On one of our days while we were staying in San Jose with Dan’s parents, we took a drive down to San Juan Bautista and Monterey. I’ve been to Monterey before, but it was nice to visit again as well as to visit the Spanish mission at San Juan Bautista for the first time. There’s so much history behind the mission that it was really fascinating to tour the grounds, and it was extra interesting to me because it was where they filmed some of the most memorable scenes in my favorite Hitchcock films Vertigo!
Mio with her grandparents!
Walking hand in hand with Grandma
Another nice picture with Dan’s parents.
Mio and Grandma looking at each other. So cute!
A child’s bedroom with toys at the mission. The amount of detail on the toy kitchen and dollhouse is amazing! Complete with creepy dolls…
A statue of Fray Junipero Serra
Mission San Juan Bautista, established in 1797.
The vibrant interior of the church at Mission San Juan Bautista
After spending about an hour at the mission, we continued down south until we arrived at Monterey, where we walked down Cannery Row and checked out the ocean from there.
The beach by Cannery Row.
Gazing into Daddy’s eyes
Another great photo with Dan and his parents.
Mio distracted by the dogs as we walk down Cannery Row.
After exploring Cannery Row, we moved onto walk around Lovers Point Park!
Mio coming face to face with a squirrel. 🙂
Mio is all smiles!
Statue of a boy at Lovers Point Park
Going out onto the rocks at Lovers Point Park.
I touched a live starfish for the first time!
Mio seeing a starfish for the first time. She was very curious!
It was a very laid back, memorable day trip where we got to see a lot of sights, both new and familiar! 🙂 California has so many beautiful sights to see, and it was so nice to have some time to go visit some of them during our visit!
We spent a full day on Wednesday last week in San Jose, after moving out of our El Cerrito home, to spend some time with Dan’s parents before we left for the East Coast. We spent most of the late morning strolling around the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose, had lunch, and then walked over to neighboring Happy Hollow Park & Zoo to dedicate the afternoon to letting Mio have some fun at the kids park going on rides, playing on the playgrounds, and meeting animals there.
By the bridge at the Japanese Friendship Garden
The beautifully landscaped Japanese garden.
Koi in the pond.
The koi had such gorgeous colors!
You could buy a handful of feed for the koi for a quarter, so we got some for Mio to drop into the pond. Here’s a video of Mio feeding the koi and ducks. She says “gwa gwa gwa” (the Japanese sound for quacking) when she sees ducks these days.
More quacking from Mio:
Mio loved feeding the koi and ducks!
Mio throwing feed into the pond.
Mio with Daddy and her grandparents
Beautiful Japanese maple tree reflects the arrival of autumn.
Strolling around the Japanese Friendship Garden.
I love that there are so many Japanese gardens in the Bay Area.
Delicious homemade bentos for lunch! Dan’s mother prepared all the delicious food and I just helped with handling packing the bentos with the food.
Mio and Dan eating lunch.
After eating lunch at the picnic tables, we walked over to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, which is right next to the Japanese Friendship Garden.
Mio touching the dinosaur statue in front of the park entrance.
We decided to let Mio ride the Mini Putt-Putt Car ride, since it was one of the few rides she was tall enough to go on in the park. I was a little worried about whether or not she’d be okay riding it by herself, but she was perfectly fine!
Mio turning the steering wheel. (She even pulled the rope to ring the bell a couple times!)
Mio loved it so much that she protested when I took her out after it was over. So we let her go on the ride a second time, this time in the police car.
A video of Mio on the Mini Putt-Putt Car Ride:
Poor Mio wasn’t tall enough to go on a lot of the rides.
Mio expressing her frustration at not being able to ride the swing carousel.
The playground at Happy Hollow was HUGE. And this wasn’t even all of it — there was another structure (for smaller kids) almost as large, across from this one. It was a playground on steroids.
Dan and Mio climbing up.
Dan about to take Mio down the slide.
“Yay, you did it!” Mio looks bewildered.
Dan and Mio went down another huge slide.
Mio had so much fun with Daddy on the playground. It’s usually me who takes her to the park while Dan is at work, so this was a nice change for her.
Mio making her way through the tunnel to Grandma
Mio crawling through the stone tunnel. She looks so angelic looking up at Grandma!
Smile of delight while going down the slide!
LOVE! I can’t get enough of that smile!
Mio going on the carousel with Mama
Mother-daughter moment.
Riding the carousel with Mama and Grandma
Mio cautiously feeding the goats at the petting farm area of Happy Hollow.
A cautious Mio leaning down to feed a goat.
Greedy goats crowding around Mio.
Grandpa showing Mio the miniature pony.
Mio and Dan looking at the sheep.
In the evening, we went to San Jose Japantown to have dinner at SJ Omogari Restaurant to have a delicious Korean dinner!
Hot seafood mixed rice from SJ Omogari Korean Restaurant for dinner
Back at the house, we took a family photo with four generations of Allens. Dan’s grandmother (Mio’s great-grandmother) is 94 years old and is still so healthy and talkative – amazing!
The day was a really memorable way to wrap up our time in California! We got to spend time with family, see beautiful sights, and Mio had a blast, too!
Our first post since moving to Virginia! The past week has been pretty busy, with moving out of El Cerrito on Tuesday, spending a couple days with Dan’s family in San Jose, and then flying out and arriving late Thursday night to Dulles Airport. We’ve been spending the last few days recuperating and getting settled into my parents’ house, where we’ll be staying for a while as we get adjusted back to the area. Here are some snapshots from the whirlwind of the moving process over the past week!
Moving Day. The movers were scheduled to come at 8am, but didn’t come until around 2pm. 6 hours late! We started moving out some of the boxes we’d packed ourselves because we were tired of just sitting around waiting.
The ginormous moving truck.
The moving truck was huge and we still managed to fill a lot of it, despite getting rid of a lot of furniture. Kind of disgusted by how much junk we have… (What looks like the front wall of the truck in the photo is actually a mattress stacked on its side, with tons of boxes behind it.)
Goodbye El Cerrito! It was a small house, but is bursting with so many beautiful memories that were made there… It was Mio’s first home. It’s where I spent my entire pregnancy, where we brought Mio home from the hospital after she was born, where she took her first steps… so many milestones.
My sister got these sandals for Mio when she was born, so that she could wear gold shoes to match mine. They finally fit! Thank you Auntie Miwa â¤
Last morning in California. In San Jose, before we went to the airport.
The chinchillas were getting more attention than Mio at the airport! Everyone wanted to take a peek at them.
Right before boarding at San Jose Airport. We’ll miss you, California! ♥
First day in Virginia, soaking up the last of the summer sun…
A Walmart run to go get some diapers for Mio. She was KTFO during our whole shopping excursion…
With my loves.
We’re definitely already missing everyone back in California, but are excited about this new chapter. Dan went to his first day of work and really likes his new company, and I’m picking up more freelance work again now that the hardest part of the move is over. Just waiting for our car and moving truck to arrive in the next week or so, and we’ll feel more at home!
The movers are coming today and packing up all of our belongings to ship to the East Coast, and will be shipping our car, too. We’ll be spending a day in San Jose before we flight out with our one-way tickets to DC on Thursday. It’s been a whirlwind three weeks preparing for the cross-country move and saying goodbye to the Bay Area. Thank you to all of our friends who have made time to say goodbye to us, and for all your well wishes, thoughtful gifts, and most of all your continued friendship! We promise to keep in touch and visit often! 🙂
Dinner in Berkeley with our Nakayoshi friends. Thank you for everything; we’ll miss you!!!
Mio with Auntie Estella!
Good luck in SoCal pursuing your dreams, Estella (and Brent)! We will miss you so much!
Lunch with Nicole, Erik, and beautiful Arina!
Had to throw this in. Mio making sure everyone who walked by the restaurant knew that they were OPEN!
Thank you Tarrin & Jason for being such awesome friends to us! We’ll miss you very much, but will definitely see you again!
Picnic at Lake Chabot
To Mio, Sofia will always be her California BFF! Thanks for all the great memories!
Playground hugs! Mio was a little too forcible. (><) But that is how much she loves Sof!
Gorgeous handmade doll and card from Sonya for Mio… so much thought and detail put into it!
Mio with her handmade doll from Sonya
Girls’ night out with Korean food and soju-tails with El Cerrito mama friends!
It was Labor Day weekend exactly five years ago in 2007 that I moved out to the Bay Area, and it’s right after Labor Day weekend that we will be moving back East. It has been such a wonderful five years full of rich memories and unforgettable experiences, and I’m so grateful for everyone we’ve met along the way.
On Saturday, we had a family outing at the Morcom Municipal Rose Garden over in Oakland. I didn’t take into account that most of the roses don’t bloom until later in the spring and into summer, so the blooms were sparse! Still, the landscaping and layout of the garden is beautiful, and it was nice to just take a stroll around the grounds and enjoy the gorgeous sunny weather.
Mio has been awfully clingy these days, especially in the house. I can't leave a room for five seconds without her coming after me and grabbing my legs. I guess this is the beginnings of separation anxiety?
Showing Mio the ducks.
Trying to hand me a rock.
There is a walkway in the garden called the Mother of the Year Walk. Apparently, there’s an annual celebration of a special woman who dedicates tirelessly to the community. Lined in tree roses, the walk features bronze plaques honoring each year’s Mother-of-the-Year.
Mio is so good at walking now.
She's pointing at the ducks in front of us.
Mio and Mama, among the roses...
A video Dan took of Mio walking about in the garden…
Back in the stroller, watching a scurrying squirrel.
A neat picture I took of Dan and Mio at the top of a stairway of fountains.
Mio started getting restless and wanted to get out of the stroller again.
On Daddy's shoulder, watching a squirrel.
Squirrel!
Suddenly, we heard a loud noise behind us!
"What could it be?!"
A fight had broken out between two territorial male ducks, and they were quacking their beaks off!
Mio pointing to all the commotion.
I’m excited that the rainy season has come to an end, and that we’ll get to have more fun outings to enjoy the great outdoors! 😀
For the full set of photos, see the slideshow below.
