Japan

The koi pond covered with fallen Sakura
(Click image to enlarge)






 20150403
 943 days old
 2歳7か月1日

 Sakura, the early blooming.
 Sakura, the full blossom!
Sakura, the full blossom still!






About a week after the peak blossom, it was time to bid goodbye to the Sakura 

Though the Sakura was starting to fall, they still make a beautiful view ever

If some breezy wind comes by, it makes it all amazingly pretty for a O-hanami day
with the Sakura falling gracefully down to the ground assembling the falling snow

We called it “Sakura Fubuki 桜吹雪”

Too bad I didn’t get to capture the moment of the falling Sakura with the breeze

But I guess it worth more to feel this amazing moment before anything else 

I have this Little-big-boss, who starts to recognize Sakura more than he did last year

Had fun just as much with the Sakura

Looking like a Ancient Chinese poet..

Observing the Sakura tree

As if, he was getting so comfortable with the Sakura tree 

As if, he had befriended the Sakura tree

Yeah, as if..
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For the Sakura or not, I like this place even for a walk quite much

It is along the river, and we were on the higher ground

With the view of the metropolitan city of Tokyo

Some playgrounds just on the lower ground

It’s great to have this kind of place just nearby

Despite that we’re now living in a concrete city 
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Some snapshots with the Sakura before farewell

The happy shot – holding hand pose

The loving shot – carry up and hug pose

The weird shot – ..Spiderman pose?

 20150406
 946 days old
 2歳7か月4日

We went for a family trip
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Car trip, 3~4 hours all the way to Kusatsu Onsen Resort 

One of the most famous hot spring’s resort in Japan

And this trip was for Mother’s day

Had a walk around this big hot spring water field located in the center of Kusatsu.
This field is the main source where the hot spring water degree got adjusted before being conducted to every each of the Onsen Inn in Kusatsu 
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We were just the right timing to be able to watch this team dancing @ Nettou Yumomi Dance Contest 熱湯湯もみダンス選手権 in 草津温泉!! The Shyurai dance　襲雷舞!
Very impactful, full of energy, and damn cool!
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Time for a little noon-nap in our Ryokan, Nushiyu Ryokan ぬ志勇旅館　
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While Little-big-boss was having his nap,
we, Yappi and I went for our st bath in the onsen of the day on the “private family onsen”
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When we are back, Little-big-boss was up 
Playing “hai~, cheeeeezu” camera with a bottle-cap opener
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Before dinner, we had our  nd bath in the onsen of the day~
with Little-big-boss and grandma along this time in the public open-aired onsen

Little-big-boss followed mommy to the women onsen, so daddy was alone

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A quick bath followed by..

A DINNER-time~!
Our ryokan gorgeous dinner set

The man that only favors in eating the chawan-muchi (Japanese-style steamed egg)

  and the fruits that night
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After the king-like cuisine dinner , we went back to our room, had a rest, changed to yukata
and head off to our rd bath in the onsen of the day~
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In the changing room taking off..
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My little sexy man

The hot spring water in Kusatsu is another wonder of nature!
You can really feel the quality of the hot water here, which are so soft and silky  

Though the open-aired onsen was a public onsen, somehow we were always there just by ourselves

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The next morning, we went for our th bath in the onsen
before we had our breakfast at 7:30 am!

The breakfast

The man that favors only the half-boiled egg and some rice that morning

The son-in-law and mom-in-law
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After breakfast,
It was time to pack..

Though time was running fast,

we had real fun
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Hope mom enjoyed this trip as much
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“LOVE Kusatsu LOVE 草津”
The cute manhole in Kusatsu .

20150510~20150511
980 days old
2歳8か月8日

Sakura, the early blooming.
Sakura, the full blossom!






My 4th round O-hanami!

A leisure one

Driving around the city ,
looking at the Sakura trees along side the road ,
and stopped at this wonderful Sakura trees spot,

Ni-ka-ryou-you-sui, Shu-ku-ga-wa-ra
(宿河原、二ヶ領用水)
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These baby pink trees

They are just magically amazing

It is really a blessing

To be able to witness these beauty

And that we could be one of the luckiest being ever

20150401
941 days old
2歳6か月30日

Last post: Sakura, the early blooming.

It was the FULL BLOSSOM~
at Tamagawa riverside

O-hanami (お花見)- 2nd round

This round we were just here unplanned
It was just because of this riverside is so near,
and it was just because the weather was too good to be missed 
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Tea-time picnic

Chicky cheese cake for a little tea-time picnic

heheh
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Befriend with the Sakura trees

Up on a full blossomed tree

With mama~

We were here with friends actually
the park under the Sakura trees

20150301
940 days old
2歳6か月29日
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O-hanami (お花見)- 3rd round

2 days after the 2nd round,
still the peak of full blooming
at the same spot, Tamagawa riverside.

This round was planned earlier
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Lunch-time

O-hanami lunch picnic this round~

A simple packed lunch

I know that I’m repeating,
but this is really a heaven being able to have a life surrounded by these heavenly trees
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And again,
we were actually here with friends  bigger group.
The “mommies and babies” friends 
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Playtime~

Breeeeaathe in..

Fuuuuuuuuuuu~!
The bubbles

1 company

2 companies

Waaaaaaah~
*looking at the flying bubbles*

The little angels
having the Sakura trees watching over them
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  Some resting and snapping time 

Resting Little-big-boss

Resting Little-big-boss and mommy *pee-ka-boo*

Some candid shots taken by my Little-big-boss

Shot 1: The mommy

Shot 2: The mommy

Shot 3: The mommy and friend

Shot 4: The Sakura tree

He is getting so so so much better in taking photos..
The main objects all in frame and clear without much camera shake!
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Hard to say goodbye

Yes, it was hard to leave the Sakura saying goodbye at the end of the day..

But this little guy even more..

Hard to leave wherever there is a play-time..
(Been asking him to go home, and he still kept playing on this slope leaving us the last to go off..)
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Once he got on the stroller,

ZZZzzzzz






20150403
943 days old
2歳7か月1日

Sakura, one of the most beautiful flower of them all
Sakura, one of the wonders on earth
Sakura, which has only about a week life
Sakura, which is too beautiful to be missed

Here it is!
The spring!
The Sakura season
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Still in the early blooming~ 
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Ready to go for our first O-hanami (Sakura-viewing) at a nearby park
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Before whatever, lunch-time go first!
A little lunchbox for a little ‘hanami’ picnic

With Onigiri (rice-ball)

This is just a nearby park,
like around 8mins walk from our house

but we got to see Sakura

while picnicking!
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Playtime after lunch

Walking around with the toy dump truck
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Next, some bubbles-time under the Sakura~

One bubble

Scattering bubbles~

Focusing bubbles~

One big blow bubbles~

Go with the wind bubbles~
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Next, climbing-up-the-Sakura-tree

“Mommy~”

“Look!”

“I climbed the tree!”

Nah, it was mommy carried him up~

Yay~
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Next, sandbox-time!

Building a mountain~

This actually was a very nice sandbox~
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Last,
some running and jumping around the park!
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And so, this was the early blooming of Sakura

20150330
939 days old
2歳6か月26日

Ever since I have my Little-big-boss around, almost everyday we’ll be out having a walk or to nearby parks or tea with nearby mama friends

It’s just easier for me to look after Little-big-boss and without cleaning up and got messed up again the next minute
And of course it’s happier, healthier and much more fun for me and Little-big-boss himself

Yeah, we have to keep connected with the outside world through our sense not just through the screen




Anyway, when we were having our walk, there’s this old little cigarettes’ shop that we would stop by most of the time.

This shop is kinda unique

The uncle from this shop will always place something especially things that attract kids in front of his shop And they keep changing according to seasons and festivals

For example,

A table with some spinning tops
One of the old-time games



Kinda nostalgic to see this and heart warming to know there’s someone is trying to keep the old culture
Little-big-boss had fun with them

Kids play whatever is given, shall we let them explore before they got stick on the screen of some sort

There were colorful rubber balls in a pool of water too
Hold, roll, throw, pick the colors, any ways you wanna play it




At the same time, it was the 7th of July, the Tanabata festival
Uncle, the shop owner prepared some papers and pens there for people to write down their wishes, “tanzaku”

And we wrote down a few

Little-big-boss writing down some wishes too
He had a flu, so I wrote a wish wishing him for fast recovery



The setting for the festival



A wish for everyone 　May you all be happy always






1歳１０か月１６日
1 year 10 months 6 days old






After a month, when I came back from Malaysia, we came by this shop again

As usual, though I didn’t mention it yet, there are always some small animals displayed alongside too.
Fishes , scorpions , snakes, snails, crabs, tortoise, beetles and etc



In small aquariums and containers



The uncle here I think he likes kids to expose more to the nature, that he always talk and persuade Little-big-boss to try and touch or hold the little animals (the safe one of course!).
Little-big-boss likes to see from far, but once any of them is near him, he will move back and hide



Since he was afraid of touching any of them, the uncle let him help to feed the tortoise instead



In summer, there was a plant of Mimosa Pudica displayed over there too.
I think some of you may be quite familiar with this in your childhood
In Malay, we called it rumput malu-malu which means bashful grass
and in Japanese we called it Ojigi grass (おじぎ草) which means the bowing grass



And we have a new display this round!
“Rocks with drawings”
Creative and definitely one of an interesting activity for the kids






What even more surprising me was, the Tanabata display a month ago has turned to…

The Kappa family (*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)



And there were 2 families (*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)(*゜θ゜*)
It is a tradition to water the Kappa’s head especially when it dries up faster in a hot summer day



Here’s a display of Kappa’s faces



Feeling inspired, we got the base from uncle and started drawing our own kappa



Tadah~ the Kappa pendant



Hehe
Happy summer~

1歳１１か月１３日
1 year 11 months 13 days old

5 April 2014 – My fourth “hanami” of the year! at Showa Kinen Park, a very very big park!

This time was with Yappi and his friends

This park is really really big that in order to get to our lunch destination, the open field, we had to walk like more than 30 minutes in the park itself..
There were a few entrance for the park and the entrance that we entered was the furthest one..

Pretty challenging when you have a baby to look after while carrying all the stuffs and while you have a husband who went ahead so far away to take pictures
*Nah, just at some points He will be back to help




Well, we reached the open field,
and never thought it will be this OPEN

This tree was just right at the center where we meet with our friends

And we had lunch
We took a spot nearer to the kids playground instead of the sakura coz it was so crowded at the sakura area and we all have kids!

The day started very sunny and nice, but suddenly there were hailstones dropping onto our food!

Luckily the sun came back to us after an hour or so

After lunch, we had a walk around the park




Little-big boss giving a helping hand

Looking good

Kakko ii~ かっこいい～

Little-big-boss doesn’t want to walk sometimes..

Little-big-boss says, “I want a bike too!”

Little-big-boss got his wish!
*Borrowed from friend’s 3 years old son..

Daddy on the act!




Walking under the blossomed sakura is like a dream..

If there weren’t too many people..

Time for Little-big-boss to have a noon-nap on his baby carrier
while the adults keeeeeeep walking~




We walked around the park for another 1 hour or so..
and Little-big-boss woke up just in time for the boat ride~
We were on the lake though the picture above doesn’t show!




Time to head home before sunset.




A pic of my mom
taken while we were walking again so far back to our carpark..

580 days old
１歳７か月３日






Hanami 2014
→Sakura in Mitsuike Koen 三ツ池公園でお花見
→Sakura in Yumemigasaki Zoo Park 夢見ヶ崎動物公園でお花見
→Sakura along the Tamagawa riverside 多摩川の河原でお花見

2 April 2014 – My third “hanami” event, at the riverside of Tamagawa

with my MOMMY little-big-boss’s grandmama~

Grandmama and little-big-boss

Grandmama is here for only 3 months and literally became little-big-boss’s playmate






My third hanami,
and at last, the  full-bloomed SAKURA~
ザ満開

桜めちゃきれい～
What more can I ask for
I am too blessed to be able to witness this beautiful season, this beautiful trees

It was a peaceful day

Being on a weekday, there were not too many people

So calm, so tranquil..

Under the beautiful tunnel of sakura trees

Feeling so blessed to be in this beautiful part of the world

To be able to enjoy the mother nature of the earth is my happiness

To let my child to be part of this world is my joy

The old, the young, we share the world

Feel the air of spring

Feel the wonders of spring


Well, look up .. where ever you are..

before you regret 

There are wonders everywhere






577 days old
1歳7か月0日






Hanami 2014
→Sakura in Mitsuike Koen 三ツ池公園でお花見
→Sakura in Yumemigasaki Zoo Park 夢見ヶ崎動物公園でお花見

31 March 2014 – My second “hanami” session of 2014  to the mini Yumemigasaki  Zoo Park~♪
*hanami=sakura admiring event, sakura viewing, etc

This time was with my mama-friends from little-big-boss baby swimming class  

Babies all about the same age




3 days after the first hanami I had, obviously the sakura bloomed fuller here 
still not the peak yet though..

Little-big-boss at the tower

I think the sakura at the back was probably the biggest and fully bloomed sakura over here

A kiss from my little-cutie-pie




And then, we had lunch A hanami picnic lunch

Basically, we brought our own food except for Yuuki-chan’s mom, the biggest and luxurious of them all
The first 2 pics from left was Yuuki-chan’s bento and the other 2 was little-big-boss’s

Everybody, LUNCH-TIME~




After lunch, it’s play-time~

Little-big-boss walks around by himself a lot..
Like, he seldom look back for his mom..

And now he has friends!

A “girl” friend, Yuuki-chan

A “girl” friend, Yuri-chan

As if they are dating each other..
As if my little-big-boss is double-dating the girls..

Nah..

Here’s a “boy” friend, Hikaru-kun

They look so sweet holding hands and hugging each other though

Little-big-boss with Yuuki-chan and Hina-chan

Cuteness

Playing around the sakura tree





Playing freely

Act like a soccer player
Little-big-boss loves playing ball nowadays, that he will go all excited and shout out “bo-, bo-” whenever he saw a ball on the street, at the park, or anywhere
(the ball in the pic belonged to someone else though)




Time to go for the animals in the zoo!

This is a very small zoo park which is free of charge, just nice for little babies to explore without being too exhausted

Though small, though they do not have elephants, giraffes, gorillas, lions, tigers, all those big animals..
they have zebra, monkeys, red pandas, donkey, flamingos, and all the smaller animals

They have penguins too

Didn’t take much pics of the animals except this

Take a look at this blog post which shows more of this zoo park → http://gootre.blog.so-net.ne.jp/yumemigasaki-zoo

Somehow, I have more pics of the fake animals..
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Riding on a panda (Θ∀Θ)

..on a rabbit and on a squirrel

Before heading back,

Selfie Take 1

Selfie with Sakura Take 2

Going out with kids, not to forget to wash their hand after a day playing outdoor

And, time to head home




575 days old
1歳6か月29日






1st hanami 2014
→ Sakura in Mitsuike Koen 三ツ池公園でお花見