We checked out the Lee District RECenter the other weekend, which includes Chessie’s Big Backyard and Our Special Harbor Spray Park in Alexandria. Admission is free and Mio had a blast splashing around at the spray park and then running around at the adjacent playground afterwards. Although it is a bit of a drive for us, we’ll definitely be back!
Mio at Our Special Harbor Spray Park in Alexandria.
Having fun splashing around
Mirei and I didn’t go into the spray area, but we had fun watching from the tented areas on the sidelines.
Mio on the pirate ship at Chessie’s Big Backyard
Mirei doing her signature expression, tucking her lips in.
An extra shot from the weekend, when we went to lunch at Pazzo Pomodoro the day before. Mio and Mirei are in matching shirts!
We had a busy weekend, attending a couple birthday parties on Saturday and then BrickFair LEGO Convention on Sunday with friends! See all the weekend fun below…
Dan holding Mirei at Clara’s birthday party.
Mio wading in one of the pools that were set out in the front yard.
The kids having fun with the water balloons.
The theme of the party was Frozen, and Mio loved all the Frozen-themed snacks!
Mio was having so much fun, but we had to leave Clara’s birthday party a little early so that we could also attend Augustine’s first birthday party, which was held at Westwood Country Club in Vienna.
The beautiful spread for Augustine’s first birthday! I had the honor of designing the backdrop.
Look at those amazing cake pops and cupcakes!
Mio getting her face painted.
Hello Kitty!
Mio smiling at herself in my phone camera.
There were cute props at every table!
Guest’s wishes for Augustine hanging on a tree. Such a beautiful idea!
Xiaolu meets Mirei
Doljanchi tradition… Auggie picked the ball! Future athlete!
Auggie with his parents and grandparents!
Mio was so excited that the balloon twister made her a ninja turtle balloon!
The birthday party had so much detail and thought put into it, and was extravagant like a wedding! Ploi did such an amazing job of throwing a birthday party to remember!
My brother stopped by the house while Mio was eating Pop Rocks for the first time (they were in a goody bag), in this pose. He asked, “What are you doing, Mio?” to which she deadpanned, “I’m popping.” lol
On Sunday, we got to go to the BrickFair LEGO Convention at the Dulles Expo Center because our friends had extra tickets! It was the largest gathering of LEGO enthusiasts in the area and there were quite a lot of impressive LEGO creations to see!
Mio and Kosei with a minion made out of LEGOs
LEGO Egyptian civilization
LEGO castle and soldiers
I particularly liked this theme park made out of moving LEGOs!
Mirei getting lots of hugs from Kosei. He’s got the big brother thing down!
Special thanks to the Smith family for inviting us along to BrickFair! It was a lot of fun for the whole family! 🙂
Steamed black mussel with pan-roasted sea scallops in a Pesto basil white wine broth
This sparkling Australian wine was so sweet! I loved it.
I got the filet mignon…
…while Dan got the rack of lamb.
Bon appetit!
They gave us a dessert sampler since it was our anniversary. Everything was great!
A beautiful sunset greeted us after our dinner.
It’s been six years since our wedding and over 11 years since the beginning of our journey as a couple. We’re so blessed to have had so many wonderful years and memories together, and we look forward to several more! Can’t wait to see what the future holds. I know it’ll be a beautiful life as long as I have Dan by my side. ♥ Love you, hubby!
On Wednesday, I took Mirei to the doctor for her 6 month wellness exam. She was her usual cheery self, beaming and smiling at the nurse and doctor and charming the socks off of everyone! She got her routine immunizations and just let out some whiney cries before quickly calming when getting her shots.
Mirei’s been growing so much over the first few months of her life that I thought that surely she would have tapered off a little in the pace of her growth since her four month visit two months ago, but nope! She wowed both me and the nurse with her off-the-charts growth stats!
Mirei now weighs an impressive 21 lbs 6 oz, which pushes her off the charts in weight compared to other 6 month olds. No wonder my arms feel sore!
She measured 28.5 inches tall, putting her off the charts in height-for-age as well.
Her head size is now 17.5 inches, which is in the 95th growth percentile based on head circumference-for-age.
I can’t believe that Mirei has gained a whole three pounds and grown two inches in the last couple months! I wonder when her growth is going to start tapering off… I don’t know if our arms can handle her getting much heavier so quickly! The other night, we measured the circumference of her thighs and compared it against her head circumference… and the difference was only about 1.5 inches. Hers are the definition of thunder thighs! But we love how chubby and healthy she is — makes her all the more squeezable!
Here are some photos and videos of Mirei from this past month.
Mirei taking a bath a few weeks ago
As of a couple weeks ago, she’s been sitting up in the bathtub!
She loves bathtime.
Mirei in her chubby naked glory
Finally got a photo of her first teeth!
Mirei teething
Look at all that drool…
Recently Mirei has discovered how to blow raspberries, and she’s been doing it a lot this week!
Since Mirei turned 6 months old on Friday, we introduced her to solids for the first time on Monday evening, after coming back from our weekend camping. Here’s a video that we captured of her first taste of solids! (We gave her baby cereal made of single grain oatmeal.)
She doesn’t seem super enthusiastic about it and wasn’t able to retain the spoonfuls very well in her mouth, so it kept dribbling out, but in the end she ended up eating most of it!