An Amazing Woman

We were in LA last weekend celebrating Shani’s Grandma’s 88^th birthday.  There is a Japanese rite of passage celebrated at various ages to pray for long life (70, 77, 80, 88, 90, 99), so this was a big one for Grandma Hori!  We almost had the entire family together to celebrate and it was a blast!  Dinner was at a  delicious Chinese food restaurant that Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bo picked.  The food was just amazing and we completely stuffed ourselves before going home for dessert.

Silly Uncle Bo

Landon playing with Uncle Ryan

Landon had a great time getting attention from everyone there!  Uncle Bo, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Kel, and Aunt Rox got to meet Landon for the first time.  He was a little shy at first, but definitely warmed up quickly like he always does.   He also had fun crawling around Grandma Hori’s house and playing in Kobe’s water dish.  We put together a makeshift bed for Landon on a futon between twin beds with pillows on both sides to prevent him from rolling off.  We were a little concerned on how well he would sleep being in a completely different place on top of his already poor sleep schedule.  Thankfully, he was on his way to his better sleep pattern and it actually worked out well.  The only “opps” time was when John heard Landon waking up from a nap through the baby monitor. He waited for a moment to see if he would go back to sleep or if he was up for good. Landon made noise again so John went to check on him. He opened the door to find Landon sitting by the door waiting patiently. He had crawled over from his little bed (good thing the mattress was only two inches off the floor). He gave John a big smile…no harm done! 

Eating a persimmon with Auntie Tak

Our little Japanese boy

Uncle Kel, Aunt Margaret, Grandma, Nonni, Uncle Bry

Cousins picture with Grandma

Great Grandma Hori and Landon (no he didn't get to taste the cake)

Surrounded by loved ones!

Playing tops that Grandma has had around since Shani was little

Almost as big as Kobe

Flying with Landon this time was tougher than the last time; that kid does not want to be held for too long.  Thankfully, Nonni and Papa were with us on this flight.  First off, Shani had forgotten her Ergo and was tempted to buy another one because of how much she needs/uses it.  Not being hands-free at the airport made things quite chaotic.  She thought she had misplaced her ID once she was on the plane because she had be trying to hold Landon and gather her things when going through security.  John had his hands full with our carry-on bags and Landon’s carseat.  Plus John gets major anxiety going through the security line that he takes literally every possible metal thing off as well as anything that would require them to send him back through.  It’s quite comical how much he strips down.  It’s surprising he doesn’t go through in just underwear!  Shani’s id turned out to be in her purse by the way.

The day before we left John took his final test in order to get his psychology license and he passed!  Hurray!  His license posted on January 17^th, so he is officially able to practice on his own…although plans for that aren’t in the near future.  Napa will stay his (work) home for a little while longer.  As a little celebration for passing we met our friends Pat and Kim in Long Beach for lunch.  Or as John would put it…Beer!  He’s been missing Beachwood BBQ since he moved back to Sac so this was definitely a celebration.  Plus it was great fun catching up with Pat and Kim since we hadn’t seen them in a couple years. 

Pat and Landon, the bottle is empty :-)

Kim supervises as Landon plays spin the bottle

We also made a quick trip to Downtown Disney while we were there.  We look forward to taking Landon to the parks one day but this worked great for our short weekend.  There were quite a few people there for a Monday, but we figured people had the day off for Martin Luther King Day.  A young group of friends were going to let their oh so exciting Mickey balloon go and offered it to Landon instead when they saw how interested he was.  He loved it!  Guess we don’t actually have to go to Disneyland, we just need to get him a balloon!

Landon loves fish tanks

Cute butt!

Toy Story lover in training