Thanksgiving 2010 - Monterey

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Good Bye Mom.....

Nothing was more special to my Mom than to watch Cori dance odori. It was always her desire to have one of her grandkids dance the traditional Japanese odori art of dance. It's very hard because it could take a 100 hours to learn one dance. That one dance is practiced over months and months until it is perfected and presented in a recital. My Mom NEVER missed a recital, she knew how tough it was for Cori to learn these dances and my Mom we her biggest fan and supporter. We always saved a front aisle seat for her to watch. The last dance that Cori danced in was in last years Nikkei Matsuri performance and it so happens to be exactly one year to the date that my mother passed away....almost to the hour. With my mothers passing, we have spoken with Cori and reaffirmed her commitement to odori and she will continue to dance with each performance dedicated to the memory of her biggest fan, my Mom...



We miss you mom....

Sacramento Believers....The Beginning

This past weekend, the 2017 Sacramento Believers made their debut at the BAAS Dragons Tournament in San Francisco. It was a tough introduction to club/AAU basketball as we lost both our games. But the good thing is, we were in both of them and the margin of the loss wasn't too bad. Considering that we are a new team, we did pretty well. Not being from Sacramento, I don't know much about the history of the Believers but I know they have a long and proud heritage in a city where basketball is king. So I was happy when our core group of girls were invited to form a team. I hope we can help carry on a proud legacy for many years to come.

The girls enjoying some Krispy Kreme donuts in between games

Yum....

Sacramento Believers 2017

Matsuyama Japanese Exchange Program

I just noticed that the last time I blogged was back in Feb! Wow, I know I have been busy but I really need to make the time to blog because I know Uncle Howie reads these! So a few weeks ago, we hosted two girls from our sister city of Matsuyama Japan. The Asian community in Sacramento has a very close relationship with Matsuyama. This particular event was sponsored through SASF (Sacramanto Asian Sports Foundation), we have an exchange program where Matsuyama sends over a group of basketball players to participate in the SASF basketball tournament and SASF does the same, we send over a group of kids to play in a Japanese basketball tournament. We also do the same thing with Boy Scouts. As part of the program, the kids are invited to stay in a family home for a week. We were fortunate enough to sponsor Misuzu and Mako, both are 15 year old girls. I was a little hesitant at first but it turned out to be a great experience and would gladly open our house again. In the short amount of time, we made some very good friends with not only our girls but a group of the kids in general. Since we kept busy every night doing group activities, we really had the chance to get to know them. They were all so wonderful and fun to be around. I know Cori really bonded with the girls, they would purchase little knick knacks for Cori while they were on their sight seeing adventures, it was really cute. Even though the girls spoke very little english, we communciated just fine and have since kept in touch via email. Even though a few weeks have passed since they have left, we think of them often and look forward to the day that we can see them again.

Sho and Kohei with Marissa

Shizuru at Target

Group bowling trip

Mako, Shizuru, Misuzu and Marissa

SASF and Matsuyma basketball teams

Misuzu and Mako

Mako Justin and Misuzu

Peace and Love!

Snow Camping with Troop 50

This past weekend we went snow camping with Troop 50. What is snow camping you ask?? Well, it's building a shelter in the snow and sleeping in it during freezing temps. All the while you are asking yourself...why did I sign up for this?? The boys began their adventure by having a snow ball fight....what else do you do when you get a bunch of boys to the snow. After the battle was over, it was time to get to work. All the boys started to carve out snow blocks to build the walls of their shelter, after that they lay a tarp over the top and presto! You have a snow shelter! While the boys slept in their comfy shelter, I slept in the car. All the leaders built their own shelter but I was not brave / crazy enough to sleep outside. It dipped into the low teens at night but the boys did well. Now they can all say, they have slept in the snow.....

Fight on!

It was so cold, clothes froze

Inside the shelter

Tristan, Nicky, Scott, Brian and Tyler

inside the shelter

Putting the tarp on

Building the walls

Precise engineering

Brian and Scott

Scott and Trenton

Brian, Scott and Trenton

Stomping out the outline for the shelter

Troop 50

Sledding in freezing temps and in the dark

Scott and Dad

Beautiful views

Getting ready for the two mile snow shoe hike

When Your Son Holds You Up.......

So long time no blog. It's been super busy as usual and there are many things that I have wanted to blog about but just have not had the time. But this past week has been more crazy than usual. This past weekend, my Mom had to go into the hospital for more reasons than I want to get into on this blog. But it has stressed me out and as much as I try to hide it from my kids...Scott has noticed my mood. The past two nights, he has sent me emails and it has touched me in a way that is beyond words.....so I thought I would just post them for you to see....

Are you okay, you seem mad, it's Grandma isn't it? I hope you feel better later, I can't play basketball without a man screaming at me.
:-)

your child,
Scott


Hey Dad can I do anything to help you not be stressed? I know your worried, and I understand but she's in great hands, with great medical care. Well I hope you won't stay stressed for long, I need you for the game! :-)

Love,
Scott

............You know as a parent that things are going to be okay when your 12 year old son holds you up when you are down.

A Girl is a Girl.......

When Renee was pregnant with our second child, we decided not to find out what it was going to be...a boy or a girl. I figured, I had my son already with Scottie so whatever popped out would be great. I never gave it much thought what it would be like to have a girl since all I knew was what it was like to have a boy since Scottie was already 2 years old. So when the Doctor yelled out, "it's a girl!!", I was thrilled! Since the first day, Cori has been my princess. When she was a baby, I would love to hold her while she slept. She has been and always will be, my little girl.

Cori's birthday - turning 10!

Father's Day picture - my favorite picture of all time....

Obon

Daddy and his princess

Cori has always loved to take pictures...funny thing is, she would never allow big while bows in her hair now....

Goal of the Year ?

Another reason why I think hockey is the coolest game on earth......


Goal of the Year ? Of the Millenium ?

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A Day In The Snow......

So what do you do when you are stuck at an airport with more than an hour before your flight? You blog! But let's think about this for a quick second....10 years ago, I would not be able to do something like this because I would not have been able to get on the Internet in a public location like this. We have made some amazing advances in technology and I often wonder where we will be at in another 10 years.....

Now on to the subject at hand....a day in the snow. The other week, we took a trip to the snow with a few of Renee's cousins. They all have kids around the same age.....actually, Amy and Ritch have kids exactly the same age....all 3 months apart from ours. Jimmy and Jane have baby Eva who is still a toddler and this was her first trip to the snow. It was fun to see her reaction to snow for the very first time in her life. I can't take credit for the pics....Jimmy is the photographer extraordinaire so I need to give him props....thanks Di-Di.

Cori and her best cousin, Amanda.

Justin and his arsenal of snow balls...

Justin

From left to right.....Jared, Scott, Justin and Alex

Base camp....

Baby Eva and her introduction to snow....

Cori

Scott with Jared in the background

Amy and Renee - When Amy and Renee were young, they used to play together a lot. It's fun to see how their daughters (Cori and Amanda) are now best cousins with each other much like they were when they were young....

Life is going to the dogs....

So the other night, I had a dream. I dreamed that my old dog Jordy, who just passed last year, came back to visit me. In my dream, he was still "dead" but he was alive...if you know what I mean. He was very dirty and very smelly. In my dream, I gave him a bath and and brushed his hair and he was fine again. He looked and smelled clean. After he was all clean, I hugged him and he was happy. Jordy has always been an outside dog. We tried bringing him in the house but it would freak him out, he would try to dig his way out. So he always stayed outside and he was always rolling around in the dirt...so he was always dirty and stinky. As soon as I would give him a bath, the first thing he would do was go roll in the dirt. Strange dog....but I always felt guilty for leaving Jordy outside in the hot or cold weather...dirty and stinky. But when I layed him down to rest, he didn't seem dirty or stinky to me but that guilt has always hung over me. I think in some way, Jordy came back to me to let me know that he was okay. I still feel guilty but I do feel a little better....

This is a pircure of Jordy when he was young and before we had kids....why else would you dress your dog up for Halloween?

So our dog now, Zildjian, who we adopted about 3 years ago, is really not a dog. He is a dog who thinks he's a person or a person who is a dog....not sure yet. But he is very much like me in everyway possible. We even look alike, at least I think so...he is my best buddy. When I am home, he follows me everywhere I go....if I go to the bathroom, he waits for me outside the door. If I work on the computer, he lays next to me. If I'm upstairs watching TV, lays with me. Everywhere I go...he's there. Sometimes it drives me crazy but in the end, all he wants is a pat on the head and a scratch on the belly. I wish life was always this simple....

Zilly, as we call him, laying on my home office while I work........

Zilly poking his head in while I work

Zilly just being Zilly

Zilly poking his nose through the opening of my work chair, try dealing with this while talking to customers on the phone...