Time in California

Like I said in an earlier post, our dear Uncle Fred recently lost his battle with lung cancer, so last week we headed to California to attend the services for Uncle Fred. We will sure miss him - he was an amazing man, generous, funny, caring, he loved Sakura chan very much - one time we were in California and didn't get by to see him (fearing that his chemotherapy would have taken it's toll on him, we didn't want to bother him), shortly after our return home, my Mother Inlaw called to tell us that Auntie said Uncle Fred waited for us to come by with Sakura - imagine how bad we felt. Every visit after that happened, we made SURE to stop by to say HI and let Uncle Fred visit with Sakura. As much as we will miss seeing Uncle, it is with some peace that he will no longer be in any pain from the cancer, and we know that he will always be "around".

We love you Uncle Fred - Rest In Peace.

On the plane headed to see our friends and family.

Sakura playing in the grass while we waited for Bachan and Jichan to pick us up at the airport.

Yawn....Sakura you wouldn't be tired IF you had slept on the plane silly girl!

Having fun with Daddy while we wait in the beautiful sunshine

Playing Around the World (on Daddy's shoulders)

There she goes....

Almost around.....

I always try to find some time to get together with our friends when we head to California, I only wish we had MORE time together, it is so much fun to see how the kids have grown, I really wish we lived closer so that we could get together for play dates too - as Sakura gets older and bigger (and someday walks) she would love to play with the kids. This time we met at Taro's for lunch.

Sakura (14 months) and Ivy (11 months)

Ivy generously shared her rice crackers with Sakura. Ivy had a cracker and Sakura had a cracker, and Ivy kept handing Sakura her cracker too.....so sweet!

We FINALLY got to meet Nikko, Eryn and Gregor's handsome son!

He is SO adorable, his personality as well as you can see his looks - what a charming little boy - Sakura ♥d Nikko!

Group shot - my best attempt....silly kids don't they know they're all supposed to look at the camera when 3 of us are trying to get a shot of them - LOL!

As you can see Sakura chan had other ideas, escaping from the bench!

Another attempt

Sakura got a little riding pony to keep at Bachan and Jichan's house!

Rocking on the pony

After the services for Uncle Fred, we all went to a Chinese resteraunt together, so we got a few minutes with our nieces - Jessamine and Stephanie with Sakura

The girls smiling

An extremely exhausted baby on our way home from the services

Daddy and Jichan with Sakura after the services

Sakura

Onigiri made by Bachan for Sakura - Sakura's 1st onigiri (rice ball)

Sakura enjoying her onigiri

Sakura enjoying lunch #2 at Taro's with Mommy and Daddy we ♥ Taro's!

Chips at Chevy's on our last night with Bachan and Jichan

Sakura enjoying playing

and exercising with Jichan (J/K!)

and then playing a little piano too! Busy kid!

And then we headed home.....Goodbye Family and Friends until next time, we ♥ and miss you!

Mail from Japan and our little climber

We had a nice surprise in the mail - a present from Japan. Dean's cousin Yuko sent Sakura a nice gift - we love getting stuff from Japan, it's so unique, we especially love getting stuff with sakura blossoms all over it! Yuko sent Sakura several towels some with Pooh and Piglet, one teddy bear and a few covered in sakura blooms. So special and so sweet!

Sakura has mastered climbing - here she is exploring the dishwasher. She may not walk on her own, but she can sure get where she wants to go!

Fun playing in the dishwasher

Isn't this the cutest card? How is it that Japan Hallmark has this and we don't?
These little animals with sakura - so cute! We love this card!

Sakura's card and present - more sakura :)

Thanks Yuko - we ♥ everything!

We are all so lucky to have so many people that love and care about Sakura chan!

Happy Easter!

We had a nice Easter Sunday. A couple of weeks ago I took Sakura to have some pictures taken in her Easter outfit and also took along my camera to take some pics myself. These first few pictures I took of Sakura at the Gateway Park which is right beside the Colorado River. The park is really pretty - nice and green. Sakura enjoyed being out in the nice warm weather. Today for Easter we were in Phoenix with my Mom and Stepdad. Sakura got up and discovered that the Easter bunny had found her at Grandma and Papa's house and dug right in to her basket. She got a couple of Tea Collection outfits, a chocolate duck, some books, some eggs that Grandma filled with goldfish and Puffs, a stuffed sheep, a Hello Kitty disguised as the Easter Bunny, and a Build-A-Bear bunny named Blossom. Funny Sakura went right straight for the chocolate duck - she didn't get to eat any, but she enjoyed looking at it :) She also really liked the filled eggs and the grass - LOL!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Peek-A-Boo

Sakura Easter 2010

Sakura enjoying her Easter dinner - ham, brocolli, cheesy potatoes and then she really enjoyed her strawberry angel food cake for dessert. Sakura LOVES strawberries!

Even Wrigley was pooped!

The Easter Bunny came!

Sakura checking out the eggs

Hmmm, what else is in here?

Back to the eggs after getting dressed

She kept taking the eggs out of the bowl and putting them in her basket

Awwww, Sakura loves Blossom

And the eggs - again! At this point she didn't even know they were filled with yummy things!

Playing with her wind-up butterfly

Breakfast at Mimis - Sakura figured those eggs out and Grandma became her very best friend!

What's up with her tongue these days? She sticks it out ALL the time - like a lizard.

Butterfly

Sitting amongst the flowers

One TIRED baby

HAPPY 2nd Easter Sakura chan, the Lord has Risen and Blessed us beyond measure!!!

Catching with pics

Seems like it's been a busy couple of weeks. I got sick, the Sakura started to get it, but fought it off and now I wonder if it wasn't just teething. Sakura has sprouted two more top teeth, and it looks like there are two more on the way (on the bottom) - but at the rate Sakura gets teeth it could be another month before we see any white pop through :) She seems to get her teeth two at a time, poor baby. The camera is never far away, and even though I may not be posting, I'm still taking lots of pictures. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Sakura ready to go to the mall to look for some slacks for Daddy to match his suit jacket, unfortunately we've had some very sad news this last week - our beloved Uncle Fred lost his fight with cancer, we will head to California next week for services. We will miss Uncle Fred terribly, he was a wonderful man, who always went out of his way to help others. He helped my Mother inlaw and her sisters translate all of the paperwork we got from Japan back when we were just finding out about Mamas and Papas (ATWA in the partner here in the USA) that led us to our baby girl. When we returned home with Sakura, Uncle Fred couldn't wait to meet her - on subsequent visits to California, Uncle Fred was battling cancer and remained dedicated to Sakura and wanted us to visit with her so he could see her.

Where's Papa? Outside.....Sakura says Papa very clear, she loves her Papa soooo much!

Playing Peek-A-Boo with Mommy on the couch

Watching Inai Inai Baa - her Japanese baby show.

Cuddling her Easter frog from Katie (my good friend and Sakura's babysitter)

My what good ears you have Easter frog

Watching out the window waiting for Daddy to come home - she tells Yancha "Git"

Enjoying some Cheerios

More Cheerios - Sakura loves to have things in small bowls/plates, today she wanted to dump them out and then put them back in the bowl....Silly Girl!

Wearing a pretty dress that Auntie Misty sent her a while ago, it finally fits, and is SO cute on Sakura! Thanks Auntie Misty!