Christmas Concert 2010

Here is the video of Akemi's first Christmas concert. The kindergarten and JK classes were the grand finale, but the whole event took only half an hour.

I remember seeing a Peter Gabriel concert. One of the highlights of his concerts is when he performs "Lay your hands on me" and falls into the crowd. When he starts into the song there is an electricity generated by the people in the know as they make their way to the front. For the uninitiated there is a sense that something big is about to happen, but a mystery as to what it is.

When the young MCs announced the last performance of the night, there was the same quiet hysteria as the eager parents flocked to the front.

Kimono

Here are some pictures of Akemi wearing a kimono. The other day I went to watch her odori class. Her teacher must have infinite patience.

The story about the pumpkin

Ok, I'm a bit behind in my posts. The jack-o-lantern on the right is the one that Akemi designed herself. She drew out some different designs on paper, and then drew out the one she liked best on the pumpkin. It was a pretty scary one. Unfortunately some hooligans got to it before I took the picture.

Scary Night

We had Akemi's best friends over for Halloween. Later they treated us to a ballerina show.

I also included a picture from my deck openning.

Pumpkin Patch and Play Dates

A couple of weekends ago we went to the same pumpkin patch as last year and picked out some nice ones. Although she keeps saying that she's brave, she's really a chicken. She was afraid of this inflatable cat.

We already bought her Halloween outfit. You'll have to wait for the pictures. Her best friend Abby will come over and they'll go out together.

Last weekend Nina had a play date at Abby's house. Watching them use scissors is like watching professional wrestling. It looks like there's going to be damage, but nothing comes of it.

On Thanksgiving I had the deck opening. Nobody fell through so that's a good sign. We've been playing in the backyard quite often lately. When I was putting the deck together Nina would like to help and hand me some screws. We had some picnics on it when only the platform was done. She would prance around it and I would as casually as possible guard the edges when really I was freaking out that she would fall off the side.

A couple of weeks ago her friend Rachel came over to play. I hadn't mowed the lawn in quite some time so the grass was unruly. They were trying to play croquet, but they could hardly move the ball because of the shaggy course. They were trying to decide who to go first, so I picked up a piece of wood cut like a triangle from when I was cutting out the stringers for the deck stairs. One side was dark and the other side wasn't. So, I asked them if they wanted the light side or the dark side and I flipped it on the ground. They found it so amusing they played it over and over, mostly both choosing the same side.

First Day of School

Today Akemi started all-day Junior Kindergarten. This is the first crop of all-day junior kindergartners in Ontario, so we'll see in twenty years how the experiment worked.

Silvina was a bit ansy in the Summer because the program was not well defined. It all seemed to work out though. Akemi has been so excited to go to her new school. As you can see, she has a backpack that is literally almost as big as she is. Yesterday I bought her a lunch bag too that seemed bigger than it needed to be.

I still don't have the straight goods on what happened today. There's somewhere between 5 and 30 kids in her room and her best friend Abby may or may not be in the same class. I guess I'll wait for the class picture.

More from the Ex

Here are some more pictures from the Ex. She won a hello kitty bat by throwing two balls in a bucket. She also tried rock climbing, being a firefighter and taking pictures. She wanted to show off the beads she got. I don't even want to ask how she got them.

Guess where we were today

Today we all took the day off and went to the Ex. Almost the whole time we spent on the rides. We all came back pooped. More pictures to follow.

Spinning Yarns

Yesterday afternoon Akemi asked me to tell her the story about me and Happy (a golf ball with a picture of the Sun on it). I quickly fabricated some lame story, but then she said that she wanted to hear a long story about me and Happy.

So, I started to recite a long story about me and Happy at a golf tournament. I wish I had a video camera or a tape recorder because I could not believe what was coming out of my mouth. Every once and a while I would take a break, and she would be pleading for more. She would even remind me what hole I was on. Well, I told 18 stories about me and Happy - one for each hole of the golf tournament. There must have been a muse sitting on my shoulder. At one point I had to take a break to burst out laughing at what I was saying.

The problem is that in a couple of days she'll ask me about the stories again and I don't think I will be able to remember them.

Camping at Lake Huron

In late July we went camping at the Pinery with some friends from Ottawa.

Last year we went camping with the same friends near Algonquin Park. They have two boys around the same age. That time Akemi was not much of a water-goer.

This year she's been taking swimming classes and was a green light to go in the lake. I have to say that the lake water was perfect - clean, good temperature.

The camping brought out a wild side in Akemi. I never thought I would see her.

Journey to Centreville

We went to Centreville in mid-July with Uncle Raymond, Auntie Lenora, and Cousin Risa.

They shared the rides and plenty of monkey business. On the train ride home Akemi was quite content.

July with Cousin Risa

Ok, I have some catching up to do.

Here is a family portrait from when Ray, Lenora and Risa were in town - already several weeks ago. If you want to print it, I have the hi-res version.

The same day Risa, Akemi and Seiji came up with a game to hit the foam blocks. I don't know why, but they kept saying "Hit the glass".

Princess Birthday Party

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Akemi. On her first birthday we didn't do anything but take a picture - very cheap. For her second birthday we had a pot-luck picnic at the park near our house - still cheap. Last year we were planning something in the park again, but the strike made us have a family get-together in our backyard - still cheap.

This year, we had a princess birthday party for her and her friends in the party room at Silvina's parent's place. There was Abby, Rachel, Sienna, and Gabriella from Akemi's daycare, Elijah (Abby's brother), some other kid (Sienna's brother), Lucas and Joseph, Dylan and Conner, Lyra and Caspian (kids of our friends), Risa, and someone else...who was it...oh yeah, Cinderella.

Here's a picture of the princesses.
As you can see, they had dress up. Akemi originally tried Belle's yellow dress, but when she saw the Tinkerbell outfit, there was no looking back.

They also had make up (not something I was too keen about), games and storytelling that seemed to keep the kids interested.

At the end of the party, Akemi seemed content. Today I asked her what her favorite part of the party was. She said it was when she was singing "Wiggle wiggle wiggle. Giggle giggle giggle. Achu" with Abby. It was something they were doing before the other guests and Cinderella arrived. Like many of their spontaneous collaborations, it mysteriously took form and escalated into a frenzy before dwindling to a memory. I only managed to capture the fading light of the performance on video. Even so, if you amplify it, imagine it in its full glory and multiply it by one hundred, even at this grossly exaggerated state, who would consider it as the highlight of the party?

Funny what kids remember and what parents will do to amuse them.