I keep this blog for friends, family and students in Japan& the U.S.

Since Spring '07, Zen and Taka moved to California full time for Zen's basketball career. I'm in California most of the time right now too. Almost every day I go to help my Grandmom. She was born in 1919. Taka and I also get to work for Uncle Lynn's landscaping company. Santa Cruz, California. As beautiful as ever. However I still feel homesick for Japan~~

Saturday, January 5, 2008

12/29/07 The Parties



First at I LOVE SUSHI and Karaoke...
Some of our next generation


And some of my dear man's men he work works (and plays with?)





Here's a few of the photos from THE 418 PROJECT where we continued our party to DANCE

A couple of our DEAR entertainers- Akilah and David


Hey check out the misspelled cake



Jon~Giovani~Man, Gina DJ, and Sally~our camera-woman


Ariel and Naomi with our wedded bunnies on their heads.


Ballerina Ariel boogies with Victor Dad.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

How roads go!





So yeah, we did have a couple of interesting things happen these days, just before marrying. We went for Taka to take the driver’s test for a California license. He had to study for the test in English, but could take the test in Japanese!
(They even let him take the test away- which appeared to be the ONLY test they had to copy out for him... Zen might be so lucky!! Sheon too?!!) In any case, he handed back in the test and they reported he barely passed it (he had three tries- but made it on the first!). Taka said the Japanese was funky and didn’t make sense. Still he passed, and even the people there were impressed considering he could only study it in English. I whispered to one woman “He’s just SMART!”. It’s so true!
Anyway, we headed over to City Hall after that (he had the day off from work) to pay for our marriage license. On the way, check this out, we got rear ended!! It was sad! The young woman was from out of town and that was a hard street to maneuver. At first I was scared they’d run (two guys that looked like her brothers were in the car too). But she came through, and her insurance also even paid us $700 and then also for physical pain ($300.) though I told them we had basically none! (I had NO desire to report to any hospitals to try to get reports or lie).
So, that happened on December 7th? We got the checks around 12/29.
And then... New Year’s Eve, when driving to Jennipher’s to care for her pets- where we house sat last Spring when we came from Japan to here (perfect timing to house hunt those two months we first had here!) on the way, Naomi and I were listening to loud music, but this thing, our tire ran over, hit- JARRED the car so hard- as if we had hit a big pot hole but there was no hole in the road! And both of us were like “WOW!! What was THAT??”. I knew it was the tire, and it was bad. I felt anxious that we might not make it to Jennipher’s- only perhaps three blocks away. However, thankfully, we did make it, and the rocky looking thing plunged into the tire, the air was clearly and totally spraying out the air!
True, all of our tires needed to be changed. That was the “plan” I suspect. Thank goodness for the insurance money for the rear ender from before! But considering how much driving Taka does for the basketball boys, dong the tires now clearly feels what was needed. Taka feels there’s a great difference now how the tires grip the road (we changed all four today).

HEY!! I'm not able to download the other photo I wanted to show you~ and it's too late- so I have to sign off toinght! Tho I never want to HAVE to shut down!
xoxoxo Thia

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Presents!



These were two of our favorite presents on Christmas Day!! Naomi made our newly wedded bunnies for us. (When she was homeschooling, Sheon too, I had them study sewing with Tae-chan. It's paying off!) Kahori (Ischin's girlfriend) made our ring pillow, and Kahori's work is as a Bridal coordinator, and SHE knows her stuff too! Unfortunately we opened the pillow too late for our ceremony- but it's part of our "altar" now. (I kept having that song run through my head "We're going to the chapel and we're... gonna get married!" I had to get the song for Taka to hear, he didnt remember it!).

And below was like a wedding present too. At our lunch after we wed, Uncle Lynn came with Santa Cruz Sentianl newspapers for everyone to see this photo of Zen at a game they played the day before. One more of our best presents!!



I haven't figured out how to turn around the photo- but if you look close enough you can see they say "Zen Maki...ikaM neZ s'zurC atnaS"
Stepdad Frank, with Mom they were here for that game, Frank remembers that that was perhaps the ONLY shot Zen got (he wasn't played enough!!).

For Christmas 2007



On my birthday, the 23rd we went and got ourselves a tree- a compact , real living, tree that will be with us for the next Christmas' for as long as we can carry her around!! It was for our first Christmas back in the States in many years~

People had tried to get me to be alternative and find another sort of tree. But stubborn me wanted the traditional! BUT, if I had see Victor's "tree" below, before we bought ours, I would have been perfectly inspired to do similar!!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Uncle Lynn and Stepdad Frank looking over the ocean we wed in front of~

The memories!

Mom, Grandmom (father's mom) me and Naomi... four generations of women!



Can you see, the origami cranes on the cake? The man who married us, Brett, he folded them for us. I just recently met him, and he knew Ana, and had married Lynn and Lorraine's brother recently! He was so perfect!!

A few more photos I'm trying to get in~~

Ana and I were College house mates back in 1980. Her son, Joe is Zen's best freind here, and her four kids and ours have basically all known each other from summers living together here the summers we visited in Santa Cruz.