Sweet Things: go fly a kite!

One Japanese New Year tradition is kite flying, otherwise known as "tako age". Chikara has really wanted to take the girls to fly kites in past years but there was always a baby or not enough of them knew what was going on so I always put a stop to it. This year was the first year I felt that Emi and Misaki would be 100% able to participate and Sakura, the follower, wouldn't get in the way. I know, I'm way too practical, but sometimes things that sound good in your head turn out to be a big headache in reality when four children are involved!

The week before the New Year's holidays, we took the girls to Toys R Us and let the older three pick out a kite for themselves. Amazingly, Misaki and Sakura picked out their kites right away but it was Emi that made us wander around all over the WHOLE store and then went back to where we started and finally picked one. Everyday they asked us if were going to go kite flying but we said they had to wait until Daddy's vacation started.

On January 1st we had two families over for lunch and during the afternoon the three daddies took all of the older kids (6 of them) to the riverside to fly kites together. Since we only had three kites, we made sure that all the kids were aware that they had to share and off they went. It was pretty cold that day but the sky was clear and the wind was strong so it was perfect for kite flying. When they came back, every one of them had pink cheeks and runny noses but they had had a great time running around in the wide open spaces (seriously, very hard to find around here). While they were gone, the three mommies and the younger children (just 2) enjoyed the quiet and were ready with snacks and drinks when they returned.

Two days later, we spent the day with Chikara's parents and before we went to dinner, they took Emi and Misaki to fly kites. Sakura and Natsuki were worn out from all of the activities we had participated in all week so the three of us napped while they were gone.