Boeing Family Day

On March 4th Boeing opened their doors again to families for a tour. It had been about 12 years since the last time they did this so families were really excited including ours. One of the employees told us they were expecting about 10,000 people to come through their doors that day. We were glad we signed up for the first shift at 9 AM. It was pretty interesting seeing satellites in various stages of completion. It took us about an hour and a half to go through the tour. Michael took us to where he works. I got claustrophobia seeing the rows of cubicles, give me a busy open nurses station any day. Cameras were not allowed inside but they did set up a family photo station which I made my family participate. They also had nice goody bags which included a beach towel, Frisbee, cookies and water bottle. A good time was had by all.

Little Tokyo

We went to the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo because they had a new exhibit opening today about origami. Jacob was beyond excited especially since we told him we would take him shopping.

We learned a little about the history of origami.
Jacob took some notes along the way on pieces he wanted to try and make.

I particularly enjoyed the owl in the center of this display.

Our last photo before we were told there was no photography allowed in the exhibit, oops.

We recognized one of the artists from the video Between the Folds that Jacob has been watching many times. We introduced ourselves but Jacob was a little shy beyond saying "hi".

The exhibit was impressive and well worth the visit. Jacob bought some new origami paper at the gift shop. The museum has a couple more Target Free Family Saturdays coming up so I think we will come back.

For lunch we had Japanese food of course. We ate at Mr. Ramen. I had a bento box which was great but very filling. I did not finish my lunch. Jacob had ramen noodles for the first time and loved them.

After lunch we walked around town to do some shopping. Jacob picked out some more origami paper, origami paper case and he picked out two origami books. Little Tokyo is the best place to look at origami books, they had the best selection we have ever seen. Many of the books were written by the artists we had seen on the video Between the Folds.

We enjoyed our little vacation day in downtown LA and look forward to going back soon.

Good Deed Winner

Jacob became the "good deed winner" for his classroom this week at school. Each week one child is selected from each class. Jacob is pictured with the other winners and the principal. Jacob is really having a wonderful 3rd grade year.

His next goal is to get a perfect attendance record for the school year. The principal gives out trophies for perfect attendance and Jacob really wants one.

Cocoa Layer Cake

Best homemade chocolate cake I have ever made, it came out perfect. Jacob who doesn't like chocolate cake has even had 2 slices. I have had this recipe for a year and finally got around to making it and I am so glad that I did. You should try it too:)

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/02/cocoa_layer_cake

The Origami Shelf

Ninja stars are on the back of the shelf.



Jacob now has an origami shelf at the school library. This year he decided he would bring his origami work to school to share. He brought bags of it to the Librarian who displayed some and the rest was put in the quiet area to share with the other students.



Jacob's Valentine origami hearts were a big hit in his class. Now the ninja stars are becoming popular again. Jacob made these for many students in his second grade class and now he is taking orders for his third grade class. We can hardly keep up with the paper requests:)

Valentine's Day and other Baking Essentials

Jacob made origami hearts for his class this year.
I made heart cookies for his class.



Mini cherry pies for my sweethearts at home.






And chocolate dipped strawberries for my co-workers.
As you can see it was a busy weekend at our house.




Happy Valentine's Day

Caribbean Cruise 2012

Highlights from our Caribbean cruise.

Costa Maya, Mexico. Mahahual beach. Jacob in his favorite element.


Costa Maya, Mexico. Mahahual beach. LA had more sunshine but we had rainbows, fried plantains and horchata.


Belize City, Dit's Restaurant. Our unhappy camper was not into Caribbean food so we ordered him a piece of cake. He couldn't finish the piece. Michael and I enjoyed our meal of red beans, rice, chicken and meat pie. Dit's slogan is "It's nice to be important but more important to be nice."



Belize City.




Cozumel, Mexico. Chankanaab. Sea Lion show.





Cozumel, Mexico. Chankanaab. Mayan exhibit.

Formal night on the cruise ship. We clean up nice. Where to next?