10th Year Anniversary

A few minutes after Sean was born, Mike looking exhausted but completely happy with his life.
Owning a first home together - Mike inspecting the construction site of soon to be our 1st home in Tracy, California. Didn't expect that we'll be selling and packing up north in short 16 months of ownership.

The wedding day in Boise, Idaho. Sunny and a little breezy in upper 70s. A perfect day for a garden wedding!

A trip to New Zealand - with a Maori dancer after a dinner show. Mike went up the stage and danced a warrior dance with the Maoris during the show.

Somewhere near Christchurch, NZ - we drove around New Zealand for 9 days, stopped at anywhere we wanted to stop, smelling pretty flowers off the road.

Living in Sydney, Australia - this was taken on the first morning after arriving there, in front of our hotel. Woke up, went downstairs and noticed that the Opera House was right across the bay.

June 3, was our 10th year anniversary. We packed a lot of awesome experiences in the past 10 years, living across the ocean in downunder, trips to beautiful places, meeting interesting people from around the world and of course welcoming four amazing kids into our lives. We were always on the go, looking for new places to explore, new food to eat, anything to stimulate our senses. We had to change the pace, of course, to accommodate four wiggly tots. We hope though that some day we can set out for more adventures and share wonderful experiences together as a family.

It is also the 10th year anniversary for my grandmother Yone's passing. She passed away on May 8, 2000. She made my childhood wholesome. As a city girl, I really enjoyed visiting grandma in the country because I could run to the rice patty field to catch grasshoppers, follow the little paths by the creek just to see where it leads to, and enjoy the celebrity treatment from my little cousins who thought that I was the coolest girl in the world. I spent my entire summer at grandma's when I was seven. I can still remember walking down the steep slope between the rice fields to get to the general store called "Yoshida's" with grandma. My grandma would say "let's go get a cream, Kimi (she called ice creams, just cream)" and we happily walked side by side. When I took Mike to meet her in the winter before she died, she sat up as nicely as she could and bowed to Mike and asked him to take a good care of me. I wish I could talk to you, obachan. Thank you for wonderful memories!