Jenni's Day Off

Had the day off today for my birthday holiday.  Took Maiya to school, then went to the gym and did 27 minutes on the treadmill.  I could have gone longer, but I had to get home to shower and head to the eye doctor.  The good news is my eyes are getting better, which explains why I cannot read anything close, since my contacts are too strong.  

Then booked it out to J-town, on my day off to have lunch at Toranoko with my cousins (from left to right above) Roxane, Cherie, Jackie, and beautiful cutie Harper (Jackie's grandbaby).  Planned on FB last night, it was a last chance to get together for Cherie, who heads back to France tomorrow after visiting for a week and a half.

This girl is such a cutie pie!

After lunch, I went back to pick up Maiya from taiko class, one of her after school classes.  When we were considering Japanese immersion education for Maiya, one of the main considerations for me was the cultural awareness and activities that go along with the language learning.  We are so fortunate that Maiya is able to not only learn to speak, read and write in Japanese, but she is also learning traditional Japanese dance, making Japanese and Japanese American friends... and learning taiko.  How many elementary schools have after school taiko programs?  I must admit, as a former failed taiko player myself (Bombu Taiko), I had hopes that she would be interested in taiko.  After two months of taiko class, I think she is already much better than I was after a year of playing taiko, and she definitely has better form and rhythm than I ever did.

Anyways, after school, I cleaned up all the Halloween decorations in the yard while Maiya did homework, then we went to dinner at Howard's Bacon and Avocado Burgers for turkey tacos, and then to Baskin Robbins to use a $2 off coupon.  And there, if anyone was interested, is a nutshell of my day off, and NaBloPoMo12 #5.  Peace. Out.

February 2012 Update

February was a busy month.  I participated in a march and rally around LAUSD Headquarters supporting Adult Education and calling against the closing of 30 Adult Education sites with 300,000 adult learners, including the mommies in our Family Literacy program who attend 68 hours a month of English classes, parenting classes and parent/child literacy activities with their preschool children.  We were among 1,000 others that day. Furlough days continued for Maiya, and we were thrilled that my cousin Jackie came and brought her grandbaby Harper over to visit and have lunch.

Also this month, I started volunteering with Meghan Sahli-Wells' campaign for City Council, attending fundraisers, helping on a phone bank, walking precincts, assembling and putting up lawn signs in the neighborhood with Maiya, writing a support letter that was published in 3 or 4 news blogs, and making some new friends.  After losing by 32 votes in 2010 on an eco-friendly campaign I could get behind, I had decided if she ever ran again, I would volunteer for her campaign.

New York Knick Jeremy Lin hit the big time, and we got the last Linsanity t-shirt at the mall (a gift for Kevin's bday), which the kids celebrated at the gymnastics center, where I tried to pull some old tricks on the equipment, reliving my old gymnastics glory days #FAIL.

LTSC Family Literacy supports ADULT EDUCATION at LAUSD Headquarters

Cousin Jackie and Baby Harper visit on Maiya's Furlough Day

Supporting Meghan Sahli-Wells for City Council!

Superstars #6 has the ball!  Playing against WLA boys

Linsanity goes full force in February!

Maiya & Eve

Kevin's 7th Birthday at the Gymnastics Center

Peace Out... that's February 2012
#activism #baby #bball #birthday #cousins #literacy #monthlyupdate
(Posted 10/27/12)

Tanabata, Tanabata (#9)

Maiya and I walked from her preschool over to the 2nd Tanabata Festival back in August 2010, part of the Nisei Week Festivities.  My sister Gayle drove out to Little Tokyo from the Valley on a Friday evening.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at Suehiro's.

Maiya and Cousin Kaylee

Gayle with Kieth, Kaylee & Maiya

Sisters, Cousins (Photo Credit: Kieth)

Ms. Tanabata Kikuchi (haha)

Chris and Evelyn, Sansei Sisters of J-town

Tanko Bushi Mob Flash Dance attempted

If you haven't seen the Tanabata Festival, I recommend you go next year.  It's a pretty cool sight to see.  It's also neat how different community groups make their own, and each is very different and unique.  This year some really big ones came from Japan.

Oh, wait!  I just realized I never posted last year's Tanabata photos in 2009, so with this blog, you get 2 for the low, low, price of 1.

2009 Jenni and Maiya at 4 years old

2009 Maiya and Nancy Kikuchi pass out ribbons

Well, that's NaBloPoMo#9.

Easter '10 & the 40s

Easter '10 and the 40s

This year we celebrated Gayle, Lee & Tony's birthdays on Easter.  

This was the first time the cousins got together to dye eggs.  

Kids had a nice time playing outside in Grandma Machi's backyard.

Then, the Mad Dash for the egg hunt.  

For me, it was fun to hide the eggs.

 We watched the crazed kids come out ready to snatch up those eggs.

Then, we ate a feast and a half.

Saori made a stunning cake for the 43, 44 and 45 yr old Aries' in our family.

Can't believe how big the kids are getting.

Even more unbelievable is how old we adults are!

And many more!

Pump it Up for Kevin

Kevin's 5th Bday at Pump, Pump, Pump it Up!

Ok, well actually the party was a month ago, back in January.  Wouldn't  you know that I really jammed my hand when I landed on it on the obstacle course and heard a cracking sound--it still hurts a month later.  No more pump it up for me.

Celebrating 01/01/10 with Family & Friends

On New Year's we went to Uncle Bill's in the morning for ozoni, then went to the Okazaki's, my grandma's house in Boyle Heights, then a quick trip to Ikea for our second annual New Year's Day visit to Ikea. Bought a few light fixtures for the hallway and the bedroom and some plastic orange chairs for our Oshogatsu. Went home and made one more broccoli salad to take to Evelyn & Bruce's for their New Year's celebration with community friends and friends from work, both mine & Tony's. It's always a great way to start off the year, laughing a lot. It was also nice since we missed it last year because of all THE STRESS related to working on our old house, being in escrow, and taking care of Tony's dad.

Looking forward to a new year, a new decade in 2010. May it be a healthy and happy year. Let's have a little less war and a little more peace. Peace. Out.

Rockclimbing fun for Kyle's Bday

For Kyle's 7th Birthday, we went to a rockclimbing place. It was Maiya's first time rockclimbing. I was amazed how agile some of the kids were... Maiya did pretty good for a first time. She didn't seem scared as much as it was strenuous climbing and going up bit by bit. She was pretty proud of herself.

Learning the "ropes" or the rules of rockclimbing

Kyle, fast as a monkey, to the top!

Maiya bravely attempting to climb step by step

Coming down fast

"Pretending to climb" while standing on the floor

Ice Cream Cake Time... Happy Birthday dear Kyle....
Only child to accept and eat the fruit :)

Afterwards, we went to Darin & Sao's house to celebrate me, Darin and Grandpa Hiroshi's birthdays. But really, it's not about the adults, all about the kids. NaBloPoMo #10 (I know, kind of missed a week there. Well, I never promised to do it all.)

Baby Signs

Maiya explains her aversion to pink polka dots in so many words

This picture doesn't have to do with anything. It's just a funny photo of a crying girl wearing pink polka dots on a polka dot blanket. My news for today, is that Maiya did her first "baby sign" at dinner last night! Tony was feeding Maiya carrots and pear slices and doing the sign for "more" which is making a fist and putting his knuckles together. Then she started doing it too! Tony yelled for me to look, and sure enough, she did it some more! (We've been doing milk, drink, food, and more for the last few months.)

Then tonight at dinner, Maiya was eating tofu. She was pointing and babbling as usual. But she seemed more pointed in her pointing, so I looked and noticed she seemed to be pointing at my glass, and saying "wa wa wa wa wa." What? Did she say water? Does she want some water? Who knows if she did or not, but Tony went and got her sippy cup and filled it with water. She grabbed it, smiled and started drinking. The other exciting thing is that for weeks, if not months, she drinks, but really needs us to lift the cup high enough so she can get to the water. Last few nights, I've been lifting the cup, explaining what I'm doing and telling her to lift it up. So tonight, when she took the water, she tilted her head sideways and back, and was getting the water. Click. Success!

We're so excited. We're happy that Maiya is learning to communicate. We really want for her to learn baby sign language, not just so she can communicate with us for water and more food before she learns to talk, but more importantly so she can learn to communicate with her cousin Kevin, who was born with profound hearing loss. Kevin is a happy, active one year old, and just keeps getting cuter every time I see him. Kevin is having surgery next week that will hopefully help him to hear... so please keep Kevin and his family in your thoughts and best wishes!!

New Years 2004