Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt finalized their adoption of Pax Thien almost a year after Angelina first brought him home from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Brad and Angelina went to LA County Court on Wednesday to complete the adoption process. It was initially approved in Vietnam, and was finalized by approval of a Los Angeles judge.

Pax was originally named Pham Quang Sang and lived at the Tam Binh orphanage until the age of three and a half after he was abandoned at the hospital as a baby. He was said to have cried and hid during the official adoption ceremony on March 15 of last year, but by most accounts has settled into Brad and Angelina’s blended family well. Brad and Angelina hired a Vietnamese translator for him to ease his transition, and he seems to have found a friend and protective brother in older Maddox, 6. Pax was seen riding an inner tube down the slopes at Mammoth Mountain in California with his dad Brad Pitt earlier this week.

According to OK! Magazine, [print edition, February 22, 2008] Brad, Maddox, 6, and Pax, 4, were at Mammoth skiing for two days earlier this month while Angelina was in Iraq. They arrived on February 5 by private jet and stayed at a luxury rental home right on the mountain. Maddox and Pax took skiing lessons and were said to have “picked it up pretty quick.” The trio returned home on February 7, and it looks like they enjoyed their skiing vacation so much that they went back. The whole family was spotted at Mammoth earlier this week. TMZ has the pictures, and they’re pretty darn cute.

Brad Pitt and Pax Thien are shown in the thumbnails below taking a 4×4 ride on 1/3/08, thanks to Splash News. When I saw these pictures, the first thing I thought as a mom was “that’s not safe!” It seems like something my husband would do too with my son without realizing. Pax is also shown in Mid March, 2007, when he first left Vietnam with Angelina.