Entries by Kimmy

It has been years since I carved a pumpkin! Well actually, Chris did all the carving but Sakura and I cleaned out the seeds. She was really fascinated with reaching her hand all the way in and putting out the seeds.

She kept three seeds aside to "play" with later. It's amazing how long three seeds can keep a child occupied - line them up in row, move them from place to place, etc.

The seed roasted up deliciously!

A couple more shots of Sakura enjoying the Halloween party. She wasn't too happy about taking an early nap since the party was during her regular nap time but hopefully it was worth it!

Saturday was the annual Halloween at YC&AC. Sakura got all decked out in her Tigger costume and enjoyed some treat-or-treating. She thought it was pretty awesome that people would put stuff in the little bag she was holding. She even tried to eat the candy through the wrappers!

On most Tuesdays, Sakura and I join other moms in the park to let the kids run around and play. It used to be that all of the other moms got to sit around and chat while the babies crawled around on the picnic mats and I chased after Sakura. Now the dynamic of the group of is really changing with former babies venturing off the mats and beginning walkers improving their skills.

Sakura really enjoyed walking to the top of this gentle slope and running back down. It was hilarious how her cheeks would jiggle as she ran!

I'm beginning to think this is the only way Sakura will wear a hat. She is constantly taking off her sunhats outside but ever time she finds a baseball cap around the house she willingly puts it on backward.

Sakura seems to be learning a new word everyday. However, a couple of her favorites are "feet" and "shoes".

I always tell her to go get her shoes when we are going out and she complies by bringing back a pair of shoes. From this she has learned to hint that we should go outside by bringing me her shoes.

She also likes to try on every pair of shoes she can find. Here she can be seen walking around the kitchen in Grandma's shoes. You should see her in a pair of heels!

I will post some more pictures from our trip this week but wanted to post some recent pictures from our visit to Hakkeijima Aquarium.

Sakura and I returned to Japan at the beginning of Obon which is one of the major holiday seasons in Japan. Chris had a 5 day weekend so we decided to take Sakura to the Aquarium.

Unfortunately, everyone in Japan decides to get out of the house during Obon. We got going early so we only had to wait 30 minutes to park and were able buy our tickets and walk right into the crowded aquarium. The line just to get in the door was huge by the time we left.

Sakura had a great time looking at all the animals and fish. She thought the penguins were especially cool. She was squealing and yelling above all the Japanese children.

Pictures from left to right: Sakura making herself at home in front of the giant two story fish tank; Chris and Sakura riding up the escalator in the middle of the giant fish tank; Sakura enjoying the marine mammal show (she thought it was great when everyone clapped)

We had a fun time despite to crowds and incredibly hot and humid weather.

Wow. It has been a long time since I posted any pictures!

Sakura and I spent most of July and half of August in the US visiting family and doing lots of shopping. She definately has enough clothes for the winter and quite a few for next summer.

It was great having so many people around to entertain Sakura. One thing she loves to do is sit on anyone laying on the floor. It only took a few seconds for her to climb on Jerry after he laid down. Somehow she got her hands on his wallet and preceded to empty it. Another of her favorite activities - emptying wallets.

She had cash in one hand and a credit card in the other. I tried to convince her to take me shopping but she was having too much fun bouncing up and down.

This is Golden Week in Japan which is a collection of four national holidays within seven days.

April 29 - Showa Day - Birthday of the former Emperor Showa, who died in 1989.

May 3 - Constitution Day - The new post war constitution was put into effect on this day in 1947.

May 4 - Greenery Day - A day dedicated to the environment and nature, because the Emperor Showa loved plants and nature. Before being declared Greenery Day, May 4 used to be a national holiday due to a law which declares a day that falls between two national holidays as a national holiday.

May 5 - Children's Day - The Boy's Festival is celebrated on this day. Families pray for the health and future success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls, both symbolizing strength, power and success in life.

We spend the first day of Golden Week enjoying the beautiful weather in Yamashita Park. We had a nice picnic and let Sakura run free for a while. I bought a "mini cheese" set at the store for the picnic which was a collection of five kinds of cheese. Most of them were edible but there was one that looked and smelled so bad we wouldn't even taste it.

In the middle picture, Sakura is begging food from our picnicking neighbors. I guess we didn't give her enough to eat! They were nice enough to share a strawberry with her. Sakura must have had fun because she couldn't even wait to get home before taking a nap.

We are looking forward to the four day weekend.

Sakura and I got together with some of the other moms and babies in our playgroup yesterday. All total, there are 8 boys and Sakura. Sakura is the oldest by 3 weeks.

I find it pretty humorous that Sakura is the most aggressive of all of them. She tends to scream and make a lot of noise when she gets excited and of course lots of "new" toys and other babies make her excited. We weren't there 5 minutes before Sakura let out a yell and made Edward start crying. Edward's crying lead to Christopher crying. There was lots of crying on and off as Sakura enjoyed playing.

Everyone was very impressed with Sakura's walking skills. She can stand on her own for long periods of time and walk all the way across the room. She has come a long way since her first steps 3 weeks ago.

We made the official visit to Santa yesterday. Santa didn't seem to be in the jolliest of moods but at least we got a half-way decent picture.

I bought some black shoes to go along with Sakura's Christmas dress and she got to wear them for the first time yesterday. She loves to pull off her shoes and play with them so of course one of the shoes was missing before we even got out of the mall. Thankfully I only paid $3.50 for the them at the resale shop and found another pair for $3 today. I hope we can keep track of both of them for a couple months!

We were at the mall yesterday and had a chance to get a quick picture with Santa. We plan to have a more formal visit with Santa later but took the opportunity to get a quick picture. I think Santa's Starbucks was cold be the time he was done greeting all the kids!

As Chris said, it has been a busy time. We were very sad to receive the news that my Aunt Linda passed away on November 25th. Sakura and I quickly made plans and left for the US to attend the funeral last week.

We are now settled in at my parent's house until Chris arrives later this month. Sakura got to experience her first snowfall last weekend. I set her in the snow to take a few pictures this morning. She was happy until she tried to crawl in the snow and her glove fell off. Brrrrr!

Sakura celebrated her first Halloween in style.

Thanks to Chris' recent post, I can now figure out how to post 4 pictures at once! Last weekend we went on a journey to Nakagomi Orchard. According to the website, the orchard is about 90 minutes from Yokohama. I'm not sure where they got this estimate, but it took us about 3 hours each way (and Chris was driving). Despite the long drive, we had a good time picking apples and eating lunch at a local diner. Sakura pull on all the leaves she could get her little hands on and even tried "picking" her own apple. It was a little disappointing going to an orchard to just pick apples. We sure miss the apple cider, homemade donuts, pumpkins and hayrides at the orchards in Michigan. On the plus side, the orchard did have an awesome view of Mt. Fuji. Our friends Kelly and Evan came along on the trip and we each brought home about 4 kg (9 lbs) of apples. I baked my very first apple pie earlier this week but that is a story for another day. Let's just say I have a new found appreciation for the homemade pies everyone makes at Thanksgiving.