This year I gave the girls the choice between having a birthday party with friends, or inviting one friend to spend the day with them at Disney. Maya chose to ask her friend Ainsley to go to Disney. Because Disney Tokyo is loved by all Japanese, we knew that we would have to skip a day of school to go, so we could get on rides and have a good day. We chose Tuesday, January 17th. Maya was nice enough to invite Hanna to join us, and Ainsley's mom Jenny also came with us. To our delight, Disney was not packed full of people. We were able to go on all the rides we wanted to, some twice or three times, with no longer than a 15-20 minute wait. The weather was chilly (we had to wear our winter coats), the park was not busy and all three kids got along fantastically. It was truly a wonderful way to celebrate Maya's 9th birthday- one I do not think we will forget!
When we moved to Japan, Maya was 6, turning 7 in February. She had short blond hair, which she insisted on having me flat iron EVERY DAY. She had only lost a few teeth, she was super shy, a lot smaller and devastated that we moved to Japan. Now, she is nearly 9, has long, beautiful curly hair that has turned darker in color, is active in after school activities (Taiko and after school rec), has made a ton of friends, walks to the train station and the grocery store by herself, and is an overall wonderful daughter. She loves to spend the last 10 minutes before bed laying down and telling me all about her day, what she did at school, what she learned and the drama that goes on with girls her age. I love every minute of it and I love our conversations. She has definitely become a lot more fun to hang around and talk to, loves to sing (a lot) and is very into solving "mysteries" and playing school with the younger kids in our building. I couldn't ask for a more fun, caring, kind and awesome 9 year old daughter- we love her so much and are so grateful that she is in our family! We love you Maya!!
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