hello summer

i'm not sure that we could have possibly packed any more fun into the bean's last day of school.  seriously, we did so many things that the hub deemed our day "obnoxious."  heh.

it started out like this:

at school, the only thing going for the day was the final awards ceremony of the year.  here, she accepted certificates and trinkets to commemorate a full year of 100% bible verse memorization, an award for her creative writing, and a coveted citizenship award for the entire year, plus one from the playground director for being a "shining star" - exceptional behavior and kindness towards others during lunches and recesses.

in her (mostly empty) classroom, she hugged all of her friends and said goodbye to her teacher.

then her sister and i whisked her away, out to little tokyo for a fun surprise.

it was the last few days of the hello kitty exhibit at the japanese museum, and we managed to score tickets on one of the discounted weekdays.  as you can see, we were pretty stinking excited about it.

we went through the door:

and walked into hello kitty heaven.

it was like walking into my childhood bedroom, for real.  i was super nostalgic as i gazed upon the displays of items i'd owned and loved so much when i was younger.

even the old lady, not exactly a huge hello kitty fan herself, found things she remembered from her own childhood.

there were things that i still happily use on the regular:

a few really random items, like hello kitty motor oil.  WUT.

there's a hello kitty personal robot:

items that are used on the hello kitty-branded airline:

doc martens that even i would wear, even though they're so not my style.

and the hello kitty beach cruiser, something i'd coveted hard core but never did get.  i mean, come on - look at the tire tread!  gah!

then we followed the signs that lead to even more hello kitty.

along the way, hello kitty plushes from the beginning:

to current day.

it ain't a hello kitty event without some photo ops.

upstairs, we found some legit hello kitty art.  there was some really weird shit up there.

and then the fashion show.

even some things for mollydog.

i love miniatures already, but then you throw hello kitty into the mix and i'm dying of the cute.

in a quiet corner, there was a display of some...other stuff.

and then...

um, yes - but the exhibit is over.  sadness.

across the way from the museum, there was this:

it was mostly picked clean, with just a few items left.  there were a ton of these, though:

down the street, we decided to pick up some treats:

and then hit up a couple of other shops and a grocery store.  check out the loot:

it was a red-letter day for the bean all the way around, as she went through end-of-the-session testing at gymnastics and finally, finally passed the level she'd been stuck on for months.  intermediate 2, here we come!

and what better way to end a full day of fun?

let's just say she got a really good night's sleep that night.  talk about overstimulation, amirite?