Jiiji's place is a fun house!

Picking tomatoes in Jiiji's garden...

Accessorize!

M messes around at the accessories store and learns that she can accessorize to instantly create a new look! I claim credit for passing on this skill.

The mardi gras look.

The tote bag is always an "in" fashion item.

The "bark".

Caught the tarako bug

Tarako is cod roe. In Japan, it's used in all kinds of dishes including spaghetti sauce. Recently the Kewpie company started commercializing its tarako sauce in a series of bizzare commercials that have seeped into the Japanese mainstream, almost reaching macarena proportions. Click on this for more details and a sample of the commercials.

M is the latest tarako convert.

New year's eve's eve

We spent almost 10 days with Minori's paternal family over the new year and took lots of good photos. How does one share 200+ photos in a blog? I've to do the tough job of choosing only the really good pics and spread them over several entries.


On the day we made the trip to Minori's grandparents' home in Aichi prefecture, the weather was perfect; we saw Mt Fuji for the most part of our four-hour drive. The sun was so blinding we needed a shade for M when she napped in her baby car seat. Her Elmo book did the job.


On new year's eve, we went to a nearby zoo. M was amazed at how huge a life-size elephant can get. It scared her actually.

Belated Christmas present

Thank you heaps, Junji. Many kisses xxx!

Happy new year!

She's the girl for all seasons! Spring - Summer - Fall - Winter
As usual, we're so procrastinating making our nengajo (Japanese new year greeting postcard sent out to friends and family for the new year) this year. We'll probably use this seasons mosaic as the main feature of the card. In Japan, people like putting photos of their wedding, new babies, children, etc. on their nengajos. Two years ago for the year of the rooster, we had a picture of a roast chicken on our nengajo, quite a far cry from this year's.

Virtuous woman = superwoman ?

This is the book I am currently reading. I've always wondered about the Proverbs 31 woman in the bible. She is able to somehow manage both household AND work very well, AND on top of that seems to also do volunteer work. Her husband and children "rise up and call her blessed". Does a person like this really exist? I bought the book to find out. After all, who doesn't like to be praised by their husband and children?

I've heard that Chinese women from the Hakka clan are known to be capable both in and out of the house, at least in the old days. I'm half-Hakka (my father is) so does that make me capable only either at home or at work??!

What'z up bugz?

Uncle James, thank you for this fleece overall that you gave M for Christmas last year... It's meant for babies below one but because M is quite small, she was still able to fit into it once this season for this photo, though this is the last time Minori is going to be able to wear it before she breaks the seams.

The copy cat

M is still at the "copy cat" stage and is really quite hilarious to watch. Every day, she does things that she's observed a minute ago, days ago or a year ago. And she observes things that we won't usually... for example, we would walk into the grocery store and she would go "dog! dog!" and we'll be looking around... "what dog?", before we see a tacky-looking poster of a dog, presumably the product mascot, hanging beyond eye-level at some forsaken corner. Daddy and I are now on high alert when it comes to what we say and do with her or with other people.

Here are some other "copy cat" examples:

"The fries look good. I'll have fries with that!"

"No better way to start the day than with the morning paper!"

Minori the dare devil

Seeing these pics for the first time sent shivers down my spine... doesn't it seem like she's just going to topple over?? Daddy took these pictures when they went to our neighborhood zoo and play area. He proudly claims that M has a very good sense of balance for her age and that she's extremely pro at these rides.

I saw M in action with my very own eyes today and I couldn't believe how confident she seems on these things! Still freaks me out.

Proof she's japanese

Daddy's workout

Giving daddy a good abdominal workout! Good girl!

Giddy up horsey!

M spending yet another morning at "our farm" riding toys, checking out "moo moo" and kicking leaves...