What year is it?!?!?

Wow, 2013. Mid-2013 to be more precise.

I have to admit that the use of Facebook probably suppressed my need to blog. In fact, it was while I was posting to Facebook just now that I thought of a good name for my blog, which already has a name. But the phrase "It takes a village..." really summarizes my life in a nutshell.

In actuality, I have many villages that overlap like those circles, oh what are they...ah, Venn diagrams (love my Google search engine). I have the Hillcrest school village, which overlaps with the several sport team villages, which overlap with my church village, which doesn't quite overlap with the work village, etc...

And what makes up a village?  VILLAGE PEOPLE, of course!!!

Hope they don't mind I am using their image...

Christmas break 2008

We spent nearly 2 weeks in southern California with family. Here are the Inadomi girl cousins: Cami(2), Katherine(11), Melanie(16), Emma(5), and Lia (8).

Here are the Inadomi boy cousins: Ryan (10) and Noah (6).








We spent a day at Disneyland thanks to Grandma and Grandpa! We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel that's in Downtown Disney so we could walk to Disneyland. The park was all decked out in Christmas themes.
Cami enjoyed shopping at World of Disney. She wanted to take home all of the Mickey and Minnie dolls.

Remodel Update

Here is a photo of the addition as of 10/28/08, which is a little over one month from the start date.

Hillcrest Eagles

Here is Lia's soccer team. All of the girls go to her school. They had a winning season, and got first place in their division. Lia scored a few goals!

Rockridge Sting

Ryan played competitive soccer this year. They won some, they lost some, they tied some. It was a great season.

School Portraits

Here are Ryan and Lia in this year's school pictures. Ryan is in 5th grade and Lia is 3rd grade. They go to Hillcrest Elementary.

Demolition has begun

Last week we officially started our remodeling project (after working with an architect for 2 years). The demolition was quick. Lia is standing is a spot that used to be covered under 8 feet of rock. This space will eventually become a new master bedroom and bathroom. Our front door, which is to the left and invisible from the street, will now be straight ahead as you walk toward the house.

Lia gets pierced

Lia had been thinking about getting her ears pierced for several months, maybe even a year. But she wanted to wait for the right time. She couldn't wear earrings during basketball season. Finally, when we were planning our Solimar trip, she asked if there was a Claire's store in Ventura, so I we looked online. Lia even picked out which earrings she wanted.

She asked Katie and Sara if they wanted to come, but they were both scared. Melanie, her 16-yo cousin, who had her ears pierced, came with us. The women at Claire's dotted Lia's earlobes. Then they did the piercing simultaneously. It was over before we knew it. In fact, Lia asked, "Is that it?" as soon as they were done. No tears! She's been very responsible taking care of her ears and turning the earrings.

Now we have to decide what to do about the left earring. It was pierced off-center!!

How Could I Forget??

In my recap of the first half of 2008, I failed to mention the 5-hour surgery I had on May 1st to remove a large, yet benign, tumor from my right kidney. I discovered this mass in 2006 shortly after Cami was born. Who knows how long it had been growing!! After an embolization procedure in 11/06, we followed the tumor to see if it would shrink, but after a year and a half, it wasn't much smaller. So, Dr. Turzan at Kaiser recommended surgical intervention. He was able to accomplish the task laparoscopically. You can see 5 entry points on my abdomen. The largest incision was only 2 inches!! He had to shred the tumor into pieces to get it out. I took a month off from work, but felt pretty good by Mother's Day.

It was a scary time for me, but I had a lot of support and prayers. Rev. Stokes and Carol visited with me before surgery. Then Carol sat with Matthew all day in the lobby. Jan came by, too. Hopefully, this thing is gone for good. I'll have another CT scan in November...

Getting caught up

The year is more than halfway over, and I have neglected our blog. We'll fast-forward through. Umm, Matthew turned 41 in February. Notice the "geritol" from Phyllis. But really, this is a guy that doesn't seem to age (except for more white hair).


Like last year, Ryan and Lia played basketball in the Winter. In the Spring, Ryan played soccer, and Lia played softball.

We spent Spring Break at the Machule cabin in Truckee with the Fang-Horvaths. Lia, Hallie, and Sierra turned 8 this year.
The weather was good and the skiing was great.

In April we had a retirement party for mom. She is now working harder than ever by taking care of all her kids and grandkids. She comes to the Bay Area for weeks at a time to help cook, clean, chauffeur, and babysit. Then she rests for a week in LA before coming back for more.




In May, Ryan turned 10. Yes, hard to believe--double digits. And in June, Cami turned 2. But the big birthday this year was Suzie's!! The big FOUR-OH. I had a special women-only tea party hosted by Carol and Jan. It was great to be with some of the most important women from different parts of my life (church, kids' school, family). The next night we celebrated with a surprise luau that Matthew organized. He solicited scrapbook pages from various people including a few high school friends!



Another big event in July was the 50th wedding anniversary of George and Jeanette. We went to LA and had a celebratory dinner at the Parkway Grill with family and friends.

Merry Christmas

We spent our holidays in Southern California with both sides of the family. This photo was used by Grandma and Grandpa for their Christmas card collage. We had to take it in our backyard with the camera timer. I am amazed that everyone was looking in the right direction!

Matthew took Ryan and Lia to California Adventures with cousins Melanie and Katherine. It was a cold day, but they had a blast!

Thanksgiving in Tahoe Donner

For Thankgiving 2007, we spent time in Tahoe Donner with Amah, Agon, the Chen-Carters, and the Chen-Machules. A version of this photo served as the Christmas card photo for Amah and Agon. They are so proud of their brood.

Fall Soccer In Full Force

Ryan and Lia played soccer again this season with their teams, the Hawks and the Eagles. It seemed to be a turning point in their soccer careers as Ryan started scoring goals, and Lia showed her aggressive side, too.

Another new cousin

We welcome Kaley Chen Carter (sister of Noa) to our family and our neighborhood! She was born on September 29, 2007.

Ryan and Lia are quickly earning their babysitting skills.

Disney Vacation

Grandma and Grandpa Inadomi celebrated their 50th anniversary in Disney style. They took all of us on a first-class Disney World and Disney Cruise vacation in August. We spent 4 days at the various theme parks in Orlando. We got to have a special lunch with the princesses at Cinderella's castle, saw the Illuminations Fireworks show after a special dinner in Epcot, and took a private safari at Animal Kingdom.

Then we boarded the Disney Wonder for a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas. We stopped in Nassau and went to Atlantis which is a huge resort with pools and water-rides. The next day, we stopped at Castaway Cay which is a Disney-owned island. There we got to snorkel, swim and parasail. On the ship, there was non-stop activity (eating, swimming, shopping, getting character autographs, and seeing shows).

It was a memorable trip for us all!

A new cousin

Welcome Jasper Chen Machule who was born on July 6th at 4:32am. He weighed a whopping 8 pounds, 11 ounces! Suzie pulled an all-nighter (maybe her first) in order to be at the birth. It was awesome!

Happy Fourth of July

Suzie took Ryan and Lia up to Tahoe Donner to stay at the Machule's vacation house. We spent a lot of time with the Kumamoto and Fang-Horvath families who were staying in Incline Village. We swam at different pools, spent the day at Sand Harbor Beach on Lake Tahoe, saw an outdoor movie at

Northstar, saw fireworks at Kings Beach, and paddle boated on Donner Lake. It was a fun-filled trip!

Cami turns one!

Cami was baptized on Father's Day. We also celebrated her birthday that weekend.





She can definitely sign the word "more." She's also starting to babble a lot. Words that she says include "mama," "dada," "buh" for balloon, ball, or bottle, "nana" for banana, "ya-yah" for Ryan or Lia, and "na-nuh" for lamby. She likes to climb, but isn't walking yet.

Uh-Oh

Cami's first word is "uh-oh." She knows exactly how to use it and when to use it. She can mimic other sounds like "mama" and "dada," but she doesn't really say them on her own. But when she drops a toy or some food on the floor, she looks down at it and says, "Uh-oh."

She's crawling pretty quickly, and pulling herself up to standing position, but that is where she gets stuck. Sometimes, I put her down for a nap in her crib, and a few minutes later she'll be crying. When I go to see what's wrong, she'll be standing up and holding onto the rail. Funny girl. Pretty soon, she'll figure out the cruising, then the walking...

Memorial Day Weekend

We went camping in Coloma with the Tanners and the Fang-Horvaths over the 3-day weekend. Luckily, Amah came from LA to take care of Cami. On the first day, we set up camp, and the kids explored the riverbank. Craig had the firepit raging in the evening, and we roasted marshmallows after the wonderful dinner that was prepared by Jill and Craig.

The next day, we went on the South Fork of the American River for some Class 3 river rafting, Our guides, Lee and Jose, successfully navigated our 2 rafts down the river to Folsom Lake. The water was cold, but the air was warm--it was a perfect combination. The rapids were exciting. As we approached them, the kids would get down in the front of the raft. The water came over the top and drenched us! The boys would look back at us with eyes as big as pizzas (to quote Craig)! In the calm waters, Matthew and some of the kids jumped into the river just for a few seconds to cool off. When we got back to camp, Maria and George made dinner, and we just relaxed.

The last morning, we made potato pancakes and eggs Benedict. Afterwards, we cleaned up while the kids played, and got one last thrill riding the golf cart to and from the parking area as we loaded up the cars. It was a great time for all. Hopefully, we can go back again next year.