Happy B-day, Kolo Jr.!

My neighbor, Kolo, had a birthday party last night. His daddy is the brother of Musashimaru and he can speak very good Japanese. Although he just turned to 3 years old, he is taller than me already. He has two older brothers and they are very nicee to me.



This is very bid birthday cake decorated with Thomas, his favorite toy!

Mommy has been busy for Daddy and my visa update. She is hoping to get the paperwork done as soon as possible....but it's always very complicated....

Daddy's renovation project is almost in the final stage. Our addition got the ceilind done, all windows are completed....so the next step is the flooring. After that, it's only kitchen cabinets installing...which would take only a few days. Then, it will be mommy and my turn to decorate the rooms! I cannot wait for shopping! Oh well, there are still outside deck and exterior walls to be done. Daddy, Ganbatte!

Future Hula Dancer

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Cousins visit

My mom's cousin, Mikiko, and her family visited us today. They came to Hawaii only for 3 days, wow. They are staying at a hotel in Waikiki and rented a car for today to visit us. They went to our beach, turtle beach, ate mangoes, and had BBQ.

Mommy did not see Auntie Mikiko's two sons for probably more than 15 years so she was surprised how big and tall they are! Seiji-niichan(brother in Japanese) is a student of Waseda university. He also loves soccer. Takahiro-niichan will be a pharmacist near future. Both played with me and I liked them so much. I wish they could come back again.

We also had another visitor from mommy's hometown. He is mommy's best friend's husband. He is a doctor and came to have a job interview to work in Hawaii. Mommy wish they can move to Hawaii so I can make Japanese friends with his daughters.

Since we moved to Hawaii, we are so lucky to have many visitor to our house. It's been very fun and good time to make memories. We are waiting for you, too!

P.S. Seiji-niichan, Takahiro-niichan, I am waiting for the pictures because mommy doesn't have one. Pleeeeeeease!

Vancouver

Mommy went to Vancouver for the last weekend in order to renew her work permit in the states. It was necessary but silly because all she has to do is just to cross the border. So, living in Hawaii, crossing the border means going to Canada or Japan....We all wanted to go together but daddy's passport was expired and my visa also did not allow me to cross the border at this time. It's complicated. So, mommy had a couple of holidays for herself.

Mommy had lived for a couple of months in North Vancouver before she moved to Winnipeg. At that time, she did not like thc city at all because of the ever-lasting cloudy sky and "fake Asian" town. However, this time, the city was changed or maybe she changed. She enjoyed the Canada's most developing city. The city is so unique because you can enjoy city life as well as you can grow green friendly spirit at the same time. Every scenary is picture perfect. Vegetables, fruits, and fish are very fresh. So many kinds of restaurants. Every corner has nice open cafe....and green, green, and green!!

Well, I guess those are the most common impression as a tourist. However, when mommy talked to people who live there, she found that the popular city has also problems. Traffic. It's same problem like in Honolulu. At least, Vancouver has very advanced public transportation like well developed bus and sky train. Mommy wishes if they were here! Health care system...it sounds much worse than Winnipeg. The health care system cannot catch up the growth of the population in BC. Mommy's old classmate, who works in a hospital in Vancouver, told that the waiting list for total hip surgery or knee surgery is way too long. The hospital cannot afford even BP machines, patients are admitted in shower rooms, and they cannot retain nurses and doctors. Probably many Canadians move to Vancouver or Victoria after the retirement to enjoy milder weather but it seems very hard for them to find even a family doctor.

Anyways, Mommy enjoyed the nice fresh air in Vancouver...it was even cool for August. Well, it is Canada.....cold weather.....yeah. Next time, we really want to go back to Winnipeg. We miss you, Canada!

New Blog

Many of you might notice some changes in my blog. There are "Riko's photo album" and "label" sections in the right column. Even though mommy did not update the blog long time but this blog is getting larger and larger. In other words, it is getting messy. So, uncle Kirk taught mommy to label each blog so it is easily found to take a look back in the past. Also, now you can check our photos through dropshots website. You just click the picture in the right column of Riko photo album. These new things are all set up by uncle Kirk, thank you Kirk-san! He spent some nights with mommy and taught her how to upload blog in easier way. She seems to enjoy uploading blog much more than before and much less time to take. Mommy will try to download old pictures as well. So, check the photoes now and enjoy!

琳子のブログが少しかわったことにもう気がついた人もいっぱいいるんじゃないかな。写真アルバムとラベルのコーナーが右側にあるでしょ。ママは長い間ブログをアップデートしてなかったんだけど、それでもこどんどん増えていってます。つまり、いっぱいありすぎて読みにくくなっていってる。。そこでカークさんがそれぞれのブログにラベルをつけることで昔のブログも簡単に見つかるようにママに教えてくれました。それから、私たちの写真が”ドロップショット”のウェブサイトを通じてみてもらえるようになりました。このブログの右側にある”りこフォトアルバム”をクリックするだけでいいんだよ。これらの新しい機能は全部カークさんがセットしてくれました。ありがとう、カークさん！カークさんは幾晩か費やしてブログを簡単にアップデートしてくれる方法を教えてくれました。ママもそのおかげで以前よりも楽しそうにしかも気軽にブログをアップデートしているようです。ママは昔の写真もダウンロードしたいみたい。ぜひぜひアルバムもチェックしてね！

See you again, Lisa-chan!

Lisa chan, uncle Kirk and auntie Miyuki went back to Winnipeg yesterday. I was very sad and cried at the security gate but nothing I could do...I wish she lived close to my house then we could play together everyday! Lisa-chan, we will get together soon in Winnipeg or here in Hawaii again. Listen to your daddy and mommy well and stay healthy!

利咲ちゃん、カークさん、みゆきちゃんたちは昨日ウィニペグに帰りました。琳子はとても悲しくなって、空港の検問のところで泣いてしまったけどしょうがないんだよね。。。利咲ちゃんたちが家の近くに住んでくれていたら、毎日一緒に遊べるのに！利咲ちゃん、また今度、ウィニペグかハワイで会おうね！それまで、パパとママの言うことをちゃんときいて元気でいてね！

Dear Lisa-chan

利咲ちゃんたちがやってきて約１週間がすぎようとしてします。利咲ちゃんは今１歳と３ヶ月。彼女のパパとママは琳子のパパとママのウィニペグ時代のお友達。ママは利咲ちゃんがうまれたときからずうっとあいたがっていたのでとても楽しみにまってました。琳子も、小さいお友達は初めてだったので、ミルクのことを”コクコク”といったりしてる利咲ちゃんがとても不思議。手をひっぱってあげようとしても琳子みたいに早く歩けないから転びそうになってしまうし、おいしくないと思うんだけどクレヨンとか食べようとするし。。。。とっても不思議！でも、すっごくかわいいね。普段と違って我慢しなきゃいけないこともいっぱいできて、ついついおもちゃをとりあげたりして意地悪をしてしまった。。。ごめんね、利咲ちゃん。

Lisa & Riko

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Riko meets Lisa!

Finally I met Lisa-chan from Winnipeg. Her parents, unkle Kirk and auntie Miyuki, are good friends of Daddy and mommy. They travelled Japan this summer and on the way to home in Winnipeg, they dropped by Hawaii for a week. This is the video when we had shower together.


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Girlfriends in 3A

Right now, many schools in Hawaii are in summer holidays. My school is open all through year but lots of girlfriends aren't in school because they left with their sisters and brothers for vacation. School year begins in the end of July or August. It's very different from Canada or any other states in United States. Teachers told mommy that I will be able to attend to a 4 year old class from August.

Classmates

Classmates with only boys in 3A

My school

I started going to this school when I was two years old. The school has large yards and makes meals in a kitchen. Lots of fruits and vegettables. I eat everything on a plate always, and teachers get surprised how much small Riko can eat. At school, I learn lots of things. Right now I can write letter "P"...of course "I" and "O". I do arts and crafts in the morning and play outside after nap. Well, everybody has nap but I cannot sleep because I am so excited being at school! My favorite is swimming on Friday. I love school.

Daddy and I painted this big mirror last weekend. Daddy will hang it in my room and then I can brush my hair every morning.

Shopping with mommy

Today, mommy and I went for shopping all afternoon. First, we went for a shoe store to get Daddy's shoes as a gift. Daddy does not like shopping and always wears old, dirty, broken shoes. Mommy said, "it's time to say good bye to these stinky shoes!" We got to Pearlridge shopping mall after 30 minutes driving. This shoe store is called "Puma", and both Hiro papa and Uncle Yuji liked it. I think Daddy looks good in these brand-new shoes. It took only 5 minutes to pick up Daddy's shoes. Then we went a dollar store for my hair accessories. I like to coam my hair and look in a mirror nowadays. And then, we went to a mommy's favorite store, "ROSS". The store is kind of like a "Winners" in Canada. Sometimes, she can find a really good deal but it was not a lucky day today. We left Ross and entered to a next door, a furniture store, "Pier-one-imports" (I forgot the name exactly?) Wow, I love the store! We tried many kinds of chairs, and checked out cushions and stuff. I like nice colorful stuff. I found a nice teak made lounge chair. After that, we checked out Wal-mart. I bought a orange dress....well, I wanted a pink one but mommy said, "you have too many pink clothes!" so, I changed to orange. Mommy said, "let's have a coffee break." so, we sat down at McDonald's and I ate Chicken mcnugetts...of course. After we got a second wind, we went back shopping again. I thought we finished shopping after walking in a gigantic Walmart but mommy polietly asked me if she could check one more store. I said, "OK, mommy." She stopped by "Lowe's". This store is like "Home-Depot." I cannot really explain to Japanese because they don't have this kind of store. She took me to a department for furniture's handles. I picked nice pink handles for my new furniture! I will ask Daddy to put them on! I cannot wait to see it! When we were going back to our car, I found my favorite store, "Jamba-juice". We had "strawberry nirvana", which was made up of flesh strawberries, bananas, apples, and brueberries.....yummy! Mommy requested Vitamin to boost up our energy. We still kept going for more shopping. We stopped by a book store. Mommy said, "Books are good. Reading is very very good for you, Riko." I like reading, too. By the time we finally felt going home, it was getting dark. Mommy said, "you walked on your feet so much! You did not wine, and did not cry for holding up. We can go back shopping again"...Daddy, may we go shopping??