Obon Festival

Oakland's Buddhist Church held their Obon Festival (honoring our ancestors) this weekend. We often read Josie a book called Dance, Dance, Amy Chan about a girl who spends time with her Japanese grandparents, practices the Bon Odori dances and gets to dance at the festival, so we thought it would be fun for Josie to see it live. It was a great community event, with octogenarians and babies, Japanese and hakujin (white people), bbq bentos and udon, and a real spectrum of dancers out on the street- some in elaborate kimono dress and others with jeans and a t-shirt. 

Josie didn't want to miss the dancing and wanted to get a prime viewing spot in front of the church/temple.

A tag with the name of an ancestor hangs from each lantern.

Dinosaur Gymnastics Party

Our friends' daughter had a birthday party at a gymnastics facility this weekend, and the kids had a blast. Check out the triple swing and the dino-shaped sandwiches! Evie loved the trampolines and all the balls... She's walking now!

Camping in the Foothills

After a night at Calaveras Big Trees with Kathryn and Sarah, we made it up to Lake Alpine for some cooler weather and some time on the beach. Josie wasn't feeling well, so we left for home that night, but we had a good time while we were there.

Hiking with Colin and Andrew

We went on a hike in the Oakland hills with Colin and Andrew and ended up at the horse arena (no horses). The kids ran around inside the fence like horses while we sat on the bleachers and watched.

Playing with Packaging

Backyard play

Pizza with Grandma and Cousin Sarah

Big Zucchini!

Camping in Big Basin

Our camera battery died the first day into our trip, but we managed to snap a few photos.

Walking along the short Redwood Loop trail.

Evie's in the backpack somewhere... passed out.

Josie and Dan 

Nature Club program about cleaning up litter at the park. Later that weekend, Josie also did another program on animal camouflage.

Walking Practice

Evie loves to use the walker toys- back and forth and back and forth across the room. When you hold her hands to help her walk, she almost always pulls away her left hand so it's free (to grab stuff?) and like to walk with just one hand for support. This tends to make her walk a little bit sideways, but she's really getting the hang of it. Her balance has improved leaps and bounds, and in no time, she'll probably be leaping and bounding herself.

Blooper reel: