Mio had a fun-filled Sunday afternoon as we took her out for her first real trick-or-treating experience! We hadn’t introduced trick-or-treating to her the last two years, because we figured she was too young for candy, but now she’s definitely at an age where she can understand and appreciate the concept and of course the treats! A growing trend at community centers and churches in recent years is trunk-or-treat — it provides a safe and fun alternative to the tradition of going to door-to-door asking for candy. Volunteers gather in parking lots, their car trunks open and decked out in decorations and sometimes games, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It’s also an easier option than the traditional walking door-to-door for younger kids (as they tend to easily get tired) because they can still get plenty of candy without having to travel as much. Mio’s preschool had a Trunk-or-Treat event which we went to first, and then we continued onto Vienna Baptist Church, which probably hosts the largest Trunk-or-Treat in the local community.
Trunk or Treat at Mio’s preschool.
She got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly!
Mio making her way around the preschool parking lot.
Playing a game to win a treat!
The second Trunk-or-Treat event we went to had an accompanying fall festival for kids, with lots of games, activities, crafts, and face painting that they could partake in before they went trick-or-treating around the parking lot.
Mio throwing her fishing line over to get some candy.
She got some fruit snacks!
Getting her face painted.
The finished facepaint: an apple to go with her Snow White costume!
Time for Trunk-or-Treat, round two! There were about 30 cars to collect candy from.
Some of the decorations were pretty elaborate…
We ran into Mio’s friend Junna-chan (in the penguin costume) there, too!
Mio helping herself to candy. She made sure to say “thank you” at every station!
A vintage Ford Model A vehicle that was also at the event! Dan had a fun time talking to the owner about it.
A happy Snow White with her Daddy! Her bucket of candy was so full by the end of the afternoon that she was having a hard time carrying it.
Mio had a blast trick-or-treating for the first time, and she kept saying “Hooray! Candy!” and examining her loot in the car ride home. Mama and Daddy have to be careful in making sure the candy is rationed and she doesn’t eat too much at once. 😉
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! 🙂
Labor Day weekend was a packed weekend for us. We got to see a lot of friends and did a lot of driving around! We drove to Maryland three times in five days. We got to meet up with some out-of-town friends from Ohio who were in Maryland to adopt their first baby (such an exciting time for them! Congratulations to Hiro and Kayo, and precious Hazel, who was just born on Monday), go to a drone meetup for Dan’s hobby group in Leesburg on Saturday, followed by a couple hours at Clemyjontri Park with Pat & Theo and their adorable girls, attend a birthday party for one of Mio’s friends (Happy birthday Maya!) on Sunday, and then on Labor Day we had lunch with Masanori and Komy who were visiting Virginia from New Jersey, and then enjoyed delicious BBQ in the evening at the Stein’s. Our whole family was pooped by the end of it all, but it was so nice to get to see a lot of our friends, many of which we don’t get to see too often as they live far away.
I didn’t get to take too many photos from the weekend, but here are some snapshots of Mio from this past week…
“Look Mama, fork!” Mio playing with sticks while Daddy flies his quadcopter drone at Ida Lee Park.
I’d been wanting to take Mio to an amusement park this summer, but as we found at carnivals and fairs in the past, most rides require kids to be at least 36 inches tall, which Mio is just shy of. It’s hard to watch when she gets super excited to get on a ride, and then we have to turn her away because she’s not tall enough to ride, which she doesn’t really understand and then of course she gets confused and upset. I did a little research, and found that Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is an amusement park designed for small kids, 2 to 10 years old. It’s perfect for toddlers, as many of the rides are okay for kids under 36 inches to ride, and there are plenty of family rides too in which younger children can ride with their parents. While it’s a 2.5 hour trek from where we live, we thought it’d be worth it to make the trip up to give Mio a fun-filled day in which she could go on rides to her heart’s content!
The first ride Mio went on was the “Wonder Whip” ride.
It went pretty fast!
Going on the Astro Liner spaceship ride with Daddy
Little astronaut going on her space adventure on the “Sky Rider.”
Cranking along the train on the Choo Choo train… with some occasional helpful pushes from Daddy.
Waiting in line for the Turtle Whirl
Only minutes after this photo was taken, while we were still in line for the Turtle Whirl ride, we had a really harrowing incident. I don’t know what idiot decided to place the designated smoking area right next to a toddler ride when designing the park, but a man started smoking there and the line we were standing in was directly downwind of the secondhand smoke. I was feeling just fine until then, but as soon as the smoke entered my lungs, I felt extremely dizzy and started having trouble breathing. I squatted down against the ground to avoid inhaling any more of the smoke, but then when I tried to stand back up, I lost my vision completely and all I could see was solid bright pink. It became even harder for me to breathe so I was gasping for breath, and could barely manage to sputter to Dan, “I can’t see! I can’t see anything…” and then my legs turned to spaghetti and buckled underneath me. Dan immediately grabbed my arms and moved me and Mio out of the line and onto a nearby bench. Because I couldn’t see anything nor feel my legs, I just heard Dan urgently saying, “Excuse me, we need to get out of this line” to the people around us and then telling me, “Sit down. Sit down, Misono!” and I remember being confused because I felt like I hadn’t moved at all and wasn’t sure if he meant for me to sit down on the ground, right where we were. But I guess Dan had somehow maneuvered me to a bench and once I sat down and got me some water to drink, my vision started returning. I could breathe and feel my legs again, but was really shaken up by what had just happened! It must have all transpired in less than a minute, but in that short time I was so frightened that I was going blind, or possibly going to die from not being able to breathe (I know, it’s dramatic of me, but you never know!). I’ve had times in the past where I’ve had blackouts or lost strength in my limbs because I used to be anemic, but I haven’t had any serious dizzy spells in the past five years, and none of the ones I’d experienced before were like this where I couldn’t breathe and my vision went bright pink. We’re still not sure what exactly happened, but Dan think it’s a combination of several factors — the changes in my cardiovascular system and heart rate due to pregnancy (as your blood volume increases 30-50% during pregnancy), perhaps having low blood pressure and/or low blood sugar, being slightly dehydrated while standing the heat, and the secondhand smoke just triggered the perfect storm. It’s so strange though because I felt completely fine just beforehand! I feel so lucky that Dan was there to help me and take control of the situation; I don’t even want to think about something like that happening while Mio and I are out alone on an outing! Once I regained my composure a bit, we went over to the nearest dining area and got some food in me, and I started feeling like myself again once I sat down for half an hour and ate lunch. I felt awful that I’d scared Dan, and that Mio didn’t get to go on the turtle ride she really anticipated, and I was also really concerned about whether the baby was okay after what had just happened to my body. I’ve felt the baby move since, but I’m going to talk to my OB about it the next time I see her just to be sure everything is fine. Dan’s also filed a complaint to the park about the placement of the smoking area. Smoking areas should be a good distance away from the kids’ rides, not right next to them… otherwise, what’s the point? The smokers might as well be huffing away right there in the line with you.
Anyway, we didn’t want to let that scare affect the rest of our day, so we continued onto the rest of the park…
Riding a log boat in the Dragon’s Lair
Mio spotted the dragon and squealed, “Dinosaur!”
Hugs with Mama
Getting lifted high by Daddy!
Mio kept giving Dan kisses while we were waiting in line for rides.
And then she went in for a smooch on the lips! Getting aggressive, young lady…
She was SO happy!
Dan got to play some games in the park, too.
Dan and Mio on the water slide!
Dan is clearly enjoying it more than Mio.
Onto the splash park!
Mio jumping with joy! She loved the splash area and played there for about an hour.
Cooling down with some Italian ice afterwards.
Dan remembered that one of my favorite rides at amusement parks is the flying trapeze swing, and pointed it out to me in the park. At first I didn’t want to go on it, because Mio wouldn’t be able to ride it and I didn’t want to just go on a ride for myself and make Dan and Mio wait… but Dan kept urging me to go on it, so I got on and it was actually really fun and refreshing! I’m glad Dan was so insistent on making sure I had some carefree fun, too — that’s why I love him! 🙂
Me on the flying trapeze swing.
Mio on the “Panda Party” ride.
The noise on this ride was a little annoying, but Mio didn’t seem to mind it…
Mio on the bulldozer ride. She kept waving at everyone as she went around, including the other parents. They all waved back at her. 🙂 It was cute!
Playing a fishing game, with some assistance from Daddy.
…and she won a pink dolphin!
A very happy Mio as we strolled through the park.
“Mama, come join me!”
Mother daughter picture 🙂
On a horsedrawn carriage
Thank you Dutch Wonderland for a fun-filled day! We’ll be back again.
As we were leaving, Mio kept blowing the dragon in front of the park kisses and giving it air hugs, saying “thank you!” and “bye bye dinosaur!” Such a sweetheart. I was able to catch a little bit of the tail end of it in this video:
A very content Mio!
I’m so glad we made the trip up to Dutch Wonderland! Our whole family had such a fun-filled day, and just watching Mio so excited and happy filled our hearts with joy! She was totally in her element and running around. enjoying every ride, game, and play area to the fullest. The next morning, she woke up exclaiming, “Dinosaur! Fun! Whee!” She must have been reliving all the fun she had in her dreams. We’ll be sure to take you again sometime, Mio! ♥
