Blog backup

Seems like I just don't have the time to blog about all the things that have been going on in our life. If I had more time, I'd blog about:

* Brunch for Auntie Keiko's bday at our house. Enjoying playing with all of Maiya's cousins

* Tofu Festival - 20,000 plus people in 2 days in J-town produced by LTSC where I work. It was a hot, hot day--I worked 9 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday. Maiya wearing "Soy Friendly" and Amani wearing "Planting seeds for our future" shirts.

* J-town - the loss of our J-town to luxury condos, and sale of JVP, Weller Court & New Otani

* Me & Tony's 9th wedding anniversary - celebrations at Tokyo Table, Furaibo and Tony's new favorite coffee shop, Tokyo 77.

* Cleaning out and organizing our garage, den & closets of clutter. Taking down our rusty shed. Goal: parking in the garage!

* Bye bye fishies - after losing our 2 goldfish, we got about 20 guppies, but they didn't make it either

* Milestones of Maiya - more talking, more decisive, more playdates, more video, more art

* Starting a new ECE (Early Childhood Education) class I'm taking one night a week called Language Arts and Literature for Young Children at the local college.

* BBQ with Tony's Aunt Liz' family visiting from Idaho and his godsister Beth's family on Saturday

* BOLD - Birth on Labor Day - the amazing play about women's birth stories produced by the Doulas of Southern California on Sunday. The play will be performed in 37 locations this month around the country. It inspired me to want to have a natural water birth at home (although it didn't convince me to decide whether or not to have another baby/toddler), and it also inspired me to learn more about being a doula, or at least to do some advocacy for educating healthy birthing choices and support for low-income and teenage moms.

* First annual "Okazaki Family Reunion" - 37 of us on Monday. Touching stories from Auntie Taka and Uncle Fumio. 6 Nisei (generation), 8 cousins plus spouses, 16 next generation (ranging from 22 years to 9 months old), lots of great potluck food, 107 degrees, and a pool big enough to fit us all!

* The crazy heat- but can't complain too much living on the westside

* Never ending bills, laundry, dishes

* Diaper-free Maiya! This is a BIG one, it is the most life-changing experience and it is the milestone that we have been looking forward to but is a reminder of how quickly she is growing up and how these days need to be cherished, every moment.

If you have any requests for details on the above blog topics, please vote on any ones you'd like to hear more about because I may not get to them all.