Since visiting Dutch Wonderland for the first time nearly two years ago, Mio has been continuing to rave about how much fun she had and how much she wants to go again. They say kids have such a short-term memory, but I was impressed that the theme park had made such a huge impression on Mio that she was still talking about it two years later! We couldn’t go last year because Mirei had just been born and required so much attention, but we really wanted to take both of them this summer! Mio’s wish came true when we took a day trip up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 19th to revisit Dutch Wonderland!
Mirei’s first time at Dutch Wonderland!
In line for the Turtle Whirl ride with Daddy
Mio & Mirei on the Sky Fighter ride together
Mio and I are astronauts!
Dan and Mio as astronauts!
M&M on the Wonder Whip together. They loved it!
You can hear Mio screaming in delight in the video below!
Cooling down at Duke’s Lagoon water park at Dutch Wonderland
Mio loves the water park!
Our little princess in the castle tower!
Enjoying Rita’s Italian ice
On the Dragon’s Lair log boat – one of Mio’s favorites!
Mio and I in line for the Sky Ride. Mirei couldn’t go on because she was too small.
Mio and I riding the Sky Ride
Mio and I on the Joust Family Coaster. Mio is such a thrillseeker – she loved it, while I was more scared! lol
Riding the rollercoaster with Daddy this time
Leapin’ Frogs ride
The girls on the Duke’s Dozers ride
Mio on the Balloon Chase ride with me
Knight and Princess!
Mio was so brave, she wanted to ride this Kite Flight ride with me.
Mio’s absolute favorite ride is the merry-go-round!
Going for round two with Daddy
Look at that content smile! I think her bucket is filled!
Sweet 18 month old Mirei
Mirei waving at the camera
For our last ride, we went on the Wonderland Special train ride!
Saying goodbye to Dutch Wonderland
Thanks for another wonderful time, Dutch Wonderland! We’ll be back next year!
We spent a Sunday afternoon at Lake Accotink Park with my girlfriends that I used to attend Japanese Saturday school with, and all of our kids! We’ve known each other since we were first grade and attended nine years of HoshÅ«kÅ together, and now we’re all moms with children. It was great catching up, although it was a little difficult at times with five little ones running around!
Mirei and Lilly going down the slide together.
Mio REALLY wanted to ride the carousel, and she finally got to after we played at the playground for a while.
Mirei got to ride the carousel, too!
Can’t believe we’re all mommies now! This is the “messy” photo of us trying to get the kids to pose before taking a group photo.
Group photo with Marie and Erri and all of our babies! The kids look so enthused…
Mio was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home…
Mirei playing in the backyard later that afternoon…
Patriotic Mio waving the American flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
Here are some unrelated but cute videos we took of Mirei recently, too!
Mirei waving from the window when I came back from work
Mirei giggling hysterically over grapes. I love how she finds humor on the simplest of things sometimes. 🙂
On our last full day in the Bay Area, we got to take the girls to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland! I had heard about Fairyland while we lived in the area and that it was a really great place to take kids, but we had moved away before Mio reached the age where she could really enjoy a mini-amusement park like that. It was the first time going to Fairyland for all of us (even Dan!), so it was a new experience for all of us, and we fell in love with the quaint and charming mini-amusement park from the 1950’s, with its whimsical storybook sets, gentle rides, and friendly animals.
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…”
Inside the mouth of a whale!
The girls rode on the ferris wheel by themselves!
It seemed like they weren’t sure what to make of it at first, but they had a good time and Mio wanted to go on it again.
Mio & Mirei dancing in a hut!
Mirei crawling through a tunnel:
Mirei and Daddy by Rapunzel’s tower
Clothesline and windmill:
Mio at the “Fountain of Youth”
There were llamas there!
Sitting on the flower chairs at Fairyland. The girls look elated (especially Mio!) to be on their little petal thrones.
Mio insisted that Dan sit on it, too.
Sitting on the dragon’s back at Fairyland
Mio loved running up the ramp to slide down this giant Chinese dragon slide.
Mio’s the piggy with the straw house in the Three Little Pigs
Mio and Daddy going through the Alice in Wonderland maze.
Train ride at Children’s Fairyland
The girls riding with Daddy
Loved the rainbow of colors on the train ride… 🙂
Snack time. Eating a push-pop is serious business!
Mio is getting better about sharing with Mirei. So proud of her being such a sweet big sister!
They even had a Western-themed town at Fairyland. Here’s Mio going down the spiral slide.
Mio cranking at the well
Mirei riding the carousel
Mio LOVES carousels right now, so she was ecstatic to find one at Fairyland! She didn’t want to get off!
There was even a Japanese tea garden there that can be rented for private birthday parties! I loved that the mural had depictions of Japanese folk tales I grew up with, like Momotaro, Saru-Kani Gassen, Bunbuku Chagama, Kaguyahime, Shitakiri Suzume, and Urashima-taro. Mio recognized a lot of them too, since I’ve read a lot of the stories to her.
Mio looking into the Japanese tea garden:
Bookworms coming out of a wall of books
Daddy reading to Mio in the reading room
Mirei doing some reading of her own
Looks like Miss Mirei is going to be a little bookworm, too!
Boat in the sandlot
This pirateship playground was so neat! I love that Mio is steering the ship.
Mio’s obsessed with Beanie babies right now, so of course she was delighted to find them in the gift shop!
Fairyland was truly magical, and the girls had such a fun-filled day there! Our trip to California had been fairly grownup-centric with all the people and sights we wanted to see and places we wanted to eat, so I’m glad that we could set aside a day to dedicate to doing something that was all about our girls enjoying themselves. It’s too bad we no longer live in the area anymore, as Fairyland is definitely the type of place we would love to take the girls often!
Cuties Gianna and Mio were born only 20 days apart! They met for the first time the other day for a playdate in Columbia, Maryland. Here are some photos…
Mio giving Gianna a present for her and 2 week old Abram. We met up at Lake Elkhorn Park.
Gianna giving Mio a hug. So sweet!
We later moved to a play area within The Mall at Columbia, due to the cold. Gianna was so active!
2 year old cuties! Both April babies.
Nan Young said that Mio reminds her of a panda… lol. I can definitely see it!
They played well together!
Riding the carousel within the mall. Mio, who still thinks horses are the same as cows, wouldn’t stop “moo”-ing!
So glad we could meet up! Thank you for the fun playdate.
Afterwards, we went to eat some delicious authentic Italian-style pizza at Facci Ristorante in Laurel. It was so nice seeing Gamay and Nan Young again, and meeting their sweet kids Gianna and Abram. We’re looking forward to more playdates with them in the future! 🙂
Last Saturday, we took Mio to Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, a historical farm where you can see all kinds of animals and experience farm life from the 1920’s. We met up with our friends Stephanie and Chwan and their adorable son Danny, who is three months older than Mio! We’ve been wanting to have a playdate for the two cuties to meet, and this was the perfect opportunity, since both of them love animals!
One of the cows at Frying Pan Farm.
Mio and Danny were focused on the cows as the mommies chatted away.
Mio and Danny watching the piglets nursing.
There was a sandbox filled with corn kernels (instead of sand) for them to play in. What a great idea — a whole less messy than sand!
Mio playing with the corn kernels.
Staring in amazement at the baby goat.
Face to face.
One really cool attraction they had there was cow milking! Even I’ve never seen a cow getting milked, so it was very cool to see and experience! I was trying to explain to Mio that they were squeezing the “minmi” (Japanese baby word for “milk”) that she drinks out of the cow, and she started pulling on her ears. Dan and I were confused for a few seconds, but then it dawned on me that she was confusing the word with “mimi” (which is Japanese for “ear”). I couldn’t help but laugh!
Mio pulling her ears by the cow.
Mio learning how to milk the cow (with some help from Daddy)
What an experience!
Because Frying Pan Farm Park is a historical site and they showcase farm life from the 1920’s, they have a lot of old-fashioned traditional machines that have survived for almost a century! This machine de-kernels corn, and it’s the original machine from the 1920’s! I couldn’t believe how well it still worked, and so efficiently too (it uses very little gas to operate)!
Danny and Mio watching a machine de-kernel corn
The kiddos were just as interested in the machine as the adults!
Hitting their de-kerneled corn cobs together.
Mio trying to climb up the bars of a fence… typical Mio behavior.
Another neat machine they had was one in which you’d throw apples in, and the apples would get transported up into a mechanism that would turn the apples into apple cider! They handed out apples for kids and their parents to throw into the machine, so that we could watch them go up.
Mio and I threw some apples in together into the machine.
After seeing a lot of the farm life of the park, we walked over to the carousel and playground area.
Mio of course had a ball on the playground, going down the slides over and over!
Having a fun time learning to count.
Riding the carousel!
She had a great time!
After a couple hours at the park, the cuties were hungry and ready to eat!
We ended the outing with a delicious Burmese lunch at Myanmar restaurant in Falls Church! It was a fun day spent with great friends. 🙂
