Showa Park Part 1

I went to Showa Park with Mallory and took some pictures of her in the flowers. The Japanese are very good about making room for beautiful parks and gorgeous flowers in the spring. I lvoe cherry blossom season around here, and this year the flowers were just gorgeous. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

They don't have bluebonnets here in Japan, which is hard being from Texas, where bluebonnets are a part of every spring. I think every kid who has grown up in Texas has a picture their mother made them take in a field of bluebonnets. I was a little bummed this spring when I realized it was my first spring as a mommy, and I wouldn't be able to take my little girl to a bluebonnet field. So...I improvised, and stuck her in a patch of grape hyacinths at Showa Park. It was about as close as I could get, and I think it's a pretty close second.

Mallory and Mommy at the front of Showa Park

The gorgeous cherry blossom trees at the gate, driving back onto base

The cherry trees line the main street on the east side of base and are gorgeous

One of my favorite little things about Japan are the manhole covers. They are so decorative, in many different patterns, and the cherry blossom ones are quite cute I think.

My Kindermusik Kid

From January-May, I enrolled Mallory in Kindermusik classes on base. We went one day a week for an hour. It was a really fun class where the kids listened to all sorts of new music and played games, danced, rolled balls, played with scarves, bounced on parachutes, rocked in our arms, "swung" in beach towels....all sorts of things. It was a chance for the kids to use touch, sight, sound and activities to grow and experience new things. She started out at 5 months and ended at 9 months. She changed so much along the way and I could really see her learning new things in class. She learned to bang on a drum to a beat, clap, and loves to listen to the CD's and read the books from class. I loved spending that time with her (and it was a bit of exercise for me too- carrying her around, dancing, picking her up and down, etc for an hour is work!). It was a great class and we are going to sign up again in the spring. Here are a few pictures from one of the classes towards the end of the semester.

The lady in the green shirt is the teacher.

Crinkling paper bags is fun!

Tapping my toes.

Hats off to a great class :)

Shrine Sale with Culture Club

My Culture Club took us across town to s shrine sale. Shrine sales are quite popular around here. I guess they are like the Japanese equivalent to an American garage sale. They are usually on the grounds of a shrine, and people lay out all sorts of items they have for sale. Things range from very old to very new, very authentic to not-so-much, and very traditional Japanese to well, junk. It was fun to walk around and see all the items for sale.

The tori gate at the front of the shrine,and the entrance to the sale.

In front of soem bonsai trees that were for sale. They were $$$$!!!

This is a totally goofy picture, but I am trying on a coat that goes on over a kimono. Lots of ladies wear kimonos as their wedding dress, and then wear one of these over it at some point in the ceremony. I'm sure it looks better on the bride...

I ended up leaving the sale with 3 kokeshi dolls to add to my (and M's) collection and an obi hanger. For Christmas, the culture club gave us all obi's (the "belt" to a kimono). I wanted to display mine somehow, and found a neat hanger that the obi fits into and then hangs on the wall. It's now in our living room!

After the sale, they took us to TGI Friday's to eat. It was the perfect blend of Japanese and American culture for the day!

Mal passed out in TGI Friday's.

Eating and enjoying each other's company

It's the Easter Bunny!

I had a little picture session in my living room with my sweet daughter for Easter. Brett brought home the bunny ears for Mallory from his trip to Thailand, and the tutu was from friends in Florida. Put them together with a black blanket and it makes for a pretty adorable photo session!

Yay!

Easter basket and goodies

Muah!

Mmmm...this ceramic egg is delicious!

Family Trip to Ome Plum Fest

I did it again. I'm super behind on blogging. I think I might never catch up, but I'm going to try. We have a 4 day weekend for Memorial Day, and I"m sitting in our living room watching a movie, watching M play on the floor, and wearing sweats. The weather is cold and rainy outside (despite this being the unofficial start to summer) and I think this is some good bloggin' weather. So, I'll try to post a few things. Tomorrow and Monday (depending on the weather) we wanted to go do a few family things, so I need to catch up about March and April so I can post about May and upcoming June!

Anyway, on with the post. Mid-March is blossom season around Japan, and like everything else, they have "festivals" for it. Now, all that really means, usually, is that lots of people are out enjoying the weather and flowers. The Ome Plum Blossom Fest was just that- lots of Japanese people out in the plum blossom park enjoying the nice weather and flowers, and we decided to get in on the fun. We rode the train over to the park (about 25 min ride) and walked up the hill to where all the trees are. Aren't they pretty?

Along the way there are tons of food vendors, and of course we had to try out a few things. We had some okinomoyaki (one of our absolute favorite Japanese foods!) and also a chocolate covered banana, to name a few. Both were delicious.

We also saw this sign "Welcome Eyeball". What does that mean??? :)

These are literally fish on sticks. Brings a new meaning to "fish sticks", huh?

Taking a quick nap on the way up.

Mmmm...delicious!

The flowers were definitely not a disappointment, and in full bloom. A few posts back I talked about going to this same park with my Culture Club, but it was freezing that day and the trees weren't quite ready yet. Today was MUCH better and we really enjoyed it! We were kinda dumb though, and brought the stroller. I forgot you had to go up and down the hill, which has a pathway with TONS of stairs. So, we sat towards the bottom and enjoyed the view for the most part, but that is really ok.

Some family photos.

Cool dude!

It was a good day. Life gets so busy with work and life and cleaning house...it's good to get off base and spend some time together as a family, and enjoy the Japanese culture.