It’s hard to believe now, but back in August of 2009, Julia was just starting kindergarten and Joe had only recently transitioned into preschool from the infant center at Action Day. Here we have a small set of photos covering that general timeframe, including Julia’s first day of school and her fifth birthday.

Note that the unique cake design was one of Julia’s own: she drew it up in crayon on a sheet of paper, and we handed it off to the skilled artists at Aki’s Bakery to implement. If you put a gun to my head now, I couldn’t explain why the design featured a little man in jail. I am quite sure there was a thematic thread connecting the prisoner, house and tiger, but that link has been lost to history.