NoBloPoMo

Regarding NaBloPoMo for 2009, I'm thinking NoBloPoMo.

That's National Blog Posting Month, where you blog an entry every day in the month of November, I just don't think I can do it this year. Too much going on. I'm on FB, if you really need to hear from me. Or, here is a link so you can re-read NaBloPoMo 2007 or NaBloPoMo 2008.

But, never too busy to share another Maiya photo. After almost 3 years, I finally got my girl to wear pants, and jeans too! She said she's getting tired of always wearing dresses (but not skirts). I was so thrilled. So if you see her wearing pants, give her some positive feedback.

Paper Maiya says "Save the Earth"

You've heard of Flat Stanley, right? Well, here's Paper Maiya. It is the backside of some paper that had been hanging in our old house with me & Maiya's outlines last year. A few months ago, we decided to draw Maiya's outline, then color it in together. I did the shirt with the "Save the Earth" shirt that Maiya was wearing and she did the rest.So far Paper Maiya has only been in our house and our backyard to take pictures. For a long time she was waiting on the door to Maiya's bedroom for Maiya to come home from school. She has recently moved into the hallway. Soon, she may head out the front door. Maybe for Halloween... or maybe Earth Day.

Pose-U (That's Japanese for Be-Cutesy-Its-Picture-Time)

Visiting the Aloha Market Mural

Maiya in front of the "Aloha to the Neighborhood" Mural

Maiya & I went to LA Vegan for lunch yesterday on my furlough day after running errands in our old hood. We parked in front of the old Aloha Market mural. When we drive by, she knows it's "daddy's mural," but she's never seen it up close. It was a community mural project "Aloha to the Neighborhood" that Tony, my partner Ayako & I organized oh about 10-11 years ago. As I touched the wall, to see how dirty it was (not too bad), memories came flooding back to me. I remembered some of the areas I had painted. I remembered the more than 100 volunteers who came out to paint, all the community meetings and design team meetings, and how many of those kids are now in college. I remembered Ethel, the lady who painted the red tomato with a toothpick to get the paint into those stucco crevices. I remembered Tony & Sergio walking across the street to Mago's at the end of each painting day to get a milkshake or teriyaki avocado taco or burrito, and to get a big picture look at the progress. I remembered the great Unveiling party we had... with performances by our friends, such a long time ago. I remember those who said that it would be hit with graffiti--we've been lucky, a few taggings over the years, but nothing that the city couldn't remove with an email request here or a phone call there.

I'm a little embarrassed to share because it's so antiquated, but anyways, there's a lot of content, and it's still out there on the www for probably not much longer since the Great Leap website is undergoing a long overdue redo... one of the first websites I designed 9 years ago:

http://www.greatleap.org/aloha/

I took a quick picture of Maiya with my cell phone and we got back in the car to finish our errands. Oh, it's on Centinela between Washington & Culver.

(Newer) Biker Babe in Training

Goodbye $5 thrift store bike, Maiya has moved up to a newish bike Tony found on Craigslist this summer. Since she still primarily only wears skirts with very few exceptions, we use the you-don't-want-to-hurt-your-knee-excuses to get her to wear pants or legggings every once and awhile. Here she is with leg warmers instead of pants.

New training wheels

Staycation: More Unschooling Fun

I had blogged about the list of fun things to do at home last month when we were on vacation.

Making Playdoh food and pretending to eat it. Check.

Maiya's really into making things from construction paper. Tony & Maiya went to the library and brought home the coolest book by one of Maiya's two favorite authors, Leo Lionni, "Let's Make Rabbits." So we made rabbits out of construction paper and origami paper, kind of copying the rabbits in the book. Maiya made the white one, which we drew together. Check.

Playing with blocks. Check. She got out the blocks and the Asian American doll family that I got at Lakeshore when she was a baby. I figured if the girl is going to have dolls, then at least they will be dolls of color.

Dinner with Tony's Aunt Liz, Eddie, Jacob & Rebecca visiting from Idaho. Not on the list, but check!
And finally, not on Maiya's list, but definitely falls under cultural and family ritual. On Friday night, we lit our Grandpa Larry memory candle, talked a little about Grandpa, and had Challah bread for the sabbath. Bubbe & Zeyde would be proud. I'm sure the peanut butter and jelly were kosher.
And, that's the last you'll hear of my summer vacation.