…recreating delicious dishes in the comfort of your own home.
… surprise packages in the mail from friends.
… including homemade goodies from the bestest!
… picking up an old favorite hobby.
Happiness is…
Family and Friends
What more can you ask for in life? Cheers to good friends and family.
Playdate with Izumi-chan
Mio had a playdate with her friend Izumi on Thursday! Little baby Izumi was born on Christmas Eve to our friends Megumi and John (whom we threw a baby shower for back in November). We’d been over to see Izumi a couple times since her birth, but this was the first time baby Izumi came to visit us at our place!
Mio and Izumi are almost nine months apart, and the difference feels huge at this baby stage, but they’ll level out in age in no time! They’re both 2011 babies, and I’m sure that in a few years, they would become sweet friends. 🙂
One of the biggest perks of having a little girl is how much fun it is to dress them up! I know Mio will not let me be her stylist forever, but until she starts wanting to define her own fashion statements, I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity for as long as I can! 😛
Mio Party Rocking
An oldie but goodie… a video of Mio “dancing” — or flailing her arms and bobbing her head — to LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem with her Auntie Miwa and Uncle Ted, during Christmastime when we were visiting Virginia. (You can hear my mom’s worried shrieks in the background…)
Mio has actually loved Party Rock Anthem since her Auntie Miwa kept playing it for her when she was 3 months old when we visited in June. When she hears the song, she’ll stop what she’s doing and start bobbing her head to it and clapping!
Family Dinner with Hideaki
Dan’s cousin Hideaki (on his mother’s side)Â lives in Thailand, and was visiting San Francisco for a couple days, so we had dinner at Dan’s parents’ house the other night. Dan hadn’t seen his cousin since 1999, so it had been 13 years!
Mio showed off more of her walking skills… she’s getting faster and better at it every day!
A Day at the Oakland Zoo
On Saturday, our little family took a trip to the Oakland Zoo! I’d never been, and had been telling Dan that we should take Mio once the weather got warmer — since Saturday was surprisingly warm, we seized the opportunity to finally go! Our friends Kayo and Sung-kook and their 16-month old son Jinwoo also happened to be free that day, so we invited them to come with us.
I grew up going to the National Zoo in Washington, DC, which is pretty impressive and much larger, but I really enjoyed visiting the Oakland Zoo for the first time. It was very clean, well-maintained, and very child-friendly — there were lots of open areas where children could run around and climb onto animal sculptures, and a petting zoo where they could actually touch some of the sheep and goats. I think the more intimate size of the zoo actually works in favor for parents with young children, because you can get through the whole zoo (or a lot of it, at least), without getting too exhausted but still be able to see all the animals that kids love to see (monkeys, giraffes, lions, tigers, elephants. etc.).
It was of course Mio’s first time at the zoo, and although she’s a little too young to truly appreciate it, she definitely seemed intrigued (and at times, perplexed) by some of the animals at the zoo. Here are some of my favorites from the photos we took at the zoo!
You can see the full set of photos we took on our outing to the Oakland Zoo in the slideshow below: