Can I Stay With You?

This morning I told Jason that he was going back to preschool today and he replied, "but can I stay with you?"  Fortunately, he went to school without any drama or tears.

He's definitely growing up... when I asked him to stand with Kara and Ben for his first day of school picture, he insisted on posing with his hand on his hip.

Jason's teachers from last year commented on how much he's grown and how big he looks now... His new teacher confirmed that he is very talkative.  This is Jason's post-school picture after his outside play time and drinks at the water fountain.  He used to need a step stool, but today I saw him on his tippy toes getting water "all by myself".

At bedtime, Jason came and asked if he could sleep with me... I told him he was such a big boy and asked why he needs sleep in my room.  He quickly replied in his little voice, "because I your baby."  I'm already wondering how much of an emotional mess I'll be when it's his time for kindergarten.

Let's Go To School!

On the first day of school, there was no need for an alarm clock... for anyone.  Kara woke us up at 6:10am, fully dressed, even with her tennis shoes on.  Ben followed at 6:45am with his clothes and backpack on asking, "is it time to go to school?"

Since they were up so early, there was plenty of time to have breakfast and even practice the piano before we made the short drive down the street.

We stayed until the school-wide morning announcements and flag salute were done and watched the kids head on to their classrooms... Some kindergarteners looked a little nervous or sad, but Ben was all smiles.

Both kids said the best part of the day was seeing their friends and both seem very excited for the upcoming year.
    

I'm sure there will be many more celebratory root beer floats and smiles throughout the school year.  Next root beer float is tomorrow for Mommy... Jason goes back to preschool!

Last Hurrah

School starts tomorrow, but before summer is officially over, we were lucky to get together with the Zarates one last time for a family play date. 

The kids rode around on their vehicles... and since the peach trees surrounding the house got pulled out, there is a lot of open road!

And though it was getting a little late and close to bath and bed time, we could not resist one last shave ice before summer comes to an end. 

Don't get me wrong, shave ice is always in season for our family.  And who can say no to those faces??

Everything is Awesome!

We found out that Lego enthusiasts would be gathering in Santa Clara today to showcase their creations and since we have some Lego-lovers of our own, we made a quick trip to check it out!

We all enjoyed walking around the convention center to see all of the Lego creations.

Some of the displays were things the kids recognized immediately and it was fun to see them made of Legos...

Some were winners in our book because they used so many of the clear Legos...

And some were just amazing because of their size and detail and we cannot even fathom how long it took to create and how they were even able to be transported!

It was a really fun experience.  Before we left, I asked Ben what he liked best and in The Lego Movie-fashion, he replied, "everything is awesome!"

And though we wanted to hurry home to get back to Jason (and make sure Grandma was still standing), the kids enjoyed a sweet treat with Uncle Ross before our trip home.

The kids could not wait to get home to play with their newly acquired Lego minifigures.  We were excited to find Padme, Princess Leia and the Ninjago guys sold solo.  Now we don't have to buy the $400 Death Star!  Everything IS awesome!

Little Treasures

Jason woke up this morning and I greeted him with "Happy Birthday, Jason!" to which he replied, "Happy Birthday, Mommy!"

The morning got off to a good start.  Jason watched his favorite show, Octonauts.  Since I still had to frost our little Octonauts cake, Jason got to lick the cream cheese frosting from the beaters.

And then it was some cake for breakfast before we headed out to Chuck E. Cheese.  As we sat around the table eating cake, Jason asked, "you like my birthday cake?" and when we said that we did, he reminded us "it's not Ben's cake, it's not Mommy's cake, it's not Daddy's cake, it's not Grandma's cake, it's not Kara's cake... it's my cake."

Jason could not wait for his birthday because he had been promised he could race cars to his heart's content.

I don't know who likes Chuck E. Cheese more...

The Arakawa family joined us to celebrate.  We sat at the table to start lunch and Jason asked, "where's my birthday hat?" and had Sho get it from the car.  The funniest part is that as Andrea and I were sorting things for Saturday morning's rummage sale, she found a donated Chuck E. Cheese birthday crown and insisted I bring it home to Jason.  What they say is true, one person's junk is another person's treasure!

And after a busy morning, our big boy reminded us that he is still our little baby.  Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Jason.

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!