Mei Be Love

In the Redwoods

2012-02-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite places to go is for a walk in the Redwoods. It is really an amazing feeling to walk among these giant trees, some of which have been growing for over a thousand years.

There weren't many elk out in the fields near Prarie Creek that day, so Mei improvised.

And so, like clockwork, Koko joined in and did what Mei just did. It's a baby elk!

Mei seems particularly happy when she is in a redwood forest.

Kyoko took this great picture of a giant redwood.

Mei investigates the underside of a giant redwood.

This tree had an interesting spiral pattern on its bark.

A Trip to Nihon

2012-02-21T08:01:00.000-08:00

Kyoko, Mei, and Koko arrived in Japan on New Year's Eve. It is a very busy time to travel, but a great time to see family and friends. Here Mei is with her cousin, Hana, who she hasn't seen in two years.

After being there just a week, Mei, Koko, and several people in Kyoko's family get sick. Here they are showing off their masks.

Koko turned one on Jan. 13th. Happy Birthday!

In a great coincidence, they got to see some friends who were also in Japan visiting.

Mei weathered the cold weather by spending time each day under the kotatsu, a heated coffee table.

There is a great story behind this picture. After eating at a great tuna restaurant (her town is one of the major tuna ports in Japan) Kyoko wished they would have remembered to take a picture of all the great food they had just eaten. They decided to take a picture with the big tuna that was sitting in ice just outside the restaurant when they had walked in. When they got to the door, they saw that it was gone. The chef heard them talking about it and said, "You guys just ate that fish!" and showed them its head as proof.

Mei in a family kimono

A number of family and friends came to the airport to wish them a safe trip home. I hope next time I am able to go with them.

Koko Turns One

2012-02-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

I am a bit late in posting this, but Koko turned one on January 13th. She celebrated her birthday while in Japan with Kyoko and Mei last month. They went on a three week trip to see family and friends - more on their trip in a future post. It has certainly been a fast year. It is hard to believe that she is already one, and looking back at photos of her taken over the past 12 months, it is amazing how much she has grown and changed in that short amount of time. She is walking, talking, and developing her own wonderful personality. Thank you for bringing us so much happiness Koko!

Koko now has 11 teeth and she loves to eat. Her favorite things are rice, Cheerios, and blueberries. She also like drinking water, and is getting better at finding her mouth with a spoon or fork. Koko often puts her head on the floor, like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. She recently began running - which is actually her walking fast, with a look on her face of extreme pleasure, like "Hey, look at me run!" - but isn't really. She like reading books, and she loves books that play music. She will often have two or three going simultaneously. She can now climb up and down the stairs on her own. She can communicate what hurts and how it got hurt. She continues to copy Mei in every way she can, and also tries to exert power over her, like by reminding Mei to shut the laundry room door after she comes out of the bathroom. She can communicate many things with a variety of one-syllable sounds (mostly "ba" "da" "ne" "ma" - often the first sylable of the word, but not always) she uses for: water, food, nursing, sleep, bath time, Mei, Kyoko, me, grandpa, grandma, ball, cat, hug, dog, blueberries, banana, nose, hot, among others.

Since I missed her birthday while she was away, we celebrated again on their return. Here are some pictures of her parties.

This picture is from her her real birthday in Japan. Tanjoubi omedetto!!

Back home, Mei helped Mommy make Koko's cake for her second party.

Birthday dinner

Koko gets help blowing out the candles.

But she didn't need any help eating it.

Yummy!

A Dedini Family Christmas

2012-01-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

It begins with cookies. Here is a sampling of mom's cookie selection for this year.

On Koko's first Christmas morning she inspected the presents carefully.

But she was more pleased with the wrapping than the gift.

After a present or two Koko had the hang of it. Mei went right to work on her new Tangled doll and Calico Critters.

After opening Santa's gifts at home, we went to Erik and Kim's house for a family Christmas breakfast and presents. Mei and Cairo dressed up in some of Cairo's fancy dress up clothes.

Mei got some fancy sparkle heels. How fancy!

We had Chistmas dinner at my parent's house. Cairo and Mei enjoyed their Christmas cake. It was very good. Chocolate candy cane cake. Thank you Kim!

It has become a regular part of family gatherings for Cairo and Mei to perform a dance routine at the end of the evening. It is always a good time.

Grandpa Tipple got a cool new toy. It is a shooting set with sensors that cause the cans and bottles to fall if you aim well enough. Here, Jonah gets sharp shooting pointers from grandpa.

Cairo spent the night at our house just a few nights before Mei, Koko, and Kyoko left for Japan.

These pictures are from Thanksgiving break. They show a nice sequence of snowball action.

December

2011-12-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

Grandpa went up the weekend after Thanksgiving and got the Christmas trees for our family. Thank you so much!

My birthday was on the 8th. Kyoko made a delicious dinner and cheesecake. It was a great day.

Mei and Koko are getting in the spirit for their upcoming trip to Japan. Kyoko and the girls will be leaving soon to visit Kyoko's family.

Mei had a ballet performance a couple of weeks ago. It was called "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Her class played teddy bears.

Decorating the tree at grandma and grandpa's house.

Riding the Rody Train.

We had a small Christmas party at our house with some friends of Kyoko and their children. We made tako-yaki and homemade pizza.

Making Christmas cookies.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Here I am on the first day of my winter break finally posting about Thanksgiving. I only had three days off instead of the whole week, but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at my parents, together with my brother and his family, and my uncle and grandfather. It was truly delicious. I need to learn how to make the rolls that my brother always makes, so I don't have to wait and have them only once a year.

Mei enjoyed herself, of course. She loves to eat, and there was lots to enjoy.

Koko enjoyed her first Thanksgiving as well. She has become quite an eater lately, though she lets you know quickly when she has had enough of something by dropping it off the side of her tray onto the floor. We are working on getting her to use the "more" sign language gesture to ask for more, because right now she yells rather loudly when service is slow.

With Grandpa Tipple and Uncle Jack

The day after Thanksgiving we took some family pictures near our house. Our favorite pictures turned out to be the ones of Mei and Cairo that I took as we were heading home.

You may have noticed that the pictures on the blog have been looking better recently. I have been trying out a Nikon digital SLR camera to see if we want to upgrade. I am happy so far, but I am still wondering if it is worth the extra money above a new point-and-shoot. If you have any opinions about this, let me know.

2011-11-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

November has brought the fall colors and winter rain to our neck of the woods. There has even been some snow on my daily commute on 299. November 11th (11/11/11) was a holiday for Veteran's Day, so we took a drive out to the redwoods and walked around among the giant evergreens. We went to a new spot, because the road to where we often go was blocked by a large tree in the road (these trees are huge, and I am sure it takes a little while to get one moved out of the road.

Koko is a constantly moving, constantly happy power child. She is eating and sleeping well, and I can feel that she is noticeable heavier each week it seems.

She eats a variety of things, but by far her favorite is Cheerios. When she no longer wants whatever she is having for a meal, she will never refuse Cheerios.

There was a beautiful day a few days back that broke the recent cloudy, rainy, and/or windy days we have been having. We took the opportunity to spend a little time at the park together.

Both of them fell asleep in the car on the way home from my parent's house where we had dinner on Sunday night. Here they are on the floor just inside the door.

Mei has been doing a lot of art and crafting lately. Here is a fall collage. She has also been very into folding origami. Kyoko has been teaching her.

Mushroom season is in full swing now. The Co-op had matsutake mushrooms for the first time so far this year. That night we had matsutake rice, salmon burgers, and soup.

Here's looking at you! Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mei's cousin Cairo is in town, but she was sick for a couple of days, so Mei had to settle with talking to her on the phone instead. We plan to see them tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

Halloween, a Tractor, and Another Standup Performance

2011-11-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

My dad has been building a storage shed on my grandparent's old property in Ferndale. We visited day one of the building and Mei got to ride with grandpa in the tractor he used to clear and level the ground. In the past week winter has started to creep in. It has been cold and wet. I can't imagine Mei being able to wear clothes like that outside again for quite a while. How quickly things change.

Getting ready for Halloween. We roasted some of the pumpkin seeds and they were delicious.

Look Mom, no hands! Koko is standing up pretty well now. We had a good night of Trick-or-Treating. Mei got lots of candy (which she is very good about sharing with mommy and daddy) and Koko got into it as well. By the end of the night she was pointing at doors and reaching into the candy herself (not eating any, of course).

This picture was taken by Mei, riding next to her in the car.

Mei and Kyoko made Udon tonight. Yummy!

Koko can take a couple of steps on her own now! Here is proof.

The Wizard of Oz

2011-11-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today was the final performance for Mei's musical theater class. They did a retelling of The Wizard of Oz and did a short musical number from the movie. She has been learning the song and the dance every Saturday morning for a couple of months now, and has been getting more and more into it. They all did a great job today. We watched the movie a couple of times this week and totally loved it. She did drawings of a number of the characters, the only help was the checks on Dorothy's dress. I am constantly amazed at her drawings. I think you will recognize the characters, though if you haven't seen the movie recently, you may have forgotten the flying blue monkeys that work for the wicked witch.

Our Busy Girls

2011-10-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mei and Koko have been busy growing, changing, and learning these days. Koko can stand up for a good 10 seconds by herself and took her first step a couple of days ago. Video to come soon. She also is copying more sounds. She said was 'grandpa' last weekend and 'mama' a few days ago. She is also becoming a good eater like Mei. She especially likes food that she can hold and eat herself.

At the pumpkin patch getting a pumpkin for Halloween.

There was a bizarre rainbow above the pumpkin patch. I have seen rainbows make a ring around the sun, but this one was a ways away from the sun and was arced away from the sun, just hanging out in the middle of the sky.

Koko does not nap well. She sleeps well at night, but not during the day. Unless, of course, she is in the car or in her high chair eating.

Mei has been drawing a lot these days and I think her abilities have now surpassed my own. I watched her do this drawing of Koko. She looked closely at her nose and drew what she saw. Her ears as well.

Mei's friends belly dancing. Notice how they all have exposed bellybuttons. My drawings of people when I was young also always had belly buttons.

Our house in our neighborhood. The yellow and red things are in the park next door.

The giant from Jack and the Beanstalk

This drawing of Totoro was the proof that Mei has passed me up. The Totoro on the top left was drawn by Kyoko, but the rest were by Mei.

Having Fun

2011-10-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Koko and Mei love to play together. Koko just loves doing whatever Mei does. I fear that it will not be long until she is walking.

Food Coma

30 Days Has September

2011-09-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

September has been quite a month. Labor Day weekend brought Typhoon Talas, a huge typhoon the size of Japan that just hammered central Japan. Wakayama Prefecture, where Kyoko is from, got hit the hardest. After several days of heavy rain they got 2-3 feet of rain in just over a day, causing rivers and streams to wash away many houses and bridges, and causing landslides all over the place. The worst of the flooding happened in the middle of the night, causing additional loss of life. Kyoko's family was not directly affected by the flooding, but they had no running water for many days. Japan has had such a tough year.

For us, September has brought a change of schedule, as school has started up for me and Mei has returned to preschool for another year. I am teaching 2nd grade this year, as well as taking online courses through UCLA to get a Special Education credential this year. It is promising to be a busy year.

At home, it has been a good month for food. The farmer's market is in full swing, with tons of great fruits and vegetables. Koko is eating more and more solid foods, and though she is not yet quite the eater Mei was at her age, she loves to feed herself, often refusing the spoon at dinner for something she can feed herself.

Koko absolutely loves Mei. She copies whatever Mei does and follows her everywhere. Mei is a great sport about it and is a patient and helpful sister.

Making lasagna

With only four teeth, Koko can't quite eat apples this way yet, but she gives it her best try.

Mei loves cucumber. She polished this one off by herself.

Koko has learned "Banzai!"

It's the Water

2011-08-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, we took a family trip to Mt. Shasta. I had never been to this part of California in the summer. It is a popular place for skiing in the winter. We stayed in the small town of McCloud for two nights and had a wonderful time. It is a very beautiful place with lots to see and do. We will definitely be going back again next summer.

About three hours from Arcata, Whiskeytown Lake is about one hour from Shasta.

The large, clean passenger train parked in the middle of McCloud used to be used as a dinner train. You could ride and eat dinner while getting beautiful views of Mt. Shasta. The train is not currently running, and appears to be looking for a new owner.

At McCloud Falls

At a lavender farm near Mt. Shasta. The sun feels stronger at the high altitudes near the mountain. It was a beautiful spot for a lavender garden, but it was quite hot.

On the banks of Lake Siskiyou

Probably one of the coolest parts of this trip, the source of the Sacramento River bubbles out of these rocks in the middle of Mt. Shasta City Park. The delicious, clean, cold water is from snowpack that fell many years ago. People who live nearby bring large containers and drink this water at home. It is possibly the most delicious water I have ever had.

Koko had a great time on the trip, despite the heat and long hours in the car.

View of Mt. Shasta from a park in McCloud.

We drove up to the spot where people begin hiking when they climb to the top of the mountain. This is as far as we went.

The day after getting home from Shasta, we went out to Redwood valley with my parents and Erik and his family, to take a dip in Redwood Creek.

Picking blueberries with Ba-Chan and Cairo.

The Salmon River

2011-08-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we went on a family vacation to Orleans, which is along the Klamath River, about 2 hours from home. We stayed in a cabin on an organic farm/ranch for a week with my parents and, for part of the time, my brother and his family. It had the look and feel of a real vacation. I didn't bring my watch, was able to forget what day it was on occasion, and the remoteness of our location allowed no TV or cell phone service.

It was quite hot every day there, usually mid to upper 90s, and as there is very little else to do there (not that his is a bad thing) we spent most days at the river. Not the Klamath River, but the nearby Salmon River. The Klamath has a hard life, from the multiple dams, to its many agricultural diversions and runoffs, so by the time it gets to Humboldt County it has a lot of algae, bugs, and such. It is still pretty, but nowhere the beauty of the pristine, unadulterated Salmon River. I had long heard of how nice a place it is and was very glad to finally go there - and jump in.

Mei Tickles the Ivories

2011-08-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Mei has been taking piano lessons with Grandma Jill for a while now and we also play together some at home. She likes it and is learning some simple songs. When we play together she always wants to play her "New America" song, which, like New America the imaginary place, is made-up every time, spontaneously composed.

Solid Food, Food Comas, and a Tooth

2011-08-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, Koko has begun eating a variety of foods, either cooked and mashed up by Kyoko, or put in her baby feeder net that she can suck on and eat from. She has had blueberries, strawberries, carrots, tofu, peas, peach, salmon, and a number of other things. Often she will get really sleepy just after eating and often nods off right in her chair. In our family, we call this drowsiness a "food coma". Just yesterday her first tooth came in. It is much too small to get a picture of yet, but when it is I'll post one.

I can eat just like everyone else now!

Food Coma

The Big Three-Oh

2011-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Kyoko joined the thirty-something club, or "Arasa" (A Japanese shortening of the words "around thirty"). We celebrated at our favorite local Japanese restaurant and had cake afterwards at Ba-chan and Grandpa's. Congratulation's Kyoko, we love you so much!!

Last week Cairo came over for a sleepover. It was their fourth sleepover, but the first time at our house.

Red, White, Blue, and Green

2011-07-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

Koko enjoys spending more and more time on her tummy these days, pushing herself up on her knees and even just her hands and toes. She can push her self backwards, and around in circles, but has not yet crawled, or moved forward more than a few inches. It will probably be soon, however.

During Yukie's last week here, we took advantage of the continued good weather and visited our favorite - and some of the most beautiful - spots here on the Redwood Coast of northern California.

Looking for agates on Agate Beach at Patrick's Point State Park

Wedding Rock at Patrick's Point. In the early spring and late fall you can often see whales from this spot as they migrate to their northern feeding grounds and back down to Mexico to their breeding grounds

One of the most beautiful places on the north coast, Fern Canyon's steep walls are covered with mosses and five-finger fern's. It reminds visitors that this area, including the nearby Redwood forests, are a type of rainforest, albeit a temperate one. It may also remind you of Jurassic Park, part of which was filmed right here in this canyon.

A creek winds through the canyon, and it is very hard to walk up and back without getting your feet a little wet. Mei found it more fun to just tromp though the water most of time.

Just few miles from Fern Canyon are groves of towering 1500+ year-old redwood trees.

A couple of days before Yukie had to return to Japan we had a BBQ dinner at my parents.

We spent the afternoon of Independence Day at a party at a friend's house.

Fireworks!

In the evening Cairo, Jonah, and Lilly came over to do more fireworks. Other families from our neighborhood were out and we all shared and enjoyed our evening fireworks together.

Mei recently began swimming lessons. She is enjoying it, but has been a little reluctant to dunk her head in the water.

Koko just loves watching Mei, and Mei knows just how to get her going.

A Birthday, A Wedding, and A Special Guest

2011-07-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Cairo had a Fancy Nancy party on the 18th complete with fancy hats, fancy foods, fancy dresses, and lots of fancy decorations made by Kim. Everyone had a great time. A couple of days later on her real birthday Mei and Cairo got to have a sleep over again at Cairo's house to celebrate Cairo turning four. They just love having sleep overs.

Decorating cupcakes - Isn't that fancy?!

Kyoko's good friend, Yukie, arrived from Japan on the 14th and will be here for three weeks. We have been having a great time together, as we get to go fun places and do fun things we might not go to if we weren't showing someone the area. Mei has been happy to have another playmate as well.

My good friend Matthew got married in a beautiful redwood grove near Carlotta on the 18th. Here he is with his nephew, and John, who did the service. I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of Matthew together with his wife, Maya.

A part of the crew

The following Wednesday we went down to the Bay Area to do some site-seeing and shopping with Yukie. Our first stop was in Santa Rosa, where we met up with my friend Matt to visit Quarry Hill Botanical Garden. It is a very large garden full of beautiful and rare asian plants that were started from seeds collected by the founders and subsequent directors, and is located on an old quarry site. It was hot and steep, so we where glad to have the cart to ride around in. Thank you Matt!

Afterwards we ate just down the road at Cafe Citti, which was absolutely bomb. If you are ever driving east on the 12 out of Santa Rosa you must stop there. I repeat, you must. I think it was the first restaurant I have ever been to that has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, one of our favorite Food Network shows.

After Santa Rosa, we headed down to San Francisco, where we stayed for two nights. On Friday we went to the SF Zoo. My Aunt, Helen, works there in HR, and we got to see her and get a brief tour while she was on break.

At the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, Saturday morning. Another great discovery (for us) on this trip. Lots of great food and shopping.

This was our first trip with both Mei and Koko, and it went great. While Koko has lost a bit of her early love for the car seat, she and Mei were real troopers. Koko was in the Ergo carrier a lot and had no complaints. She maintained her happy demeanor and smiled at just about every random person who stopped to smile at her, even the ones who thought she was a boy.

Jumping Into June

2011-06-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

The neighbors across the street from my parents have a giant trampoline, and Mei got to try it out the other day.

June means that Erik, Kim, Cairo, and Jonah are back in town. Here is Jonah with his new cowboy boots he got for his birthday from grandma and grandpa on their recent trip to Austin, TX. Erik and Kim have been better about their blog recently, so you can see more updates from them and us at:

http://dedini.blogspot.com/

Koko caught mid-sneeze.

Videos of Koko rolling over. Another developmental milestone caught on tape.

Playing catch-up

2011-06-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

The school year has come to a close, and I am hoping that life will slow down a little for the next couple of months. I won't be teaching summer school and Kyoko won't be taking the intensive English language course at HSU, so we should have a little more time. This could mean that I get more timely about updating the blog.

Before moving into June, we should probably go back and finish up May. I posted about Mei's birthday and about the wonderfully great day that we had, but I passed over some other pictures that I would like to post.

I can roll over now! Koko can now roll from back to front. I will post a video of it sometime soon.

I think I have posted on this before, but Mei loves to eat lemon, just straight out of the peel. She shows absolutely none of the usual pucker reaction at all. I think there is something wrong with her taste buds.

Driving home from Ferndale about a month back we saw a great double rainbow. Both rainbows were bright and they went all the way from one end to the other. Rainbows are not easy to photograph, and even if I had a panoramic camera, I don't think it could match the sight of the real thing, but here is the gist of it.

Mei cooking with mom

The girls

A Ridiculously Nice Day

2011-06-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, Today is a Gift.....That is why it is called the Present.

-often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but I first heard it from Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda.

Well today really was a gift of a day. The weather report said showers, but it was the warmest, calmest, most beautiful day of the year so far. Even when it did rain briefly in the afternoon, it stayed warm, the sidewalk steamed, and it got a little balmy. While this may sound like typical early summer weather in your neck of the woods, it is not your typical June weather Arcata, where the inland heat pulls the coastal fog up over us like a cool, wet blanket, most mornings until late July.

We took the opportunity to dig out our potatoes that had sprouted up from potatoes we must have missed when we harvested last fall. They were ready and we wanted to use the space to plant some new sprouts for this year's garden. We planted zucchini and kabocha in the space left after the potatoes came up, and we planted some more strawberries in the raised beds.

For dinner we ate red kale and yukon gold potatoes from the garden along with tonkatsu, rice, and egg soup.

In other news, Koko rolled over for the first time by herself the other day. She didn't seem all that excited about her accomplishment, and hasn't made it a regular thing yet, so I haven't got any video of it yet.

Also, there was a New America Crisis last week at Grandma's house. This is not the latest American blunder, but rather the first crisis for the wonderful yet imaginary land, called New America, that Mei frequents in her dreams and reveries. I may have mentioned it before. It is a fabulous place, with talking animals, Barak Obama, Disneyland, and permission to do just about anything that young children are yet privileged to do in this America.

Anyway, Mei must have been feeling some guilt about her regular tales of this spectacular place, and confessed to grandma that there actually was no New America, that she had never been there, and that she made it all up. Imagining her tell this almost broke my heart. But, Grandma made a great save, telling her that she shouldn't feel bad, that it is just fine to have an imaginary place to go to and to create, and that she would still like to go sometime. Thank you for saving the day Grandma!

I'm a girl!

2011-05-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's because she still has very little hair, but people often can't tell if Koko is a boy or a girl. The other day when we put this dress on her for the first time Kyoko and I both thought that it didn't look right on her. It didn't quite work. But when we put the flower that Mei had been given by Takeshi on her, it suddenly looked just right. Koko seemed to like it too.

Birthday Part 2

2011-05-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

The day after her birthday party, the festivities continued with a dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

That night was also the last night that Chisato would be in town. It was great having her and Takeshi here, but the week went by very quickly.

The following day, May 16th, was Mei's actual 4th birthday. We were getting ready for a quiet family dinner and our friend Yasu stopped by. Mei loves playing with Yasu and was very excited to have him there.

Mei has been riding her bike just about every day. She loves it and has taken to it really well. She has turning and breaking down solid.

May is the Birthday Month

2011-05-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

May is a birthday month in our family, with Great Grandpa Tipple, Grandpa Lee, Jonah, and Mei all having birthdays.

Having a picnic in Firemen's Park in Ferndale

Koko likes to ride in her car seat. I have a feeling she is going to be a lefty like her dad, because she is always kicking her left foot out of any blanket we put on her.

Koko with Amarylis

We celebrated Great Grandpa Tipple's and Grandpa Lee's birthdays together in Ferndale. Mei made a PlayDough cake for them.

The next weekend we started the three-day birthday bash for Mei's 4th birthday. On Saturday we had a birthday party at the park. Kyoko made tons of great food and her friend Naomi made a delicious cake. The weather was iffy in the morning, but it held out, and everyone had a great time. The next night we had dinner with Grandpa Tipple at my parents' house and the next day (the 16th, her actual birthday) we had a low-key birthday dinner with one of her favorite people, Yasu. More pictures from those events will be in a later post.

Kids went fishing for Japanese Yo-yos. No one had tried this before and it was a lot of fun. Our friends Chisato and Takeshi were visiting from Japan this week and helped a ton by blowing up almost 100 of these little balloons that have a little bit of water in them and a rubber band attached, so they can bounce up and down on your hand.

Mei takes it all in as her friends sing "Happy Birthday"

Takeshi gets a workout as he spins Mei and her friends.

The evening of her party we had a BBQ in the backyard. What had been a cloudy day turned into a beautiful, sunny afternoon. It was almost warm enough to enjoy an outdoor meal, a rarity here in Arcata. I say "almost" because shortly after this picture, the temperature dropped and we retreated indoors to finish dinner.
Because of the nice day, Mei got her birthday present from Kyoko and I a couple of days early. It is the pink bike just above and to the left of Mei's head. More on that next post.

Easter

2011-05-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

As you have surely noticed, we are a bit behind on our updates. We also have yet to come up with a new name for the blog to include our new family member. Any suggestions?

For the second year in a row, Easter morning was cold and wet. It wasn't quite the snow that we had last year, but it kept the easter bunny indoors. For the second year in a row, Mei had to find her eggs in the living room. Luckily, the weather improved as the day went on, and by the afternoon when we went to my parents, it was sunny and the easter bunny came back and hid more eggs, outside this time.

Enjoying the bubble toys left by the Easter Bunny in the afternoon on Easter at my parent's house.

If Koko seems a little pear-shaped, it is because she is sporting her Fuzzy-Buns reusable diaper.

Ah...Spring Break

2011-04-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

We in the Dedini family are currently enjoying my week off from work, before the final push to the end of the school year. It has been an enjoyable, yet busy year, and it feels very nice to just be home for a week. The weather has improved and spring is officially in the air, so we have been spending time outside getting this year's garden started.

Koko doesn't seem to mind being in her car seat, in fact she seems to like it. She likes being snug in there much more than being in a more loose seat like a stroller. The nice fuzzy straps make a nice chewing toy as well. What kind of animal they are I am not sure. Any thoughts?

It was quite cold and windy despite what it looks like in the picture, so this 'hanami' experience was not as long and leisurely as we would have liked.

Happy Easter!!

April Showers Will Bring Mei Flowers

2011-04-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

The rains of late have started to subside and thoughts turn to getting the garden going again. The Farmer's Market has started up so there are lots of starts once we choose what to plant this year.

Koko can hold her head up pretty well now on her own, so we have been putting her in the jumper, which she seems to really enjoy.

Koko the Cowboy rides Rody.

I don't usually do this, but here are a couple of absolutely great Japanese YouTube videos for when you have a little time to kill.:
World Order
Xylophone

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2011-03-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

There sure has been a lot of rain these days. With the exception of a few outings, the last couple of weeks have been spent indoors. The thought of tiny radioactive particles falling down with the rain has not helped, either.

The disaster in Japan has been on our minds a lot lately and we are hoping that things begin to improve soon for the people affected by this event. Kyoko's parents fared fine the initial earthquake and tsunami, as they live quite a bit south of the epicenter. They did not evacuate, and the sea did not rise in a dangerous way. We are concerned for all those affected and about the current food prices and availability, as radioactive materials continue to be found in food and water.

On a more positive note, Koko had her two month appointment and is doing just fine. She weighed 10.5 pounds and moved up in the percentiles of weight, height, and head circumference. She also had her first shots, which was traumatic, but not overly so.

We couldn't seem to find Mei's playmat from her time as an immobile infant, so we recently invested in a new one that Koko seems to really enjoy. It plays upbeat african rhythms, as well as animal sounds, which Koko seems to prefer.

Despite the weather, we went for an outing in the Redwood forest last weekend. Mei loves walking in the forest, and the negative ions soothing to breathe. Koko slept through most of the adventure in the baby wrap. The playground was a bit inundated, but Mei and I enjoyed what was one of my favorite toys when I was young.

Mei and Koko try out their bunk bed sleeping arrangements. I think we still have a little ways to go before this becomes the real deal.

Pair Look

2011-03-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

With two little girls, the temptation to dress them up alike must be too great for a mother to bear. In Japan they call it the "pair look". Mei and Koko have a few coordinated outfits already, a few of them are pictured below.

March 3 is Girl's Day in Japan. Families often celebrate this time of year by displaying hand-made dolls called "Ohina-sama". Kyoko's mother recently sent us a very beautiful set of these dolls, that are set up now in our living room. We had a delicious chirashi-sushi dinner with cake to celebrate Girl's Day with our girls.

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

The view from my desk window is of a frosty playground. Temperatures have dropped to near record lows for this area. Yesterday on my five-minute drive home from the dentist it rained, then hailed, then snowed. The snow didn't last long, but it was exciting, as it happens rarely here on the coast.

Though cold, it has been a wonderful President's Week. I have had the whole week off from school to stay home and be dad. I got to take Mei to school, we had lunch this week at Renata's Creperie, We went up into the hills to play in the snow, and though there wasn't as much snow as I'd hoped (there is now), we had a lot of fun.

At Kyoko's doctor's appointment this week we got a picture of Mei and Koko with Ellen, who was the midwife for both of their births. Thank you Ellen!

We recently got a care package from Kyoko's parents that included a beautiful doll set for Girl's day in early March.

Another week, another fat roll in Koko's thighs. For those of you who stop by the blog just to get your fix of Mei and Koko photos. Here are The Goods:

My Girls

2011-02-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

I am really enjoying this week off for President's Week. Work has been taking a lot of time and energy and it is great to just be dad and relax with my girls. Maybe I will even be able to blog twice in one week! Here is a look back at the first couple of weeks of February (which equals about half of Koko's life outside the womb).

On Super Bowl Sunday we went to my parent's for snacks and football. Looking at the two of them side-by-side you can see why we almost think of Mei as a grown-up now. Again, if you compare the pictures at the beginning and end of this blog, you will see big changes in Koko.

The next weekend was Bachan's birthday - Happy Birthday Mom! Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and cake. Mei absolutely loves it when they come over, and they brought cake, which is possibly the best combination imaginable possible to Mei.

A Beautiful Baby and a Grumpy Old Man

2011-02-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

Koko has really been growing thus last week. I see four-month-olds and can't believe how big they are, but just compared to a week ago,
Koko at three weeks looks a lot bigger to me. The photos at the beginning and the end of this post are a week different, so I think you will notice the difference I have.

Koko gets to meet her Great Uncle Jack from SF and her Great Grandpa Tipple for the first time last weekend. Grandpa Tipple is not the grumpy old man mentioned in the blog post title. That would be the person the photos coming up a few more down the post.

Here are a couple of photos from today. During her awake time she almost invariably wants to be held non-stop, so moments like this don't happen all too often. Compare these photos to the ones a couple of posts ago, just after her birth, to see how fast things change.

Here is the Old Man I was talking about. Mei had her Grumpy Old Man hat on because we were about to go and work outside. The funny faces seemed to work well with this hat.

2 Weeks Old

2011-01-29T07:33:00.000-08:00

Koko is adjusting well to life outside the womb. She and Kyoko just had their two-week checkup and all is well. Koko is now 6lbs. 7oz. and is sleeping a little longer each night. Her cord fell off a few nights ago and now she is taking nightly baths, which she seems to enjoy very much.

Mei is adjusting well to big sister life, though she tends to be a little too hands-on with her little sister. She is very eager to help, almost too eager. I go to get a diaper and in the time I am out of the room Mei will try to get the old diaper off if I am not careful.

At the doctor's office yesterday the nurse said that Koko looked just like her dad. I have never heard anyone day anything like that about Mei even once. It looks like my DNA isn't as weak and recessive as I thought. Her eye color will take 6-8 weeks to develop. We could still have a blue-eyed baby.

The first couple weeks have been wonderful, but tiring for all of us. There have been many opportunities for sleep shots like these.

Smile!

2011-01-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been nothing but nursing and napping. It seems like every hour Koko will wake, nurse, then fall back into cozy slumber. So it was all the more exciting to find myself alone downstairs with her this afternoon for what was the longest alert, non-crying time I have had with her since her birth. We talked for a bit and I took some pictures. I tend to worry a lot about things that I probably shouldn't with little newborns, but this time we had together made those worries disappear for a time.

In other news, Mei had her first sleepover the other night at her cousin Cairo's. Kyoko and I were fully expecting a late night call from her, but she had a great time, slept all through the night, was in in no hurry to go home and wanted to back and spend the next night there as well. There is more news and some great photos from the pajama party on Cairo's blog.

Koko Ruby Dedini

2011-01-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

After just two hours in the delivery room, Koko Ruby Dedini entered the world at 11:59a.m. on Thursday, January 13. She weighed 5lbs 14oz (2655g). Kyoko is recovering very well and we are now back at home. Mei is excited and has been a wonderful helper. More pictures and information will come soon.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

It has been a ridiculously wet holiday season. I think it has rained just about every day since winter break started on the 17th. We took advantage of a break in the weather with Cairo and some other friends over for some time in the park. I think it was the only time this whole break that we spent at the park.

In addition to the weather, many of us in the Dedini family have had colds, which has also kept us inside over the break. This helped make for a different sort of Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent at home with just Kyoko, Mei and I. We made homemade udon and a delicious chocolate cake. It was a warm, peaceful, and quiet Christmas Eve.

Mei was very excited about Christmas morning, jumping up and down at the sight of a few presents that weren't there the night before. Santa brought exactly what she had asked for: new bubble bath, yogurt, and some hippo pajamas, as well a a new tea set. After opening Santa's presents we went over to Erik and Kim's for a delicious Christmas breakfast and some time with Grandma and Grandpa, who have been down in Ferndale a lot recently taking care of mom's parents.

Christmas dinner was at our house. We had ham, scalloped potatoes, corn soup, my favorite whole wheat rolls (thank Erik!) and an inventive wreath-salad. It was a memorable first Christmas at our new house.

One of Mei's favorite Christmas presents was a set of roller skates from Ba-Chan and Grandpa. Despite being a little under the weather, she has used them a little every day inside and is looking forward to taking them outside when the weather improves.

I still have a few more days of vacation, and we are passing it slowly, indoors, waiting for the birth of Coco-chan (what we've been calling our baby in the womb).

Season's Greetings to all our friends and family!

Roll Me Over

2010-12-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

One of Mei's favorite things to do when I get home from work is to roll me over on the floor. I think it started because I sometimes stretch on the floor in the evenings. Being as stiff as I am, it really stretches me out, especially when she wants to do it over and over again.

The Weather Outside is Frightful, but the Fire...

2010-12-20T16:40:00.000-08:00

The month of December has so far been nothing but cold wetness, but the anticipation of a two-week winter break has made the days fly by.

The Christmas season began just after Thanksgiving. Mei got to visit Santa the week after Thanksgiving and give him her requests for this year. Fortunately for Santa (and for us) they remained unchanged from last year: yogurt and candy. I am sure that Santa is thankful for those easy to please children (I know we are).

The day after Thanksgiving Dad and I went up in the Six Rivers National Forest to get a Christmas tree, as he has done every year, but there was too much snow to get up to where the good trees are, so we had to buy one in town. That made for a smaller tree than I would have chosen, but for our first Christmas tree in our new house, I am more than pleased.

On the 8th, I had my 31st Birthday. We celebrated at our house with steak "a la teppan-yaki" and a delicious chocolate cake. Thank you Kyoko!!

Dad gave me a bee suit for my birthday. I am excited about learning about the art of beekeeping from him beginning in the spring. My grandfather kept bees, and my dad has for a number of years now, and I am finally going to get my hands in it a little more, now that they will be protected from the stingers.

After only a few short weeks, Erik, Kim, Cairo and Jonah are back with us for the holidays. Mei and Cairo participated in the Christmas pageant at the Presbyterian church. Mei has been a sheep for the past couple of years, but this year she was a little too nervous to get up on the stage for the manger scene. It was Cairo's first time, but she had no reservations.

Time is Flying!!

2010-11-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

Just wrapping up a weeklong break for Thanksgiving. It was very relaxing, and full of good food and family, but as usual it went by a little too fast.

Do you notice anything different about this picture? How many people can you see? If you said three I wouldn't blame you, but if you look very carefully you may detect a bulge under Kyoko's coat. This picture was taken on the day of Kyoko's baby shower. If that wasn't enough surprise, well, she is now 34 weeks along already. We delayed posting this news on blog at first, and then all of a sudden it seemed almost too late to come out and say it. Anyway, we are very excited and are getting ready for the newest addition to our family. Mei is excited, too, and she goes back and forth between saying how much she will help take care of her little sister and claiming what is hers and hers alone.

There have been a ton of birthday parties lately for children in Mei's preschool class. Lots of cake and ice cream. It seemed that almost every week there for a while there was at least one. This one happened to be at a park near our house. It was for a little boy in Mei's class who turned five.

Turkey Day at Grandma and Grandpa Tipple's. Mom prepared a great feast. Aunt Helen's seven layer cookies were a great addition to the pumpkin pie at dessert.

Mei and Cairo had a wonderful time together over this break. They got to play a lot and really seemed to have missed each other. Jonah is running around following them now. He was barely walking last time they were up. So great that we get to see them again in just few more weeks!

Oh October, Where art Thou?

2010-11-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

That was fast. I know that a few smaller posts a month would be better, but all I seem to manage lately is the big "month is review" type thing. Here goes,

Mei absolutely loves to draw. She does it every day, and it is great to see little details get added on every so often. Here is a recent drawing. It is a thank you to her great-uncle in San Francisco.

Now there is a big pencil!

Mehari sushi (pickled mustard leaves wrapped around rice) are just about Mei's favorite these days.

This Halloween Mei had a little better idea of what candy is, and with two costumes to choose from she was very much looking forward to it. Shen ended up choosing both costumes, so she was a Minnie Mouse Fish. The actual going up to people's houses and knocking on the doors was a little challenging because some of the houses looked scary. In fact the first house she went to had a guy in a gorilla mask crouching in the window, which made her cry, but the family came out and gave her candy, but she was a little reluctant from there on out.

Choosing our pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

She still got quite a haul. She is not too into chocolate yet, so I offered to help her and she was fine with that.

Mei played in her first piano recital this past weekend. It was my mom's biannual recital for her students and Mei joined in. We have been doing music time together lately and she has been working on DoReMi as well as her own piece, called "Banana Song". She played DoReMi (the C major scale up and down) at the recital. Grandma gave her an ice cream certificate for her hard work, so we went out that night.

Some video from this month:

Happy Birthday Grandma Tipple!

2010-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma Tipple turned 83 last Monday, and we celebrated the previous weekend with a BBQ dinner at Mei's great-Grandma and Grandpa Tipple's in Ferndale. Grandma moved into a new technological world as she received a Kindle from my parents. Enjoy!

Mei in Motion

2010-10-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't posted many videos lately and I thought I should so you can get a better idea of how Mei is growing and changing.

Mei performs the "Shimosato Ondo" Bon dance.

Mei, like her dad, enjoys watching Sumo on TV. We recently got a Japanese TV station on our satellite and they show all six of the annual sumo tournaments. Each tournament lasts 15 days, but because they are shown in the middle of the day, I only see them on the weekend. There is a lot of formality and tradition involved that I don't understand very well, but the matches and the tournaments are always run the same way, so Mei and I have both got the basics down. As the wrestlers get into the ring they throw salt on the ground and slap their belllies. Just before the two wrestlers charge at each other, they put one fist then the other on the ground and the referee says something like "Hakeyoi!" As they charge he says "Nokotta, nokotta, nokotta". Mei's version of this is a little different. She says "Haku de!" Which means "I'm going to throw up", but she doesn't actually know that is what it means.

A random dance.

Hashi and Ue Sensei come to Visit

2010-09-26T07:13:00.001-07:00

Back at the beginning of September, two of Kyoko's friends from her preschool teacher days in Osaka came to visit for 10 days. It was the first time that any of our friends from Japan - apart from Kyoko's parents - had come to visit. We had a blast with them, and used their visit as an excuse to visit all of the fun places that we like to go. Mei might have had the most fun, she bonded with them immediately (they are both preschool teachers as well) and within the first few days she was hanging out with them more than Kyoko and I and asking if she could sleep in their bed. It was a very enjoyable visit for everyone.

Hashi and Ue Sensei

At Grandma and Grandpa Tipple's in Ferndale.

At the Farmer's Market.

Enjoying the produce from the market

Sampling the local brew at the Eel River Brewery in Fortuna.

During the their visit Mei had her first day of Preschool. She was very excited to go to school and has been enjoying it for a month now. Grandma came to go with her on her first day. I wish I could have been there, too, but school had just started for me that week as well.

A trip to Agate Beach at Patrick's Point.

They saw a whale from this lookout at Wedding Rock.

With Mio at my parent's house for dinner.

BBQing at our house.

S'Mores!

Mei went on many trips to the park with her new best friends, Hashi and Ue.

Tending the garden.

No trip to our area from out of the country is complete without a trip to Costco. They actually ended up going twice. The first time to look was a little overwhelming, so they went back later to buy.

The day before they had to leave, we went out to see the redwoods near Prairie Creek in Redwood National Park. Mei absolutely loves playing in the redwood forest.

Thanks for a wonderful visit Hashi and Ue!

Sunshine and Blackberries

2010-09-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Despite the rainy weekend we are having at the moment, this September has been lovely weather for Arcata. September is often the nicest month of the year, with less morning fog and overcast days like in June and July. The nice weather has led to a lot of work in the garden and lots of time outside picking berries, having picnics, and doing the things I wished we had been able to do more of during summer break rather than after school started up again.

Dad and I rented a lawn aerator to help repair our lawns. My lawn does its best despite the clay and rocks it has to deal with. After aerating I reseeded, fertilized, and added some compost and topsoil. It is starting to look a lot better.

Mei and Kyoko harvested the potatoes and sugar peas. Now we just have tomatoes while we wait for the zucchini to to be ready.

There are tons of blackberries near the fence behind our house, as well as behind grandma and grandpa's house. Mei and I have been saving a portion of our berries each time we go out so that we could make blackberry popsicles. We finally had enough and boy, were they delicious.

Mei in her summer yukata.

Last weekend we had a picnic in Ferndale with a number of friends. It was Bargain Days in Ferndale, which is a town-wide yard sale. People all over the town put out there unwanted items in the front yard and thousands of people show up to treasure hunt. It was a beautiful day and a delicious lunch from the Loleta Bakery.

Last week my friend Matt brought Mei a ton of flowers. They were beautiful. We gave many away and bought some vases at Bargain days to hold the rest. Thank you Matt!

Summer Ends

2010-08-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

And there it went. School started for me yesterday, so summer has officially come to an end – however the weather is just starting to get nice – thanks Arcata. Mei is starting preschool as well and will have her first full week next week. It was a great summer, but not quite as slow and relaxing as we thought it might be since we had few trips planned. Mei and Cairo got to spend lots of time together, which was great. A week or so before they went back down south, we roasted hot dogs at Erik and Kim's.

Here Cairo and Mei help grandpa harvest potatoes.

Two weeks ago we all went to the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale. Mei always like to see the animals, and Kyoko, Mei and I got to see a little horse racing as well. Kyoko won almost $90 on a $6 bet. Nice!

Based on what she says when I ask her where she wants to get, I would say that Mei's favorite parts of summer were at the beach. We got to Agate Beach a number of times this summer, and if this weather keeps up, maybe we will still get there a few more times.

Role Reversal

2010-08-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

This summer provided an interesting experience to change positions with Kyoko, as she went to school at Humboldt State for an intensive English language course for four weeks while I stayed at home with Mei. They kept Kyoko very busy with academic work, and Mei kept me busy with trips to the park, preparing food, doing laundry, and running errands. I got to take Mei to the dentist for her first time. I was a little worried that she would refuse to open her mouth, but her dentist office specializes in children's dentistry and they are very prepared. The waiting room looks like a dream-room: video games, dvds playing, a train set, and tons of toys. They were very good with Mei, also, and she had a great time. She fully cooperated and left with handfuls of stickers, temporary tattoos, rings, toothbrush, floss, etc.

Kyoko's course was especially for foreign students who need to pass the TOEFEL exam to enter into regular university courses. We invited many of her classmates over for a BBQ on the first weekend. It was a lot of fun. The students were mostly 18-20 years old and had recently come to Arcata from many countries all over the world.

Erik, Cairo, and Mei making s'mores with Yasu from Japan.

A number of Kyoko's classmates.

The BBQ was also the first time that I had invited my friends over for a housewarming and to see our new place. Here are Marc and Trask with Kyoko.

For one of Kyoko's classes she had to prepare a presentation about a local Native American group. She chose the people who live in the area I work in, so we went out there with her two group mates and were very lucky to get a personal tour of some traditional houses and dance grounds.

On the Lost Coast

2010-07-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

The Dedini family headed out to the isolated coastal area in the King Mountain range known as the "Lost Coast" last week for a family vacation in a remodeled ranch house on, you guessed it, a ranch, complete with horses, cows, and corrals. On the map you will notice the absence of nearby towns and roads of any decent size. The lost coast either got it's name from its fogginess or its isolatedness (probably the latter) as it is the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in California.

Picking blueberries with Cairo

Mei got to ride a horse for the first time. We were all very surprised at how brave Cairo and Mei were getting up on the back of Curly and going for a ride. It was a very memorable experience I am sure.

The hotdogs at the river by chef Grandpa were delicious.

Kyoko gets a little riverside R&R

That's a lot of Dedinis!

Leave it to Grandma to get the matching pajamas. It doesn't get any better than that.

Or maybe it does. Grandma reads a goodnight story to two happy campers.

Jonah is getting bigger every day and has recently begun taking steps on his own.

S'mores!!

Look Who's 29!

2010-07-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

Kyoko turned 29 on July 13th. We had a birthday BBQ at my parent's with my brother and his family. Jonah may look small in the back next to grandpa in the second picture, but he nearly ate the rest of us under the table. He is quite the eater.

Did you make your Tanabata wishes? There were plenty of things to wish for this July 7, so we chose a few, wrote them down, and tied them to this bamboo. Bamboo is sure not as easy to come here in Arcata as it is in Japan. I wonder if it is okay to substitute fir or redwood for the bamboo?

A trip to Redwood park this afternoon. Thinking about what I just said about the redwood branches. Those redwood branches are way to high up there to reach.

No, this carrot has not been genetically modified. Mei and I must have planted a few seeds little too close together. Mei pulled this up yesterday and began anthropomorphizing with them.

Have we ever mentioned on this blog that Mei is monkey with the upper body strength to match? A little while back she wanted a popsicle from the freezer. When I said "after dinner" she began scaling the fridge and actually managed to open the freezer up top, a feat that she couldn't quite replicate for the camera, but if you close your eyes while watching the clip, you can hear her primate vocalizings.

Summer Begins

2010-07-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

The school year has come to a close and summer has officially begun. My summer began with a week-long teacher workshop in San Francisco. With no Mei or Kyoko, I had only early morning World Cup games to keep me company. I came back in time for the annual Oyster Festival. Humboldt Bay produces a significant portion of the oysters consumed on the west coast. I heard about 40,000 were consumed on the day of the festival. Though often enjoyed raw, many local restaurants try their best to create the best grilled oyster of the festival. I liked the BBQ bacon bleu cheese oyster. Kyoko's favorite was a crab, shrimp, other seafood, panko and mayo grilled oyster.

Since returning home I started teaching summer school, but with shorter hours and a much smaller class it has been very relaxing and enjoyable. I am getting to things that have been on the To Do list for while, like finishing the fence out front that my dad has helped us build.

Summertime also means that Cairo and the family are in town. Cairo's birthday marks the beginning of summer every year. we helped her celebrate her third at their house. Erik put together a great new play structure in the back yard.

As I have probably said before, Mei's favorite thing in all the world is picking berries and eating them. There are many berries ripening on the vine these days. Loganberries and blueberries at Grandma's, strawberries at our house, thimbleberries near our house, and blackberries here and there and everywhere. Here are Mei and Cairo behind mom and dad's house picking loganberries.

We have a little garden going now, that despite the hard soil, is starting to take shape. Mei helps with watering, weeding, and eating sugar snap peas right off the vine.

Mei Turns Three

2010-05-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Mei turned three yesterday, and to celebrate we had some of her favorite people over for a party. Mei was very happy to have everyone come over to her house. She has been practicing raising three fingers for a few months now, and is a pro already, "I'm three!"

Mei's friend Noah sings "Happy Birthday" with his own guitar accompaniment.

Mei has been asking about baseball lately and wanting to play, so we got her a T-Ball set. She has a ways to go, but for her first time, it's pretty entertaining. We will need to work on running to the bases instead of bowing and saying "thank you" after every hit........

Birthdays and a Peony (牡丹)

2010-05-15T23:19:00.001-07:00

Just before Kyoko's parent's returned to Japan, Erik, Kim, Cairo and Jonah came into town for a weeklong visit. It went by too quick, but they will be back this summer for a lot longer.

May is a big birthday month in our family. First is Grandpa Lee (Happy 60th!), then Great Grandpa Tipple, and next will be Mei. She will be three tomorrow.

For Mother's Day, Mei and I got mommy a peony from the farmer's market. It was a small, 2 inch round ball when we brought it home and were very surprised the next morning to see such a huge blossom. It kept getting bigger each day, and it's layers of petals were absolutely beautiful. It eventually got a good 10 inches across and then the color began to fade, each day a fainter shade of pink, until it was almost white and the petals began to fall off. Kyoko enjoyed it very much.

Kyoko's Parents Come to Visit

2010-05-07T22:56:00.000-07:00

Kyoko's parents came to Arcata for the second time last month for a two-week visit. We toured all around Humboldt County and had a great time together.

We drove out to the Lost Coast for a day. It is almost always windy there, but we lucked out. It was a beautiful, warm, clear day.

In the Redwoods.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday at my parent's.

Mei is ready to eat.

On a walk with Sei Ji-Chan

Planting strawberries in a planter Kyoko's dad made. Thank you Grandpa!

Mei sporting Census 2010 promo gear courtesy of a Census worker who did a presentation for my class.

Mei with our neighbor's chickens. She really likes going to see them, feeding them, petting them, and retrieving eggs from their coop.

Mei

2010-03-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

I know that there are people who look at this site regularly to see new pictures of Mei. She is growing by leaps and bounds. Last week she took a four hour nap! She is really enjoying the new house. She gets to go to the park almost daily, and there is lots of dirt to play in outside as daddy slowly makes progress on putting in a French drain.

The New Crib (And I don't mean Mei's new bed)

2010-02-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

It's been almost one month since we first began moving in and we are beginning to feel settled in. There are still many things to put away and organize, but we are now able to relax and enjoy our home. Mei really likes it here. She loves looking out the second story window in her room. There is a park right next door, so we go there almost every day, weather permitting. Mei did also get a bigger bed for her room. She put up with sleeping in a small crib for a long time and it was time to upgrade. She sleeps most nights in her own bed in her own room now, occasionally coming over to our bed in the early morning. More updates and some catching up in future posts.

Coming Soon

2010-02-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

Mei, Kyoko, and I are in the process of moving to a new house. Things are a little crazy right now as we move, and we do not yet have internet at the new place. I will begin posting with reckless abandon from the comfort of our new home in a week or so, I hope, with plenty of pictures and descriptions to fill you in. Until then, email and posts will be sparse.

See you soon!

Daddy Time

2010-01-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

It was a real joy having two weeks off for the holidays. Mei and I spent a lot of time together. Getting wood for the fire, getting up together in the morning and making waffles, going on walks outside. It was really nice. During a normal week I wake up, get ready and leave for work before Mei even wakes up. During the winter months it is dark outside by the time I get home, so we don't spend any time outside together besides on weekends. She is constantly changing and has been getting over her "No" period, or "hankouki" in Japanese, which is nice. She also got her first haircut recently, which makes her look a little older as well.

2009-12-31T00:13:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we took a walk around the Arcata Wildlife Santuary, aka the marsh. It was a bit cold, but it felt good to move around outside after several days of loafing, eating, and going outside just long enough to get more wood for the fire.

A Dedini Family Christmas

2009-12-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful day of food, family, and gift giving. Mei woke up to find a present from Santa at her bed. As she had asked for, she got yogurt and a candy cane. Santa also gave her a toy that he thought she would like, but maybe she hadn't thought of.

We went to Erik and Kim's for breakfast and Christmas morning gift opening. In the afternoon we went to Ferndale and had an early Christmas dinner with the Grandparent's and my uncle's family. We had a turkey dinner and stuffed ourselves again. After exchanging presents we watched the movie "Up" until we were too tired to watch anymore. It was quite a day.

Kyoko's new shoes!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-26T21:57:00.001-08:00

After Grandma Dedini's passing in July we have had to change a few traditions in the family. One big change was where we spend Christmas Eve. For the first I can remember this year we had Christmas Eve at my parent's. We had a delicious ham dinner and chose a few presents from under the tree to open. It felt a little strange, but it was a great night and we really enjoyed the time together in the new room at my parent's, with the wood stove keeping us warm.

The Wonderful World of Chocolate

2009-12-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Erik, Kim, Cairo, and Jonah are here now for a couple of weeks. Here we are together in the new room at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mei and Cairo love to play with each other and are getting along very well.

As she did last year, Mei unwrapped all the Hershy Kisses for Grandma's Christmas cookies. But unlike last year, she licked the last one and walked through the door to a new world, the world of Chocolate. She licked that chocolate kiss until there was about half left, then I asked her if I could have some. She then put the rest in her mouth with a satisfied smile and fisnished it off. She will never be the same again.

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas

2009-12-21T00:53:00.000-08:00

I am on break now for a couple of weeks, and so am going to try to catch up a little on the blog and cover the holidays more regular posting. December began with my birthday on the 8th. Kyoko and Mei made a delicious cake.

Mei has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. Kyoko and I have both noticed how she looks older recently. You can start to imagine a little what she will look like as she gets older. She still acts very much like a two year old, responding "No" out of hand, then reconsidering if it is something she really wants. Getting her to do something is less about bribing than just saying "I guess I will just have to put this away." or "Since you don't want this I guess I will use it." That works even better than a bit of dried mango, though that will often do the trick as well.

The new room has been finished at my parent's house and the Christmas tree is in there this year. We decorated last weekend. Mei helped out a lot, but put many ornaments on the same two branches. They were redistributed sometime afterwards

Erik, Kim, Cairo, and Jonah are back in town for the holidays. Grandma and Grandpa Tipple came to see the new room today and to see them.

For the second year in a row I played Joseph of Nazareth in the Presbyterian Church Christmas play. This year it was "Jesus comes to Arcata" and it featured some fun lines (Joseph- "It is alright if I tie my donkey up on that field over there?" Transient 1- "On the Plaza?! That's not going to work, bro. They got an ordinance against that.") Mei was a sheep again and came out at the end ofr the nativity scene.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T22:44:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the last few hours of a wonderfully relaxing 5-day break for Thanksgiving. It was great having Erik, Kim, Cairo, and Jonah here to enjoy it with us. It was a rare extended weekend that went by Slowly. Only three more weeks until the next break!

I should post more pics than this, but for now here is a pic of Carrie (my cousin's daughter), Cairo, and Mei enjoying the swing in Grandma and Grandpa Tipple's backyard on Thanksgiving.

Dance Machine

2009-11-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

We can post video again!

Halloween

2009-11-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

Another huge gap between posts. This time I have a bit of an excuse in that our computer has been acting up and has been ridiculously slow for the past month. I tried a number of things unsuccessfully, and so we gave in last week and bought a new MacBook. Apple had just recently came out with an upgraded MacBook and we are very pleased with our new machine. No more excuses, here is some of what we've been up to.

We had a BBQ with Naomi and her family about a month back. We carved our pumpkins then, which turned out to be a little too early. Our Anpanman pumpkin didn't make it to Halloween, as you can see in the picture.

Kyoko made a Kiki outfit for Mei to wear on Halloween. Kiki is a girl witch from the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service". We trick-or-treated with Pomie and Maddy around Hyland. Mei got lots of candy, but the only things she actually thought were candy were the organic suckers from the Coop that Grandma was giving out. That made it easy to trade away the other goodies.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we celebrated Grandma Tipple's birthday in Ferndale. Mei helped blow out the candles, though when it came time for eating the cake, she left most of it and just ate the ice cream.

Yesterday we went to Blue Lake for the pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun picking out three pumpkins. We'll carve them in a week or so.

Here we are again!

2009-09-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

It really has been too long since I posted last. I falsely thought that I would somehow continue at my summertime pace even after returning to work. Nope. That won't happen. But I should do better than this.

We had a great few days with Cairo, Jonah, Erik, and Kim before they went back to LA. We took some family photos under the apple trees at Grandma Dedini's. You'll have to wait for our Christmas card to see more.......

Back Home!

2009-08-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that we are back home in Arcata. We took an extra day getting back. We volunteered our seats for a night in a hotel, better seats, and some money in our pockets. A little jet-lagged, but healthy, happy, and glad to be home. Work starts again next Monday!!

I will fill in the the last week again soon, but here is a picture from the night before we left.

Whales, Dolphins, and Fireworks

2009-08-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

As it often seems with vacations, time passes more quickly as the end approaches. This week is Obon in Japan. It is the time of year when relatives who have passed come back to their homes and visit with their family who are still living. It is also the week of summer in which many people have vacation and return to their hometowns to visit family, as well as summer festivals and fireworks displays. On Friday we went to Taiji in the morning to visit the Whale museum, and in the evening we returned to see the Taiji fireworks.

At the whale museum there is an aquarium that includes a number of dolphins, as well as dolphin and whale shows. There is also whale meat available in the gift shop. Taiji has a long history of whaling, which has earned it a certain reputation with the environmentally conscious crowd. Apparently a documentary called "The Cove" about dolphin hunting in Taiji recently won a top award a the Sundance film festival and is beginning to make the rounds in theatres.

Painting a clay whale at the whale museum.

Towards the end of the fireworks display there is a break during which there is a crowd participation event. Any one who wants to can get a fiery torch and join a large circle surrounding a tall pole with a small straw basket near the top. The people with the torches try to toss their torch into the basket. The lucky tosser's torch lights the basket and sets off a fireworks display at the top of the pole. The top of the pole then catches on fire and then the entire pole is pulled and comes crashing down onto the concrete. It is an exciting event to say the least.
Here you can see the light of a couple of torches in the air.

Here the fireworks have been lit.

Mei taking a rest in the driveway with seven dried cicada exoskeletons that we had just found together.

More Friends Come to Visit

2009-08-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend some friends of Kyoko's from her previous job in Osaka came for a visit. It coincided nicely with Kyoko beginning to feel better and some improvement in the weather.

On Saturday we went to the Ohta river for a BBQ.

Mei holding a fish that was caught as we were catching river shrimp.

A shot of the rice fields above the river. The rice is usually harvested around September, and the fields are beginning to turn a sort of orangey-green as the rice matures.

Of the many fish varieties we looked forward to eating, Sanma- otherwise known as the the Pacific Saury- is at the top of both Kyoko's list and my own. Here is a Sanma, hira-yaki-style on the BBQ with some mushrooms, inside and outside foil.

Mei wouldn't even consider the idea of a nap while we were at the river, and so she crashed utterly and completely in the 10 minutes it took to drive home. Here she is passed out on Kyoko's lap in the living room.

Two of the visitors had to leave Sunday afternoon, but the two who stayed Sunday night went with us to Bodai, our favorite Katsuura restaurant. It was even more delicious than I remembered it to be. Akira, our friend and waiter, made Mei's entire day by giving her a dessert that, unbeknownst to him, contained a perfect selection of Mei's favorites: vanilla ice cream, blueberry jam, frozen bluberries, and a quarter of a round waffle.
For some reason I can't tell, I look like I am 40 years old in this picture.

It would be nice if the weather stayed nice for this next week. August 11-16 is the Japanese holiday of Obon, when ancestors who have passed return to their homes for a few days. Many people travel home and have time off work. There are town festivals and fireworks displays. It doesn't look good, however. There is a typhoon on its way towards us as we speak and they just announced over the town loudspeakers that tomorrow's fireworks display in Katsuura has been postponed due to the approaching storm........

Hanging Out at Home

2009-08-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Since returning from Kobe we have spent a lot of time around the house. Along with the rain, which I have already gone into at length, Kyoko was also under the weather herself, so we stayed close to home. A lot of good times and relaxing were had, so it was hardly time lost.

Hana and Mei show off their matching T-shirts. Sota has the same one as well. Busy, Busy, Bees.....

The troupe in their bee uniforms playing with the grandparents. For some reason the back of Mei's shirt reads "Patissier" while Sota and Hana's reads "Charming". The fronts are all the same.

We have been having some issues with sharing and taking turns as Hana and Mei get used to playing together. For some reason, though, they do really well with the one tricycle, taking turns pushing for each other.

A couple of years ago Kyoko's parents planted some grapevines in the back of their house. This year's crop is just beginning to ripen. Mei and Hana enjoy some grapes in the front yard as ji-chan keeps an eye out (and a battery-powered tennis racket-shaped bug zapper) for mosquitoes who venture too close to his grandchildren.

Weather permitting, I like to take Mei out on the bike for a trip to the supermarket, the beach, or wherever. It get us out of the house, and Mei really likes cruising on the bike. This back-style of child seat is not very common in the US anymore I think. Mei has to mean over to the side if she wants to see what is up ahead. The bike has a very low crossbar for the legs, so it very easy to dismount. I would like to get some kind of child-bike setup for Mei back in CA.

Our Trip to Kobe

2009-08-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

We got on the train last Friday and headed up north past Osaka to Kobe to visit Kyoko's friend Tomo and her family. Their son, Yuto, turned one in March, and was a lot of fun. We had a really nice visit.

Here we are at the station on our way out of town.

With Tomo, Ko-chan, and Yuto at their house.

With a friend of Tomo's and her daughter, Mei, who was born just four days after our Mei.

Mei slept for over two hours in this mall stroller on our second day there.

With my friends the Kinoshita family at their house in Wakayama City. They invited us over for a delicious BBQ on our way back to Wakayama. It was a rare beautiful day and we spent the whole afternoon in their backyard overlooking the ocean.

With Kyoko's friend Mayumi and her cousin Nana at the train station before heading back to Shimosato. We spent the evening with them in Wakayama City.

Unrelated to our trip, here is a shot of Hana and Mei on a crab hunt in the streets of Kyoko's parent's neighborhood.

Buy New Sunscreen Every Year

2009-07-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

More rain, and lots of it. It has rained almost every day for the past week and more is forecast. It is almost August and the rainy season refuses to end. It is usually over by the end of June, and people are talking about how strange this is. We could use the rain in northern CA, but here people are worried about the effects on the rice crops. It is not terribly hot, but the humidity make Mei and I constantly sweaty. Mei likes to eat the pickled vegetables that Kyoko's mom makes, and the vinegar comes out in her sweat. Her head always smells like vinegar.

On Sunday there was break in the rain so we went to the beach for a swim. We couldn't find Mei's sunscreen, so we used mine that I had left here three years ago. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't know that sunscreen stopped working after a few years, but I guess it does. We both got a little sunburnt in the two hours we were there. Mei and I had hats on most of the time, so it was mostly our arms and legs. It didn't show up until after we got home. Fortunately it wasn't so bad, as we weren't in pain or itchy, just a little red. It could have been a lot worse. Note to parents: Buy new sunscreen every year!

This morning looking out at the rain. The day after we went to the beach Mei came down with the cold that Kyoko's mom, sister and cousins Hana and Sota had over the weekend. She has had a low fever for a couple of days that we are watching carefully because of her previous fever induced seizure. Today she doesn't have a fever, just a bit of a runny nose. We have been taking it easy the last few days.

Mei playing Shinkenja with Haru, another new friend. We had a delicious nabe dinner with Haru's parent's Hiromi and Ma-kun on Saturday night, and Haru shared his toys with Mei. Shinkenja are kind of like Power Rangers, I think.

A couple of weeks ago Kyoko's friend Yuki came by with her family. Their daughter, Risa, was very nice with Mei. They played together all afternoon.

Just last week Mei suddenly got pretty decent with chopsticks. She started with sesame green beans and has moved on to other foods as well. I wish I could do video, but you will just have to wait and see it for yourself.