Ever since Maile started dancing, Grandma Jill has wanted to see her perform in a dance recital. Well, she finally got her wish on Sunday as the stars aligned for Maile’s second hip hop dance recital at Nagata Dance to take place while Grandma and Papa Boston were visiting.
I’ve mentioned before, but we really love the vibe at Nagata Dance. Maile had all the fun of a dance recital, but in a relaxed, cool, family-like environment. For the final number, Lauren even got to join Maile and dance around a bit. Good times!
Here’s the video from Maile’s number:
The proud dancer with flowers from yours truly...
A recital Grandma Jill (nor the rest of us) will soon forget 🙂
Grandma and Papa Boston arrived on Saturday. Maile and I picked them up at the airport and took them right over to the Maker Faire. We had a great time last year and both Maile and I were excited to go back and also share the fun with Grandma and Papa.
This year Mommy and Lauren stayed home on account of Lauren’s nap schedule (not as easy to just get her to crash in the stroller these days). We missed them for sure! We explored much more of the fair ground this year taking in drones and robots and all types of strange, weird, cool things…
Maile showing Papa how it all works...
These are cool glasses designed by some Stanford students - you can come up with your own designs and snap them right on to the frames...
Speaking of glasses, thanks Google for the kid-sized protective goggles!
Maile and Grandma hard at work on a copper bracelet.
Taking in some glass blowing...
Maile met Russell the Robot Giraffe!
Maile Girl and I had a blast!
Thank you Maker Faire – we’ll be back again for sure!
Last Friday Maile didn’t have school, so she hung out with Kelly and Lauren for the day. Kelly took the girls down to the Creativity Museum and, shockingly, Maile found an exhibit to give her some screen time for a performance 🙂 Lauren was a little intimidated by the setup – she’s more of an old school solo artist, no need for the fancy gimmickry. But Maile was in her element. I was mostly impressed that she knew the words to both songs so well – although I guess I shouldn’t be.
Maile and Lauren on the mics against the green screen
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
This morning for mother’s day we headed out with the girls to explore SF a bit. This time we headed over to these beautiful new stairs that recently were finished at Lincoln Park and then cut over for a bit of a stroll at Lands End on the very edge of San Francisco. It was a little cold, but Christine got to do one of her favorite hobbies – taking pictures of the girls! – and we had fun exploring a bit.
The steps at Lincoln Park are beautiful - and fun to climb!
Perfect setting for a picture of our girls (Maile just a couple months shy of 6 and Lauren just about 2.5)
Yeah, we're in trouble with that look!
A mother and her daughters with the Golden Gate in the background
This one is from May 8, 2011. Particularly cracked me up because Lauren has become an ace at the green bike. It sat in our house for four years hardly used by Maile Girl, but Lauren loves it. I’ll try to get a video of her this weekend on it.
For now, back to what it was like “riding bikes” with Maile:
Have a great weekend – and happy mother’s day to all!
This weekend we had a very fun visitor join us – Great Aunt Suzy (Grandma Jill’s sister) came to town from Michigan. Maile and Lauren had a blast showing her all around San Francisco – and, especially, our home and neighborhood. Between visits to the park, a dance class, swimming, so quality time with dolls and art projects – Aunt Suzy got a good taste of what life is like these days for us!
On Saturday for lunch, Maile and I took Aunt Suzy to hit up the food trucks!
Aunt Suzy and Lauren enjoying the see saw at our neighborhood park...
Thank you for the visit Aunt Suzy and we look forward to seeing you again soon!
I’ve mentioned this before, but Maile is obsessed with these “how to” videos that kids make and post on Youtube. She watches the drawing ones, the rainbow loom ones, and she especially loves the Japanese ones that focus on unboxing Japanese toys and foods.
Well, on Saturday afternoon, Maile disappeared for awhile – locking herself away in our bedroom and asking not to be disturbed. She came out a little while later and presented her first “how to” video she had filmed all by herself about how to make a Rainbow Loom bracelet.
She was VERY excited. Except she wasn’t too pleased with how the camera work came out. So she recruited me to be her “assistant” and we made a second video…
Fair warning, these videos are 9 and 11 minutes long respectively – but you have to watch a little bit – they are incredible. I loved helping Maile make these. Afterwards we discussed all the things she wants to try next – she was asking me about camera angles and that we need to find a way to make it so the camera can see her AND whatever it is she is doing.
She asked me to help her make it so others could see them, so we made her very own Youtube channel. She decided to call it “Crafts 4 Kids By Maile” because she is “going to do more than just Rainbow Loom bracelets”.
I told her she had to write something for the “about” page and she came up with: “I’m Maile. I’m 5 years old. I like to do crafts, like rainbow loom. I’ll show you how!” Then I told her she needed to create a sign for the page and she drew one up and posed for her profile photo.
Crafts 4 Kids By Maile one-sheet
Maile posing for her Crafts 4 Kids profile photo...
I have a feeling a few more of these will get created in the coming weeks – stay tuned!
For Christmas we bought Lauren a scooter – she tried it a few times, but it didn’t really take. Its been hanging around the house unused for months. Apparently, our nanny, Kelly, took Lauren to Japantown on Monday and she became fascinated with a little boy riding his scooter. She came home and figured out how to ride it. She’s already pretty good – and as is her style, fearless…
In other news, Maile Girl is slowly, but surely making progress with the roller blades. She is now incentivized to keep up with her little sister 🙂
Also, this is classic city living with us doing roller blades and scooters in the main lobby of our building. We did go out to hit the streets, but it was pretty windy … and probably best is Lauren masters this thing away from traffic!
Christine and I headed to North Carolina this weekend for our 10th reunion at Fuqua. Grandma and Papa Hawaii came in to town to spend the weekend with the girls. By all accounts they had lots of fun and we really appreciate the chance to get away just Christine and I.
Papa Cal, Maile, Grandma Gail and Lauren (April 2015)
The girls are already counting the days until their June trip to Hawaii!
