Continuing the story about Anthony's turning-7 birthday party, once Anthony was home and through the "balloon gauntlet", we asked Fumie's folks to come over. Anthony and Fumie waited around the corner to ambush them with the balloons...

Anthony was more than happy to avail himself of the four different kinds of sprinkle toppings that Fumie had prepared...

One day last fall, Anthony came back from playing in the park with Fumie, carrying a hand full of stuff he'd found lying around the park. Fumie dumped it into a shallow bowl and sat it on a little table in the living room in front of a sun-facing window.

All season it sat there, and I loved it. I hope they do it again this year.

(If I had any guts, I'd try some of the amazing abstract-nature-macro photography that Dan Sroka makes look so easy and natural. Luckily I don't have a macro lens, so I don't need [...]

Anthony turns 7 on Friday, but we had his birthday party today because he comes home from school earlier on Wednesdays.

We're not big on extravagant parties, and didn't have the time even if we were, but we did a couple of things that really made it fun for him (besides cake and presents, which are a given).

We filled the hallway with balloons, and hung a few from the ceiling, to make a little gauntlet area for him to come through when he got home...

It looks fairly lame in the photo, but it was much nicer in real [...]

So after getting dressed up and then taking care of final preparations, we headed into the Heian Shrine for Anthony's shichi-go-san long-and-healthy-life blessing event.

Most people go in the small entrances on either side, but we thought to take a group photo in the exaggeratedly large main entrance (just out of frame to the left in the shot above), but it turns out that the only shot I got was the one that opens this post, with Anthony standing there looking out at the vast (and shockingly empty) courtyard.

It's the same courtyard where an annual festival has people throwing [...]

So, finally getting back to Anthony's shichi-go-san event (explained in the "getting prepared" post), after finally getting all dressed up in a traditional hakama for the first time, Anthony got his formal sandals and we headed out toward the Heian Shrine's main entrance...

Continued here...