A weekend surprise and crazy Monday

Girls playing with the toys that were in the goodie bags from the party.

Aly's eyes look funny in this photo.

I forgot what she was saying... but the girls had Udon for lunch.

Saya exploring the front yard.

She could work for UPS.

She spotted some crows.

She was checking out my garden - the veggie family is growing but I have lots of space still.

Someone messed up my cucumber plant in right bottom.  I could see a footstep of something, possibly a dear near it (or could be one of my kids).

We had a relatively mellow weekend and the only thing planned was attending Aly's friend, Carina's birthday party. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so I cannot share any scenes from the party. Carina's Mom did a very good job organizing the party. She has an eye for design and made the set up very beautiful with butterflies, fairies, pastel confettis and cute girly cupcakes. Maybe I will seek her advice for next year's kids' parties!

Going to the party itself is no surprise, however something happened there while we were there. So, there were a bunch of Japanese Moms at the party. They were all nice and had fun getting to know them. When we moved to the play area (the party was at Shoreline YMCA), I spotted another Japanese Mom carrying an infant in a front carrier whom I haven't spoken to yet. So, I inched towards her to introduce myself. She looked at me and said "you are from Osaka, right?" Well, that's not an unusual question because I do have an Osaka accent and that is very obvious. But then she proceeded to ask "you went to Baika High School, right?" and then that's when it clicked. She was my classmate from Baika Junior High and Senior High School (private school, so everyone stayed together for 6 years)! At that point, I grabbed her hands and jumped up and down like a school girl. We both could not believe that we were standing there in a same room in Shoreline, WA. I hadn't seen her for 21 years since graduation. She told me that she thought she had seen me at a park in Bellevue before but considering the odds of meeting a childhood friend from Japan in a random city in America, she didn't ask. It turns out, she moved with her husband to Bellevue in 2005 and lives in Newcastle (S Bellevue). Well, Mike and I also moved here in 2005 and we live in southeast Bellevue. So, we live pretty close, too. We will have to get together and do a major catch up!

The birthday party was the highlight, but we also had a good time on Saturday at Redmond Farmer's Market. The big tulip blossoms of various colors were so beautiful, I wish I had pick them up. I got some vegetable plants at one of the vendors and the cash ran out quickly... I finally was able to buy chard plants and sweet onions. I am looking forward to planting them very soon. The weather was gorgeous up until Sunday evening. I was wondering how the warm sunny day could turn sour, but it did. We were stuck in a traffic that reminded me of I-580 in California when it started to pour and me and the girls were pretty miserable for an hour and half! We had a pretty good weekend and looking forward to more warm and sunny day!

The photos were taken today (Monday) and the crazy part was, Alyson's behavior.  She was just extremely cranky and was not cooperative!  I kept asking her what is the matter with her and she wouldn't say.  I wonder if she is getting sick.  She fell asleep in the car after dropping Sean off at Lakeside in Issaquah and she was inconsolable after waking up.  I'd never seen her like that and I was very puzzled.  Saya was a happy girl today and was being very cute.  She talks a lot and it's fun listening to what she is saying.  She insisted of wearing her pink cap outside and she chose to wear a brown blazer and brown pants (with a brown pair of boots).  She looked cute regardless of unusual clothing choice!