Happy Birthday to Me

Since we will be out of town on Jason's birthday, we decided to have an early celebration for him.  After having two winter babies, Sho and I always talked about having a child with a summer birthday so we could have a pool party with shave ice.  And Jason came along to fulfill our dreams!!

Jason has been looking forward to his birthday for so long.  In June, we told him that it was Grandma's birthday (in June), then Uncle Todd (in July) and then it would be his turn.  So on June 13th (Grandma's birthday), he woke up so excited saying, "Yeah! Today's is Grandma's birthday, then tomorrow is Uncle Todd's and the next day is MY birthday!"  It's difficult to understand the concept of time when you're little.  He's been patiently waiting for his turn...and today he started singing Happy Birthday to himself.

If you've been reading this blog, you will not be surprised to know that Jason decided to invite some friends to Chuck E. Cheese (for the third straight year) to celebrate his birthday.  Jason still likes the driving games and no matter their age, everyone still seems to enjoy collecting those tickets!

After gaming and lunch, everyone headed over to the house to swim.

Donnie used his superhero strength to throw the kids across the pool.  I don't think Jason has ever flown like that and he loved it.

Sho also displayed some almost-as-super skills...

We enjoyed celebrating our little Jason who is sadly not so little anymore.  We love family get togethers with the Arakawas and Calhouns.  It's fun to see your children be friends with your childhood friends' kids... and it just reminds us that we're all getting older... and to celebrate every time you have the chance.

An Early 4th of July Celebration

Medaka no Gakko ended on Thursday with Open House and early Friday morning, we packed it up and headed up to Mammoth, where we planned to meet Grandma and Grandpa and two of Grandma's friends.

We left early so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic getting into Yosemite.  We did stop along the way to look at some of the views, vowing to come back again when we had more time to really enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  We did, however, manage to see several deer and one bear during our drive.

The weather was nice and cool, compared to Kingsburg, and the mountains were beautiful...

We managed to do the Panorama Dome hike, which was described as "kid-friendly" and even though Grandpa asked on more than one occasion if he could stop and wait for us to come back down, everyone made it to the top!   

It was 4th of July weekend and even though we didn't stay long enough to enjoy fireworks in Mammoth, the fact that we did this trip and hike together was definitely cause for celebration.

Happy 4th!