Aloha!

We had a great trip to Maui!  The kids had so much fun... I think Kara asked why we couldn't stay another week and Ben suggested we just move to Hawaii.  Upon our return, we quickly asked Pampa and Grandma Rene if they had any renewed interest in investing in property in Hawaii.

Each morning we enjoyed breakfast at our condo with a great view of the ocean.  We would then head out for a fun morning on the beach and then back home for lunch and naps. 

Ben found the hugest pile of dinosaur bones ever!  He loved running and jumping in the waves and lying on his back in the water, which he started calling "seaweed".  

Jason loved the water too.  He would scream as waves came in and was always eager to be held out in the deeper part of the ocean.  He found stick "guns" and would be totally content to just sit and play in the sand.

Kara rode waves on the boogie board and learned to paddle out, so she thinks surfing is in the near future.  We reminisced about Kara's first trip to Hawaii when she was about a year and a half old... and now she seems so grown up!

Uncle Ross was the crowd favorite, always happy to play with the kids, go out in the water with them and make sand creatures.  

After the beach, we'd catch up with Bachan and Jichan to enjoy some time all together... 

We even made it to the Obon in Makawao, which is Jichan's hometown.  Though all of the dances were different, the kids were good sports to go out and dance a few songs.

When we asked the kids about their favorite part of the trip, the beach was the hands-down winner.  I don't know how long this phase will last where they are totally happy to play with the sand and in the water... and do it all over again the next day, but it was heart warming to watch them "cook" together and serve us meals and to just enjoy being together.

As I was packing to get ready for the trip, I realized that we've reached a milestone in that this was our first trip where we packed no diapers.  Very exciting.  

I think one of my favorite moments from our vacation was while we were sitting having breakfast and I asked Jason, "isn't this a great breakfast?" thinking about the food and the scenery and he answered, "it's a great family." 

Parlier Obon

This year we were a little more involved in the Parlier Obon... Sho was the lead in getting 408 pounds of pork ordered, cooked and ready to serve for 600 bento boxes.  Like all of the food Sho makes, it was delicious. 

And just to make things a little more fun, we purchased a DIY shirt screening kit to make our own t-shirts for Sho's shave ice crew!

The last time I silk screened a shirt was probably in 7th grade, but we watched the included instructional video and were able to do a two color screen!  I was worried because the video was long and the guy in the video had a shirt that read "Don't Give Up", but it ended up being a fun project.  And now that we own the screen printing kit, sky's the limit!

Thankfully, Todd was able to make it home so he could help Sho with the shave ice booth.  Though all of the obons sell sno cones of some sort, Parlier's shave ice is hard to beat!

Ben learned a handful of the dances this year and happily danced to those songs during obon.  Jason spent most of his time playing on an iPad next to his BF.

The most exciting part of obon is that Kara was asked to dance on the yagura (stage) this year.  I venture to guess that she is probably the youngest dancer to grace the yagura.  She was all smiles and she did really well... so proud of our little Kara!

After a successful obon season, it's time for vacation!  Maui, here we come!

Wareware wa sore o yatta!

I just googled a Japanese translation for "We did it!" so I hope that title is right!

We successfully finished our 2 week Medaka no Gakko session!  Kara was a good sport to come early each day and help me open up the church and all of the rooms and make sure everything was ready to go every morning.

Kara had a great time with all of her classmates, teachers and the fantastic alumni aides.  I enjoyed working together with parents who are truly committed to making Gakko an enriching experience for the kids.  

Saturday was the Undokai and everyone had fun participating in the various races and the water relay finale is always fun... especially on a hot day!

 
Since Sho is out of town for a conference and Grandma and Pampa had to be out of town for a memorial service, I called in the reinforcements!!  Thankfully, Tantie and Uncle Todd were available to come and help watch the boys while Kara and I finished up Gakko.  We all enjoyed a fast food picnic post-Undokai because in the last two weeks, I have not mopped the floor and I think I've gone grocery shopping twice.

In the spirit of community, we made it out to the Visalia Obon on Saturday night.  The kids did well; I guess they really have been paying attention at practice.  And Tantie and Uncle Todd picked up the dances quickly, so Parlier represented!

On Saturday morning (after a long day, then Open House where we got home around 11pm), Kara asked, "when do I get to sleep in?"  Today Kara slept until 7:45am and our floors are clean.

On the Potty Train!

When Jason left preschool for the summer, I casually asked, "so if he's still not potty trained in August, I guess he stays in the Bloomers room?"  And the reply was that if he had turned 3 (which he will in the beginning of August), he had to be potty trained because they don't have 3 year olds in the Bloomers room... And I was a little stressed because Jason had shown no interest in potty training and I told Sho, this was now our summer project.

So though we're still a little crazy busy, Jason woke up with dry "chonies" as he calls them, for the third day in a row and that seems like reason enough to celebrate with a blog post!

As he's been potty training for the last few weeks, he'll say "Mommy, I'm on the potty train" and we talk about it like it's Amtrak saying, "You're doing so well on the potty train, Jason!"

After all of these years (or so it seems), I think I have officially purchased my last box of diapers!  Now we have to plan a trip to see Mickey Mouse to really celebrate!

Is it Friday yet?

It's been quite a week!  Last weekend was the Fresno Cobra's annual basketball tournament.  It was Kara's first year playing in the instructional division.  She had two games on Saturday and one game on Sunday.  They decided to split the team up into two teams of five, so with only five players on the team, she got lots of playing time!

Sho helped Coach Danny with practices and coaching during the tournament.  What better way is there to spend Father's Day...

Monday started the beginning of a two week session of Medaka no Gakko, the Japanese cultural school that Grandma started back in 1980.  Our family all went through gakko back in the day and it was always fun to be with our friends.

Kara has a small class, but I think it's really cool that two of the kids in her class are the children of kids that were in my gakko class...

With warmer weather and a really busy week, it was great to end with shave ice as our gakko snack. 

Though there has been a lot of reminiscing this week about the old days, one thing we do not miss is the hand-crank shave ice machine.  How did our super-dads do it back then??

What is becoming more and more apparent to me is that Grandma has always been a super-mom.  Being more involved in gakko this year, I have a better appreciation of what she did during our gakko years and maybe you notice there are no pictures of Ben and Jason from this week... as we've been busy, Grandma has saved the day (or week to be more accurate) by watching the boys day after day.  I don't know how we'd survive if it wasn't for our BF.  One more week to go!

Happy Birthday to my BF!

For awhile now, Jason has referred to Grandma as "BF" because she is his best friend.  Recently he said to Grandma, "You are a good BF."

Grandma's birthday started out with a very energetic and exuberant happy birthday song from all the kids... and then Grandma was kind enough to come with us to watch "How To Train Your Dragon 2," which was Jason's first movie in a theater.

Grandma's birthday celebration could not be complete without a little ice cream!!  Fortunately Jason stayed awake long enough to enjoy his mint chip cone.  I think he didn't want to disappoint his BF because nothing is sweeter for Grandma than ice cream with the grandkids! 

Water Day, Swimming and Movie Night on Wednesday... It's Summer!

It is Clay tradition to have a water day to mark the end of the school year... Kara and her friends had a lot of fun running through sprinklers, going down the slide, doing the obstacle course and jumping in the bounce house. 

Ben went to Water Day and had fun with his friend, Chase, who will also start kindergarten at Clay in August.

Kara's showed me her 1st grade report card and was pleased to find out she would be moving on to 2nd grade.  She's had a great year and Kiara is still her BFF, which makes us very happy because Kiara is so kind and such a great friend to Kara... and we love having family play dates with the Zarates!

Ben is so excited that he'll finally be going to school with Kara next year... Though Kara tries to tell him everything to expect in kindergarten, I think Ben will be just fine and learn to love school all on his own. 

The kids all had a great swim at Grandma and Pampa's house this afternoon.  Ben swam the length of the pool unassisted (four times), Kara's dive is progressing and Jason cannot be stopped.  He is eager to put his face in and swim!  He takes a breath and says, "Again!"  I'm glad he's taking to swimming so well... I wish the same could be said for potty training.

It's now 8pm and they are in the living room for movie night and a sleep out... Hello, Summer!