On Saturday, we had the pleasure of attending a birthday party for two of Mio’s friends — Aaron and Kailee! Aaron turned four on August 20, and his sister Kailee will turn two on September 23. We often have playdates together during the weekdays, and Mio and Kailee are good friends. 🙂 We were more than happy to celebrate their birthdays with them!
The sign in front of the house. So cute!
Happy 2nd birthday, Princess Kailee!
Aaron and Kailee’s dad Sean just built this treehouse + slide this summer, and Mio loves going on it every time we play at their house. The party was no exception!
Mio can go up the treehouse ladder by herself (with supervision, of course). She just keeps climbing up and sliding down over and over.
Having fun on the trampoline.
Getting some pointers from Daddy on how to hit the ball.
Mio and I at the birthday party.
Mio loves this outdoor playhouse.
But of course, the treehouse is the favorite. Every kid’s dream!
Time for birthday cake!
Thank you to the Tzeng family for having us over and letting us be a part of their adorable children’s birthday celebration! We had such a good time with all the delicious food and fun. To many more wonderful birthday! 🙂
Mio and I relaxing on the lawn.
Mio’s been especially clingy lately. I think she senses the big changes coming…
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! ♥
Dan had been talking about wanting to take us to the Water Mine for a while, as it’s a water park he passes on the way to and from work every day. We decided to go this past Sunday, and it was a whole lot of fun for the whole family! Mio had never been to a water park before, so it was a new and exciting experience for her! She really enjoyed the park, but I think she was also at the same time kind of overwhelmed by all the things to do and all the people there, so she was half in a state of shock… as you’ll see in the pictures.
Arriving at the water park! Oh the excitement!
The water park had inner pool areas with lots of slides and fun play objects, and had a lazy river stream going around the perimeter where people could float on inner tubes.
So much to do! Where to start?!
First things first, is to get your foot in the water…
Dan figured the best way to get Mio used to the water was to drench her.
Me with my baby bump! I’m in my second trimester and it’s definitely starting to show…
Mio going on the slide with Daddy
Mio loved riding the horse in the pool. She kept whinnying “neighhh!”
Face to face with a sea serpent!
I joined Mio on the slides, too!
She loved all the animals in the water!
Mio loved going on the lazy river with the inner tubes! She would say “whee!” while we floated along.
Mio was all at once enthralled…
…and a little bit scared and uncomfortable by the water that would get dumped or sprayed at us along the way…
Dan even got some video with our point-and-shoot camera (we have an underwater casing for it, and that’s how we took photos and video in the water). Excuse my frowns in the beginning — I was distressed that we were getting sprayed. lol
Mio with Daddy on the floatie.
“Turtle! Turtle!”
Mio apparently loved the lazy river, and kept saying “more!” and pointing to the tubes, so Daddy took her on it again.
Taking a break from the pool for a little snack. Love how Mio looks walking around in the little lifevest!
We had some pepperoni pizza and chili cheese fries from the concession stands for lunch.
Happy Mio! After she ate, she wanted “more!” time in the pool.
We ended up spending almost four hours at the water park because Mio couldn’t have enough, and Dan and I were having fun too. The Water Mine is such a fun family activity for the summertime. We’ll definitely be back againbefore summer’s over!
Mio’s definitely picking up words more quickly. I love listening to her talk while she’s playing with her toys — she used to just babble what sounded like nonsense, but now we can make out relevant words. If you watch this recent video of her playing with a seesaw toy and figurines, you can hear her saying, “dinosaur,” “bird,””seesaw,” snf “ice cream”… along with some “oh no”s sprinkled in. And then ending in “off!”
