Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from Jason!!

The kids were super excited this morning and only because of their jet lag did they end up waking up a decent hour.

Jason was happy that Santa brought him a Mickey Mouse robe, some bling and some sugar... He wanted to sit and watch garbage truck videos and it took some coaxing to get him to open his presents, but he got the hang of it.

Ben was excited about all of his gifts... Star Wars figures, Skylanders, a skateboard... he wasn't sure what to play with first.  I think he has lots to keep him busy and happy for quite awhile.

My favorite Christmas moment was when Kara saw the tiara from Santa... Kara was given a tiara from her ballet teacher last spring for her recital.  She wore it around the house and somehow, the tiara broke and we had to throw it away.  Almost in tears, Kara asked, "how can we throw away diamonds?"  Since Santa knows all, Kara found the tiara in her stocking and when she placed it on her head this morning she said, "I'm back."  She literally wore it all day.

The kids got to play with their cousins on the Kozuki and Hiyama sides of the family during the Christmas Eve and Christmas gatherings.  They had a great time... With the vacationing, traveling and then immediately going into Christmas, I think we all wish we could just enjoy a mid-afternoon nap.

Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night's sleep.

Family fun in Hawaii

What better way to start off winter break than with a trip to Hawaii!!  Thanks to Pampa and Grandma, the entire Kozuki family took a vacation in Kauai.  We enjoyed perfect weather, which meant there was plenty of beach time for our little ones.  Kara enjoyed snorkeling for the first time, while Ben loved boogie boarding and Jason just liked being in the water.

Of course there was lots of food to enjoy... trying the different shave ice places, comparing poke from all the local fish markets and grocery stores, searching on Yelp for the hole in the wall winners.  We definitely ate well.

On our last two trips to Kauai, we stayed at a house in Poipu, which happened to be booked already... so we stayed in a new house right near Baby Beach and one of the big pluses was the outdoor heated shower!

We had a wonderful trip and there is so much to be grateful for... watching the kids have so much fun with their auntie and uncles, not having to take my walking boot to Hawaii, Sho and John's love for 80s music, mini iPads to make the time on the plane bearable, our first giant-turtle-on-the-beach sighting, that Jason loves being with BF (a.k.a. Grandma, Jason's Best Friend) and is happy to be without us for a period of time, and mostly, the luxury of time together.

On the drive home, as we were approaching our exit back in Kingsburg, I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was... Kara loved snorkeling, Ben liked boogie boarding and having family fun and Jason replied "I dunno."  But when I told Jason that we were almost home, he replied, "No, Hawaii house."  Smart cookie.

Mochi

Before Kara's birthday party started, we began our day at the Parlier Church making mochi... Kara watched closely and followed the directions to make her nice, round mochi.

Ben stacked his mochi and declared that his snowman was complete...

Jason, usually eager to get his hands dirty and get into the action, was quick to give up his apron and opted for alone time with his friend, Alyssa.  Ben watched them and said, "I think this is their first date."
 

Happy Birthday, Kara!

Now that Kara is 7 years old, there are no more Barbie or princess cakes.... not when you can get a Chocolate Raspberry Torte from Masse's!  Thanks to Auntie Anna, we now know about this treasure and could not pass up the opportunity to upgrade.

On Kara's birthday, she invited a few of her close friends from school for pizza, a movie and ice cream.  

After a really fun (and tiring) Thanksgiving week vacation (where we saw the Woodson, Hsiao, Gordon, Itagaki, Ishimatsu and Morita Dea families in addition to our immediate families for Thanksgiving), having a small, intimate birthday gathering was the perfect celebration for our little princess.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

After spending Thanksgiving in Los Gatos, we celebrated Ben's 5th birthday by going to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose.  The kids all had a great time and they probably would have been happy to just stay in the bubble area all day if we let them...

And Jason found an ambulance and fire truck that he really liked... good thing they didn't have a real garbage truck there, or we would never have been able to leave.

Our little gyoza eating machine ordered two plates of gyoza for lunch...

And we ended the day with a strawberry sundae and a room full of people singing happy birthday to our little Ben.