After Kyoto, we went home and back to the normal grind of things. (boo!) Gabe flew in on Tuesday and Alex surprised him with the news he was going to be an uncle! Carol and Anthony went to Hakone for an overnight trip one night on Wednesday. We did a little adventuring in the nearby area, and over the weekend went to enjoy cherry blossom season in Tokyo! Hanami season was in full swing and there was quite a party happening at Yoyogi Park. It was crazy and beautiful!
We picked up some beers from the beer festival that was happening and found some food from the vendors nearby; we found a few friends of ours and settled in for our very own hanami picnic! (Hanami means "flower viewing" in Japanese; when the plum and cherry blossoms bloom, they go out in huge crowds and save spots under the trees to have picnics and parties. People drink tons of chu hais and sake and have fun!) I'm drinking pineapple juice!
Before they go onto the blankets/tarps/mats, the Japanese take off their shoes! I LOVE it.
We found a blooming magnolia tree....it was so pretty!
This picture is AMAZING!
And it would have been a good one....
Then we wandered over to Meiji shrine!
Oh the outfits in Japan.
Nighttime in Shibuya!
It was AMAZING to have family in town! It was so nice to get to show them where we live. It was so so great, and I know Alex really appreciated having his family here!
We were really sad that we didn't get to see Katie and Laura; and I certainly can't leave them out of the family post! We Facetimed each of them once Anthony and Carol got on the plane to come over (we didn't want anyone to spoil the surprise out of excitement!) I intended to take screenshots of everyone as we told them, but I was too excited and couldn't focus and totally forgot. But I got these two gems!!
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