Words.

I've too often found myself straining to remember the idiosyncratic way that Scarlet pronounced words as she was learning them. For instance, she had a word for water that had undergone several steps of transformation: from water to vater to va to fa to.... ? I can't quite remember!

So, while I still cling my favorites among her perfect mispronunciations, I thought I would write them down here to protect them from my meager memory:

1. Strawberry = Strawbaberry

2. Present = President

3. Tricky = Trickily

4. Sharp = Sharpie

5. Bandaid = Hand Band (she actually is already self correcting this one, which is a terrible shame!)

"Okay?"

NOTE: I was told that you couldn't see this video before because it was "Private" on YouTube -- that's been remedied, so you should be able to see it now!

Splash Pad Summer!

As temps hit 85° and 90°F (31-32°C), we grabbed our suits and trusty yellow bucket to hit up a splash pad near our apartment. The first day, Scarlet was extremely trepedatious, but the next morning she was begging to go back, and this time it was a huge hit!

(Photo quality isn't top notch... For all the pics I take with my main camera, I'm pretty bad with the iPhone!)

Sean's Tree

I think those in the fairly narrow readership of this blog all know my cousin Sean, who lived in and loved Japan and thoroughly rocked its underground music scene. After his death - which I still struggle to fully comprehend - his family brilliantly decided on the stunningly beautiful (and thoroughly Japanese) Yoyogi Park as his final resting place. 

Here are a few shots of the park itself...

I dug deep into the trenches of facebook and found a picture of Sean's parents, Cathy and John, standing in front of "Sean's tree," and I became just a little bit (read: thoroughly) determined to find it.

The picture that made the search possible!

Linda graciously agreed to sit with Scarlet (who cooperatively slept peacefully in her stroller!) while Kei and I went into Yoyogi in search of Sean's tree.

Thank you, Linda!

I'll level with you. There was a point when finding a specific tree in a forest seemed like a pretty daunting/crazy task...

But, after about a gazillion times blowing up that one picture on Kei's phone, we found the hint of white posts in the background on the right side. Using that tiny little detail, our best guesses on how Cathy and John would have gone about selecting Sean's tree, the overall layout of the area, and the great fortune that there were only a handful of areas with this specific kind of tree in Yoyogi, we are about 99.999% sure we found it!

... and it is so beautiful.

I feel lucky to have felt the immense spiritual power in all of Yoyogi's trees that day -- it was overwhelming, and a bit heartbreaking, to feel just a little closer to his presence again. 

I miss and admire you more than you could ever guess, Sean.

Love,

Your Infinitely Less Cool Cousin / Former Partner-in-the-Crimes-of-Our-Childhood-Basements

Japan 2016: Back in Tokyo - Inokashira Zoo, Chasing Daddy, and Miscellaneous Fun :)

Japan 2016: BBQ, "Volleyball," and BLUEBERRIES at Midori & Hiroyuki's