Cori The Baller.....

Cori had a basketball tournament in Berkeley this past Sunday. The SBC Fireballs had to play against two 4th grade boys teams....not too fair. BUT, our girls are no ordinary girls....they are scrappy, hard nosed, ballers. Especially my little Cori......I always tell her she is my princess but when she is on the court, she is anything but.....the girls played hard with only 6 girls and they won their first game....the last game went down to the last minute and the girls, who were out of gas because they were so shorthanded, lost by only 2 points. I bet those 4th grade boys are still shaking their heads........Cori won the Sportsmanship Award for outstanding play. She is a fierce defender.....no matter if you are a girl or a boy...she'll knock you down to get that ball. I think it comes from having to wrestle with her two brothers all the time. She is also a great point guard. She tells me her dream is to play in the Olympics.....I tell her, she can do anything she wants.....the world is open to a princess....especially one who defends like a bulldog and passes like champ......

Notice all the sweat on her hair! All the girls were drenched in sweat by the last game!

Scrap-N- Stamp......two years later!

On Saturday February 21, 2009....Scrap-N-Stamp held their two year anniversary sale. This was a big milestone for us as it marked 24 months of hard work. Renee's dream was to open a store and I'm glad she has seen it through for two years in a very difficult economy. We have been blessed with a great staff and especially a great manager....Debbie Aoki really keeps things flowing. She is truly a master at her profession and it shows in how well she manages the store. Without her help, we could not have made it to two years. Renee and Debbie are a great team and we look forward to many years ahead together. So to Renee and all the girls at Scrap-N-Stamp...this Bud's for you!

Justin's Basketball Fun

Justin is in his 2nd year of playing basketball. The Sacramento Church has a Lil' Hoopers clinic, which I run along with my parner in crime....Shelley Takaha. The Lil' Hoopers program runs for about 2 months and is every Sunday.....kids start from Pre-K to K. It's a lot of fun and the kids....especially Justy, really enjoy it.

Justin and Coach Tony

Future baller'.....

learning to shoot

The Final Race.....

This past Saturday, Scott and I had our last Pinewood Derby with Pack 611 in San Jose. It all started about a month ago when I (we) started to work on Scott's car. Everything was going perfect until the morning of the race.....I went to pick up the car and the paint was still wet! How can that be?! I (we) worked so hard on making the car perfect and now it was all messed up. I told Renee I didn't want to go anymore....poor sport. But Scott could care less, he just wanted the car to go fast.....so we packed up and left for San Jose around 8:00AM. We hit major fog on the way there but we soldiered on and had a great time. Scott made it to the finals but got smoked by some very fast cars. But the highlight of his day was getting to play with all his buddies in his last Pinewood Derby.

The dreaded Central Valley Fog

Scott getting ready to race.....

Ready...set.....

One of the things I will miss once Scouts is over is Den Chief Jeff. Jeff has been with us from day 1 and he is by far one of the funniest kids around. It's been an honor to watch him grow over the years. Jeff along with Den Chief Eric, who was in Sacramento that day attending a prom, have added so much fun to the den, I will miss them when scouts is over......

Den 2 (top row from the left) Leslie Kitazumi, Donna Minagawa, Jeff Doi, Me.....Bottom Row, Chandler Crews, Nathan Decena, Scottie, Mitchell Kitazumi, Jason Minagawa.

Scott was pooped out from a day of racing and playing.....