The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC kicked off on March 20 and in its first weekend, they held an event called Family Day at the National Building Museum, where children of all ages could participate in making crafts inspired by Japanese culture and also enjoy performances such as taiko and dance on the stage. We went on Sunday afternoon and Mio really enjoyed all the creative activities that she got to participate in (with some help from us, of course).
NCBF Family Day at the National Building Museum
They had some characters that you could take pictures with, and we thought for sure Mio’d like seeing Cookie Monster, but to our surprise, she burst into tears! This is what I’ve come to call “the Santa Claus effect”… (Strange, because she loved meeting the Sesame Street characters at Dan’s company picnic last year.)
Mio didn’t want to meet cookie monster.
Trying to salvage the photo opportunity…
Our first craft activity was to decorate cherry blossom trees with glitter and popcorn.
Mio placing the popcorn “blossoms” on the tree.
The finished cherry blossom tree!
At the next craft table, we made a cha-shitsu, or Japanese tea room, by assembling and decorating a box.
Mio loved using the stamps!
Our collaborative cha-shitsu creation!
At another table, creating a Japanese garden out of pipe cleaners and colored tissue paper.
The completed Japanese garden!
We took a break to watch the taiko performance.
Mio was actually really interested!
Posing with the huge cherry blossom balloons behind us.
While I was feeding Mirei, Dan took Mio to do some additional crafts…
Mio fell asleep on the way home in the Metro. It’s been a while since she’s fallen asleep in my arms like this!
We didn’t really take any photos of Mirei during the event, but she definitely kept us busy with several trips to the bathroom on her first trip to DC. She had two up-the-backer poops (resulting in two outfit changes) and also spit up all over my shirt! Of course, these things always happen at the most inopportune times. After a very messy afternoon, though, Mirei flashed us her first real smile as we were pushing the stroller through the Metro station on our way home from the event. Dan chuckled, “Awww she’s so cute!” and quickly pulled out the camera and captured the moment:
Mirei’s first smile! (Unfortunately, the picture is a little blurry…)
It was a very eventful and memorable day for the whole family!
Earlier this month, we got some hinamatsuri/early shichi-go-san photos taken by Atelier Kanawa at The Japan-America Society of Washington DC.
From Wikipedia: Shichi-Go-San is a Japanese celebration of the passage of children into the older years of childhood. The ages 3, 5 and 7 are considered lucky numbers in East Asian numerology, as they are odd numbers. In the tradition, boys who are aged three or five and girls who are aged three or seven are dressed in kimono — many for the first time — for visits to shrines. Three-year-old girls usually wear hifu (a type of padded vest) with their kimono. A more modern practice is photography, and this day is well known as a day to take pictures of children.
Shichi-Go-San is held in mid-November (usually on the 15th and observed on the nearest weekend), but I figured that I’d kill two birds with one stone by getting some early (or late, if you go by the traditional kazoedoshi or age reckoning) Shichi-Go-San pictures taken during this Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) photo session opportunity, since the kimono garb is exactly the same for both occasions.
With hina-ningyo for Hinamatsuri
Posing with a Chitose-Ame bag as is the tradition with Shichi-Go-San.
As you can see from a lot of these photos, the photographer had a hard time getting Mio to smile. She asked for Dan and I to help get a smile out of her, so we asked her what flavor of ice cream she wanted, and that did the trick:
Mio’s answer: “CHOCOLATE!” Unfortunately, she broke out of her pose…
Love our little Japanese doll!
Some behind-the-scenes snapshots I took with my phone:
The original photos we received from the photoshoot came back very yellow due to the lighting, so Dan had to do some color correcting to return them to a more accurate color (which is what you see above), but we’re pretty pleased with the end result. I myself never had the opportunity to wear a kimono as a child, let alone have photos taken in one, so I’m really happy that we could do this for Mio. I can’t wait to send these over to Mio’s great-grandparents and other relatives in Japan! 🙂
One of the greatest things about the Washington, DC area is the wealth of museums and exhibits it offers to the public — not only for adults, but for children, too! Mio is a little too young to appreciate the Smithsonian museums, but there are some children’s museums that we’d been wanting to take her to for a while! The new National Children’s Museum opened in National Harbor last December, so we decided to spend our Sunday afternoon there with Mio! She had so much fun — here are some pictures!
A part of the museum featured displays representing a few countries around the world. When you enter, there’s a mini luggage claim carousel as if you were arriving at an airport.
A Tanzanian marketplace display
A Tuk Tuk taxi (rickshaw) from Thailand.
Mio loved being at the steering wheel!
There was a dress-up area where kids could try on Japanese yukata and happi.
The yukatas were way too large, so I put Mio in a happi. She loved running around in it!
Curiously taking everything in.
We discovered Big Bird, and of course, Mio had to give him a hug.
Seeing how we measure up against Big Bird. Even Dan looks short next to Big Bird!
A pizzeria play kitchen
She loved putting various toppings on the play pizza.
The Under 3 Zone of the National Children’s Museum featured a lot of fun play areas for toddlers, with lots of Sesame Street characters. (I believe the museum has a partnership with Sesame Street.)
So many fun areas to play!
Mio going through the fun house.
So much room to move and tumble around!
Mio inside Cookie Monster’s Food Truck.
She picked up various play food and was naming each off for us. She picked this roll up and exclaimed, “sushi!”
Drawing on the chalkboard.
We got to see a show in the theater of the museum about paleontology and dinosaurs! We weren’t allowed to take any photos during the show due to it being copyrighted, but Mio LOVED it, as she’s obsessed with dinosaurs right now. We had to “shhh” her a few times because she’d very loudly shout out “Dinosaur! Wow!!!” whenever one would appear on stage.
Back in the play area, playing with toy instruments.
In the baby care area, holding a baby doll. Practicing to be a big sister?
She looks a bit uncertain about the idea…
There were some craft tables in the museum, too! Mio got to make a butterfly out of tissue paper, clothespin, and a pipecleaner.
Saying goodbye to Cookie Monster on the way out of the museum.
And of course, she had to give Elmo a goodbye hug…
…along with a goodbye kiss. So sweet!
Overall, we really enjoyed the National Children’s Museum. It’s apparently a little small compared to the old National Children’s Museum that used to be on H Street in DC, but it’s very clean and modern, well-staffed with friendly and helpful people, and is well-maintained and a fun place for kids of various ages. We did think admission was a bit pricey — $10 per person, with no discounts for the children (only kids under 12 months are free), so we had to pay $30 — but that’s probably because we’ve been spoiled by the Smithsonian museum’s free admission. I think that the ticket price should be more worth it once the Outdoor Experience opens next spring: it’s supposed to be a year-round museum without a roof that will have a lot of additional great exhibits. Right now only the Indoor half of the museum is open, so perhaps it might feel a little lacking for the price of admission. We’ll definitely be back to check it out again once the museum is complete! At the end of the day, Mio had a really enjoyable time, and that’s what matters! 🙂
On Saturday, we went to Ekoji Buddhist Temple’s annual Obon Festival in Fairfax Station. They had a variety of Japanese summer festival activities and games for kids, arts and crafts for sale, as well as a lot of Japanese food for sale — everything from somen, gyudon, mabodufu, chicken teriyaki, spam musubi, shaved ice, mochi, and other desserts! The area was decorated in traditional matsuri style with lanterns strung around and outdoor tables and stations for the various vendors.
Arriving at Ekoji Buddhist Temple’s Obon festival.
When we got there, the festival was already bustling with tons of people!
Mio and I making our way over to the shaved ice stand for a cool refreshment.
Daddy says “open wide!” for the kakigori.
Enjoying some melon-flavored kakigori (shaved ice).
There were lots of games for children.
Instead of the traditional game of scooping live goldfish, they had kids scoop plastic toys and rubber duckies that they could take home with them.
During the ring toss, Mio didn’t understand why everyone was purposely making it hard for themselves by throwing the rings. She kept going over and carefully placing the rings on the sticks.
She still won some bubbles and a whistle as prizes!
A lot of people were dressed in yukatas and jinbeis, the Japanese festival garb.
Mio of course sported her own jinbei and got a lot of smiles and compliments from strangers!
We ran into our friend Mimi at the festival. Thanks for taking this picture of us, Mimi!
There was also Yo-yo tsuri (fishing for water balloons).
Later in the evening, there was bon-odori, and a lot of people joined in the dancing.
Some video of the bon-odori dancing:
Nen Daiko also gave an awesome taiko performance!
Here is Nen Daiko performing “Satori no Michi.” Mio started yelling along with the drummers towards the end, much to our dismay…
We left shortly afterwards as Mio was getting really rowdy and we were worried she’d disturb everyone’s enjoyment of the taiko performances. At the end of the Obon festival, they supposedly had a candle memorial ceremony to remember loved ones who have passed on. Maybe next time, we’ll be able to stay for the whole festival! 🙂 It’s great that our children will be able to experience and take part in these Japanese traditions even while they live in America. Even as Americans, it’s a valuable thing to get exposure to your ethnic heritage and its traditions so that you can develop an understanding and appreciation for them. I think going to Obon will definitely be a family tradition for us in the years to come!
On Saturday afternoon, we drove down to go to the Mountain View Obon Festival. We’d always heard about it and had wanted to check it out, but it’s about an hour drive away for us so we hadn’t gone until this year. We originally wanted to attend on Sunday because that’s the day they have the bon-odori, but Dan had an obligation that day, so Saturday was the only time we could go together. We had a wonderful time experiencing Obon together as a family!
Arriving at Mountain View Obon
Dan enjoying a beer
Mio was dressed up in her matsuri attire – thank you Yuko & family for the jinbei!
I dressed in yukata for the festival. It’s been a while since I wore one!
It was really hot down in Mountain View… especially in the yukata!
There were various food stands serving shaved ice, sushi, manju, ohagi, chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, corn, corn dogs, french fries, spam musubi, beer, sake, and other refreshments.
Kingyo-sukui (Goldfish Scooping Game) – an Obon classic!
Love all the colors!
Mio and I watching the Goldfish Game
Mio loved walking around and taking in everything.
Thankfully, she’s been getting better about holding my hand while navigating crowds.
Taking a break to eat some ohagi and sip on Italian soda.
Mio has been doing this funny thing where she pretends to sip water, and then afterwards lets out a big burst of breath, like it was really refreshing. I’m not sure where she learned it from… I have a feeling it’s from this beer commercial, which comes on a lot when I’m watching Japanese TV shows. Here it is on video.
Silly girl.
Love her!
We ran into our friends Ali and Tim, who recently just moved back to the area after living in DC for a couple years.
Mio loved them!
A family picture (courtesy of Ali)
Our first time at Mountain View Obon!
Around 6pm, we headed over to the stage area where Jun Daiko was going to have a taiko performance.
This adorable little boy was walking around the taiko set.
Meanwhile, Mio was getting restless and flashing people with very unladylike poses. Please don’t do this when you are 16…
…so we moved her to Dan’s lap.
Jun Daiko performing – they were great! I love watching taiko.
Mio’s first time seeing taiko – she was fascinated, too.
A lion came out during the performance.
Mio was transfixed on the lion.
The lion went around to different members of the audience, and he eventually made his way over to Mio. She was definitely a bit intimidated and shrank bank a little, but she didn’t turn away. Even after it left, she kept her eyes on him and pointed in his direction.
Here’s the last half of Jun Daiko’s finale performance of “Inazuma.”
“Inazuma” performance by Jun Daiko
Towards the end, Mio was yelling along with the taiko performers… lol.
Afterwards, we headed over to downtown Mountain View for a ramen dinner and frozen yogurt for dessert!
Our messy ramen eater
A froyo lover, just like Daddy!
I’m really glad that we made the drive down to go to the festival this year! It was memorable, and I think it’s great to give Mio exposure to Japanese culture and traditions so that she can develop an appreciation for her ethnic heritage.
