First Embassy Day!

Today was our first appointment with the U.S. Embassy, to apply for Ivy's visa in order to travel home on Saturday. Armed with a cache of paperwork, we made our way to the embassy this morning to make our case. We knew it would probably take 2-3 hours for the whole process... and we brought along supplies to keep Ivy content. Brian tried out his carrier for the first time... the one with the owls on it that everyone seemed to like in the earlier blog post :) She really seems to like riding in the carrier- and ended up falling asleep on the way there in the cab... and litterally stayed asleep for almost 2 hours until our number was called. By that time, she was hungry again... and Taz kindly put a bottle together while we spoke with the Embassy officer. Everything went smoothly, and we head back on Wednesday for our "interview", which the officer told us would be "anti-climactic". He said he was approving our case, and that we'd be scheduled to pick up the visa. It was a very interesting experience... and went very smoothly, thanks to all of the behind the scenes work that Taz had done, and Brian's uber-organizedness.

We celebrated with an amazing barbecue lunch in Tokyo Midtown with Taz. Words cannot express the delight that this meal brought to us! It was delicious, and as I mentioned to Taz, perhaps the most delicious meal I've ever eaten. In addition to being so tasty- it was only the second meal we'd had out with Ivy (the first was yesterday in a Japanese fast food restaurant...). Ivy was a trooper all day long- and after sleeping through half of lunch, was delightfully accomodating after she woke up. It was such a fun lunch, and a great way to celebrate our great fortune!

We ran a couple of errands and then walked back to our lodging in a sprinkly rain- all of us very ready to take some rest! So that's about all the news that's fit to print. Ivy is such a joy to be around, and I'm sure she can't wait to meet all of her fans!

We did have our very first spit up incident... and it was considerable in volume... enough said about that.

Tomorow is the health clinic visit!

Since we couldn't take our camera to the Embassy, we didn't take many pictures today... we did a little fashion show when we got home- to amuse ourselves- so there are a couple of pictures from that. The picture of Ivy on Brian's lap= certain members of the audience wanted to know what she wore for the embassy day-- this was her outfit- it being hotter than hell outside. I wore a coordinating avacado green dress, and Brian was dapper in khaki's and a long sleeved striped shirt.

The picture of Ivy in her pink kimono outfit- she's striking a pose that is becoming familiar to us- I like to call it "power to the people" as she raises a strong fist in the air. Brian's hoping it doesn't carry with it some particular political leanings.... :)

Thanks again, everyone for your interest and comments- we eat them up!