A House Full of Girls......

When we asked Cori what kind of birthday party she wanted....she said she wanted to have a sleep over with some of her friends....so last night, we had 10 girls over for a little slumber party.

It was crazy at times but all the girls were great and they all seemed to have fun!! Happy Birthday Cori!!

Of course some of the "boy" cousins were at the party to help celebrate, they even got the chance to rock out a little....

This was the party at 12:00AM

This was the party at 1:00AM....a few of the girls stayed up until 2:00AM.....but we told them they HAD to go to sleep........they slept in and woke up around 9:00, just in time for breakfast and pick up at 10:00AM. Cori said she had the best birthday ever........

America's Best Dance Crew

Michael Jordan......I thought he only designed clothes......

When I asked Scott what kind of basketball shoes he wanted.....he said he wanted some Jordans...kids now days still wear his clothes but have no idea who the man was. So I thought Scott should at least see some clips of who this guy was.....while watching them with Scott, I forgot how great Michael Jordan was! I added some clips to the side, check them out! Caution...video number 1 has some music on there with bad words, you should have seen Scott's face when he heard them!!

Big Camera VS Small Camera

Okay, a few years ago I told Renee we needed to invest in a new digital SLR...after much research I decided on a Canon 20D with all the bells and whistles....great camera, big price....pictures are nice but the thing weighs a ton. Fast forward to today....I told Renee we needed to invest in a small, compact camera....something we can take around with us easily and doesn't weigh a ton. After about 3 minutes of research I decided on a Nikon Coolpix. Small....light......and takes very decent pictures. Funny thing....it doesn't matter if I take a picture with a $6,000 camera or a $180 camera.....they all look the same.....

Sacramento Bazaar

This past weekend was the 62nd annual Sacramento Buddhist Church Bazaar. It's an amazing feat that is months in the planning. There are so many people that work so hard to make it happen, we have several friends that start the work day at 1:00AM on both Saturday and Sunday to cook rice for the day. There are also many hours in prepping and setting up. It truly is a community atmosphere with folks of all ages there to help. Here are some statistics from the church web site.....

More than 750 church members volunteer to bring this annual cultural event, which is in its 62nd consecutive year, to the Sacramento community.

·Estimated attendance for the two-day event is 40,000to 50,000 people.
·One and a half tons of rice cleaned cooked and consumed in traditional Japanese cuisine.
·10,000 + pounds of chicken seasoned and barbecued for chicken teriyaki.
·400 pounds of shrimp cleaned and cooked for tempura and sushi delicacies.
·1,500 pounds of beef prepared for teriyaki meatsticks and sandwiches.
·500 pounds of noodles prepared for hot and cold dishes.
·2,000 pounds of charcoal used to cook teriyaki chicken and teriyaki beef sticks.
·150 gallons of soy sauce used to create authentic marinades and other seasonings.
·500 pounds of sugar and 100 pounds of salt used in preparation of various seasonings.
·6 tons of ice used to cool drinks, keep fish sushi fresh and make refreshing snow cones.

If you ever want great Japanese food and fun games, come on out to the bazaar. We hope to see you there next year!

Basketball.....Basketball.....More Basketball......

I think if you added up all the time we spend sitting in basketball gyms, we could easily travel around the world within that timeframe. With two kids actively playing and one waiting on the wings.....I think our time spent in gyms is going to increase. Scott and Cori just finished playing in the SASF (Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation) summer league program. We were not sure what to expect since this was our first year participating in it. We were there 4 nights a week for 5 weeks....but the time spent was well worth it. Both Scott and Cori had a great time, they met new friends and were fortunate to be on very well coached teams. Cori was fortunate enough to make the All-Star team for the Girls Division grades 4 through 6. We were pretty shocked as was Cori! She really enjoyed the experience of playing with all the "All Stars". I wish I had more pictures to share, you would think that spending all that time there, I would of thought about bringing a camera at least once.....oh well!


All I have is this picture of Cori's All Star teams and it's thanks to Carol Wong that we have it!!

Cori is now taking a break from basketball, only playing once a week at the Smarthoops basketball program (http://www.smarthoopsacademy.com/). Scott is playing in Smarthoops and also in a summer rec league with the rest of his Sacramento Betsuin teammates. The DaHui Hoop Warriors are 3-0 so far with 3 more games to go.

8/1/08 - Disneyland for Cori's 9th Birthday

Justin, Kelsey, Kayla, Cori, Mitchell and Scottie right before our dinner at Ariel's Grotto...all the princesses were there to join us!

The kids trying to pull out that sword!

Justin's first "big" kid ride. His face tells it all...

Happy Birthday Cori! She had so many birthday wishes from the Disneyland cast and crew.

Ya think Glen enjoyed the princesses more then the kids?

Justin's annual face painting...last year, he went with a dragon..this year, guess?

With George, Joanne and family...we took a group shot in front of the castle

Mommy's favorite picture...hey, Justin just wanted to make sure he was smiling ;-)

Kinda cool...the added in Mickey and crew!

...and Tinkerbell...

Scottie and Mitchell at California Adventures in front the the California Screamin' roller coaster. That was Mitchell's favorite ride!

Last day at Disneyland...everyone has to take a shot in front of Main Street!

We had a blast. The Kumamoto kids took Disneyland to the next level. This was the first time Cori and Scottie rode on all the roller coasters..even Tower of Terror! No more kiddie rides. Next time we go, I'm sure Justin will want to follow his brother and sister. Another year at the happiest place on earth!