Sakura!

It's Cherry Blossom (Sakura) time in Japan.  It's a beautiful time to be here.  Everyone is in good spirits and the gorgeous blooming trees are everywhere you look.  Some are already starting to drop their blossoms and it is like gently falling snow (without the cold).  It is a favorite pastime of the Japanese to take time to have a picnic under the blooming cherry trees.  Last weekend we went to Showa park to view all of the flowers and trees. 

Then the next day there was a cherry blossom festival at Camp Zama.  It was open to the public so it got very crowded!  

We had some yakitori (grilled meat on a stick) and enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of the festival.
The next day we hosted a barbeque at our house in Sagamihara.  We invited the Mizushimas, the Kimuras, our neighbors the Owens and Donovans.  It was a beautiful day so after stuffing ourselves with beef sausage, shrimp, pork tenderloin, pork ribs, smoked chicken, garlic cheese biscuits, green beans, pea salad, fruit salad, white chocolate chip cookies, caramel cheesecake, plenty of cold beer, margaritas and more, we decided to take a walk.
These are some of the trees at the elementary school.

This is our favorite tree.   It is in the middle of a field near the elementary school.  We like to picnic here when it is warm.




Maddie on her way to school.  She is now in the 5th grade!  Below is a very short video we took of the walk to the gate with Madeleine this morning.

Wish you were all here to experience it with us!  Love to all.