Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our family to Yours!

Tonight we took Sakura to a few places for some Trick-or-Treating. We don't give her much candy, but since I got her a costume and it was so cute, I couldn't resist dressing her up and heading out. First Trick-or-Treat for Sakura was a house she is VERY familiar with....and she knew just where to go - see...

Walking by herself...we trailed behind.
Almost to the door....

but takes a little detour into the rocks!

It's Sakura's other Mom - Katie!

Sakura loves Katie and her 'adopted' siblings!

Katie lives right down the street from one of Dean's engineer's so we headed over to say Happy Halloween to Jason and his family - only Jason wasn't home :( We got a visit in with Jason's son Jacob and his sister Mel for a few minutes, then off we were...

Daddy and Sakura headed to our next stop ----

Yep, Vannesa and Juan's - and baby Anabelle - but she wasn't quite ready yet, so we didn't grab any pictures of the two kiddos together - next year Anabelle!!! Sakura loved seeing that bowl of candy that Vannesa was offering, so much that she thought Vannesa was offering her the whole bowl, look at her hands.

A close-up. Thank you Vannesa!

Vannesa insisted that Sakura have a few pieces so Sakura was doing everything within her power to hold onto as many pieces of candy as she could - she held them tightly against her tummy!

Then we tried to see Carol and Mark - only nobody answered :( Wah! Two down!

We came home and Trick-or-Treated at our neighbors that we have had since we moved in 18 years ago, and then the new neighbors we have right across the street - they thought Sakura was "Que Bonita" (aka: how pretty) and snapped about 10 pictures of her. It was pretty cute! They have a new baby boy, I think he is about 3 months old and so cute and cuddly looking!

Here is Sakura after returning home, inspecting her loot!

What's in here?! Where is that candy I saw? Sakura didn't have any "Halloween" looking clippies so when she went down for a nap, I had to whip something up in orange to 'match' her costume :) I don't think it looks too bad!

I think I'll have this piece.

But Mommy gave me a sucker instead...I liked it very much!

Halloween pics by Tina

A few weeks ago Heather's friend Tina of Don't Blink photography here in Yuma, took some pictures of Sakura dressed up in her Halloween costume. These were my favorite pics that Tina took....Sakura is NOT the easiest toddler to photograph, she has her own ideas of what she wants to do when she gets near the river...and photo's isn't necessarily one of them! I think she is probably (hopefully) at the most difficult age right now for pictures and only hope that it gets easier --- at least when she's a little older she can be bribed, right?! LOL! Tina is just starting out and I think she did a fantastic job!

I know, I know, I have LOTS of professional pictures taken of Sakura - I think I'm making up for the lack of professional photos I have of me when I was little ;) Honestly I love having others take Sakura's pictures, I don't think I'm a very good photographer and I want to make sure I capture every age and every stage in her life. I know you've read this before, but I waited forever for my little girl and I just don't want to miss anything in her life being captured.

Sakura and her Daddy are my whole world. I love them both beyond measure!

Here we were joking, Sakura was clapping FOR Tina - we had to break into this bridge, jumping fences, crossing through BRIDGE CLOSED signs - and when Tina (the last person to come through) made it Sakura clapped - so we got her to smile by saying "Yay Tina"....

So pretty! I thought it looked like a sweet little angel here ~

Sakura having a spiritual moment!

My beautiful baby is growing up too quick -

here I think she looks much older than just 20 months :(

Super Special!

In yesterday's mail we received a package from a special friend, Debbie. She used to live next door to us and I was her kids babysitter. I loved spending time with them and being part of their family. Debbie was like my second Mom.

I think God puts people in our lives to teach us things - and Debbie and Tim taught me so much about life. I was blessed with many special outtings with them, trips to San Diego, Disneyland, just to name a couple, there were many more. I was over-the-moon to be there for the arrival of their little boy Paul when he arrived at 3 days old - I never knew I would be sharing the same feelings and emotions when Sakura was handed to us in Japan many years later.

Imagine how I felt when I unwrapped these two packages and inside were two beautiful albums documenting Sakura's 1st year, which Debbie had documented through the help of our blog - she printed pictures and captioned each picture and page. Truly amazing! The albums are just beautiful! I don't know if I would have ever had time to do that - and now I don't have to worry about it, it's done for us :)

Sakura has loved looking at the albums - I am on top of her so she doesn't get rough with them, flipping back and forth, back and forth. I think right now her favorite page is the Dosokai 2009 page - she points at Goofy and says "That" - as in "Who's That?" ...

Mommy's 1st Mother's Day page

Disneyland Dosokai 2009

Turning it around so I can see.

Debbie, thank you SO much for such a thoughtful and beautiful tribute to our angel - I hope someday Sakura gets to meet you. Love you so much!!!

D 'oh!

Sakura watches The Simpsons too much with her Daddy.

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Plant a tree

Mt. Fuji


Last night Johnny brought us a special tree - a sakura tree! He has been trying to find one that would survive our heat - and this one a Mt. Fuji variety says it is Zone 10! Yay!
Here is our new little tree, so cute. Can't wait to see if it survives and we get beautiful sakura blossoms next spring.

Thursday's are 'work from home' days - Sakura gets to sleep in, which she rarely does - Daddy is a bit noisy in the morning, and I think he wakes her...but none-the-less, she's used to getting up early and it may just be her internal clock waking her up - today she had a new Yo Gabba Gabba DVD to watch, so she was engrossed here!



Stool or chair - okay both!

Disneyland and the 3 Amigos

It's always been important to me to keep in contact with Sakura's first friends. She had four roommates that we know about and came to the United States.

Sakura's first roommate was Momoka, then came Kazuya (Michael), and then Sena (Quinn). Sakura has been able to see Kazuya the most - they shared their 1st Birthday together (they're one day apart) back in February, then at Dosokai in May - and this was their third visit since coming home on the plane (together) - they live not too far away in California. We were also able to meet up with the Yamamoto family from Hawaii just his past Friday, so the Three Amigos reunited for a small Dosokai at Goofy's Kitchen.

Here they are at Okada-San's place awaiting their family...and below you'll see them now~

The Three Amigos then....

Beautiful decorations all over the park - I hadn't ever been during Halloween, but I think next year I want to take Sakura back to the Mickey's Halloween Party - they close the park for the party.

While we waited for the Yamamoto's to meet us, we were able to grab a bite to eat and a few rides. Unfortunately Sakura didn't nap the whole drive over, so we didn't get to spend that much time at the park :(

1st Ride - Jungle Cruise

Next we went on Pirates - I loved how Sakura was holding her hands...so sweet!

Sakura had a pose with Sally...she wasn't fond of standing there.


They had some great pumpkins carved too!


Buzz!

Alice and Cheshire Cat

We were meeting up with the Yamamoto's by King Authur's Carousel....here's Daddy and Sakura watching but before I knew it they disappeared!

Luckily I spotted them - they went for a ride - I was SHOCKED since Daddy gets SEVERE motion sickness on just about every ride, but I guess he figured it was worth it for his little girl!

Sakura loved these chains ....

Inai, Inai, Baa....Peek-A-Boo!

Bubbles are great - we found a bubble gun!

King Authur's Carousel with the Yamamoto's!

Sakura and Sena reunited - this time they're with their Daddy's!

Sakura loved the display at the gates, we probably could have stood there for an hour and she would squeal and point...she loved it!

Here it is - Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pluto pumpkins!

Like I said, we didn't get a lot of time at the park, before we knew it Sakura was OUT -

on It's A Small World, so we headed back to our hotel, checked in and let Sakura take a nap. She didn't get a full nap in, but anything was better than nothing - I woke her up about 5:00 because we had reservations at Goofy's Kitchen with the Yamamoto's and Watanabe's, and the hotel shuttle only ran every 1/2 hour. We didn't want to be "Late for a very important date!" :)

Sakura was super excited to go meet her first two boy friends!

Let's GO!

I think she was trying to make a ♥ because she loves those boys~

S&S in the Autopia car at Goofy's kitchen...got a few cute shots of them.

Sena driving Sakura on their date to Goofy's Kitchen, I'm sure Sakura was giving him directions you know how boys/men are!

Us with Pluto...

The whole group together at last. The little guys didn't care a whole lot for the characters, Samie loved them and Kazuya warmed up and loved them too - but Sena and Sakura ---- Uh NOPE!

Together again - Kazuya (Michael), Sakura, and Sena (Quinn) with their Dads.

Then with Mom

After dinner we headed back to our hotel - Sakura was BEAT and so were we...I had hoped to go to DCA and see World of Color, but we didn't make it - now I MUST go back :oP

Sakura slept in until about 7:00, then she woke up and she found the bag of Pirate's Booty - nice breakfast Sakura - she pulled the chair out and climbed up to indulge!

Since we didn't get any shopping in the day before, we headed to Downtown Disney for a bite to eat, and then did a little shopping before heading home - it was an extremely quick trip, but I wouldn't trade the time for anything. Like I said, I think it's important for Sakura to know these little guys that shared their first 6 weeks together.

One day we're going to Hawaii so Sakura can see Momoka! She's the only roommate we haven't seen since coming home from Japan.

Daddy and Sakura at Downtown Disney

Running -

Figured Sakura better get in some 'down' time before being buckled up for the next four hours!

Trick-Or-Treat~

Sakura wanted to do her own shopping...I think she was thinking about those boys liking soldiers...she grabbed three containers and carried them around (before we removed them from her hand and left the store with her VERY unhappy!).

Yes our daughter has mastered drama queen!

SEE ~ she's wiping her tears here! Oh No! Poor Sakura.

She did get a super cute purse that she loves!!!

She's fine, just give her back her milk to carry and drink :)

One tired little girl - she slept the entire way to Mitsuwa Market (in San Diego) where we enjoyed some ramen before heading home.

We really loved spending time with everyone - even for just a quick trip!