Birthday Fun at Disneyland

Well we couldn't think of anything better than heading to Disneyland for Sakura's 1st birthday celebration....it's the Happiest Place on Earth afterall!

After lunch we headed to Disneyland - Sakura wore her special birthday "outfit" proudly displaying that she was 1!

Her first ride was the Carousel, Mommy had a few tears while Sakura chan rode her first ride on her very special day, then we headed for the flying Dumbo's. Daddy has to sit out of most rides as he gets miserable motion sickness so Grandma enjoyed Sakura's Dumbo ride with us. Despite having all of these fun and pretty rides, Sakura's very favorite ride was the "Mommy Ride" - as you can see by the look on her face this by far was Sakura's favorite ride :) Mommy doesn't mind either .... I love that I'm a favorite for awhile, Disney will win out when Sakura is older I'm sure!

Here are just a few pictures (I use that term loosely!) from our girl's very special day!

I'm dressed and ready to go!



YAY for Disneyland!


Jumping with Daddy is so much fun!

Walking to the park.

Proud Mommy and Daddy with their very special girl....Auntie Jill notice the sunglasses?

Mommy, Daddy and Grandma with the special birthday girl

Daddy and his girl

1 year old!

Where shall we go?

Looks like they decorated just for Sakura!

I'm 1

Birthday Girls get balloons :)

Yay!

See Auntie Nancy, I don't always keep my bows in...

this goes in my hair...

Mommy and Sakura waiting for the carousel

1st ride of the day

Then to Dumbo with Grandma

HI Daddy!

Daddy joins us for a posed photo op....this Dumbo won't make Daddy sick.

Sunglasses taste better than they look

And now for my favorite ride...the Mommy ride!

You go forward and then backward....that's the Mommy ride!

Again Mommy!

And she sleeps.........

Meeting Mickey!

See, they decorated for us - Thank You Mickey Mouse!

Stay tuned for Disneyland Day 2

Happy Birthday with the Patterson Family

On our way to Disneyland we stopped to have lunch with the Patterson family. Jill and I became friends when they were part of the ATWA group and adopting a baby from Japan too, soon after their paperwork was done, Jill found out she was pregnant - and now they have beautiful baby Camden, we were pleased to finally get to meet him - what a cutie and such a happy boy he is! It's funny when they met Sakura for the first time, she was just about the same age as Camden. Thanks for getting our park tickets! And Thank You Auntie Misty for the special Small Paul birthday shirt!

ladybugs and sakura blooms

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl

Hmmm, not sure about this

Sakura enjoying her very first taste of cake!

Opening her gift from the Patterson's

Hi Baby...

Awwww

Happy Birthday to Sakura!

We are SO Blessed, and so is Sakura!

It's hard to believe that a year ago today in the land of the Rising Sun, someone very special was giving birth and making a life plan for a child she could not keep.

It's hard to imagine what was going through Airi's mind as she so carefully took care of our baby for a week in the hospital, giving Sakura the best start at life and all that she had, and then having the strength to give her up.

I know that Airi would be so proud of the little girl that she gave birth to, and I know that there is a reason for everything that happens. Sakura is the baby that was destined to be our daughter, my stepdad often says that she was "just delivered to the wrong address" - I am sure that the experience made Airi stronger, she knows that she has changed our lives, she gave me the biggest and best gift. Sakura is an angel, she was sent by God to me and Dean and Airi gave her wings.

So on this very special day, please give Blessings to Airi for enriching all of our lives with this sweet, adorable, precious, priceless angel we call our daughter, you call your granddaughter, niece, or friend.

Our serious inquisitive girl

Happy Joyful Sakura chan

And our "Silly" girl...when we ask Sakura if she's "silly" this is her face. I ♥ it!

We are off to Disneyland to celebrate this very special day with our special girl.

I created this SmileBox 'video' of some of our special times from this past year, we will never forget the joy and amazement that this year has been.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Catching up from the weekend

Trying new dried apples

Sakura playing "fly to Mommy" with Daddy

Ouch - chubby thighs are IN!

Sakura and Baby watching a movie in her new pretty chair

Daddy trying to get Sakura to do "Peace"....

Sakura "Kobayashi" as Daddy calls her, she must be related to Kobayashi the Japanese Hot Dog eating champ because this child can stuff SO MUCH food into her mouth! As you can see here, her mouth is SO FULL that she can't even attempt to chew.....Amazing!

"HI Mommy!"

Sakura can crawl up our step, but she doesn't know how to get back down, here I had put her feet on the ground, normally she just talks to me and I go and get her down...it's cute! As you can see Sakura is in HIGH gear when it comes to teething, one more popped through on the top last week, and it looks like three more are pretty close...she's got so much drool poor kid is always soaking wet - she doesn't like bibs :(

Just a few pictures from our weekend. We didn't do anything special, except for Mommy trying to get some stuff done for Sakura's party....next time I buy Pre-Made things and not DIY things :) J/K! I certainly don't mind it's just a matter of staying awake late at night - something I've never been good at doing - unless I'm at Disneyland or something like that :)

She Stands!

Today Sakura decided to stand on her own...no pictures since she was with the babysitter and by the time they got the camera ~ she was done, but a milestone none-the-less! Yay for Sakura chan!