Shinjuku Suwa shrine summer festival / 諏訪神社のお祭り

Mia was excited to visit matsuri (the summer festival) at Suwa shrine this morning.

お祭り好きのミアちゃんは諏訪神社のお祭りを朝からとても楽しみにしていた。

Because she was excited, she kept saying "Washhoi! Wasshoi!" in Japanese.

朝からずっとワッショイ、ワッショイと掛け声をかけていた。

Wasshoi is a shout when people gather together to carry a mikoshi that is a portable shrine during the festival.

I had to walk about twenty minutes to get to the festival from home, and by the time we got there, she was already asleep even though she put on her Hello Kitty pink yukata (summer style kimono). Also she had Donald Duck's blue fan in her hand.

ピンクのキティちゃんの浴衣を着て、ドナルドダックのうちわを持って、あんなに楽しみにしていたけれども２０分もベビーカーに揺られていたら、お祭りに着く前に熟睡。

Swimming at the Jidokan / 児童館でのプール

Mia and I have been enjoying using the Jidokan near our apartment ever since we moved to Tokyo especially since we live in a small apartment. Although I love how I can get pretty much everything in Tokyo except delicious BBQ and Mexican food in Austin, Texas, I miss having more space that Mia can run around.

広大なテキサスから東京に戻ってきてからは狭いマンション生活が少し嫌で時々児童館を活用するようになった。（もともと私は家にじっとしているタイプではない）

Japanese Jidokan is a children's facility/building that has pools during summer time, a little outside park, toys, pens and papers to draw and more...; it offers babies/children's classes for free or very low prices.

アメリカには児童館はないので色々とある日本の児童館には関心する。最近の児童館はプールまであるなんてすごい！

Today was the last swimming day at the Jidokan, so Mia enjoyed being in water with other children. It still gets hot and humid in here, but I can feel the fall is here already by looking at cherry leaves on the ground that changed their colour from green to yellow.

今日は児童館のプールの最終日だったので娘とプール。まだまだ毎日暑い。でも外の桜の葉が緑から黄色に変わり地面に落ちているのを見ると秋の気配を感じる。

I think we had enough of hot days and I am looking forward to my favourite time of the year in Tokyo!

大好きな日本の秋が訪れるのがとても楽しみ！

Green smoothie／グリーンスムージー

My 2-yr-old has iron deficiency because she does not eat a lot of meat or vegetables that contain iron which led me to buy a blender because I thought she might like green smoothie.

食べ物の好き嫌いが多い2歳の娘が採血検査の結果、鉄分が足りておらず貧血だと医師から伝えられ、ママ友に相談してグリーンスムージーを作ってみる事にした。

She loves to pretend drinking a cup of green smoothie with me whenever I make some, but she refuses to drink it. Then I ended up making some peach and banana smoothie for her to see if she would try some peach and banana smoothie. I know Mia is a very cautious girl, so I showed her the process of making it, but that did not work either.

グリーンスムージーを作ってみたものの、用心深い娘は飲むふりはするけれど一口もスムージーは飲んでくれなかった。色が緑だから飲んでくれないのかな？と思い、桃とバナナだけでスムージーを作ってみたものの、それでさえも飲んでくれなかった。

Anyway, I have been enjoying making some green smoothie at home everyday after purchasing a blender from Yamamoto Electric Corporation. There are some aloe vera plants growing in my little back yard and I am happy to be able to take the advantage of putting aloe in my smoothie.

娘が一口もスムージーを飲んでくれなかったのは残念だったけど、私は毎日のようにグリーンスムージーを自分用に作って暑い夏を楽しんでいる。庭にアロエが生えていてそのアロエがスムージーに使えるのが嬉しい。

Here is the list of what I put in my green smoothie.

ちなみに今日のスムージーはこんな感じ。

Parsley／パセリ

Pineapple／パイナップル

Banana／バナナ

Grapes／ブドウ

Ginger／ショウガ

Aloe vera／アロエ

Soy milk／豆乳

Honey／蜂蜜

Ice cubes／氷



Can you see Mia's hand trying to help me to make some smoothie?
娘の手がニョキニョキと伸びてスムージー作りの手伝いをしています。


I love summer!
やっぱり夏は最高！

Yurakucho- the business area in Tokyo/有楽町

17 month: week 4, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

I had lunch with my friend yesterday in Yurakucho area.

有楽町あたりで友達とランチした。

Mia and I visited Muji before lunch. I was surprised to see a play area for children at Muji since I always had an image of Yurakucho being a business area.

友達とのランチの前に有楽町にある無印によった。そうしたら無印の中に子供達の遊び場があった。有楽町ってビジネスのイメージが強かったので。ちょっとびっくり。

Mia enjoyed playing at the play area with other children a lot.

娘は他の子供達と楽しく遊んでいました。

I had wanted to visit Dhaba India in Kyobashi for a while and I finally got to visit there for lunch! Wow, they were super busy when we went there.

久しぶりにダバインディアでランチ。お店は相変わらずめちゃめちゃ混んでいた。

I ordered half size dosa curry lunch that come with some white rice since Mia loves eating rice.

娘は白いご飯が大好きなので。白いご飯が付いてくるハーフサイズのドサとカレーのランチをオーダー。

I would love to go back to Yurakucho again!

また行きたいと思った。

Meruhen/メルヘン

メルヘン, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

It has been a while since I had some sandwich from Meruhen.

一年ぶりくらいのメルヘンのサンドイッチ。

I was in Shinjuku and I got little hungry, so I had some sweet potato&whipped cream sandwich.

新宿にいて小腹がすいたのでスイートポテト＆生クリームを購入。

Sweet potatoes in Japan are delicious. They are in season right now!

あぁお芋が美味しい季節だわっ！

Swimming / スイミング

IMG_5188, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

It has been hot and humid in Tokyo!
I took Mia for swimming.

毎日毎日暑すぎるので娘を近くの児童館のプールに連れて行った。

She looked little concerned at the beginning when I put her in a small pool, but she figured out what to do after she watched other children playing in a pool.

初めての児童館のプールでちょっと緊張気味の娘。でも他の子が楽しそうに水遊びをしているのを見て水遊びを始めた。

Mia likes water!

娘は水遊びが好きみたい。

Sleeping on tatami mats / 畳の上でのお昼寝

sleeping on tatami mats, a photo by fumika yamamoto on Flickr.

Mia was taking her nap on tatami mats today.

娘は今日の昼寝は畳の上。

I guess it was cool and comfortable to sleep on there because she slept on the tatami for 2 hours!

涼しくて気持ち良かったのか２時間くらい寝てた。

Summer in Tokyo has been hot and humid.

最近の東京は蒸し暑すぎる。

Maybe this is the best way to take a nap.

娘の畳の上での昼寝は気持ち良さそうだった。