On Sunday evening during our stay in California, we drove down to San Jose to see Dan’s grandmother and aunts. It was the first time the Allens (Dan’s immediate family) has been all together in a couple years, and we got together with some of the relatives so that we could all see them together. Mio and Mirei were particularly interested in their grandparents’ dog Choco!
Dan and Mirei sitting with Dan’s grandmother, who is 96 years old.
Allen family reunion in San Jose
At one point, Mio went into her grandparents’ room, where Grandma let Mio try on her odori (Japanese traditional dance) hat, adorned with flowers.
Mio trying on Grandma’s Japanese dance hat
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It was nice to be able to spend time with Dan’s grandmother and aunts, since we rarely get to see them as we’re on the other side of the country. Our hearts are always warmed by their hospitality!
While we were in the Bay Area, we wanted to make sure that we stopped by our old neighborhood in El Cerrito/Albany area. It was our first home as a family, where we brought Mio home from the hospital and where she spent her first year and a half. There are so many fond memories we have there, and we really missed it!
Our good friends Sonya and Sofia were still in the area, but packing up their house for their move to Portland. I’m so glad we could meet up with them and see them in Albany, before they moved! It was so sweet to see how both Sofia and Mio have grown so much, and reunite in the place they had so many playdates together as babies!
Shyly exchanging gifts:
Mirei kicking a ball around
Playing with bubbles!
Mio playing with Sofia’s toys
Can’t believe how much they both have grown up!
The girls playing in the backyard:
M&M and S&S reunited!
Best of luck with your new chapter in Portland, Pou family! 🙂
Hugging each other goodbye:
My heart could burst seeing these cuties reunited! Mio and Sofia hugging each other goodbye.
After our playdate, we drove over to nearby Memorial Park, where I used to take Mio often when we lived in El Cerrito. It’s still one of my favorite parks, and it was kind of surreal to see Mio running around on the larger playground, which I had to constantly steer her away from when she used to run into it as a toddler for fear that one of the older kids would crash into her. Now she’s one of the big kids! Mirei is around the age that Mio was when I would bring her to Memorial Park, too, so watching her there conjured up some sweet nostalgia for me.
Mirei on the swing with Daddy at Memorial Park in Albany
Mio climbing to the top! (of course).
Mio climbing the rockwall at Memorial Park
Mirei and I on the playground
Mio making her way along the monkey bars
Going down the big spiral slide
So grown up now!
It seemed like Mio subconsciously remembered the playground. As soon as she saw it when we parked by it, she broke into a run towards with a huge smile on her face. She happily refamiliarized herself with the playground, and played to her heart’s content.
It was such a beautiful afternoon, and we’re so glad we could spend it with our close friends and at one of favorite parks! There are just so many places in the Bay Area that we always wish we could stop by, and there’s never enough time…
We recently returned from our trip to California! It had been a little over two years since we last visited the West Coast, so it was long overdue and we have really missed the Bay Area, including all of our friends and family there. We were so glad we could spend a week in Northern California, catching up with loved ones and seeing familiar sights and eating all the good food we’ve missed from the area.
We woke up early the morning of Friday, May 15th to go to Dulles to catch our flight to San Francisco.
Riding the shuttle to the terminal:
Despite how early it was, Mio was hyper and running around the airport. She got especially excited about this rainbow wall at Dulles.
Collapsed on the floor.
…only to jump back on her feet to run around again!
Waiting at the gate to board our flight
This was Mirei’s first flight ever! We were all a little anxious about how she’d do, but she did surprisingly well and was well-behaved for most of it.
We had told Mio we were going to be visiting California in the days and weeks before the trip, so she was really excited!
We arrived in the afternoon and spent the first couple days of our trip around our favorite city!
Arriving in San Francisco!
Dan’s parents came to pick us up!
 We were pretty hungry when we landed, so our first order of business was of course…
In-N-Out Burger!
Thirsty Mio
Mirei dipping her fries
She’s so independent now and loves to eat food on her own, whether it be using her fingers, a spoon, or a fork!
On Saturday, we spent the morning in Japantown — probably the part of San Francisco I spent the most time in when we lived in California. So many good memories of shopping around, browsing Kinokuniya bookstore, eating delicious Japanese food, attending the annual, Cherry Blossom Festival there, volunteering with Japanese American organizations like Nakayoshi… it’s really a place that is close to our heart, so I’m so glad we could stop by and visit this time, since we weren’t able to our last trip.
At Japantown’s Peace Plaza in San Francisco
We also wanted to stop to see the Golden Gate Bridge, so we drove through the Presidio, hopping that the fog would clear…
Missed this view!
We left our hearts in San Francisco… We missed our favorite city!
We got some beautiful surprise packages in the mail this week from our dear friend Megumi! There was one small package for Mio, and a larger one addressed to me. We were so excited to open them!
Mio’s package contained an adorable little purple penguin (handmade by My Dear Darling!) and a card with a question…
Mio’s first time being asked to be a flower girl!
I think her face says it all… the answer is a resounding “YES!!!”
The package for Mio was amazing enough, so I couldn’t imagine what could be in the larger package for me…
She sure knows how to pop the question! I feel so honored and excited to have been asked to be a part of this dearest friend’s wedding. Love you Megumi! ♥
We loved all the amazing gifts in the package, and can’t wait until Megumi & Daniel’s big day! Looks like our family is definitely headed to Los Angeles in May for the wedding of the year! 🙂
I’m so glad that we could have a chance to meet up with Mio’s California gal pal Sofia and her mommy Sonya while we were visiting the Bay Area. We spent many fun afternoons with S+S at the park, library, and at each other’s houses having playdates while we were living in El Cerrito, and Sofia became Mio’s best friend in the neighborhood, and we mamas developed a wonderful friendship too as we shared about the joys (and challenges!) of our little ones. Sonya is definitely one of my closest mama friends, and I couldn’t imagine visiting the area without seeing her and Sof!
We got to spend a half day together just catching up, snacking together, playing in Sofia’s room, and going on a walk around the neighborhood. Thank you Sonya for opening up your home to us for the playdate, and for the beautiful and heartfelt early birthday gift for Mio!
An early birthday present for Mio: Sonya sewed together this Pingu doll for her!
A video of us opening the gift: (Thanks for sharing the video, Sonya!)
Mio loves Pingu (as can be observed in this video)!
Mio playing with the play food in Sofia’s room, serving some pizza to Sonya.
I missed this darling little girl!
Sofia giving Mio a hug. Such a sweet moment. 🙂
Snacking on some delicious rice krispie treats that Sonya made.
