Dosokai for the 3 Musketeers

I know I know, we should just move to Disneyland - how many times have I heard that?

Well we made another quick trip to THE Happiest Place on Earth for a little dosokai of the 3 Musketeers. These were some of Sakura's first roommates at Okada-San's in Japan and will always be members of our family. We are SO lucky to have such amazing people in our lives, we wouldn't miss getting together for anything. We did miss the Yamamoto's when they visited Anaheim last time because we had other obligations, but we always try to make it happen.

We had Friday free, since the Yamamoto's had family to visit so we headed to .... hmmm, where? Disneyland of course. First we rode the train around because Sakura 1st request this time was a visit with the Princess'!

Well the line was 75 minutes, so Daddy (SO sweetly) offered to stand in the line and we wouldn't all have to suffer. So Sakura and Mommy headed to see Minnie, one of Sakura's favorites!

Hugs for Minnie (with her Minnie from the last trip).

Then we headed back down to the Princess' where Daddy was patiently waiting .... and there was STILL a long line, we all managed to wait probably 40 minutes longer before it was our turn.

Ariel was first, as you can see Sakura was running to get to her.

And then Belle - deep in conversation with Sakura.

But always time for a pretty picture.

And this time we got to visit with Jasmine!

We called it an early day and headed to check-in and got up bright and early to start our Saturday at the parks before meeting up with everyone for lunch.

I ordered Sakura some milk for breakfast, however she had requested chocolate milk (which I've never given her), but her Daddy said "You have to give it to her sometimes" - so I caught the waiter and ordered chocolate milk - Sakura was THRILLED!

On our way to The Little Mermaid ride

Daddy and Sakura (holding Minnie's hands) strolling through the park.

Yes, someone LOVES to climb!

Then it was time to head over to Naples to meet everyone.

Auntie Dale, Quinn (Sena) and Sakura (Sena is just about 11 days younger than Sakura, so they spent the first probably three or four weeks together.)

Uncle Ward, Quinn and Sakura

Sakura and Michael (Kazuya) visiting!

Sakura and Michael - they are a day apart in age, so they spent about their first 6 weeks together.

Three Musketeers reunited!

Goofy Sakura~

SO Happy to be back with her friends - she kept asking ALL morning where is Kazuya? Where is Sena? So when they finally got there, she was beyond happy to see them.

BIG hugs for her boys

The boys

IN the same order they appeared in their first photograph together. (They just happened to end up in this order, there was no posing three - 3 year olds!)

It's always more fun to play vs. taking pictures!

Until next time.

Today was Sakura's 3 Year Well Check - her stats were:

Height: 35 1/4 (25%)
Weight: 31 3/4 lbs (50%)

We cannot believe how much she is growing, she amazes us every single day. 

Tiny Dancer

Well being 3 brings MANY new opportunities and joining dance is one. I was apprehensive and wondered if Sakura would be too shy to attend, but she really really really surprised me and walked in like she had been there forever. Yay Sakura! There was a super cute hapa girl named Ava Grace who took Sakura by the hand saying "Let's go to class now" and I really think that helped her not be afraid. I sat and watched for that hour, and I somehow captured 100 (exactly) images! Wow! It had to be one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Sakura will be enrolled and will participate in the Spring performance if all goes well. When dance was over Sakura told me that she "LOVED" dance. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Daddy all about it too. Of course she couldn't do everything the other girls were doing since this was her first class, but she sure gave everything a shot and enjoyed every second! I can't wait to take her back next week.

Ready to go inside and dance!

This was within seconds of them starting. She sat right down and followed along. The little girl to her right is Ava Grace.

Sakura enjoyed this SO much - look at her expression!

A choo-choo train

You can definitely see here that Sakura is a tiny dancer, these girls are all 3 and 4 years old, she is the shortest of all of them.

HOW cute is this?!

OK well she must have some sumo in her ..... not sure where this came from, one of the Dad's who was watching said she was practicing Sumo :) Ji-chan would be proud!

Break/water time and Sakura saw that Ava Grace's Mommy had delivered some donuts! LOL!

Hop on one foot - getting help from the teacher

Sakura made me SO proud being such a big girl, getting right in there and participating!

Our last day at Disneyland

We got up bright and early on Sunday since it was our last day in California. We wanted to head to the park for a few hours, get a few rides in and then we would head home. Sakura is typically an early riser, so leaving early is never a problem - plus check-out was at 11:00. Since we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel this trip, we were fortunate and got to take advantage of Magic Mornings and enter the park at 0700.

Minnie was Sakura's companion of the day again, she loves her Minnie.

Sakura's 1st time on Tea Cups if you can believe that! She had never been on and may have a new favorite?! Well probably not a new favorite, but she loved it!

After a trip through Alice in Wonderland, Sakura posed for a picture. She does NOT like Alice in Wonderland she said that "It scared me!".

This little face is my Faaaaaaaaaaavorite thing ever!

Dancing through Toontown with Minnie

Let's go visit TinkerBell in Pixie Hollow

Sakura was walking in and Daddy was coming too, but Sakura stopped and said "Only Girls Daddy" .... Sakura was QUITE surprised when we were greeted by Terrance - a boy fairy - guess Daddy could have come afterall?!

Deep in conversation with Tink about the fairies on her top made by a very special friend who we call "Grammy Helen". The fairies are riding elephants, Sakura loves it!

Dancing her way out of Pixie Hollow.

As you can tell she was really moving!

Minnie's turn to dance.

Time for a little drive, just before heading home - Autopia

What an amazingly fun trip - celebrating Sakura is what makes our world go round. She is the MOST special amazing little girl and we are the most blessed people in the world having her for our daughter. There isn't a single day that we aren't thankful for this opportunity and grateful for all of the people who made it possible. First God, Airi (Sakura's BioMom - we hope that she somehow realizes what a special gift she gave, and how loved Sakura is), Across the World Adoptions (Lesley), Taz and Okada-San for taking such great care of Sakura while she waited for us, and our countless family and friends for always being there for us, and most important Sakura for being the BEST daughter anyone could dream of and more.