Hi from Akita/秋田より

Pineapple and I arrived at my parents' house in Akita this evening. We are happy to see my folks and their cats, which were tiny little kittens last fall. They grew up so much, and they look so different from what we remembered from our visit last September. In fact, one of them is expecting babies sometime soon!

My parents got a used tricycle from the neighbor for Pineapple (background in the picture). It'll be fun for her to try without worrying about traffic like we do in Tokyo!

パイナッパルと私は、今夜秋田の私の実家につきました。家族や、去年は子猫だった猫たちにも会えて、とても楽しいです。猫たちはあまりにも大きくなり、去年の９月に秋田に来たときに見たときとは見違えるほどでした。しかも、そのうちの１匹はもうじき赤ちゃんが産まれるのです！

私の両親がパイナップルのために、近所から使い古しの三輪車をもらってくれました（写真後方）。娘にとっても、東京みたいに車の行き来を心配せずに思う存分楽しんでもらえる事でしょう。

already the middle of April/もう４月も半ば

Long time no update!! First our computer had trouble for the last month or so, and I was being lazy writing about our life in the blog. We are all doing well, happy and healthy. We got to enjoy cherry blossoms over the last few weeks.

This spring in Tokyo has been a bit weird. We had nice weather for a few days and very cold weather come and go in between since the end of March. I was worried that the cherry blossoms wouldn't open fully. I kept watching out the window every single day to see how the blossoms were coming along. I think it wasn't as good as the last few years, but we can't do anything about it.

The pictures are from the Komazawa Park, where we visited for "hanami" - a cherry blossom viewing party.

cherry blossoms and a bicycle/桜と自転車

It was a gorgeous day for Hanami, or cherry blossoms viewing. The three of us went to Koganei Park in western Tokyo to meet with friends. I was told that this is one of the famous parks in Tokyo for cherry blossoms, and it was easy to see why. Of course, there were lots and lots of people, but the park itself is big enough that I didn't feel that it was too crowded. After a picnic lunch that our friends brought, we enjoyed chatting and playing frisbee under the blue sky with cherry blossoms in front of our eyes.

Before we left the park, we let Pineapple play at the playground. She found a cycling area where she could rent a small bicycle with training wheels. I got the smallest one for her, and sure enough she enjoyed riding it. She even said, "I want to take it home!!" Well, I thought that it might be a good choice for her birthday present this year.

花見をするには最高の日でした。私たちは友達に会うために、西東京にある小金井公園に行きました。ここの公園は東京で桜を見る名所の一つだと聞いていましたが、行ってみてその理由が分かりました。もちろんたくさんの人が来ていましたが、公園自体が大きくてそれほど混んでいる感じはしませんでした。友達が準備してくれた昼食をとって、青空の下で桜をみながらおしゃべりをしたりフリスビーで遊んだりしました。

公園をでる前に、パイナップルを遊具のある場所に連れて行ってあげました。そこで補助付きの小さな自転車が借りれるところを見つけました。一番小さい自転車を選んであげたのですが、娘は喜んで乗っていました。「おうちに持って帰りたい！」とまで言われ、今年の娘の誕生日プレゼントとして選んでも良いかなと思ったほどです。