Guess the picture...

So this is a lovely view from inside our new office building in the upscale Marunouchi district in Tokyo. But can you guess where I took this picture you see above? Good guesses would include an office, the entry way to our floor and maybe even a conference room. But you'd be wrong...
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...If you guessed the urinals in the men's bathroom, then you'd be correct! I find it odd that I am close enough to look into the office of someone in the building next door while I'm, ummm, taking care of business. I presume they can see us, at least only from the chest up, though. Good times. :)

Green apple

When I come to Japan on business, I get to stay at The Peninsula Hotel, an upscale hotel that just opened up in Tokyo in September. One of the great aspects about the service at this hotel is that the staff brings to your room two servings of a really great fruit each and every day. If you don't eat it, they bring in new fruit. I've had huge grapes, kiwi fruit, clementines, Japanese pears, etc. Over the weekend they brought me a couple of green apples, which became the subject of this picture.

Download the full photograph by clicking on the image below.

A drop of water

I actually took this shot today. I'm on an extended business trip to Japan and had the entire day free on Saturday. I lugged all of my photographic equipment all the way to Japan for just such an occassion.

It has rained the night before I took this shot and that meant plenty of opportunities to take pictures of leaves with little beads of water on them. I've never successfully shot one, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. maybe it's the closest one I've taken to being remotely shaprly in-focus. This was taken inside the public gardens of the Imperial Palace. I took a lot of time looking for shots - nearly two hours. I had my iPod on and I tuned out the world while taking pictures. A very good day.

Download the full photograph by clicking on the image below.

Baby News

Big news for our family - Shelley is pregnant with our second child. She is due in May. And yes, that means she'll be having the baby in Japan. So that's very exciting. Having the baby outside of our comfort zone certainly isn't ideal, but Japan is a first world country. It has the third lowest infant mortality rates in the world...half that of the U.S. even. But I'm sure the biggest struggle will be to find English speaking doctors that we're comfortable with. If you've experienced child birth in Japan, drop us a line, please!

Shelley and I laugh that maybe the biggest downside to having this child born outside of the U.S. is the fact that we may not be able to tell our child in good faith that he or she can become anything they want - even President of the United States. According to Wikipedia, there is a debate as to whether children who are born NOT on U.S. soil to U.S. citizens are natural-born citizens or naturalized citizens. The latter can't become President of the United States. Let's hope they get that resolved.

We've approached Anthon with this news and he seems to take it in stride, though I'm sure he doesn't fully understand the ramifications of the event. He'll point to Shelley's stomach when asked, "Where's the tiny baby?" He even seems to have a preference as to the sex of the child. When asked if he wants a "brother or a sister" he responds "brother." To be sure of his answer, we'll reverse the order and ask again if he wants a "sister or a brother" and he'll consistently answers "brother." So, count Anthon firmly in the "boy" camp. At this point Shelley thinks we're having a boy and I really have no clue one way or the other. If I had to venture a guess I'd say it's a girl simply because this pregnancy has been totally different than when Shelley as pregnant with Anthon. Stay tuned...

Stuck and not happy

This picture was taken of Anthon when he was about 3-4 months old in February of 2006. We were on our way home from visiting my grandma in Santa Rosa. Back then, Anthon could sleep for hours upon hours in his rear facing child seat. We didn't want to wake him, but we wanted to know if he was awake. So prior to the shot attached below, I reached back and snapped a random shot with Shelley's digital camera just to see if he was awake. We looked at the shot and the face peering back had eyes open and a concerned look, wondering what in the world was in his face. So funny.

Anyway, I moved to the back seat to calm Anthon down. I love this picture because it really does capture his mood. He was not happy being stuck in his car seat, but he wasn't so unhappy as to really cry about it. His pursed lips was just about all the disapproval he could muster.

Download the full photograph by clicking on the image below.

Anthon's pasport picture

Many of you know that our little family is moving to Tokyo, Japan in January. We're in the early stages of learning about the logistics of our move. One thing that we have to do is apply for Anthon's passport. I think it's funny that at 2 years old, he needs to get a passport. I don't think I got my passport until I was 13 or 14. Oh and when we move, we'll get to fly Business Class, something I didn't experience until I was 25...Anthon? The ripe old age of 2. Is it any wonder that as you get older you find yourself starting conversations with your kids with "In my day." I just didn't think it would happen at 32!

So, anyway back to the picture. I was typing away at the computer and I noticed his passport application with his mug shot attached to it. I thought I'd upload it for your viewing pleasure.

I Am A Child of God...

For first-time parents, there are a lot of easy examples of how you could be better parents. I've written about a few of them here and here.

But every once in a while Shelley and I will get a little confirmation from our son that let's us know that we're at least doing a few things right. Take this weekend, for example. We figured out that Anthon not only likes listening to the CD of Primary children singing songs, but he also knows all the words to "I Am a Child of God." And he loves singing it. We had Family Home Evening tonight and while Anthon was most excited for the 'family home evening treat' of rice krispy treats, we got him on camera singing for us. And to top it all off, Anthon points to the children animated Book of Mormon reader and says, "Nephi!"

So, we're obviously thrilled...and we think it's cute when he sings. We don't know where it all came from, though. But we're glad that he's doing it. At least in this respect we feel like we're doing something right. Though, those of you who attend our ward and hear how loud he can be in church meeting sometimes might beg to differ.

Please click on the picture to be see his video.