On our last full day in the Bay Area, we got to take the girls to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland! I had heard about Fairyland while we lived in the area and that it was a really great place to take kids, but we had moved away before Mio reached the age where she could really enjoy a mini-amusement park like that. It was the first time going to Fairyland for all of us (even Dan!), so it was a new experience for all of us, and we fell in love with the quaint and charming mini-amusement park from the 1950’s, with its whimsical storybook sets, gentle rides, and friendly animals.

Children's Fairyland in Oakland

 

Arriving at Fairyland
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…”

 

In the whale's mouth at Fairyland
Inside the mouth of a whale!

 

Ferris wheel at Fairyland
The girls rode on the ferris wheel by themselves!

 


 

Ferris wheel at Fairyland
It seemed like they weren’t sure what to make of it at first, but they had a good time and Mio wanted to go on it again.

 

Mio & Mirei on stage in the hut
Mio & Mirei dancing in a hut!

 

Mirei crawling through a tunnel:


 

Children's Fairyland in Oakland
Mirei and Daddy by Rapunzel’s tower

 

Clothesline and windmill:


 

Mio at the "Fountain of Youth"
Mio at the “Fountain of Youth”

 

Llama at Fairyland
There were llamas there!

 

Sitting on the flower chairs at Fairyland
Sitting on the flower chairs at Fairyland. The girls look elated (especially Mio!) to be on their little petal thrones.

 

Sitting on the flower chairs at Fairyland
Mio insisted that Dan sit on it, too.

 

Sitting on the dragon at Fairyland
Sitting on the dragon’s back at Fairyland

 

Children's Fairyland was magical!
 

Chinese dragon slide at Fairyland
Mio loved running up the ramp to slide down this giant Chinese dragon slide.

 

Pig Mio at Fairyland
Mio’s the piggy with the straw house in the Three Little Pigs

 

Fairyland Alice in Wonderland maze
Mio and Daddy going through the Alice in Wonderland maze.

 

Train ride at Children's Fairyland
Train ride at Children’s Fairyland

 

Train ride at Children's Fairyland
The girls riding with Daddy

 

Train ride at Children's Fairyland
Loved the rainbow of colors on the train ride… πŸ™‚

 

Snack time at Fairyland
Snack time. Eating a push-pop is serious business!

 

Snack time at Fairyland
Mio is getting better about sharing with Mirei. So proud of her being such a sweet big sister!

 

Western town at Children's Fairyland
They even had a Western-themed town at Fairyland. Here’s Mio going down the spiral slide.

 

Western town at Children's Fairyland

 

Mio at the well in Fairyland
Mio cranking at the well

 

Mushrooms at Fairyland

 

Riding the carousel at Fairyland
Mirei riding the carousel

 

Riding the carousel at Fairyland
Mio LOVES carousels right now, so she was ecstatic to find one at Fairyland! She didn’t want to get off!

 

Japanese Tea Garden at Fairyland
There was even a Japanese tea garden there that can be rented for private birthday parties! I loved that the mural had depictions of Japanese folk tales I grew up with, like Momotaro, Saru-Kani Gassen, Bunbuku Chagama, Kaguyahime, Shitakiri Suzume, and Urashima-taro. Mio recognized a lot of them too, since I’ve read a lot of the stories to her.

 

Mio looking into the Japanese tea garden:


 

Bookworms at Fairyland
Bookworms coming out of a wall of books

 

Daddy reading to Mio in the reading room
Daddy reading to Mio in the reading room

 

Mirei doing some reading of her own
Mirei doing some reading of her own

 

Looks like Miss Mirei is going to be a little bookworm, too!


 

Sandlot boat at Fairyland
Boat in the sandlot

 

Pirate ship at Fairyland
This pirateship playground was so neat! I love that Mio is steering the ship.

 

Mio loves Beanie babies!
Mio’s obsessed with Beanie babies right now, so of course she was delighted to find them in the gift shop!

 

Fairyland was truly magical, and the girls had such a fun-filled day there! Our trip to California had been fairly grownup-centric with all the people and sights we wanted to see and places we wanted to eat, so I’m glad that we could set aside a day to dedicate to doing something that was all about our girls enjoying themselves. It’s too bad we no longer live in the area anymore, as Fairyland is definitely the type of place we would love to take the girls often!