Tanabata, Part 1

Did anyone else get to celebrate Tanabata? Me, my brother Tysen, and two of the girls of the Seattle/Tacoma Kimono Club went to the Tanabata Festival at the Seattle Japanese Garden, we had such a good time! Just being able to walk around and garden in yukata was a wonderful experience!

I wanted to bring my son Bryan with me since tanabata is a festival that is good for children (origami and making wishes!) but unfortunately he would have been very cranky and impatient, since my friends and I had planned on attending tea ceremony at the festival. I was glad that he stayed home, as I didn't see many things at the festival that he would have enjoyed, he is too young. There were a few children at the garden, but not many. So instead, I made some origami decorations at home with my son - and he crumpled up some balls of paper!

I wore my new yukata I just made (from my previous posts), and dressed it up with a rose on the back of the obi bow, and a polka dot scarf "obiage"

Attempt at self pictures to show the polka dot scarf. Glad I got a photo of myself before I sweated all of my makeup off!

I wish I had a thin obijime to bring the look together! I liked the bow, it made me feel a bit like Minnie Mouse!

We had such a great time, and my brother took a lot of photos!

Tanabata decorations outside the garden gates.

Cute origami decorations! The paper strip says "Tanabata". 

We took a few photos with the decorated bamboo before heading into the garden.

Katie and I

I brought some of the decorations I made at home to hang on the bamboo

I made a strand of cranes to make a wish for my family

And I made a kamigoromo (paper kimono) to wish to improve at my sewing

Katie, Tysen, and I arrived early, so we began walking around the garden

The beautiful tea house

The ladies were getting ready for a tea ceremony. The woman in blue recognized us from the kimono fashion show we went to recently!

The Japanese irises are in bloom!

Carefully walking across rocks. This was the most fun for me! My susoyoke only allowed me to take dainty little steps, so I had to hop across a few stones that were farther apart than others. I felt like a little kid!

That was fun! Is it bad that I just wanted to hop across rocks the whole time?!

Interesting how my yukata makes it look like I've changed my outfit from one picture to the next.

Looking out it the pond, watching a koi fighting to swim through the lily pads.

Such a perfect atmosphere to enjoy wearing yukata!

Watching turtles swimming in the water

It was very sunny and hot, we were glad we brought parasols!