Tokyo Bay and a Father's Day Gift

Last week we went to Tokyo Bay for a sushi lunch with Grandma Toni. All of us are fans of sushi, and this place was pretty decent. I loved the way it was decorated, and got to eat something called a Godzilla roll (Tempura shrimp w/crabmeat, cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, and sauce on top). Something about the sauce made this roll really good. While Kiku is still my favorite sushi place, I think I'd definitely visit Tokyo Bay again. Nick ate several pieces of sushi, and he loved their broccoli tempura. Maybe next year we can teach him to eat with chopsticks.

Greg brought along his Father's Day present from Nick (and me), a new digital camera. After the nightmare situation I had with the Nikon Coolpix S220 I had last year, we decided not to go with another Nikon. That camera is currently sitting in a drawer, unused. Hey, if you'd like to buy a camera, I have a nearly new one with a brand new lens from Nikon. Only problem is, it takes really crappy pictures.

I ended up buying Greg a red Sony Cyber-shot W330, with a Carl Zeiss lens. It has 14.1 mega pixels, and takes very decent pictures. He took all of the pictures here, except for the one of him, which I took. Below you can see him happily opening up the Hobby Lobby gift card his mom got him, along with some paintbrushes. My husband makes such interesting faces when he's having his picture taken.  :)

After lunch, we had to pick up some kitty food at the PetSmart. Our kitties eat specialty food for old, fat kitties who don't exercise much. The only time my cats run is when they see Nick coming!

I had forgotten how much Nicholas loves going to the pet store, and I think I will take him back soon, just to entertain him for a half hour or so. They had puppies up for adoption, and Nick was in heaven, running back and forth between the cages, shrieking with joy and petting their soft muzzles.

The birdies also piqued his interest, and he insisted on pointing at each individual bird, saying, "Birdie!," and "See?" I guess the motion of them all flying around in the cage was pretty cool. I've always liked birds, but I hesitate to get one since I think the poor thing would become neurotic with three cats stalking it day and night.

Wordless Wednesday

Nick's First Lunch at a Japanese Restaurant

Yesterday Greg and I took Nick to visit his grandma up in Palatine. She treated us to lunch at her favorite sushi restaurant, Sushi Para. Nick has never eaten sushi before. And yes, I know better than to feed my baby raw fish. But there's no reason he can't eat cooked sushi rolls and tempura. So he did. And he liked it. I believe he had about as much sushi as I did, although some of it ended up on the floor. He also liked playing with the chopsticks.

Nick also liked flirting with the cute servers in kimonos. He kept grinning at them and then throwing his bottle, binky, and chopsticks on the floor. They inevitably came to pick things up for him, rinsed them off, and placed them on the table with a smile. Nick would then do it again. He knows just how to get a lady's attention.

At this point, I had been feeding Nick avocado and cucumber chunks with my chopsticks. He was staring at my hand, and then he tried using the chopsticks with one hand. No success yet, but not bad for an 11-month old. Plus, I'm very glad to know he likes sushi. He loved the rice but had trouble with the sticky seaweed holding it together. I had to slice it up very small. But every time I held a piece up to my mouth, he opened his. He was like, "Where's mine, Mommy?"