Sunday, April 25, 2010

Spring is here.

Haru ga kita.

In Japan, the school year begins in April. The Pumpkin Prince and Princess have new teachers and new classmates at day care. And I have new co-workers. I have gained more co-workers than I have lost. One of my biggest gains is a senior level type back from maternity and child care leave. There's more work, but since there's more workers, I'm not feeling it. Yet.

A couple weeks ago, we went to Yokohama. I had work stuff to do, and the Pumpkin Princess and Daddy went to the Anpanman Museum. I'd always thought Anpanman was less commercial than Disney (they certainly are less strict about copyright) but this museum proves me wrong.



Please note very cute but extremely inferior quality headband on the Pumpkin Princess's head (1500 yen= $16 or thereabouts) and also very cute helium balloon (1000 yen=$11 or thereabouts).





And this adorable box of cute breads...did not taste as good as those from the bakery 3 minutes away from hour house, and cost three times as much.

One evening about a week later, we saw this.



Those of us in, say, the American Midwest will probably shrug and wonder why I am making a fuss. However, in Pumpkin City, snow is in and of itself a very big deal. Snow in mid-April has not happened in 14 years.

Fortunately for almost everyone, including the Pumpkin Daddy, who changed his winter tires a couple weeks prior, but not the Pumpkin Princes, who was excited about getting to build the first snowman of this year, it started raining about an hour after the photo was taken, and the snow was completely gone by morning.

5 comments:

deeje said...

Hee! Those of us in, say, the American Midwest would scream in terror if we saw snow in mid-April *this* year. We have green grass, apple trees blooming, and lilacs about to open... even if it were to wash away with a rain right away, snow would be a horrible sight!

Is it just me, or is the Pumpkin Princess becoming more adorable Every Single Day?! Also, I love her little pullover sweater, and the headband is indeed very cute -- sorry about the 1500 yet worth of poor quality though. Ouch.

pumpkinmommy said...

Oh, I get it, you sent us your snow :P

The Pumpkin Princess is adorable if you do not have to listen to her quips about what she does not want to eat for breakfast and why, and you do not have to walk into the bathroom at 8:20 in the morning to find her giving a shampoo to her baby brother using hand soap.

sheri said...

Here in the San Francisco area, snow is also a once-in-many-years event, so this past winter when we had snow at relatively low elevations in this area it was a big, big deal. Many kids did get to build snowmen and throw snowballs before it melted away. Sorry that your little ones did not get to really enjoy it!

And the Pumpkin Princess really is adorable! No wonder you/Pumpkin Daddy can't resist those expensive yet cheap trinkets!

Mary said...

Looking at those pictures, I sure do miss Japan!

pumpkinmommy said...

Sheri, the weekend after you left that comment, we got temps in the 80s!

Mary, thank you for stopping by. I hope to post more about food soon.

I think I am having delusions of grandeur.