Kokochi

Happy New Year of the Sheep!

Our biggest accomplishment is we bought a house in SF. Survived that with luck and a good agent! Aila started pre-school and loves it. Tesla is getting really creative and good at Minecraft : )  And Dav has enjoyed his work at Live Nation (albeit with a few surprises mixed in). Cheers to a new year!

Doing Christmas

The kids have 2 weeks off, and so does Dav, so we're all excited to do a staycation! Lorene is visiting, the tree is up, we have yummy dinner plans for Christmas eve, and we are hoping for a lot of lounging, eating, and a few touristy fun here and there.

To start off, we visited my brother's fam for the annual Christmas light show his street is famous for. 

Ian's festive house.

Tesla is already  jaded about Santa (not that we ever really pushed the whole concept), but she still went up with Aila. This year's Santa was covered in white curls; we could barely see his eyes.

The kids were delighted in the gifts they scored from the Kennedy's. Thank you!

  

Today we went skating at Union Square. We figure if the kids are growing up in SF, they should have plenty of memories skating at this iconic place.

 

Afterwards, we had lunch at Empress of China. So sad they are closing end of December. When you go there, you enter a bygone era. A special place indeed. 

Then someone got some nice shoes in Chinatown.

 

Undokai! Japanese Sports Day

I grew up with 運動会, undokai. It's basically an elementary school annual event where kids practice then gather to compete in various sports events. Less about win/lose, and more about getting kids inspired about sports. Now that I'm a parent involved in school, the event is a wonderful day where we all come together and "play" and I feel it bonds us all. Parents are supporting their kids, but parents also participate. While each of us is either on the red or white team, and cheer our own teams, in the end, there is no tally about which team wins. It's fun, and brings the school together. 

Today, I got to drag my parents since they are visiting. I brought a shade structure and chairs, and spotted them napping every once in a while, but my mom participated in the parent tug of war. It's super hard and a lot of fun.

  

Tesla also did Tug of War.

Have you ever done a big group tug of war with a huge rope? It's really hard, and a unique experience in feeling how the pull of 40 people can feel. Powerful!

Tesla in action doing a group event where they have to run together holding a stick.

She also did a sprint run, and while in the past, she diddle daddled with fun, this year, she really ran it!

Post-unkokai ice-cream!

I was honored this year to be asked, along with Koji-san so I'm not alone, to take on the MC/Announcer role that requires being bilingual. The current awesome MC's daughter is graduating, so this year, Koji-san and I shadowed and did parts. With Aila only to enter Rosa Parks in 2 years, I will be doing this for many years to come. 

It's ok, I <heart> Rosa Parks Elementary School!!

p.s. getting a pic like this with T and Ojiichan is the best:

New fridge

When we moved into our new house (need to post about this, but we're about to fix the kitchen, so maybe after that), it came with an old but neat fridge that we actually liked. It was a step up from our super simple one at our old rental. We loved the door feature where you could pop it open to access milk that the kids frequently ask for. 

Sadly, this past Sunday, it died. This was right after my parents arrived, and with 2 kids, no fridge is really bad news. We got two coolers going, buying ice daily, but I still threw away a lot of stuff, and it wasn't fun.

Luckily, our real estate agent Diane Hourany, kindly got us a home warranty as a gift, and did it pay off! With over $2k coming in the mail, we set out to get a new fridge .

I've never bought a new fridge, and never had such a fancy one, and while a bit stressful, with a very competent sales guy at Lowe's, we found a perfect one that in the end, is costing us very little  thanks to the insurance. The new one has extra drawers and all new ways to organize food. I'm delighted. And while bigger and better, the cost of running this thing is sure to be much cheaper than our 1987 old fridge : )

    

Just wanted to share my happiness about this!

p.s. while cleaning off the stuff on the old fridge, I found this old but special purikura sticker when T was about 4 visiting Japan:

 

 

Mom & Dad in town!

Yay! My parents safely arrived from Tokyo to SFO. Until a few days before departure, we weren't sure if my dad could make it due to some health concerns, but he rallied, and I'm so happy. I'm most happy to share my kids with them, both at such fun ages. Tesla is mature, creative, and ready to share her girl world, while Aila is a comedian and full of 3-year old wonder. 

And they get to see our new house. Next Tuesday, our architect is coming to discuss new kitchen designs so that will be fun to share. 

Otherwise, we're just going to be together. Time with them is precious. 

 

Mouse in the House

When Dav dusted off our RV for BM, he found that mice had been partying plenty within. He eventually found a sad carcass. After much cleaning, off Dav went to BM for 8 days, then came back and completely emptied out the RV in our garage as we're saying goodbye to it (Monster). 

A few days ago, I walked into Dav's "mancave" that is a room off the garage, and found a scurrying little shadow run away. Later, Dav told me he did find 1 tiny mouse had survived the  BM desert conditions, made it back in the RV (who knows where), then escaped into our garage. 

Aaaaaiiii! I did not want to encounter the mouse again, but I also had sympathy for this gal (I think the mouse is a gal) who survived so much. Dav ordered a  humane catch cage. It won't kill the mouse, but capture her so we can release her to the open space behind our house. While we waited for delivery of the device, I couldn't resist and left out a thing of water for the mouse, and our garage door a tiny bit open to get out if she could. How many days can a tiny mouse survice without water? I almost left out a cracker but didn't. I was going to put the water away before Dav got home but forgot, and he totally noticed. So yeah, while I don't want to see and live with the mouse, I respect her and want her to live and get to freedom. 

Capture cage in place. Hopefully we can let her go soon.

Aila goes to preschool

Aila's is now a preschooler! She's at the same school that Tesla was at with the same lovely teacher. First few days are just a few hours with mama. Then gradually, more hours, then without mama. She was fine the first few days, then clingy when I started dropping her off, but only 1 day of crying so far (Tesla had many!).

Below is a pic of Tesla on her first day (right), and Aila on her first full day without mama (left). Notice I got Aila to wear a similar outfit? But instead of blankie, she has her sister! 

I knew she was ready, and as soon as she discovered all the toys and fun activities, she was happy. And I don't recall this with Tesla, but Aila seems quite interested in Japanese, and while she can't speak much, she will talk gibberish in Japanese-like sounds. And if I bring out a Japanese book, she'll identify it as "nihongo." Having both Aila's preschool and Tesla's elementary school constantly bring Japanese into their everyday makes a huge difference.

Aila proud of her cubby:

I know this school so well, and this year, I'm joining the board. I love so much the community they've created, and since T goes to their after school program, I am and will be tied to this organization for many years to come.

 And now, 2 sisters will get ready for school together:

p.s. This transition also meant no longer having awesome Sarah as our nanny. She'll still babysit, but we will miss her dearly. Here is Sarah helping Aila get ready to go to one of the short preschool days. So precious.

 

 

 

Tesla, Age 8

2 sides of Tesla. Beautiful and goofy. I can see at this age both her old self and an emerging mature self. I  hope she never loses her goofiness : )

Gift box to daddy

Jeremy is about to head to the playa to join Dav. Me and the gals made Dav a little gift box for Jeremy to deliver: drawings from the gals, and from me, seaweed, boiled octopus, hijiki salad, natto, and instant miso soup, plus chilled green tea.

Do you see Aila wrote her name?

 

Pretty Playa

I never knew how drawn I'd be to a dusty desert until going to BM. The landscape is beautiful, and is one of the top things that draw me there. I love the dust storms, the colors, the smell.

This video captures some of that beauty.

I hear it rained and gates are closed. Dav's been there several days now inside, while many have to patiently wait outside for gates to reopen. I admit now I'm jealous of Dav. I love arriving early (to set up a theme camp) and savoring those few days before the huge crowds arrive. Before, arriving on Monday would suffice, and the parties started on Wednesday. Now, on Monday things  already seem full on. So I'm jealous that Dav had not only a few early days before gates officially opened, but he's got a few extra days of the calm where neighbors really meet and enjoy each other, and there are a few smaller parties but consisting of theme camps set up crews or artists. And especially to be there when it rained and stormed with lightening...