i don't really have a lot to say about the graduation. it was lovely. the kids got a cape and mortarboard which kept falling down on a lot of the kids. with all the bowing, this was quite amusing.

when we first got to the school hiro tried to attach himself to his teacher, but she was having her picture taken with other students and their families! finally, hiro got his picture with his teacher.

i had sasha wear a pretty spring dress and shrug instead of her school uniform. i thought she was super cute!

tommy was being quite shy, and didn't want his picture taken, so he's only in two photos.

yoshi took the day off which was nice, because tommy was a PITA and since i had to sit in the front, yoshi got to do tommy-wrangling.

as part of the ceremony, the principal called each student's name who would then say 'HAI!', stand up, march to the center of the stage, walk down the steps to the floor, turn, go to the principal's podium, bow with the principal, take his or her 'diploma' (right hand first, then left), raise the 'diploma' over their head, take a step back, bow with the principal, turn around and take their 'diploma' to their parent (usually a mother), go to the side of the stage and back to their seat. it was rather complicated but the kids did a great job! only one boy didn't do it, he's so shy (a crippling kind of shy, really). hiro was so great! the only thing he didn't do was say 'HAI', but everything else he did really well! he was the first in his class to receive his 'diploma' so he even had to stand in front of the principal while he read it out loud (only the first kid in each class had this. everyone else was told, 'congratulations'). i was especially proud of him because during the two days before, he kept telling me he was too shy for graduation.

ok, picture time.

full length

tommy and daddy

little graduate

silly hiro

daddy and kids on graduation day

at school on graduation day

hiro and obata-sensei

getting ready to go on stage

hiro

sneaky photo


yoshi also took some pictures, but i can't get them off of his camera. perhaps tomorrow.