We bought a Hawaiian calendar as soon as we moved here and the first thing we noticed was how it was full of holidays we’d never heard of. They celebrate everything here, including a Japanese holiday called “Boys Day” which falls on May 5 and consists of the eating of sweet rice Mochi wrapped in a Japanese oak leaf (apparently you’re NOT supposed to eat the leaf. Now we know.) and the hanging of windsocks shaped like carp fish to represent all the manly males in your house.

This year we hosted a Boys Day party and it was a true multi-cultural affair. Our Japanese friend brought the Mochi (minus the leaves this time) and taught all the boys how to make origami carp while they munched on very carpish-looking Swedish Fish candy.

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Then we partook in a good-old American hot-dog BBQ. This was followed by a rowdy game of floor hockey in honor of our new friends on vacation here from Canada.

And of course, we couldn’t just ignore the fact that this was also Cinco De Mayo so we finished off the festivities with a pinata. We made it shaped like a puck and the boys whacked it around on the ground with their hockey sticks until the candy came flying out. So here’s to boys and “Thank you, Lord for them!”

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