And now he's a black belt...

In June, after about 9 years of practice, Ryan earnd his black belt. What made it even more special, was that both his cousins made a special effort to surprise him and gear up that day to join him at practice.

Ryan's two instructors- Shiroma Hanshi and Sempai Yamamoto

Ryan & Riki

A few days later after the ceremony, we hosted a party for a few of his closest friends and family...

The archives...when and how he started off, as a very tiny person.

Hard to see, but I ordered a curtain of gold twinking lights for the backdrop of the evening...but what I got, were stubborn colorful Las Vegas blinking lights that we could not stop. Tacky City.

My brother Jon was the unsung hero of the day with his massive array/variety of sushi platters!

 

It was the day I had been dreaming off when he was six years old...in fact, it was better than expected. We missed a few friends (one was in Japan, a few got sick), but nearly everyone important to him was there, and it was such a gift to be able to host the celebration.