

Our apartment, for instance, is just five minutes away from the nearest subway (Chiyoda) and train (Yamanote) stations, and about 1 minute away from the nearest bus stop from where we can take the bus bound for either Asakusa or Ikebukuro.

At a whim, we can actually go to wherever we want to on weekends. In contrast, when we lived in Tsukuba before, it would take roughly 1.5-2 hours just to reach Akihabara, Tokyo's world-famous electronics shopping center, and then go to other interesting places from there. That's why Mommy D and Theo hardly went to Tokyo while we still lived in Tsukuba.

But now, it's different! In just two weekends, Theo has already been to lots of places, as the photos below can attest.


This photo was taken last Sunday at Asakusa. You can read an article which I wrote about this place many years ago here. Despite how historic and interesting this place may be, Theo seemed to be disinterested. This photo was taken with my cell phone camera. It looks surprisingly good for one taken with a small lens having a mere 2 megapixel resolution.




Yesterday, Theo took his first ever boat ride in Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park. For 30 minutes, he pretended to be captain of his own "ship". Theo was visibly excited on board and he seemed to have enjoyed every minute of it. When the time limit was over, he didn't want to leave. Unfortunately, we had to go so as not to miss our next appointment, which is...


ROPONGGI HILLS! This is one of the places that Theo's Mama Tippi (my sister) and Papa Ian (my brother-in-law) used to love while they were here because it's probably one of the trendiest spots in Tokyo and it's also where the TOHO cinemas can be found. In the photo above, Theo sits beneath the famous spider sculpture which is known to symbolize the place.


As Theo develops mentally, we can already ask him to pose, and in this photo above, we asked him to raise his arms in front of these signs, and he gamely obliged.


Theo loves to play with water, and this wall with flowing water at Roponggi Hills immediately caught his attention. And as you can see, he enjoyed it immensely.

From Roponggi Hills, we headed to the Franciscan Chapel for mass, had dinner, and then strolled from Roponggi to Ometesando (about an hour), from where we took the subway back home. The weather was just perfect last night for a leisurely stroll, even if it was eventually tiring.

Where will we go today? Let's ask Theo....