After we went to the park for the first time on Thursday, Dan wanted to go to the park with Mio too, so we went as a family on Saturday afternoon. It was colder than it had been the first time we’d gone, so we couldn’t stay out as long, but we had a great time — here are some of the pictures and video from last Saturday!
All smiles on the swing this time!
Trying out the slide... "Ready?"
"Here we go!"
Back on the swing, with Daddy
It’s rainy all this week in the Bay Area, so it looks like we won’t really be able to go outside for a while. Mio has been getting cabin fever and is itching to go outside! Hopefully the sun will come out again soon.
Exactly one year ago last year, on March 11 at 2:46 pm Japan time, the country was rocked by a massive earthquake and tsunami which killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis. While Japan has made great strides in the recovery effort in the affected areas, the Japanese people are still suffering from the physical damage and emotional trauma brought on by the triple disaster.
At the time, I was less than a month away from giving birth to Mio, and I could do very little else to contribute to the relief effort than to donate money while caring for a newborn baby in the months following the disaster. However, my family was far from uninvolved in the relief effort — my father spent several sleepless nights interpreting between the US and Japanese governments to discuss how to control the nuclear crisis, and my sister Miwa spent a part of her summer volunteering for the Japanese Red Cross in Ishinomaki to bring aid to one of the most heavily damaged cities — and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
While we may be living on the other side of the globe from Japan, we are all connected. Seeing the images and hearing the stories of the victims brought heartbreak to people around the world. At the same time, many of us were inspired by the resilience, selflessness, compassion, and strength exhibited by the Japanese people in their darkest hours. I continue to pray for the victims and their families, and hope that Japan can persist in rebuilding to see brighter days.
Mio can’t get enough of being outside and walking around lately — when I take her outside, she’ll initially stand outside on the pavement, stunned and taking in all the sights and sounds and fresh air… and then a huge grin will spread across her face and she’ll start toddling around everywhere. It’s pretty adorable! But then when it’s time to go back inside, she starts crying and has a meltdown, because she wanted to stay out longer.
So you can imagine Mio’s excitement when she got to go to the park for the first time on Thursday! We had a playdate with her friend Sofia, and they live right by the park — both Mio and I had never been there, so it was a new place for both of us! Mio was overwhelmed, trying to take everything in and seeing all the other children at the playground (she’s really interested in other babies/toddlers lately, especially ones that are older than her). She even rode on the swing for the first time!
She was pretty apprehensive, with her signature furrowed brows.
Watching the other kids.
It looks like it may take some time for Mio to really enjoy the swing, but at least she didn't cry!
Bathed in the afternoon light...
Sofia and Mio crawling
The weather was gorgeous, and it was so relaxing to have playtime on the grass!
15-month old Sofia and 11-month old Mio
They are so adorable together!
You can see from Mio's smile how much she's loving the park!
(Thanks Sonya for the photo)
The park is about a 25-30 minute walk away, but we’d love to take more trips over there as the weather gets nicer! It’s great stimulation for Mio and good exercise for Mama, too! π I’m such a homebody, so it’s sometimes difficult to push myself to get out of the house, but I have to do it for both our sakes!
Thank you Sonya and Sofia for inviting us out to the park — we had such a fun time! π
Continuing from Day One of our weekend trip down to Big Sur and Carmel, here is Day Two! Sunday was a lot more relaxed, and we slept in at our cottage in the morning, had breakfast, and then spent a few hours at Carmel Beach before taking the scenic road home.
Here I am, excited that there are so few people on the beach!
Setting myself down at Carmel Beach
Surfers walking by
This is the life.
The Old Dan and the Sea
The Pacific waters were (as usual) cold!
Soaking up the sun!
A video Dan took of me on the beach… (I thought he was taking a photo of me at first — hence the posing.)
On our way back up the 101, we stopped by Castroville to pick up some fresh produce for Dan’s parents for watching Mio.
Castroville is known for their artichokes!
Artichoke stand in Castroville
All locally grown fresh produce
Castroville Artichoke Festival poster from 1999
We continued to make a few stops here and there as we drove up the coast, to admire the views of the ocean.
Initials in the sand.
Roadside cliffs
A lighthouse we passed...
We passed through Half Moon Bay on our way home, and grabbed a bite to eat there as a late lunch/early dinner. We wanted some cheap but good Mexican food, and found just the place: Happy Taco!
The taco sure looks happy!
Dan sipping his horchata.
Tacos!
Wet burrito with shrimp for me!
Hungry and ready to eat!
We arrived in San Lorenzo in the evening to pick up Mio, and she seemed to have had fun during her weekend at the grandparents’. But when we came through the door, she looked up and immediately reached her arms out to be held by me — she missed me! And of course, we missed her too. It’s back work for Dan this week, and I’m trying to adjust to being a freelancing WAHM (work-at-home-mom). It’s not going to be easy to balance work and family within the home and keep it separate, but I’m excited about new opportunities and more time spent with Mio.
This past weekend was really rejuvenating and enjoyable — I don’t think we’d had that much fun in a while! I think besides both Dan and I just really needing a vacation in general, we also really needed that time for just the two of us. Of course we love Mio and cherish the time we spend with her, but I think that any parent of a young child needs a break from time to time. Between working exhausting hours at work (Dan has been pulling late nights at work until 11pm and on weekends the last couple of weeks due to a deliverable), and coming home to immediately switch gears to be Mommy and Daddy — it feels like working a double shift! It’s really important to every healthy relationship to take some time away from the baby to go on a date night or take a little trip to just be a couple again, because it’s hard to find the time and energy to really appreciate each other when you’re running around so focused on taking care of your child. We really appreciated how easy things were again — we could make frequent quick stops while driving, and hop back in the car… you just can’t do that when you have a child with you, since you have to unbuckle your child from a carseat, take out the stroller, make sure you have enough snacks, the whole drill. There’s also so much stuff you have to bring along when you travel with a baby, so it was nice to just be able to pack a duffel bag between the two of us and travel lightly! We’re really grateful for Dan’s parents for taking care of Mio so that we could enjoy our mini road trip together, and of course I am very thankful for Dan who helped make it happen, and whom I got to share such great experiences with! I continue to look forward to what other adventures await in our family’s journey.
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!
