Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom

The cherry blossoms bloomed a bit earlier than expected this year, but as the first day of full bloom was on Saturday of this weekend, it was great timing for everyone to get out and enjoy the flowers. To top it off, the weather was extremely pleasant, which allowed us to get our for our first family picnic, enjoying Rhianna's first Cherry Blossom Festival.

We bought sandwiches at Viron (Shinachan's favorite French bakery that we spoke about in a previous blog) and sat on the steps across from the Yasukuni Shrine, not far from the Emperor's palace. During the Cherry Blossom Festival, it's more common to actually sit under the cherry blossoms and enjoy them with family or coworkers while having a picnic, but there were far too many people crowding under the trees just to walk under them to accomodate us sitting under them, so we improvised by sitting across the street and watching the crowds enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms.

Rhianna has been a very active crawler recently, and is testing her balance limits by trying to stand as much as possible under her own power. Her days of walking are clearly right around the corner. She can now get on and off both the bed and the sofa by herself, and she enjoys sitting on her wooden rocking horse and making it move.

She also enjoys getting her books out and "reading"--particularly Pat the Bunny and Guess How Much I Love You, which she received from her great-grandma and grandparents in the U.S.

I'm including some pictures taken over the past several weeks. We're looking forward to a wonderful Spring as we get closer to Rhianna's first birthday.

More Soon!

The Crowded Yasukuni Shrine

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Rhianna and Dad

Rhianna and mom

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Klumpp Family First Picnic / Cherry Blossom Festival

Rhianna and horse

Rhianna at home

Rhianna and horse

Rhianna at home

Hina Doll Festival

March 3rd is the Hina Doll Festival in Japan. Homes with daughters (like ours) display dolls of an emperor and empress from the Heian Period ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hina_Matsuri) . In homes with more room (and with more of a budget for Hina dolls), the display collection can extend to members of the royal court as well.

It occurred to us the other day that we had still not gotten our Hina dolls, so we drove over to Asakusa-bashi, a traditional area of Tokyo, to buy our dolls from one of the shops there that specializes in the dolls (a store called Shuugetsu http://www.shugetsu-doll.co.jp/). We're really happy with the dolls we bought, and we hope Rhianna will like them as well when she gets old enough to appreciate them. Usually homes will display their Hina dolls until the day of the festival, which is tomorrow, and then take them down immediately, which is supposed to ensure that the daughter will be able to get married in the future. There is also a children's (boy's) festival in May in which homes display little samurai helmets and fly colorful flags decorated like carp.

Rhianna and the rest of us have been doing well recently. Rhianna has been enjoying standing up walking around the table in our room, and loves to crawl all over the apartment. She had her health checkup on Friday, and is healthy and fine. She's very tall (in the 95th percentile ) and light (25th percentile) for her age, and the doctor thinks she's doing well. Recently she likes to clap her hands (taught by mom) and is learning how to wave goodbye (we're still working on this now).

I will post some pictures from the past few weeks.

Pictures
Rhianna likes her new hair decoration

Standing up on the sofa

The Empress

Empress Pt. 2

Emperor

Royal Family

Our Hina Doll Set

Painting a commemorative board with Rhianna's name and Date of Birth

Commemorative Board

Modelling for mom's company

Modelling for mom's company

Modelling for mom's company

Modelling for mom's company

Out to eat with mom and dad

Out to eat with mom and dad

Out to eat with mom and dad

Sitting with dad at lunch

Shopping with mom and dad

Eating foot

More soon!