5th Birthday Mayhem in Palo Alto - Photo Essay

On Sunday, we all went down to Palo Alto to celebrate the 5th birthday of Shuhei Iwasaki.  That's Mimi's cousin. 

Mimi's birthday was less than a week away, so we figured we'd get as much birthdayness out of this one as we could (we don't have anything planned for Mimi yet).  We weren't disappointed.  Everyone came out.  Here are the two Iwasaki sisters...

...Uncle Ed with his son Haruki...

...and, of course, the birthday boy's parents, Shu and Kayo.  They were the two who always looked busy.

By 2pm it was time to eat.  Pizza, mac and cheese, pasta, and some salads for the brave, vegetable-enjoying adults.  Lilly, Nana, and Shuhei loved the pizza.

Nana even liked posing with it.  Well, to be honest, she likes posing with just about anything.  

After pizza it was time for balloon animals.  Several of the parents were quite adept at this and could make all kinds of things.  Of course, the only thing everyone wanted was swords. 

Even the cute little girls, like Mimi, were sword crazy.  She'd been given a beautiful flower.  She even called it such.  

But within a few minutes, she started running around stabbing people with it.  That's not the kind of flower power San Francisco is famous for.  

There was also lots of painting to be done.  Here are Shuhei and his sister Asuka mixing away...

 as their mother Kayo looks on to ensure the grass stays green.

 Asuka chose a color she liked...

...as did Shuhei...

...and they ran over to join their cousins Lilly and Nana, who were already hard at work.

Earlier that day we'd made a giant "box tunnel."  By covering it with butcher paper, the kids were really able to go to town with the paints.  Asuka did a great job helping her cousins.

All the kids joined in, actually.  Even Shuhei is painting away.  You just can't see him in this picture because he decided it would be fun to paint the inside of the tunnel.  It was his birthday, after all.  

I had my Nikon on hand and with the light nice and soft, Sumie and I tried to get some good shots of Mimi.  She's a cutie but she is also, without doubt, the least cooperative model in the history of photography.  The best pictures we could get were her with a bottle...

...and another with her being "kawaii" and, naturally, covering up half her face.  

Mimi's little cousin Haruki is far younger, but already knows how to take a good picture!

The party was held on the Stanford campus, where there were lots of festivities going on.  We lucked out and were paid a surprise visit by the famous Stanford tree!

Berkeley alums will be happy to note that the tree was quickly slain by a hoard of youngsters with balloon swords.  Oh, the carnage.  

Soon it was time for the birthday cake.  Here Shuhei unexpectedly had to hold his ground against another little boy who saw the cake and decided it was his birthday. 

Shuhei eventually got to dig into his cake.  As he cuddled up with a friend...

...Asuka spent some quality time with Haruki...

...and Lilly and Mimi, being trouble makers, attacked a bowl of colored gelatin balls.  Those specs in the photo aren't dust.  That's water from my overly splashy daughter.  

All told, I think the birthday boy had a great 5th birthday -one he'll definitely remember.  

And Mimi, with all the partying over the weekend, I think we'll ring in her 2 years of life this week with a cake, some songs, and maybe an extra-special evening viewing of her Doraemon cartoons. That should be sufficient.  Especially if she's not going to remember any of it!