Summer passed by all too quickly this year, and I have been really awful at keeping this space updated in the past several weeks. I thought I’d do a little compilation post of photos and videos here of some of our favorite cute/humorous moments captured on camera to share… better late than never, right?
…and thus follows the photo dump of all photo dumps.
Pooltime on the porch.
“Pool boy! Another margarita, please.”
“Just kidding!” 😉
Mio’s been obsessed with TMNT lately (or as she calls them, “masked turtles”). Today she’s Raphael and Mirei’s been anointed as Leonardo. (To me, they look more matsuri-ready…)
Mio patiently waiting for lunch at Santini’s. One of those moments where she still looks like a baby to me.
Lunch out with Daddy… one of her favorite moments.
Gelato and bingsoo at Sweetberry
Sticker-happy after a visit to Trader Joes.
All it takes is a blanket to keep them giggling non-stop!
Mio in her new bed!
Mio lined up these little animal dolls around Mirei as she slept on the Boppy.
Mirei’s first playdate with Lily. Mirei’s always tagging along to playdates for big sister, so it was nice to have a playdate for Mirei for once!
Mio pretending to kick Mirei… tsk tsk. Sisters…
Not sure what is going on here, but it looks like Mio is attempting to lick Mirei’s back?!
Mirei carrying big sister’s Minion backpack… which is almost the same size as her.
Such a funny sight!
Sisters both napping, in similar positions but in different places. (Mio fell asleep where she was playing, as usual…)
Mirei making an interesting fashion statement… (she can thank Auntie Miwa)
Crawling everywhere!
Sweet Mio
Our little angel ♥
She loves to roll herself up in her blankets.
Silly girl ♥
Mirei pulling herself up to stand by the cooler.
Mio playing frisbee with Daddy and Auntie in the backyard.
Mio coming down the slide at Meadow Lane Park
Sleeping giant at the park.
Mio riding the roundabout at the park:
Mirei being held by Obaachan
7 month old Mirei
Mio painting on the porch
Caught red-handed, getting into the diapers and making a mess!
Looking a lot like Daddy!
Going to the Lee District spray park again on Labor Day.Â
with my sweet M&Ms.
Mirei with Daddy
Mio is very much into making faces in selfies lately. She looks very fierce here!
Kissy-face selfie.
Mio likes to be in a “towel burrito,” as she calls it, after bathtime.
M&M in the window.
Standing in the crib already!
Our first time going to Japanese Storytime – wish I’d known about it sooner! Mirei was actually quite the social butterfly, constantly crawling away to other babies, making new friends. Mio preferred keeping to herself and exploring all the books there.
An ecstatic Mio with her mango popsicle.
Our resident flappy-bird…
Mirei playing with a taiko toy at a birthday party.
Spending a Sunday at the park
Stay forever Sunday.
Mirei will pull herself up to standing position every opportunity she gets!
This summer, in addition to ballet class and gymnastics class, I enrolled Mio in a program called Variety Zone, in which she can sample a little bit of each of the children’s programs offered in the county. In this class, the children rotate through different programs, experiencing two days each of Preschool Picassos, Gym Jam, Magic Kitchen, Wild about the Wild and Adventures in Gardening, over the course of eight weeks (one day a week).
Here are some photos and videos I took of Mio at the classes over the past couple months.
Making glitter fireworks for 4th of July for Preschool Picassos.
Adventures in Gardening class
Planting peas, garlic, and a sunflower.
Learning about the growth cycle of apple trees in Adventures in Gardening
Shaking up the whipping cream in Magic Kitchen. I think Magic Kitchen was Mio’s favorite among the programs, because it involved eating the creations. 😉
A video of Mio shaking the whipped cream, chopping up the fruits, and eating the completed snack.
Making marshmallow spiders!
Look at that smile! (Magic Kitchen, week 2)
Making girl and boy cookies out of crumbled graham crackers, cheese, pretzels, and raisins.
Gym Jam! It was also a hit with Mio, since she loves bouncing around and being active.
Our little athlete had a great time!
The program was a really fun way for Mio to sample a variety of fun activities over the summer, and she was always excited every week to go to the class! (I think she had more fun with it than gymnastics and ballet.) I really recommend it as a nice way to keep the kids occupied, especially during the summer when they’re out of school.
A bonus video of Mio from one of her last ballet classes:
We enrolled Mio in her first ballet class this summer, since she has been showing a lot of interest in the idea of ballerinas and dance. The class is Tiny Tutu’s Level I for 3 year olds, and it meets once a week for eight weeks for a total of eight classes that run from the beginning of July to the end of August. Mio loves dressing up in her leotard, tutu, tights, and ballet slippers and going to class to spin and dance with her classmates! Ballet class is also something I’d always looked forward to enrolling my daughters in, as I loved going to ballet class as a little girl myself. I feel like it’s one of the fun highlights and milestones you can enjoy as mother to a daughter.
Sitting with the other students at week 2 of ballet class.
She seems to really enjoy ballet class so far, and always talks about it at home, asking “Can I go to ballet class?” constantly. We’re so happy that she’s having fun with it!
Because it’s summer break, I’ve been trying to find ways to keep Mio busy and entertained while she doesn’t have preschool. I decided to enroll her in a few classes, one of which is “Preschool Gymnastics” or basically beginner gymnastics for toddlers 3-5 years old. It’s four classes that meet once a week during the month of July, and while Mio is one of the youngest students and doesn’t always follow the instructor’s directions, she seems to be having fun with it! Here are some photos and videos from her classes.
I was just offloading photos and videos from my phone, and thought I’d post some of these funny/cute videos of the girls from this past month. Enjoy!
Mio enjoying her cheese puffs while we were driving to Lewes Beach earlier this month.
Mio requests for Dan to sing the hokey pokey at bedtime lately, and she makes this funny sound at “shake it all about!” No idea where she picked it up, but it’s pretty hilarious…
Blowing bubbles on the porch:
I signed Mio up for her first dance class this summer, and even though the first class is still a couple weeks away, she’s so excited and has been spinning and tumbling around everywhere in her leotard and tutu:
Mirei’s been doing this thing a lot lately where she sucks in her lips. (Maybe due to teething?) Here’s a video of it — she sucks her thumb at one point, too! Her upper lip reminds me of a turtle. 🙂
