Gakko Week #1

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!

One more week... we're over the hump!

Can we do it again?

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?"

A New Chapter

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!

The Wall

Kara has been playing in a 4th/5th grade girls basketball league and today was the last of the games for this season.  When she signed up to play, the Kingsburg team had a lot of players, so we decided to have her play in Reedley. Kara didn't get to play with her friends, but she had a great season.

Because I don't know how to edit, this video is just like watching youth sports... you have to sit and watch and watch and wait until the moment comes that you truly have a reason to cheer.

Even though they battled it out on the court today, Brooke and Kiara are two of Kara's best friends and no matter what team they're on, we know these girls will always be the best of friends.

Sho and I could not be more proud of Kara for how well she played and how much she contributed to her team.  She gained a lot of confidence and by the end of the season, she had a great crossover dribble and one of the opposing coaches called her "the wall" because girls couldn't get by her.  It was so much fun to watch her play...  

Can't wait until next season!

Happy Friday!

Friday has always been my favorite day of the week.  I have not had a Friday at home for several weeks due to many weekend trips to LA for work or play.  So it was really nice to be able to pick up the kids from school and just hang out at home, cook dinner and play outside.

The boys rode their bikes up and down the driveway.  They raced and laughed and had a great time.

In preparation for her three games tomorrow, Kara practiced her cross overs.

But eventually everyone was on bikes riding down the driveway...

Kara is almost done with fourth grade.  She's been playing soccer and basketball and she's becoming very interested in clothes and fashion.  Kara's doing great in school... she's looking forward to a Santa Barbara field trip next week.

Ben is an avid reader and today he made his personal goal... which was to reach 1000% of his school goal for his reading points.  That was not a typo... he set his goal high! 

Jason is eager to start kindergarten.  He went to his registration appointment and then asked if he passed.  I said yes, that he passed and he then asked if he could start kindergarten the next day.  I said, "what am I going to do when you go to school every day?"  His reply was, "don't worry, Mommy.  I'll still come home after school."

A highlight of this week was being asked to be part of a cultural week that Jason's preschool hosted.  Jason taught his friends the correct way to bow, how to say "hello", "thank you" and "good bye" in Japanese and we shared with them different fun facts and Japanese artifacts.  The yakisoba was a hit!

So nice to have time to just be with the family... take pictures... and blog!  Happy day for sure!

A Great Break

Spring break started with the Parlier Picnic!  The picnic is always a great time for the kids.  They love the races and seeing the friends they've known since they raced in the Baby Bjorn.

They also love playing BINGO where I think everyone is a winner every round.  This was Jason's first year to play his own card, since he now recognizes all of the numbers through the O column.

After the picnic, we traveled to Los Gatos for a quick visit and it was the first time our kids have dyed eggs!  We always do an egg hunt, but we never use hard boiled eggs.  But the kids enjoyed the process of decorating, so who knows, maybe this will become part of our festivities in the future.

The Fresno State library has an exhibit on the Japanese internment camps, so even though the kids are on break, it was a wonderful way to teach them about this important part of history.  

April 13th has become Pie for Breakfast day and it's officially on our calendar, so we enjoyed some strawberry pie on the 13th!

I took the kids to Boss Baby... and I was pleasantly surprised to hear lots of laughter coming out of our babies. 

Earlier in the week, the forecast was for rain on Easter, but fortunately, the weather held up and the kids were able to do their big egg hunt.  I don't know how many more years of egg hunts we have in store, but we always think back to when Kara was little and the only way to get her to take a nap was to bribe her with an egg hunt when she woke up. I think we had plastic eggs circulating through May in those days. 

The plastic eggs are already back in their box on a shelf, but the joy of the hunt will stay with them, and with me, for a good while.

The Capitol with Many Exclamations

Sho and I have not been to Sacramento since we were both in high school, probably for a Sacramento Rebels basketball tournament... so it was great to take the kids to see the state capitol.

We visited the California museum, which had lots of different things to see and learn about.  Ben and Jason loved seeing Harrison Ford honored in the Hall of Fame and Jason was excited to see the pistol that was used in Star Wars, but also commented that he thought it would be bigger.

In addition to seeing the exhibit on the Japanese internment camps, there was a special section on Sacramento's lost Japantown, which was really interesting for all of us to learn about.

So, truth be told, our trip to Sacramento wasn't inspired by our interest in teaching the kids about California history... but we did witness a piece of history! 

Since we've always loved basketball and the kids are now more interested in basketball, we could not pass up the opportunity to see a local girls team from our area play for the California state championship.  We had watched the Clovis West girls play locally and they crushed their opponents, but it was always fun to watch them because they are just that good.  And to watch them play against one of only two teams to beat them all season... we had to go!

The icing on the cake was that we got to meet up with the Itagakis and have a chance to catch up, see how much all of kids have grown and spend some time together.

When I was a teenager and I watched basketball with my dad on TV, he'd always tell me I was too loud.  During the game, Ben turned to me and said, "wow, Mom.  It's like you have a built in whip (the instrument he learned to play that makes a whipping sound) and megaphone."  I guess it's still true.

It was a GREAT game.  We all cheered and were excited to see Clovis West win by four and take home their first state championship!

And then the real competition began...

When we stay in a hotel, inevitably one kid has to sleep on the floor.  Though they don't mind, we always feel bad for the one that draws the short stick.  But this time, we walk into the room, I see the built in bench by the huge window and I say, "oooh!  Who wants to sleep there!"

Sho immediately starts laughing and says this is me doing my Jedi mind tricks on the kids, like I used to do when I was little.  Miwa and Todd probably remember the salad bowl that no one wanted placed in front of them... until they learned it was not a chip in the bowl, but a fork rest!!

Ben was the big winner of the special sleeping quarters, equipped with privacy curtain.  

Before we headed home, we stopped at the Railroad Museum and saw so many huge trains.

We all loved the different exhibits and we learned about the amazing experiences people had in the first class dining cars and how each railroad had their own set of china.

But their favorite was sitting in the front of the high speed rail.

We definitely had a great (and quick) trip with good food, good friends and great times...

Our last stop before getting back home was at Paradise... which it always is.  Especially when you catch the second half of the UNC vs. Kentucky game while you eat!

We are a little obsessed with basketball right now... it is March!