Kokochi

Tesla, the motorcycle gal!

So...the other day, Dav took Tesla on a motorcycle ride. Really. I suspect the normal response of a wife/mama should be, "no way," but this is Dav I married. It's also legal. And to Tesla's delight, she got her very own gear.

For now, Dav takes her just around the neighborhood to the coffee shop or library. The goal is for her to learn how to ride behind daddy safely, and maybe at some point drive her to school. Can you imagine an elementary school kid riding up on a motorcycle, wearing her leather jacket to recess??

I trust Dav. I also think it's kinda good for her to experience this vs. being completely sheltered. I didn't promote it, but I didn't say no either. When she first drove off, I think our neighbors were way more nervous : )

Below is her 2nd ride when she wore a red cape. 

Happy Year of the Horse!

2014, the year of the horse, is about as perfect as can be for Tesla and Aila who adore horses. Or really, more like Tesla loves them, so Aila loves them too. We created our card late, with my iPhone, whipped it up quickly, but I'm glad we got something. 

My hobby is to collect our annual cards: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

A lot I'd like to note, but we are throwing a party in a few hours so need to get stuff done...sort of my life right now. So hard to focus on the documenting I want to do so when I'm a grandma, I can reread this all, but good to enjoy the moment too. We haven't thrown a party in a long time, but we may need to move from this place of 10 years, so we're giving it a go!

When I'm 80 years old

Here is Ono Yoko's new video. She is 80 years old, totallly bad ass. I'd like to be like her when I'm her age. Inspirational.

My mom and dad are inspirational too. Especially as a woman, to be as elegant as my mom is  is at her age, I'd be super happy. I definitely see what both my mom and dad taught and lived by in me. I'm happy to pass that on. 

My goal now is to be a bad ass inspirational role model when I'm 80. 

ママの自慢

As a 2nd grader, Tesla's homework is getting more interesting. Her teacher, Arunan-sensei, asks kids to write a journal each week. English or Japanese, misspellings fine, 1 or 2 sentences fine. Just write...to him. And he replies. It's 交換日記, a tradition I experienced in Japan where kids write journals to their teachers and get personalized notes back. The point, as Arunan explained, is to get the kids to express themselves since in 1st grade, it was learning how to spell something as an assignment vs. communicating whatever the kid wants, to a real person.

Tesla does English for the most part at her After School Program. Today I encouraged her to do it in Japanese. She decided what to say in English, and with a tad of help from me, Tesla pieced together the words into a sentence in Japanese. That in itself surprised me at how she could actually say a full sentence because she's rather reticent in speaking 日本語 to me. And totally on her own, then wrote this, even using the correct particle を instead of お!

Even seeing your kid magically learn to read and write in English is pretty amazing. Schools work! But to see the effectiveness of her Japanese program makes me so proud. Day in, day out, her Japanese senseis' efforts are sticking! And her friends and whole community around her (After School is in Japantown and lots of Rosa Parks kids go there), are making this experience normal for her so I won't get the "I don't wanna do Japanese." 

So yeah this is a 自慢 post in a good way! I'm very proud and grateful of the work done at Rosa Parks!!

Camp Tipsy 2013

Hrm, where do I start with Camp Tipsy? It's a really fun lake-side event started by Chicken John. He brings crappy stuff for everyone to build artisic floating...things. He provides a full-blown, well-organized workshop for anyone to use to build their inspired idea. And people do. Over the years, we've seen things that were beautiful...a floating bar, a hot tub, a swing (Dav's), 2 story high contraptions, a ferris wheel, floating bedroom settings, an English tea table, a burleseque stage with performers, so much more. Chicken and his team set the stage, and participants build. The event ends with a comical competition, with categories such as Most Uncessary Use of Materials, Most Likely to Get Pilot Laid, Least Comfortable, Least Like a Boat, etc.

This year, Dav won Least Like a Boat. His score! See how proud he is? He found a log...then went to the workshop and added a pressure monitor (he called his boat Zero Pressure), added the bottom of a rake for a basket to hold his ukelele, and nailed on a life preserver to prevent total roll-over (it was still hard to float on). It's that kind of event.

Here is our proud family portrait. 

This year, Sofia and Jeremy made a boat. Tesla got to help. Nice pic by Greg here.

This is Fia's boat ↓ . And the push off.

 

Pics don't capture the fun and variety, but here is a  snippet. Here is Chicken as MC, while Aila joins.

But overall, in addition to the fun creativity, the attraction is the kid-friendliness. All kids are welcomed to create, and the atmosphere is just fun either way. Plenty of floating around on neat things, camping with other kids, and being amongst adults who love to create. That's just good in my book.

↓ Dav playing ukelele while Tesla and Aila munch on watermelon.

Happy Aila!

 

Camp kids in the communal hammock.

Pensive Aila. I finally got that hat on her on the last day...which was cloudy. 

 

Camp kids playing chess. I approve!

 

Mama loving Aila on her back. She has no idea how much I love it. She's gonna outgrow this soon.

Thanks, Greg, for the additional pics!

Mom and Dad visit!

I lamented to my parents that it was unlikely I'd make it back to Japan with the kids this year, and asked if they'd consider visiting. It's not cheap, and at their age, not an easy feat, but very quickly, they said yes. Much to my delight, we had 2 weeks with my parents recently. Especially for the kids, and Aila at this precious phase, I wanted my folks to see them.

↓ It's these kind of everyday interactions that I treasure. Bedtime reading. My dad read every night to me, I remember.

 

Initially, Aila was a tad shy. She knew my parents via Skype. By the end though, she snuggled up to Ojiichan.

↓ Exploratorium. Of course : )

↓ And one night, all of us, including my  brother's family, went to a restaurant that had belly dancing. OMG, Tesla and Aila were mesmerized...

 

A wonderful day in Napa. Started at Domaine Carneros with sparkling wine, then lunch at Angele, then a lovely small winery our waiter recommended, but I can't recall.

Like I keep saying, I am so aware of time going by quickly. I really appreciate every moment I have with my parents. It was a good trip.

 

Strawberry Music Festival

Strawberry Music Festival, a bluegrass festival up at Camp Mather, is a lot more than just music. We went for several years in a row, then took a break, and this year went back. The weather was perfect, and gosh, it's just really, really pretty up there with old trees, a meadow, and a lake.

While I definitely dig good bluegrass, the best part for me is that Strawberry is super kid-friendly. Everyone is relaxed and happy. Kids of all ages run around free, playing with each other.

Strawberry used to kick-off our summer camping season, but I may no longer need to go every year. It will, however, remain a favorite I'd like to visit as a family from time to time. Strawberry is perfect for us to really enjoy being together. There are tons of kid specific activities, music for all, healthy eating options in case I don't want to cook, friendly camp neighbors, and a natural setting that makes all of us happy.

↓ Like here, Dav and the gals checking out a new CD of a band that just played. 

Or here, the gals dancing with their shadows as the music plays. Isn't it pretty special? Living in a city, this is ideal for us!

   

 ↓ A whole meadow section is for kids. We lay out a picnic blanket, and the kids can play,paint, and craft to their heart's desire.

  

 

 ↓ Our camp neighborhood was full of kids Tesla's age. This was the first year she could really go off by herself with the kids and play. They all stayed within the "neighborhood" but were pretty independent in thinking up of games to play.

I got to square dance! It was a ton of fun, great exercise, and I can see how this type of dance used to bring communities closer. It's about being in sync as a group.

And then...as we left early morning to go home, the RV breaks broke.  Technically, it wasn't the RV's fault but how we drove down the large hills, but still. Once this RV breaks, it's a colossal hassle. Not any tow truck can handle it, so we spent over 24 hours at a motel nearby waiting. Luckily we had the motel. The kids managed to entertain themselves : )

Tesla was quite delighted the tow truck had pink flames on it.

Miss fancy shoes

Just found this in draft form, never published. So here you go, Aila M., loving mama's shoes as she eats seaweed. Note she is the one finding and insisting on wearing these. 

 

 

Aila is 2!

↑ With her Great-Grandmother Maria. Lucky girl to be so close to her.

Aila turned 2 on May 20th, so I'm catching up here, but I want to note another milestone for our little one who is growing up so quickly. Seriously, because Aila is child #2 and we have that much more going on, time is zooming by. She runs and jumps, is communicating with words (along with her cute babbling when she wants to tell longer stories), and loves to play jokes on us. She is growing right in front of our eyes - duh, but still, it's amazing.

Gran Marie takes care of Aila 2 days a week, and they spend time with Granny, Aila's great-grandmother. So it made sense for us to celebrate Aila's birthday at a park close to Granny's home. It was just family, including cousins, and the Regenbogens. Super small, but very special.

Aila regularly enjoys rides on Granny's walker, and her special day was no different except the balloon:

↓ Tesla and Fia helped Aila open her presents. Aila still doesn't get what a present is, but she sure loved what she got!

Aila mesmerized by her new blinkie shoes. She loves shoes and wore these all day after opening them.

Chocolate cupcakes were a hit.

I honestly appreciate each day with Aila, getting to hug her, nibble her, and enjoy her clinginess knowing it will pass soon. Life can be overwhelmingly busy, but I wouldn't change a thing. I knew there was space in our family of 3 for Aila, and she's really brought a new dimension to our home life. Watching Tesla and Aila together is pretty much the best warm & fuzzy stuff you can get. 

Happy Birthday my baby. 

Good job, Dove.