LA LA LA Day 2

We drove down to Irvine to visit Nara, Miye and Emmi and meet Joshua today. Here's Emmi ready for some breakfast.

Izumi didn't waste any time locking onto this baby doll stroller for some walking practice in their back yard.

Miye, Koji and Emmi making good use of the hose.

Izumi made good use of the puddles the bigger kids left behind.

Joshua was born in April, on the 21st. If only he had come a few hours earlier, he and Koji would have the same birthday!

Miye and Koji started a little band.

The only way for Nara and I to have our picture taken together was to let Koji do it. He did a pretty good job, although I don't think this is the most flattering angle...where's that little tripod I used to always carry around?!

We left there to give them some nap time and to head off to our next friend's house. First, on the way to Whittier, we stopped at Cream Pan, a Japanese style bakery in Tustin. Everyone who worked there was Japanese, as was the atmosphere of the place (how can I say that when there wasn't anything to it but a glass bakery case, a refridgerator case of drinks and a bunch of baking equipment...but it's true). Somehow I bought 20 bucks worth of sandwiches, pastries and cookies, telling myself that they were a gift for Riva and Will. Well, they were, except for the ones that I ate! As the reviewers on Yelp said, the strawberry croissant is delicious, though I actually liked the chocolate cream horn better. I didn't love the croquette sandwich, but then again, I didn't get around to eating it until the next day and by then it wasn't very appetizing. Better not to buy more than you and your friends can gobble in a day...and better to call first, since they're closed on Mondays and every other Tuesday.

Riva improvised this "pool slide" for Koji and Mikayla out of their various backyard equipment. Nice work, the kids really liked it!

But all Izumi needed was a bucket!

Post-swim, the lovely and mermaid-ish (I mean nice, cute mermaids, not the nasty ones in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) Mikayla.

Here's a picture of Izumi, or is it Mikayla? That's right, it's Mikayla when she was just a few months older than Izumi is now. I thought the resemblance, at least in profile, was striking, so I had to take a picture of this picture!

Tyler spent some good portion of our time together trying to make a move on Izumi. At first, she was put off and even moved to tears.

But it didn't take long for his charm to win her over!

Here's all the kids in a row and actually sort of looking at the camera even.

When Will came home, he got out some of the temporary tattoos he's collected at the trade shows and stuck them on the kids.

Will and Tyler; what you can't tell from this picture is that their bellies are full of chicken, rice and broccoli casserole, which was so good that we nearly polished off an entire 9 x 13 pan full. Thanks for a fun and delicious day, Riva & co., and so sorry that you aren't pictured, Riva...you know how it is when you get carried away with trying to capture the kids on film!