Worth Thousands of Words (But Faster to Read)

I'm behind on blogging, again.  Dylan had all of last week off of work (since our stint in Tokyo is so long, there was a scheduled week off in the middle), so we tried to do family things.  Kaylee still had school, though, and then got a cold (or allergies) at the end of the week, making her a bit tired and cranky.  We ended up not doing much, but it still kept us busy.

Here's the last week or so, in pictures:

More Spring flowers.  Mostly Cherry Blossoms.  They're in their next stage of growth, and just as beautiful, if a little less colorful.

We went to the Tama Zoo.

They're looking at the red macaws - there's four bunched together on that branch.

The inside of a (fake) baobab tree, with windows that look over the elephants.

They have a bus that drives into the lion enclosure so you can get up close to the lions.  To make sure the lions wake up and come visit the bus, they hang fresh meat from the side of the bus.  I wasn't sure how I felt about it - a lot of driving back and forth to wake the lion up from its happy sunbathing.  Seemed like using the animals more for entertainment then for education.  But, it was cool to be inches from the lion.

Dylan and I explored Ueno Park a bit.

Then we went to the Tokyo National Museum.  We didn't have time for all of it - it's comprised of several buildings across a huge complex.  So we stuck to the Honkan this time, the main Japan exhibit.

A saddle with lacquer and mother of pearl inlay (detail below)

Dragon on a sword

There was lots of beautiful stuff.  We're planning on going back to at least check out the archaeology museum.  I love how much Southeast Asian history I'm learning on this adventure.  It amazes me how ignorant we (people/Americans) generally are of the rest of the world.

Kaylee made Easter Eggs (Dylan made the baskets) for the grand parents.  I still haven't mailed them.  It's the thought that counts, right?

That was the extent of our Easter celebrations.  Dylan was back at work on Sunday, and I just wasn't going to fuss with trying to hide eggs in the tiny hotel room.  We played with our letter matching eggs - does that count?  (Plastic eggs with the capital letter on one half and the lower case on the second half - she's doing really well at matching them and putting them together!)  She did have an egg hunt at school, and made a cute bunny.  Her school projects are just adorable.  I'm so glad we're sending her to this school!