Jan Ken Po Gakko Craft Fair - 2008!!

Wow! The weekend has come and gone....how come two days at work goes by so slow but two days at home go by so fast? On Saturday, we had our annual Jan Ken Po Gakko craft fair. Jan Ken Po is a summer time Japanese school that our kids attend and Renee sits on the board for. The craft fair has representatives from all over the state of California and Hawaii and it is attended by a huge amount of people looking for those unique gifts. This year, Scrap-N-Stamp had their first booth. Debbie and Uncle Nick-Nick (what the kids call him) worked the booth. Debbie spent countless hours making cards to sell and from what I could tell, they sold by the bundles!

Some samplings from Scrap-N-Stamp's display at the JKPG Craft Fair - 2008.

As always.....Renee is on the phone......

Uncle Nick-Nick and Auntie Debbie, thanks to Nick for making the display shelves and working the booth and thanks to Debbie for making all the cards and working the booth. If anybody needs a great general contractor, call me and I'll put you in touch with Nick who can build or fix anything....

Happy 5th Birthday Justin!!

They say that the baby of the family will always be the "baby". I have to say that this is true. Being the baby of my family of five siblings, I never realized how lucky I was to have so many older brothers and a sister. I can say with my heart that they all contributed to who I am today. As I see Justin grow, I can see how much his older brother and sister take care of him and it reminds me of when I was young. Scott wanted to spend $50.00 of his hard earned money to buy a gift for Justin, it was something that Justin really wanted and Scott wanted his little brother to have it. Cori was excited to decorate the house and wrap the presents and kept asking Justin..."who's birthday is it today?!". I always tell my kids that whatever happens in life, they will always have eachother. Though they may not always get along, they will always be brother and sister. So on this day, big brother and big sister did a great job in making the day special for the "baby" of the family and our baby grew a little older...and a little wiser...with a little help from his brother and sister.....happy 5th birthday Justin!!

Birthday wish from his big sister.......

Kiss for his favorite girl......

Dinner at Justin's favorite place to grub.....Wasabi's.....just Mom, Dad and Justin.....



Birthday bash with the family......ice cream cake and a super duper cool flower candle......

Happy Birthday Justin!!

Dancin' With Stars.....Kinda......

Justy called his Ah-Ma and Yeh-Yeh (Grandma and Grandpa in Chinese) and told them with his best crying voice....."I miss you....", even though he had just seen them the day before and they live 5 minutes away......"I want you to come over....", even though it was after 9:00PM......"I loooovvveeee you soooooo muuuccchhhhhh (crying)".........

So the next day, Ah-Ma and Yeh-Yeh HAD to come over with a new toy for Justy. It was a little dance pad with lights....all the kids had a blast with it, even Yeh-Yeh.

Yeh-Yeh said...."don't call me and cry because everytime you do, it cost me money....."

I think Justy knows this all too well.......

Baby Kylie, Girl Knows How To Party.....

This weekend, Baby Kylie came to visit....along with Julie and Gregg......

I have to say, I have never seen a baby with so much hair. She has the biggest fro for a 5 month old. I have hair envy everytime I look at her. Of course, we had to go eat Pho' at our favorite place to hang...."I'll have a cafe' sua dau please (ice coffee)"......

What Does Justy Do When You're at Scouts?!

Since Renee and I are both leaders, we are often busy taking care of things for our den / troop. People sometimes ask......"what does Justy do when you're at scouts?". Fortunately, the big boys in Den's 1, 2 and 4 have adopted Justy as their "mascot" and he sits in all our den meetings. Often there are older siblings that are hanging out and they keep Justy busy as well. Alex Minagawa....Erin Mukai....Kevin Onishi.....they are all great at keeping Justy busy and entertained....sometimes Auntie Linda Onishi will take him around also. By the time Justy is ready to start Tiger Scouts, he'll know exactly what to do......


Kevin Onishi, Erin Mukai and Justy were jammin' on Kevin's iPod last night.......

Single Parent.....

Sorry.....no pictures today.....I've been on business travel for the past week and I just wanted to give a big SHOUT OUT to my beautiful wife Renee for holding down the fort during my absence. As I write this blog from my hotel room in New York, she is busy shuttling the kids to and from basketball....with Justin in tow. Having three kids, two jobs and all the other stuff that goes on, when you are missing that extra hand, it makes a big diference. So a big Gold Star for Renee! I'm just happy I'm the one that gets to travel because I know for a fact, I could not hold down the fort as well as she does. I'll be home tomorrow night!!

Good Luck in College!!

Katie Adachi, our friend and babysitter, will be leaving for college this coming week. She'll be attending the University of Washington. Katie, along with her younger sister Kristin, have been our babysitters for the past 3 years. Now Kristin will have to handle all 3 kids by herself! The kids LOVE both Katie and Kristin, we wish Katie the best of luck in college and we wish Kristin the best of luck handling our 3 kids all by herself now......

Going away party at the Adachi's.......

Justin took these two pictures at the Jan Ken Po Gakko summer picnic. Kristin is on the left and Katie is on the right.

Trisha In Da' House!!

Last night Trisha Yamaichi came home with Mommy, Scottie and Cori from San Jose to spend the night with the Kumamoto's. Since I had to go to Reno on Friday, I could not make the trip to San Jose with the rest of the family. Justin and I had a quiet night at home......until the rest of the crew came home. Trisha has many friends in Sacramento so she came to spend the day with them before she heads off to college.....UC Irvine, watch out!! We have known Trisha since she was about 6 years old so it's hard to believe that she is leaving for college. Makes me feel suuuppppeeeer old.


Just so Auntie Lynne would see what time Trisha woke up.....we took a picture of the clock.....she actually was up for about 15 minutes before the picture was taken so she did as she was instructed.......she didn't sleep in. Kinda hard to do when you have 3 kids screaming, "when is Trisha gonna wake up?!"

September 11th

An American flag has flown outside my house since September 12, 2001......

In Memory........

With respect and gratitude.....

Happy 11th Birthday Scott!!

11 years ago today at 6:04PM, life changed for Renee and I. Scott was born after a 24 hour labor......and every day since then has been golden. I always tell Scott that the challenges that he has to face in life are sometimes tough, being the first born bring with it responsibility that his sister and brother do not have to deal with. When I travel, Scott is the man of the house. He takes his role as a big brother in stride. He helps his sister and brother every day without complaint. He takes care of things around the house without having to be asked and he always watches out for Mommy and Daddy. If I had to describe the perfect son to be the first born, Scott would be it. He is my Big Boy and I know that he will grow into someone that I can be proud of. I am already proud of him......everyday. We love you Scott....Happy Birthday!

We celebrated by going to a Sacramento River Cats baseball game with Uncle Marty, Uncle Steve and lots of friends. We had a GREAT time despite the Cats getting pounded from the 1st inning on...

Da Hui Hoop Warriors - Year End PARTY!!!!!

The Da Hui Hoop Warriors know how to party! We had the entire team over today for some fun, sun and delicious food. All the families had a great time eating and enjoying the company. Tyler Sakata had the honor of being the only one to catch a fish.....he caught a 6" catfish.

The boys also got Coach Marty with a bucket of water, but Coach Marty struck back with the water hose......Coach Neil was smart enough to hide behind the Moms...

Da Hui Hoop Warriors - Almost Perfect Season!!

Scott's CYBL team - Da Hui Hoop Warriors - season has come to an end....we went 5 -1 in the regular season and lost in the playoffs. The boys played hard and had a great time. Coach Marty and Coach Neil did a great job with the boys and it was a great season to watch! Team Da Hui will be back next year in full effect!!!

Den 2 - Pack 611.....One More Year....

Today we kicked off our 2008/2009 final scout year. It's been 5 years since I started as a leader for Scottie's den. Now he is in his final year as a cub scout in San Jose. Ever since we moved to Sacramento, we have been driving to San Jose every Friday for scouts. Renee is also Cori's troop leader for Girl Scouts so we take full advantage of the time. It's been a long five years but it's been rewarding watching the boys grow. It's also been an honor to lead my son in something that I hope he remembers for the rest of his life. I'll get a few years of rest and it'll be Justin's turn!

Seated left to right are Jason Minagawa, Mitchell Kitazumi and Scott. We have a total of 18 boys in our three 5th grade dens. All the boys have been together since Tiger Scouts.

My super cool assistant leaders....Donna Minagawa and Leslie Kitazumi....

Our Friday night tradition.....PJ's on and a quick visit to Foster Freeze for an ice cream cone, milkshake and fries for the long ride home......

Time for an intervention......

One thing that I like to do......ever since I was a kid.....is to play video games. When I was young, my brother Tom bought me a Fairchild Channel F game system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F

Ever since then, I've been hooked. Which is why I have a PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and an XBox 360.....Scott enjoys video games as much as I do....Cori enjoys playing her Nintendo DS and Justin has just started playing the PS3 (Lego Indiana Jones). Justin has played that game everyday for the past week. I've been limiting his play but he just loves to play.........it may not be too late for an intervention for Justin.......

If anybody wants to battle me on-line in Call of Duty 4, my Playstation ID is SCJ14, send me an invite and get ready to eat some lead.....

Pho' Pho' and more Pho'

At least once a week we go to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho' Lotus. It's located in the Kohls shopping center on Elk Grove Blvd. It took us a while to find a Vietnamese place that we liked and I'm happy that we finally found it! Coming from San Jose, there were Vietnamese restaurants on every corner but only a few in Elk Grove.

Baby Kylie Likes To Party!!

Julie, Gregg and Baby Kylie made the trip over from the Bay Area to help us celebrate Cori's birthday party. Julie was with us when Cori and Scott were very young and also when Justin was born....she was witness to the craziness of having kids and a new baby. I think we were able to prepare her a little for motherhood. Now that she is a mommy of her own, she gets to really experience the joy of being a mother.......and Gregg gets to change the diapers. Kylie is 4 months old now and has pretty curly hair......