As our last hurrah before summer vacation ends, we went to Kauai. Hawaii has always been a special place for our family and this trip was just how we wanted to end our summer.
We spent the first few days in Princeville and enjoyed the beaches in Hanalei.
Kara and Ben took surfing lessons and they said the best part of their trip was learning to surf and catching some waves.
And when the instructor literally "toes" you out there and you don't have to paddle out... well, what's not to love?
We spent the second part of our trip in Poipu and though we enjoyed Hanalei and Princeville, the south side feels like home.
The kids enjoyed snorkeling each morning and looking at all of the sea life!
Jason was lucky to celebrate his 6th birthday in Hawaii. He kept saying, "if it weren't for my birthday we wouldn't be here." He had just a few requests on his birthday... one was Spam musubi. Without a mold, we just decided to do a little Spam hand roll and when that's coupled with bacon, you can't go wrong.
There was beach time...
A root beer shave ice that rivaled Daddy's back home...
And dinner at the place with the tiki torches. Jason had a great birthday and our day wasn't too bad either.
I love that the kids still enjoy the simple things in Hawaii.
Like using the sand as your own personal canvas...
Being on the lookout for the other KBJ's on the island...
Playing in the water and the waves...
Venturing to the little cities to explore...
Finding the yummy local food...
A shave ice to cool you down...
Morning walks from the condo to the beach...
It's always so hard to leave Hawaii and we just look forward to the next trip.
Now, we've have to get off of island time and get ready for school.
Pajaro is always a great time... but when you have friends with you, it's even that much better! We've told friends about Pajaro over the years and this was the first time another family was able to join us at the beach.
Kara LOVED having her best friend, Kiara, with her...
For selfies...
For boogey boarding...
For hanging on the beach...
For keeping warm...
And just having fun!
The boys found a pit and decided that wrestling would be a fun thing to do. I expected there might be some tears, but they were able to keep it friendly.
The reason we planned this trip months ago was for the kids to take a Lego STEM class in Monterey. They had fun building and learning new techniques.
Kara liked the castle she built...
Jason liked the catapult...
And Ben's favorite was the battery powered inchworm that moved across the floor.
We got a chance to see Uncle Gregg and Uncle Bill, which is always a treat.
And though it was quick, we visited the aquarium and had sandwiches from Ike's, which has become one of our favorites.
It was a great time at Pajaro... it's the kind of place that you want your kids to remember... just running through the waves and playing in the sand and enjoying being together. For us, Pajaro is perfection.
Every year this seems to happen... at the beginning of Gakko I think, "Two weeks... how will we get through these two weeks?" And by the end, though tired, I feel like it went by so fast.
This was Jason's last year in the Pre-Gakko class with Sensei Erin. Jason has loved being in Pre-Gakko. He would ask me why he had to go to regular preschool and why couldn't he just go to Gakko every day instead? He had so much fun and did so many wonderful activities.
I usually have to be the MC at Open House, so I don't get to take pictures of the kids, but someone was kind enough to take pictures of them and share them with me.
At Open House, Jason introduced himself in Japanese and shared with the audience his favorite Japanese food, shrimp tempura.
Ben had a great time this year as well. On the last day, I asked him how he felt about Gakko being over and he said he felt sad... His class sang a song about the seasons and he shared his name and age in Japanese.
Kara's class not only learned about the history and how to make a taiko drum; they also learned the "notes" and that "Don" is a quarter note and "Ka-Ta-Ka-Ka" is striking the outside of the drum. We learned a song which they performed at Open House and I somehow became the conductor for the performance and I have to say, it was awesome!
Thanks to lots of great families and community members, we had a great session of Gakko. Already thinking about next year!
We finished the first week of Medaka no Gakko and I think this year we must have broken a record for the number of consecutive days with temperatures over 100 degrees... it's been HOT!
Kara learned how taiko drums are made and we all learned a lot about the history of taiko and how it came to be used in celebrations and festivals.
I know Kara enjoys everything at Gakko, but I think she especially likes being able to spend time with friends and cousins that she normally doesn't get to see very often.
Ben moved up to the next class and has been doing a bunch of different projects. I think one thing he's really enjoyed is learning to play the Japanese board game, Go. He and his friends get to Gakko early so they can play against each other. Since he likes chess, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that he likes this game too!
Jason got a chance to learn how a real taiko drum is played.
He's done so many really neat things in his class... so hard to choose a favorite to share!
At Gakko, Jason's friends call him "Jason Taku" and he and his friend, Cody Masaki, are always, always having fun together.
During Gakko, Uncle Ross becomes Sensei Ross and this year the kids are learning all kinds of Japanese... they've moved on from colors and numbers and now are answering questions like the month they were born, their phone number, restaurant conversation... the definitely can speak and understand more Japanese than me!
Sho has made everyone happy this week... as the official snack coordinator, he's made so much good food, I think our alumni helpers come back just to eat!
Ben and I paid homage to Gakko's founding fathers (actually, it was the mothers) by wearing our vintage Gakko shirts that Grandma just happened to save.
We have a great group of teachers, parents and grandparents that help make Gakko run... it's been a crazy week, but I know the kids have had so much fun!
Thank goodness the Burger King Icee machine has been working this week... Boy, have we needed it!
The day after school got out, we headed to Murphys for what we have all been waiting for... Tantie and Uncle John's wedding!
It rained almost the entire drive up... and we were refreshing the weather page every hour on our cell phones to see if the rain was going to stop and most importantly, if it would rain on Saturday.
Fortunately, the rain stopped in time for the rehearsal and many of us were in tears watching Tantie walk down the aisle with Grandpa, even though it was just the rehearsal.
We gathered for dinner at the Pour House and had fun meeting all of John's family and friends. The only thing that would have made the night better was if the Warriors would have won Game 4 and swept the series... but the rain stopped, so really, we should not have wished for anything more.
There were fun and games for all ages.
And plenty of drinks for everyone as well.
Ben asked if Sho could teach him how to play Blackjack... and any good parent would jump at the opportunity to help their children with math, right?
It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and meet some new friends too.
On Saturday morning, the weather was beautiful... not a cloud in sight. All the bridesmaids came over to the house to get hair and make up done. One of Miwa's bridesmaids got some video of Jason getting ready for the big day.
The wedding was beautiful. Everything was perfect. I brought my real camera with thoughts of taking lots of great pictures... but as it turns out, we were having such a good time and just enjoying these moments, I left the photos to others and I'm so glad they shared their photos with me.
I will never forget how beautiful Miwa was as a bride and how happy she was on her wedding day. I will never forget John's words to Miwa and about her, which made everyone cry and truly understand how much he loves her. I'll never forget the emotions I felt seeing my mom walk in and see Miwa in her dress for the first time...
The kids were so happy to be in their first wedding. Tantie and Uncle John made sure each of them had a special role in this very special day. Ben was a ring bearer, Kara was a junior bridesmaid and Jason was the official party starter. He was the first to walk down the aisle with his play guitar, lip syncing "Power of Love" from Back to the Future.
Miwa has a great group of friends... and Kara and I really enjoyed being with everyone as we surrounded Miwa with love!
So this might be the only wedding day picture I took... with my phone... but it's easy to see that Miwa and John are a beautiful, happy couple. Congratulations!
I didn't get a chance to see Jason walk down the aisle, but I am told he rocked it. I was worried that he might be shy and not really "get the party started" like intended, but I am told he did well.
What I can tell you for sure is that this boy danced ALL NIGHT LONG. Miwa's bridesmaid, Marlene, remembers having a little dance off with Jason before and was asking him pre-wedding if there would be a repeat performance... Jason did not disappoint. I'm grateful she captured this little video of our dancing machine in action.
There is so much that we will remember about Miwa and John's wedding... so many wonderful moments. My favorite Jason moment goes like this: Jason has been dancing for hours. I try to bride him off the dance floor with soda, to which he replies, "later, Mom." Then later I say, "they have ice cream sundaes!" and Jason says, "not right now." Finally, he's all sweaty and I get him to agree to take a break to get a cold drink and I say to him, "Jason, they love you!" referring to the other guests and he replies, "Not when I'm not out there. I gotta get back." And with that, the break was done.
This morning as we're now back to real life again, I asked the kids what they thought about the wedding and Jason asked, "can we do it again?"
All of our kids have attended preschool at Chapter One. We were told by good friends that this was a great preschool and that our kids would be well-prepared for kindergarten when they graduated.
Sho and I remember touring the facility before we made the move from Los Angeles and we could not believe the size of the playground! Not only was the playground impressive, but the staff is great and they have provided a great foundation for our kids.
Since Jason's last day of school was Friday and it was our goodbye to Chapter One, we took the staff the biggest bag of caramel corn we've ever made to say thank you.
Jason graduated and was all smiles! He is excited about kindergarten, but he says he's already feeling sad because he will miss his teachers.
As part of Chapter One graduation, every student draws a picture of what they want to be when they grow up and they tell everyone during graduation about what they've chosen as their future profession. Knowing this was coming, we wondered what Jason would choose because in this past year, at one point or another, he's said that he wanted to... work at Krispy Kreme, be a movie director, be an author and the most recent choice... bag groceries at SaveMart. Here's what he chose...
Jason is so ready for kindergarten. We recently went to the library and he picked a book about an otter, who lives with a human (named Otter Keeper) and the otter has a stuffed animal named Teddy. Jason was able to read the whole book by himself and the story was about the otter and Teddy trying to figure out what their job should be. In the end, Teddy's job was being a best friend and otter's job was taking care of Teddy. It is the cutest story ever.
So now Jason has decided he can have two jobs - inventor and best friend. He's got his work cut out for him because I think lots of kindergarteners will want to be friends with this guy!
