Monday, July 29, 2013

What a week!!

We promised the kids that once swimming lessons and meets were all done, we'd go to San Diego for a little vacation.  Bachan, Jichan and Uncle Ross met us there and our first stop was Sea World.


We enjoyed great, cool weather and the kids loved watching all of the shows.


Jason liked the shows and exhibits too, but the big hit was the bubble gun!  With a big smile and all of those bubbles, who wouldn't want to buy one of these after seeing such a happy customer?


Next stop was Legoland... where we got to see and do a lot of our favorites...


Jason was so content to sit in the stationary Lego cars... it gave us ample time for Kara and Ben to drive the other Lego cars around the course.  And yes, we were "those people" with a child harness (a.k.a. leash), but Jason loves his friend Leo and he did not get lost.  Woo hoo! 


We were surprised that the Timmons family was able to meet us at Legoland and the kids had fun getting soaked on some rides that were new to them.


Everyone loved the water park... Kara could have floated on that lazy river all afternoon... I fear that in the not-too-distant future, Kara will be wanting to float down our local Kings River.  It's just what happens when you live in the Central Valley.


On our way back home, we stopped in Los Angeles to visit the Christians, who were kind enough to let us spend the night.  It was fun to catch up and so amazing at how quickly everyone has grown!


We made sure to get home in time for the last obons of the season.  Bachan Hiyama joined us for the Reedley Obon...


And even Pampa made it out to the Visalia Obon!


It's always great to travel and be on vacation, but it's also really nice to come home.  Ben said, "I missed our little town, Mom."  And now that we're back in the summer heat, it's pool time followed by shave ice... not bad. 



Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Obon Circuit

Since we attended all of the obon dance practices, we decided we should try to participate in as many obons as possible.  The season started with the Fresno obon...



And then there was Fowler...


Kara was lucky to get a new yukata from Auntie Betty in Japan and she didn't want to "waste it" at the other obons, so she patiently held out to wear it for Parlier's obon.


And since Grandma got a new yukata too...


The Parlier obon means shave ice duty for Daddy.  Even though it was hot (again), Daddy kept everyone happy and cool with his yummy shave ice.


In preparation for obon season, Ben drew our family dancing under the lanterns... Only two more to go!

Our July

Since the beginning of July, it definitely seems like we've had more opportunities to sleep in or stay in our pajamas past 8am!  But Kara still had a few more weeks of swimming.  To our surprise, she qualified for the Valley Time Trials and then also competed in the Valley Finals.  In the last regular season home meet, Kara came in first in her heat, so she earned a Wolfbuck which allowed her to get a free snack at the concession stand, so she was all smiles.


We even had time to take a trip to Bravo Farms, just a few exits down the freeway, for some exploring and ice cream.


And Mommy dared to turn on the oven in this heat and baked some cookies!


We even had a friendly gyoza eating competition between Ben and John... Our little Ben did us proud!  Not only did he eat a good amount of gyoza for an under-40-pound boy, but he kindly told John he could take a break if he needed to.


Yummy food, snacks and dessert... now this sounds more like vacation!