さくら! Cherry Blossoms! 

Person recently took me and Elsie to Japan. While we were there it was cherry blossom viewing season so we got to see lots of pretty flowers. All over Tokyo it was beautiful with pink and white flowers. We went on buses and trains to get to lots of different parks where we could look at the flowers. I though the bus was exciting. I liked looking out the window and seeing all the new and interesting things. Elsie was scared on the bus and hid in person's purse. She likes to hide.

Flower everywhere!

In Japan everyone likes to sit outside in the parks and look at the flowers. They sit on blue tarps and have picnics. We think this is a wonderful idea. We are always telling person that we want to go to the park and have a picnic. We wanted to get our own blue tarp to sit on.

This is where I'll have my picnic!

Person hadn't thought to bring anything for us to sit on so I improvised and sat in this tree while I ate my afternoon chocolate. At least person remembered the chocolate! I did remind her several times in the morning because she is often forgetful. I watched all the people walking by and wondered what they were doing. Maybe some of them were on their way to Tokyo Disneyland. I hoped someone would offer to take me but no one did.

We're having a fun day!

We visited lots of places and person started to get tired. I think that is why she kept saying no when we wanted to do things. That is the only reason that makes sense. Who wouldn't want to go the the "Hello Kitty" Museum!

Can you see Tokyo Tower in the background?

At one of the place we went to, you can see the Tokyo Tower. This is one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo according to person. It looked very big to us. I wanted to go in but Elsie was scared so we stayed in the park. 

I look nice with my red bow and the flowers!

All the gardens were very beautiful but I started to get bored and we had run out of chocolate! I think this may have been Elsie fault so we started arguing. Person thought we needed a nap but that just made us angrier. Naps aren't any fun. I think it was person who needed the nap! 

What a beautiful garden!

Person told us we had just one more place to visit and then we could go have dinner. I'm glad we went because we saw a wedding. There were so many pretty Kimono! Person needs to make one for me. I helped her pick out some fabric a few days later so hopefully I will have one soon. They didn't make any my size so Ill have to wait for person to make me one. Maybe I will learn to sew if she is too slow. 

There were Koi fish in this pond!

It was a very fun day except for running out of chocolate! We do need to learn Japanese though. We only know a few words so we couldn't talk to anyone and ask them to take us to Tokyo Disneyland. Maybe person will teach us Japanese or let us take a class for next time we visit! I'm sure other people will be more understanding than person about places we want to visit!

Plane Ride!

Person took me and Elsie to Japan! We had never been on a plane before and were up all night before the flight because we were too excited to sleep. In the morning, we helped person finish packing by jamming a bunch of our toys into her bag while she wasn't looking. I don't know how she could have forgotten them but I guess she was distracted.

Person needs a lot of help from us. 

Once we got to the airport it was a little bit scary. We were afraid that person would accidentally put us in the checked bag which would not have been any fun. Thankfully, she kept us in her purse so we were safe. We did have to go through the big scanner at security. Elsie was scared, so I held her hand. After going though security, we had to wait forever before the plane took off. It was really hard. We didn't understand why we couldn't go right away. We were ready.

We're flying!

Once we were finally on the plane, person let us come out of her purse and look out the window. The plan ride was fun at first. We liked watching the safety video and it was exciting when the plan took off and we climbed up really high. We had a nice view of the city as we flew by and of the beach. After that it was just ocean and sky to look at and we got really bored. We watched two movies with zebras in them but the flight still wasn't over! Person said it wasn't even half over. It was time for dinner though. 

Where is the cake? 

The food on the plane was not yummy! There were not even any carrots. We wanted to throw it out the window but we couldn't figure out how to get it open. Person was unreasonable and wouldn't help us. She did give us some chocolate that she had brought with her so that made things a little better. 

On the train!

When we finally landed, we had to ride on a train to get into Tokyo. This was more interesting. There were things to look at out the window. Then we had to go in a taxi. It was a very long day and person was tired. I think that was why she refused to take us to the park and said it was time for bed. The house we were staying in had a tatami mat that person let us sleep on. We did not feel like sleeping so we made a long list of things we wanted to do and places we wanted person to take us to while we were in Japan including the Hello Kitty museum and the Tokyo Disneyland! 

Hinamatsuri! ひなまつり！

Today is a happy day for us because it is Hinamatsuri! Hinamatsuri is Girl's day in Japan. Girl's day is a time to celebrate little girls and pray for their growth and happiness. People put up beautiful doll displays and girls get to eat candy! Person set up a little Hinamatsuri doll display just for us. We were so excited about this that it was hard to hold still for our picture. We think we are very important.  After our picture, person gave us a pretty box to open. We weren't sure what it was but since it looked like a present, we were pleased. It was a little hard to open. 

What could be in this box?

Can you tell what it is Elsie?

I think it is something good to eat!

Yay! It is the special candy. Person is being very nice today!

Girls are only supposed to look at the pretty doll display and not touch. This is the one problem with Hinamatsuri. Little girls don't want to only look at dolls. That is a boring person type thing! 

We are trying very hard not to touch anything. 

George was not happy about Hinamatsuri. He wanted to play with the dolls and eat the candy! I think he felt left out because today is all about girls. 

No George, that isn't for you. You're are ruining our nice picture!

No, no! That is naughty George! You aren't the emperor!

We told George to stop playing with our things! He needs to wait his turn until boy's day in May. Since George was so naughty, we decided that it would be OK, if we played with the display too. This was very fun! Way better than sitting quietly and looking. 

I don't think that is a hat Elise!

We think these dolls are very fun!

Elsie is making friends with the Empress. 

When person found out that we were playing with the display, we were in trouble. We calmly explained to her that it was really George's fault because he started it. She failed to see the sound logic of our argument and we didn't get to play anymore. Clearly, person needs some training in basic logic. We will set up a class for her. I am a good teacher so hopefully next year she will be more reasonable. I think we will charge her tuition in the form of chocolate. Chocolate is better for us than money because no one needs to take us to the store. We don't know how to drive yet. Other than getting in to trouble, we had a very good time and think Hinamatsuri is an excellent day!

Snow!

We had a very good time this week because it snowed a lot. Person was not cooperative at first and wouldn't take us out to play so we had to watch the snow falling from the window in the house. It snowed for hours and hours which is a really long time. There was also some scary sounds from the wind. Elsie thought we needed to hide but I was brave. Our little noses got cold from pressing them up against the cold window. 

Snow makes everything very pretty.

Once we got outside, the snow was very deep. It was taller than both me and Elsie, even if we stood on each other's shoulders. Person said we had to be very careful not to get lost in the snow and to stay by her. For once, I think she was giving good advice. 

We had to bundle up in our scarves but we were still cold.

Person helped us  climb into a tree so we could watch the snow falling all around the neighborhood. We wanted to go sledding down the street but person said no. We did watch lots of big people sledding. Some of them had crashes which looked more fun to us than the regular sledding but person said it was dangerous.

The tree was slippery and we had to hold on tight.

After this we decided to build things with the snow. It was a lot of work and our little paws got very cold. We want to enter our creations into a snow building contest because we think they were very good and would win lots of prizes.

First we rolled lots of snowballs

It was hard to make them but we kept at it.

Stacking the snowballs on top of each other was hard. We had to
work together to make it work. Person says teamwork is important. 

Elsie your foot is in my eye!

They are looking good!

A beautiful snow bunny and snow girl. 

Elsie wanted to play in this hole that we made in the snow. She thinks it is a rabbit hole and that she will meet some friends in it. I told her that there aren't any bunnies living in it but she went in to explore anyway. 

Oh dear, I think we'll need person's help getting Elsie out!

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow. We don't understand why we can't just order snow when we want to have it. There are people who tell you that it will be snowing soon and we thought they made it snow and we could just ask them to send some. Apparently, it doesn't work like that. Snow just comes when it wants. It doesn't listen to what cute little animals request. We plan on filing a complaint with the weather service about this. Since they are called the weather service, they should be sending whatever weather we want. That will keep us busy for today. It is an important zebra mission. 

Road Trip!

Person went on a road trip to California to visit some of her people. We got to go too so Elsie could see her bunny cousins that live there. Before the trip we helped person get ready by making banana muffins. It is important to have good snacks on a long drive. 

Elsie stop putting your nose in it. It isn't a carrot!

Once we were in the car, we spent a lot of time yelling driving directions to person and explaining why we should stop at parks and places that sell snacks. She mostly didn't listen to us. It was worth it though because sometimes she listened. When we had been driving for a long time, we came to a place on the tall mountain where there was lots of beautiful ice. Person said it was called freezing fog. We thought it looked magical. 

It was too clod to stay and play! 

Person let us stop and take a picture near Shasta Lake. The water was very low because there is a drought there according to person. We don't know what a drought is but it sounds like something that we wouldn't like, so we decided not to ask too many questions. Pearson might try to teach us a lesson if we ask. 

Such a beautiful sunny day. It was hard to stay in the car. 

On the way home it was so sunny and warm that person agreed to let us stop to play at a park. We had a lovely picnic and played for a whole two hours! 

This fountain in the park was very colorful.

We make friends wherever we go!

Elsie took a ride on this turtle. 

This bird is teaching us how to fly!

We did not want to get back in the car to go home. Elsie was so sad she cried until I gave her a bite of my chocolate. We had a good visit with bunny cousins and enjoyed our trip to California and did not want it to end. Person said it had to because of work. We don't like work but she says without work there would be no treats or carrots! Apparently work is important for people. 

These are from California Farmers Market.

Emmalina didn't get to come on the trip so we brought her back some oranges. Elsie thinks they are toys. Next time we go to California, we will ask person to take us swimming. It was very warm there and we wanted to go swimming. Person said it was only 70 and that we don't go swimming in the winter. This is silly. We want to swim all the time so that we can perfect our synchronized swimming routine for the Teddy Olympics in July! 

Coast Trip

Last fall Elsie and I went on a trip with person to the coast. While we were there, we decided that we would like to become marine biologists. Person got us a pamphlet about sea birds that was very interesting and made us want to study them. We think that if we learn everything about sea birds maybe one day we will figure out how to fly.

We are studying very hard!

Person said that we should write up a report about what we had learned in the pamphlet. This was very hard for us. 

How do you even start a report? It is difficult.

Once we had finished the report, person said she was very proud of us for trying so hard. She took a picture of us with our report but we would have preferred a cake or party. That would have been more exciting. 

Our report looks nice!

The place we stayed at had a strange device in the kitchen. We had never seen anything like it before and were scared at first. Person said it was a coffee maker but we were sure she wasn't right. It looked like it was a very good size for us so we investigated what it could be. It had lots of buttons and nobs and was just right for me or Elsie to stand on. Finally, we determined that it was some sort of teleportation device for stuffed animals. We spent the whole trip trying to get it to work but we were never able to. 

If you know of a way to make it work, please let us know. It would be very handy to be able to teleport to a friend's house whenever person is being annoying or if we need to get some treats. 

New Year!

We all had a very happy New Year. Person let us stay up late and watch a Japanese singing contest on New Year's Eve. Every year there is a big singing contest in Japan. We will put our own singing contest on for person next year. 

This show is very fun for me!

Our person took us to the Japanese garden to celebrate New Year's this year. They had lots of pretty decorations that we enjoyed and tasty Japanese sweets. 

We thought we had made friends with this lion...

But then Elsie got into some trouble.
It wasn't friendly after all.

After we went to the garden, person gave us some tops to play with. Children in Japan play with tops and fly kites on New Year's day. 

Elsie is very good at this game.

Person made some Japanese curry for dinner but we did not like it. It was too spicy and did not have any sugar in it. Elsie picked out the carrots but I wanted more candy. 

Elsie is trying to learn to use chop sticks.

Person should have given us little envelopes with money in them for New Year's morning but she said we had already had enough treats. We were not pleased with this. Children in Japan get little envelopes with money in them and we should too! Next year we will make sure person does a better job with New Year's presents. 

I am making some important additions to the card design!

2014 is the year of the horse. I think it should be the year of the zebra. I tried helping person make the New Year's cards by drawing stripes on all the horses. She did not find this helpful which is strange because everyone loves zebras and knows that horses are just zebras who have lost their stripes for some reason. Elsie is happy because there is a year of the bunny. We will have to wait many years for that which will be extremely difficult. Elsie and I think that when it does finally come, we will get whatever we want since she is a bunny. 

This decoration is called a Kadomatsu. People decorate their homes with them in Japan. Next year we want person to help us make one for our house. It should not be hard. We will give person good directions so she won't make any mistakes. 

Happy New Year everyone!