二千〇一： Summer

at Kumamoto Castle on a 37 degrees celsius day

I wasn't in Japan last year for summer (as I was having the bb in SG), so this year it's really a whole new world with the bb joining us for all the summer events!

Summer in Japan = Fireworks! 

My favourite event of the year. We were able to see the Kobe fireworks from our balcony this year, & Ryo invited his friend with his family over to come have dinner and watch the fireworks. The weekend after that, we went to Yodogawa in Osaka to view the fireworks event there. BB was quite scared at first (because we were in the good seats and right in the middle of all the action and noise) and she started crying after the fireworks started. Luckily we had the tripod all set up, all I needed to do was to hold her & press the trigger while watching the fireworks. We bought earplugs for her, but it wasn't of much help. She'll probably enjoy the fireworks more next year. Pictures:
Kobe Fireworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635360220850/
Yodogawa Fireworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635343201425/

We also went to watch the high school baseball matches, on a super hot summer day. Ryo's parents took care of the baby for that day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves w/o her that day. I was slightly worried if she would be ok as that was her first time with them alone, but everything turned out fine in the end.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635359837390/

There's a Obon event in August every year, and this is the first one we were able to attend since it was near our house. There is the Bon-odori (some sort of mass dance) but a little hard to dance with the bb on me, so we went to the pasar malam, ate alot of food, and just basically soaked up the atmosphere.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635352473443/

Mid August, we went to Kyushu (九州) for a short family trip, partly to visit Ryo's relatives as well. Some of them haven't met me or the baby before, because they were too old to travel (most of the people I met looked wrinkly and probably almost 90 years old). We drove through Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Ureshino and ended the trip at Fukuoka. The highlight of the trip was visiting Ippudo at its HQ restaurant! It tasted great, but I must say.. it's getting harder to go out or have a meal with bb. She keeps on grabbing at stuff, not eating when we feed, so keeping her entertained just takes up the whole meal time and I barely have any appetite left. Hopefully this is only a passing phase..  Pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157635366353333/

It was a very very eventful month!