Happy Hanami!

True to Japanese tradition, we had a picnic at Shinjuku Gyoen for the cherry blossom viewing. I spent most of the time running in circles after Dylan and jumping on my knees. I didn't quite understand Dylan's Japanese, but we both spoke the universal language of FUN.

Don't tell my parents

Not only have I become totally comfortable with the Yamamoto-Hannah family, but I have also grown quite independent and will stay with them without my parents! Anything to spend more time with Kenzo! My parents were SHOCKED to see this picture, thereby discovering who I got into bed with when they weren't around!

I can use chopsticks!

After Dylan came over and showed off his chopstick prowess, I became determined to learn how to use chopsticks! So it was fitting that my first successful chopstick meal was my first Yoshinoya beef bowl, which Daddy refers to as a Japanese staple.

Mmm, love the food

...lots of carbs, and rarely a vegetable in sight!

My favorite food in Tokyo was soba noodles and purple juice, which unbeknownst to me was made of vegetables. I surprised my parents when I digged (raw) beef sashimi!

(photo courtesy of Josh, Kenzo's dad)

First solo swing ride

I never liked the swing even as an infant, and always insisted sitting on Mommy's lap when I got older. So my parents were shocked when I RAN to this swing and rode it all by myself! See how happy I look!

Ginza Girl

My dad can't get over being in Tokyo, let alone the Ginza, with his kids! We're enjoying visiting all the places he used to go to when he was my age!

My oddest request thus far has been asking Daddy to buy a suit so I can play pachinko.

Ni hao!

After being in Taipei for only 2 days, I already started singing two chinese songs ("Da Xiang" and "Liang Zhu Laohu") and counting to 3 in Mandarin! My grandma took me out to play everyday (zoo, children's museum, trains, etc.); I definitely saw more of Taipei than the rest of my family!

See more pictures from the Taipei here.

My transpacific flight and jetlag

We're off to our adventure to Taipei and Tokyo! We said goodbye to all our cars, and hello to the first of many taxis, Toni's very special Bay Area Checker cab!

My first transpacific flight was generally fine, but had a very rough beginning and end thanks to that Camarillo flight which gave me major flight anxieties. Daddy feels really bad about this.

So what happened? Take-offs are scary! Right when the airplane door closed, I started screaming at the top of my lungs: "I'm scared!" "Daddy lap!" "Scary scary scary scary scary." No one helped me, so I escalated to "I need to go potty! Pee pee is coming OUT!!" I screamed a combination of all of these from when the door closed up until we were in the air. My parents were sure that half the plane heard me. I was restrained into my car seat on this flight so I couldn't squirm out like I did on the Camarillo one. Without it, we would have likely been like that family that got bumped off the AirTran flight. But once we got to cruising altitude, I calmed down, and my parents took out one new present after another. I was so stimulated by all the movies and new books that I didn't want to sleep! I really fought sleep to enjoy all of it, so I wound up staying up for most of the 11 hour flight. At 3.25 hours, I asked, "Are we there yet?" The one hour nap that I took was disturbed because I was scared awake every time there was turbulence and then reached out for someone to hold on to. My parents were reluctant to take off the car seat so I could sleep horizontally b/c my parents didn't want to risk me waking up in the middle of landing, freaking out, and wiggling out of a lap belt to sit on their laps.

Despite the lack of sleep, I had a crazy amount of energy when we had our layover in Japan. I ran and leaped around this fantastic kids' play space, skipped to the store to pick up new snacks, and squealed with delight watching the airplanes taking off. I eventually got sleepy during the 4 hour segment from Japan to Taipei, so I slept with Mommy in her seat, and luckily stayed asleep through the landing - whew! Somehow I got a second wind when we reached our hotel, and I wanted to explore, despite looking butt exhausted, and got upset when my parents insisted I sleep.

(pic to the left - do I look tired to you?)

I managed jet lag OK. I didn't mind staying up to play longer because that's what I'd rather do anyway. But waking up from naps was hard because I just wanted to sleep; dinner times were especially challenging because I felt so groggy and wasn't hungry. I was pretty adjusted after 3 days, and stopped waking up before 6 am after about a week.

Luckily when we took our flight from Taipei to Tokyo, I learned to better manage my flight fears. I was still really scared, but since I sat between my parents, I got to hold both of them while I closed my eyes and listened to happy stories. They were so proud of how brave I was!

(pic to the right: check out my in flight kid meal!)