The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom which means it is my favourite time of year!!!
I have so many things to catch up blog wise like my brother arriving, trip to hakone and Noah`s 100th day celebration (Okuihajime), Noah in his jolly jumper, new pictures of my little koala munchkin and more but will start with what we did yesterday which was head to Kichijoji and meet up with Heather and her girls for the first time as well as Cassie & Nana!
It is no secret that I LOVE Kichijoji! It was where I originally lived in Japan, where I went to university, where I met Shun and where Shun & I had our first apartment together so there are many happy memories there and yesterday was the first time I had been since before Noah was born meaning it was his first time in Kichijoji. The weather was a bit strange all day raining on and off and sunny at other times.
We met in the park (Inokashira Park) and it was nice to see that the blooms had started to come out- my guess is that in another 5 days it will be perfect there so anyone planning to do hanami this weekend should be in luck (We actually have hanami plans BOTH days this weekend!)- we ate lunch in Peppa Cafe and while I have walked past it SOOOOOO many times I had never eaten in there but it was awesome and I will definitely be going back!
Noah sat in a highchair for the first time (and loved it- but I forgot to get a photo as I was enjoying eating my lunch without a baby in my lap for the first time in what seems like forever!!!) and Nana used chopsticks for the first time (without prompting I might add, she just picked them up, positioned her fingers and started picking up daikon from her mum`s soup! The staff and the rest of us were WELL impressed! It was still a cold day so I had to rug Noah up a little
I got to meet Heather and her two lovely daughters Meg & Amy! Heather was just how I imagined she would be (down to the lovely aussie accent and all- I love meeting up with other Aussies as it is like been back in OZ!)- i hope to visit her and her family in Nagano sometime!! After lunch we ate gelato and then went for a walk around Kich – the two older girls tried on some make-up and I snapped a picture of them with Noah before saying goodbye!
Noah had a couple naps while out but none were very long so he was a bit overtired by the time we got home yesterday afternoon but that didn`t stop him from attempting to sit by himself- so I will leave you with a shot of that!
Like I said I still have lots of blog posts to catch up on but for those not on my facebook you can check out any recent photos over at my flickr page here.
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Oh man, I wish I was going to Japan this year!
Looks like a fun day! It’s a shame that you didn’t have the nice weather that we had today though. Fingers crossed it’s better for your hanami weekend! I love Kichijoji/Inokashira Park too – we’re hoping to live around there or somewhere along the Inokashira line when we move as it would be the easiest commute for S (his office is near Shinsen) so I will need to ask your advice on nice areas! We were thinking about going to the Meguro River Sakura Matsuri this weekend but if Inokashira Park is nice too we might head that way instead so that we can escape the concrete for a while…
It was such fun meeting you and Noah, too!
And the weather was pretty blah but by the look of the clouds it could have been a whole lot worse, huh?
Funny you said I have an accent- I think I’ve lost mine but I loved yours. Feeling happy I still got some Aussie in me!
Sounds like a really fun day! My only Aussie friend here is moving to Fukuoka this year so I’m sad I won’t be able to hear an Aussie accent around me. I think I have lost mine too and often get asked if I’m American (gasp!) but some people still pick up on it.
Hope the weather is nice this weekend! We have hanami planned too.
Sounds like a great visit with family and friends and Noah and Heather’s girls are all adorable
Sounds like you had a really lovely day despite the weather. So jealous of your meet up with Heather and the girls! One day, somewhere it will happen!!
The cherry blossom have been blooming here for about a week now. Do you remember walking along the river with Milo when you came to stay? It is just lined with cherry blossoms and so beautiful at the moment. If only the wind would go away I would love my daily walks. Cherry blossom season is definitely a favourite time of the year for me as well