Last Saturday, we took Mio to Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, a historical farm where you can see all kinds of animals and experience farm life from the 1920’s. We met up with our friends Stephanie and Chwan and their adorable son Danny, who is three months older than Mio! We’ve been wanting to have a playdate for the two cuties to meet, and this was the perfect opportunity, since both of them love animals!
One of the cows at Frying Pan Farm.
Mio and Danny were focused on the cows as the mommies chatted away.
Mio and Danny watching the piglets nursing.
There was a sandbox filled with corn kernels (instead of sand) for them to play in. What a great idea — a whole less messy than sand!
Mio playing with the corn kernels.
Staring in amazement at the baby goat.
Face to face.
One really cool attraction they had there was cow milking! Even I’ve never seen a cow getting milked, so it was very cool to see and experience! I was trying to explain to Mio that they were squeezing the “minmi” (Japanese baby word for “milk”) that she drinks out of the cow, and she started pulling on her ears. Dan and I were confused for a few seconds, but then it dawned on me that she was confusing the word with “mimi” (which is Japanese for “ear”). I couldn’t help but laugh!
Mio pulling her ears by the cow.
Mio learning how to milk the cow (with some help from Daddy)
What an experience!
Because Frying Pan Farm Park is a historical site and they showcase farm life from the 1920’s, they have a lot of old-fashioned traditional machines that have survived for almost a century! This machine de-kernels corn, and it’s the original machine from the 1920’s! I couldn’t believe how well it still worked, and so efficiently too (it uses very little gas to operate)!
Danny and Mio watching a machine de-kernel corn
The kiddos were just as interested in the machine as the adults!
Hitting their de-kerneled corn cobs together.
Mio trying to climb up the bars of a fence… typical Mio behavior.
Another neat machine they had was one in which you’d throw apples in, and the apples would get transported up into a mechanism that would turn the apples into apple cider! They handed out apples for kids and their parents to throw into the machine, so that we could watch them go up.
Mio and I threw some apples in together into the machine.
After seeing a lot of the farm life of the park, we walked over to the carousel and playground area.
Mio of course had a ball on the playground, going down the slides over and over!
Having a fun time learning to count.
Riding the carousel!
She had a great time!
After a couple hours at the park, the cuties were hungry and ready to eat!
We ended the outing with a delicious Burmese lunch at Myanmar restaurant in Falls Church! It was a fun day spent with great friends. 🙂
The leaves in the neighborhood have really been changing color in the past week, and has been reminding me of how much I missed autumn on the East Coast. My mother and I took Mio for a stroll around the neighborhood today to admire the beautiful fall foliage…
On Friday night, a bunch of my girlfriends from high school got together for dinner and dessert at Julianne’s new Arlington home! It was a nice get-together to both welcome me back to the area as well as to celebrate our friend Mimi’s birthday and recent engagement. I hadn’t seen some of the girls in over a year, so it was so great to come together and catch up and what’s been going on in our lives. Everyone’s been undergoing really exciting changes in their careers and personal lives! 🙂 Special thanks to Juli for hosting, organizing, and for taking the following pictures!
Listening to Mimi’s engagement story
Newly engaged birthday girl Mimi!
Listening intently.
A girls’ night isn’t complete without three cakes and two cartons of ice cream!
Excited about the desserts!
Desserts alight.
Catching up over tea
It feels like home now that I’m reunited with these girls!
Thank you also to Dan for watching Mio that evening so that I could have a lovely relaxing time with my friends! 🙂
I can’t believe it’s already October! The end of September just flew by, as the past few days have been pretty busy. On Thursday evening, we met up with my cousin’s husband Devin who was visiting from Arizona on business. It was his first time meeting Mio, and it was great catching up since the last time we saw him two years ago, and hearing about how my cousin Yuko and their kids were doing. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to see Yuko, Beni-chan and Sakura-chan soon! I’m sure Mio would love them, too.
Dinner with Devin at Blue Ocean Japanese Restaurant.
Friday evening, my sister and I met up with friends in Silver Spring, Maryland, to watch the Japanese rock band B’z perform live in concert!
B’z concert in Silver Spring, Maryland
With Erri, Akira, and Erri’s friends.
They were great live! We got to see them pretty close up! (photo courtesy of Akira)
On Saturday, we drove down to Richmond to attend our friend Stephanie and Danny’s wedding! Before we left, we dropped Mio off with a family friend in the morning so they could watch her for much of the day. They have a daughter who is only 2 months older than Mio, so I heard that they played very well together while Dan and I were in Richmond!
What was supposed to be a two hour drive ended up taking longer due to a huge funeral procession that was on I-95, but we made it just in time for the ceremony, which was held at the beautiful Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in the heart of Richmond. (Apologies for the poor picture quality — I only had my phone with me to take pictures!)
Waiting for the ceremony to start
The groom coming down the aisle!
Stephanie looked stunning as she made her way down the aisle…
A beautiful wedding ceremony!
“You may kiss the bride!”
Walking down the aisle as Mr. & Mrs. Om!
Congratulations Stephanie and Danny!
They were the picture-perfect couple!
The cocktail hour and reception were equally beautiful — the venue was lovely and all the food was so delicious!
Steph & Danny sharing their first dance as husband & wife
Talking to the bride and groom
We were so happy we could move back in time to attend their wedding!
With the beautiful bride ♥ I can’t believe I’ve known Stephanie for 11 years now – she was one of the first friends I made at Virginia Tech! Congratulations Mrs.Om!
With the lovely couple!
One of the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever had!
Mimi and I – friends since high school! 😀
With the hubby!
Fun in the photobooth!
Sunday was devoted to spending lots of quality time with Mio, as I hadn’t gotten to spend any time with her Friday evening and all of Saturday.
Sidewalk chalk with Auntie Miwa. Mio’s first time playing with sidewalk chalk!
ãŠå§‰ã¡ã‚ƒã‚“ãŸã¡ã«å›²ã¾ã‚Œã¦å¬‰ã—ãã†ãªç¾Žæ¡œã€‚Mio loved all the attention from the big girls!
We spent a full day on Wednesday last week in San Jose, after moving out of our El Cerrito home, to spend some time with Dan’s parents before we left for the East Coast. We spent most of the late morning strolling around the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose, had lunch, and then walked over to neighboring Happy Hollow Park & Zoo to dedicate the afternoon to letting Mio have some fun at the kids park going on rides, playing on the playgrounds, and meeting animals there.
By the bridge at the Japanese Friendship Garden
The beautifully landscaped Japanese garden.
Koi in the pond.
The koi had such gorgeous colors!
You could buy a handful of feed for the koi for a quarter, so we got some for Mio to drop into the pond. Here’s a video of Mio feeding the koi and ducks. She says “gwa gwa gwa” (the Japanese sound for quacking) when she sees ducks these days.
More quacking from Mio:
Mio loved feeding the koi and ducks!
Mio throwing feed into the pond.
Mio with Daddy and her grandparents
Beautiful Japanese maple tree reflects the arrival of autumn.
Strolling around the Japanese Friendship Garden.
I love that there are so many Japanese gardens in the Bay Area.
Delicious homemade bentos for lunch! Dan’s mother prepared all the delicious food and I just helped with handling packing the bentos with the food.
Mio and Dan eating lunch.
After eating lunch at the picnic tables, we walked over to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, which is right next to the Japanese Friendship Garden.
Mio touching the dinosaur statue in front of the park entrance.
We decided to let Mio ride the Mini Putt-Putt Car ride, since it was one of the few rides she was tall enough to go on in the park. I was a little worried about whether or not she’d be okay riding it by herself, but she was perfectly fine!
Mio turning the steering wheel. (She even pulled the rope to ring the bell a couple times!)
Mio loved it so much that she protested when I took her out after it was over. So we let her go on the ride a second time, this time in the police car.
A video of Mio on the Mini Putt-Putt Car Ride:
Poor Mio wasn’t tall enough to go on a lot of the rides.
Mio expressing her frustration at not being able to ride the swing carousel.
The playground at Happy Hollow was HUGE. And this wasn’t even all of it — there was another structure (for smaller kids) almost as large, across from this one. It was a playground on steroids.
Dan and Mio climbing up.
Dan about to take Mio down the slide.
“Yay, you did it!” Mio looks bewildered.
Dan and Mio went down another huge slide.
Mio had so much fun with Daddy on the playground. It’s usually me who takes her to the park while Dan is at work, so this was a nice change for her.
Mio making her way through the tunnel to Grandma
Mio crawling through the stone tunnel. She looks so angelic looking up at Grandma!
Smile of delight while going down the slide!
LOVE! I can’t get enough of that smile!
Mio going on the carousel with Mama
Mother-daughter moment.
Riding the carousel with Mama and Grandma
Mio cautiously feeding the goats at the petting farm area of Happy Hollow.
A cautious Mio leaning down to feed a goat.
Greedy goats crowding around Mio.
Grandpa showing Mio the miniature pony.
Mio and Dan looking at the sheep.
In the evening, we went to San Jose Japantown to have dinner at SJ Omogari Restaurant to have a delicious Korean dinner!
Hot seafood mixed rice from SJ Omogari Korean Restaurant for dinner
Back at the house, we took a family photo with four generations of Allens. Dan’s grandmother (Mio’s great-grandmother) is 94 years old and is still so healthy and talkative – amazing!
The day was a really memorable way to wrap up our time in California! We got to spend time with family, see beautiful sights, and Mio had a blast, too!
