Julia's Shichi-Go-San (Coming of Age 7-5-3) Celebration

Julia is 3 years old now and she had a Shichi-Go-San Coming of Age celebration. Shichi-Go-San is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys. It is traditionally held annually on November 15, but most of the people in these days target around this day. So, November is a pretty busy month for Japanese Shrines.

ジュリアは今年3歳。七五三のお祝いです。

First, we went to shrine with our family in Chiba and Jiji and Baba celebrated together with us. Julia was dressed in Kimono and was looking pretty.

じぃじ、ばぁば達と一緒に、松戸神社でお祝いです。

Here's Jiji and Julia. Later on, Baba and Auntie Naomi joined together.

じぃじとジュリアです。その後、ばぁば達もジョインしてくれました。

Family shot.

家族写真も、しっかり撮ってきました。（ダディはおニューのカメラで大興奮、撮りまくりです…。）

Also, we had a fun Shichi-Go-San shrine visit at Meiji Shrine with friends. We had bunch of kids who are right on Shichi-Go-San age, so we decided to do it all together.

そして、後日ですが、今度は近場の明治神宮へ、お友達と七五三参りに行ってまいりました。

It was Stocker family with Julia (3), Bezzant family with Bella (also 3) and Cannon family with Anthon (5) all together at Meiji Shrine. They were soooo cute dressed up together!!!

我が家はもちろんジュリア、3歳。Bezzant一家はBella、同じく3歳。そして、Cannon家は、Anthon、5歳。総勢3家族、子供含めて17名での明治神宮七五三参りです。

What was so funny was that while we were there we got our picture taken by bunch of random people. Especially our kids dressed up in Kimono. I think it was more on Anthon and Bella than Julia since they were full Gaijin (foreign) face. Bunch of random Japanese people were just taking pictures of our kids. I felt like we were some super model or something. It never happens when I'm alone since I'm Japanese. I kinda wished my kids were full Gaijin. Too bad they have my side of blood.

うちの子供たちや、マイケルにもよくあることなのですが、どうも外人、特に子供たちと一緒にいると、通りすがりの日本人の方に「一緒に写真を撮ってください。」と頼まれることがよくあります。外人が着物来て歩いてるって、珍しいのかしら…。特に子供達がかわいかったようで、「かわいぃ～！！」と、黄色い声が上がっていることもしばしば…。

この日は特に激しかった…。日本人にのみならず、中国人、（おそらく）韓国人の観光客まで私たちにカメラを向ける始末…。「一緒に写真撮らせてください！」の声が多すぎて、大鳥居から先に進むまでえらい時間がかかりました。一通りの波が過ぎ去ったところで、戦略変更、表の道からではなく、裏から本堂に入りました…。

Look at these three! They are soooo cute!!!

でも、こうやって3人並ぶと、やっぱりかわいいです。（親バカも入り…）

We'll put up everyone's picture later.

また、後ほどみんなで撮った写真をアップしますね。

Noah is 2!!

Happy Happy Birthday, my little sweet Noah!

I just cannot believe my little boy is already 2 years old! I guess time flies.

ノアの2歳のお誕生日です！

A couple of days before his birthday, he got his hair cut and was looking like a man on his birthday! On his haircut before, he did not sit still and we had a tough time. Daddy had to tie him up to get his haircut. Of course he had a screaming cry and it was pretty horrible. But this time, iPhone worked great.

お誕生日直前に、男らしく髪の毛を切りに行きました。以前はダディが羽交い絞めにして、やっと切ってもらったのですが、iPhoneのおかげで平和に散髪終了。

He is looking great, isn't he?

男前にしていただきました。

Grandma, Grandpa, cousins, and beautiful aunties sent his a fun birthday card and he was LOVING it!

グランマ、グランパ、そして叔母や従兄弟たちから、大好きなミッキーマウスクラブハウスの音の出るバースデーカードをいただき、ご満悦で遊びまくりのノアです。

And, this is his birthday cake! He LOVES cars, so I made a race track cake with toy cars on top. (race cars are real toys and it actually runs.)

こちらがノアのケーキです。大の車好きのノアなので、サーキットトラックをケーキであしらってみました。バタークリームがうまく伸びなかったり、シュガーペーストのトラックが切れてしまったりと、色々難はあったものの、とりあえず良しとしましょう。

But it seemed that Noah was more interested in toy cars than the actual cake...

しかしながら、当の本人は、ケーキよりおもちゃの車がとても気に入ったご様子で、ケーキはそっちのけで、車で遊んでました…。苦労して作ったのに…。

And his present was a toy race car track with cars that were on top of the cake. He LOVED it and played over and over. The only issue he had is that his sisters were dominantly playing and he didn't get to play the way he wanted. I kept telling the girls that it is Noah's, but of course they obey Mom for only 3 seconds and take over the toys right away...

そして、ノアのお誕生日のプレゼントは、おもちゃのサーキットレースです。ノアにはとっても気に入ってもらえたのですが、なんといっても新し物好きのガールズの襲撃にあい、遊んでいたおもちゃはあっさり乗っ取られてしまいました…。