crafts

Tysons Harvest Festival

October 20, 2014 By Misono in Recreational Fun, Seasonal Celebrations, Videos Tags: bounce house, Cara, crafts, dan, face painting, facepaint, fall festival, food truck, Lerner Town Square, Mio, Mirei, misono, moonbounce, Pat, petting zoo, spider lollipop, Tysons Corner, Tysons Harvest Festival, video, What the Pho, Yelp

We went to the first annual Tysons Harvest Festival earlier this month, and got to enjoy some fall family fun! There were lots of activities, great food, and cool vendors to check out.

She is very into unicorns lately. — She is very into unicorns lately!

Pat and Cara at the festival — We met up with Pat’s family at the festival! Here’s Pat and her adorable mini-Pat! 🙂

Tysons Harvest Festival petting zoo — Mio checking out the petting zoo at the festival.

Mirei watching us do crafts — Sleepy Mirei watching from her stroller.

Craft table at Tysons Harvest Festival — At the craft table.

Tysons Harvest Festival — Making our way around the festival, checking out various vendors.

We had some delicious banh mi and pho from this What the Pho? food truck!

Dan carrying Mio while in line for the bounce house.

Unstoppable Mio:

Mio in the bounce house — Mio came alive in the bounce house! She loves inflatable houses and was in her element climbing, sliding, and bouncing around in them.

Mio on the bounce house slide — Sliding down! She was supposed to only go up and down three turns and then exit for other kids, but she refused to leave and went for about 5 turns instead…

Mio at the Yelp booth, making a lollipop spider out of tissue paper, pipecleaners, and googly eyes.

Mio with her lollipop spider — With her completed lollipop spider! She immediately wanted to disassemble it and eat it.

Mio with Olaf pumpkin carving — With an Olaf pumpkin carving! According to Mio, she is Princess Anna (occasionally switching to Elsa) and Mirei is Olaf. lol… I suppose Mirei’s lack of hair does make her resemble the snowman!

Camp Shehaqua

July 28, 2014 By Misono in Recreational Fun, Videos, Wanderlust Tags: activities, baby, cabin, Camp Shehaqua, campfire, camping, children, crafts, dodgeball, family camp, Hickory Run State Park, kids, Mio, Mirei, Pennsylvania, Pocono Mountains, Poconos, pool, s'mores, Shehaqua, swimming pool, video

We spent this past weekend at Camp Shehaqua, a family camp at Hickory Run State Park in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. We arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Sunday afternoon, so it was a fun three days and two nights spent with friends and their families in the great outdoors!

Weekend in the great outdoors begins now! Last post before unplugging for the next few days... — Our little cabin for the weekend.

First dinner at Camp Shehaqua — Arriving at Camp Shehaqua

Mio in the hammock at Camp Shehaqua — Mio relaxing in the hammock by the dining hall.

In the hammock at Camp Shehaqua — Mirei and I squeezed in too. It was so comfy!

Campfire at Camp Shehaqua — Both nights, there was a campfire and s’mores after dinner. Here’s Mio on the first night by the campfire.

S'mores at Camp Shehaqua — Mio and I enjoying our s’mores! She loved them.

Twinkles activity at Camp Shehaqua — Morning activity the next day for the “Twinkles” group (which was 3 – 5 year olds)

Mirei making friends! — Meanwhile, Mirei and I were in the “Milky Way” group for babies under two. Mirei got to make some new baby friends!

Mirei with her friends:

Dan and Mio in the Shehaqua pool — The campground had a really clean and well-maintained pool! Mio had a great time swimming in it in the afternoon.

Pooltime fun at Camp Shehaqua — With our sweet girls in the pool.

Dodgeball tournament at Camp Shehaqua — The dodgeball tournament in the evening of the second day.

Mio and Seiji at Camp Shehaqua — Mio and Seiji watching their Daddies play dodgeball from the sidelines.

The girls with Daddy at Shehaqua — The girls with Daddy after the game.

Dojoon meets Mirei — Dojoon was so sweet and doting with Mirei!

Seiji meets Mirei — Seiji playing with Mirei

The boys hugging Mirei — A bunch of the boys hugging Mirei. She was getting bombarded with affection!

Camp Shehaqua — Mio climbing a tree for the first time. She had such a good time at the camp!

While I’m not a very outdoorsy person and camping usually is a challenge for me, it was nice to unplug and get away with other families and friends, and spend time in nature together. The kids definitely enjoyed it, and we’re looking forward to going again in the future!

Celebrate Fairfax! County Fair

June 11, 2014 By Misono in Local Gems, Recreational Fun, Videos Tags: balloon animal, Blue Sky Creamery, Celebrate Fairfax!, county fair, crafts, Fairfax, Fairfax Government Center, games, gyro, ice cream, Mio, Mirei, petting zoo, Polish hot dog, potbelly pig, rides, roller coaster, tortoise, train table, video

The local county fair, Celebrate Fairfax!, was this past weekend and we spent most of our Saturday there — there were plenty of rides, entertainment, games, crafts and food there to keep us busy!

Lamb gyro at Celebrate Fairfax! — Eating a lamb gyro before moving onto the rides.

Dan's polish hot dog at the county fair — Dan got a Polish hot dog which was pretty good, too!

Mio on the miniature drop tower at the county fair. Our little thrill seeker! — Mio on the miniature drop tower. Our little thrill seeker!

Some funny video we got of Mio on the drop tower. Love how she chimed in with the other kids! lol

Bumblebee ride:

Fishing game:

Waiting in line for a ride — Mio and I waiting in line for the caterpillar coaster ride.

Mio’s first “rollercoaster”!

Selfie video I took of Mio’s reactions on the ride. (At the end, she asks “can you more?” which means she liked it! haha*)

M&M at Celebrate Fairfax! — The sisters at the county fair.

Petting zoo at Celebrate Fairfax! — They had a petting zoo there as well!

This baby bunny was so cute!!! I wanted to take it home with me.

On the train at Celebrate Fairfax! — Riding the train ride.

Train table at Celebrate Fairfax! — Playing with the train table at the fair.

Mio with her balloon turtle. She loved it and named it “Crush” (like the turtle from *Finding Nemo*)

Crafts at Celebrate Fairfax! — Making a bunny mask with Daddy at the craft table.

Ice cream at Celebrate Fairfax! — Ending our day at the fair with some delicious ice cream from Blue Sky Creamery. It’s made using liquid nitrogen and was so smooth!

Family Day at the Cherry Blossom Festival

March 27, 2014 By Misono in Arts and Culture, Creative Corner, Local Gems, Recreational Fun, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: Cherry Blossom Festival, crafting, crafts, DC, Family Day, Japan, Japanese, metro, National Cherry Blossom Festival, NCBF, taiko, Washington DC

The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC kicked off on March 20 and in its first weekend, they held an event called Family Day at the National Building Museum, where children of all ages could participate in making crafts inspired by Japanese culture and also enjoy performances such as taiko and dance on the stage. We went on Sunday afternoon and Mio really enjoyed all the creative activities that she got to participate in (with some help from us, of course).

NCBF Family Day at the National Building Museum

They had some characters that you could take pictures with, and we thought for sure Mio’d like seeing Cookie Monster, but to our surprise, she burst into tears! This is what I’ve come to call “theÂ Santa Claus effect”… (Strange, because she loved meeting the Sesame Street characters at Dan’s company picnic last year.)

Mio didn't want to meet Cookie Monster. — Mio didn’t want to meet cookie monster.

Trying to salvage the photo opportunity... — Trying to salvage the photo opportunity…

Our first craft activity was to decorate cherry blossom trees with glitter and popcorn.

Mio placing the popcorn "blossoms" on the tree. — Mio placing the popcorn “blossoms” on the tree.

Our collaborative creation! — Our collaborative cha-shitsu creation!

At another table, creating a Japanese garden out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper. — At another table, creating a Japanese garden out of pipe cleaners and colored tissue paper.

We took a break to watch the taiko performance.

Posing with the huge cherry blossom balloons behind us.

While I was feeding Mirei, Dan took Mio to do some additional crafts... — While I was feeding Mirei, Dan took Mio to do some additional crafts…

Mio fell asleep on the way home in the Metro. It's been a while since she's fallen asleep in my arms like this! — Mio fell asleep on the way home in the Metro. It’s been a while since she’s fallen asleep in my arms like this!

We didn’t really take any photos of Mirei during the event, but she definitely kept us busy with several trips to the bathroom on her first trip to DC. She had two up-the-backer poops (resulting in two outfit changes) and also spit up all over my shirt! Of course, these things always happen at the most inopportune times. After a very messy afternoon, though, Mirei flashed us her first real smile as we were pushing the strollerÂ through the Metro station on our way home from the event. Dan chuckled, “Awww she’s so cute!” and quickly pulled out the camera and captured the moment:

Mirei smiling — Mirei’s first smile! (Unfortunately, the picture is a little blurry…)

It was a very eventful and memorable day for the whole family!

NoVa Mini Maker Faire

March 17, 2014 By Misono in Creative Corner, Local Gems, Recreational Fun Tags: crafts, drone, drones, Maker Faire, Mio, Mirei, NoVa Mini Maker Faire, Reston, science, Virginia

On Sunday, we went as a family to our very first Maker Faire! Dan’s hobby drone group was participating and attending, and he took us along to join in all the geeky fun!Â Maker Faires are part science fair, part craft fair, and showcases creations by designers and engineers of all ages, and the purpose is to inspire more creations within the community. I remember when we were living back in the Bay Area, we had considered going to the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo (which is of course much larger, as it is where the Maker Faire started in 2006 and is one of the flagship faires) a couple times but always somehow couldn’t make it due to scheduling conflicts. This year was Northern Virginia’s first official Mini Maker Faire, and was held at South Lakes High School andÂ Langston Hughes School in Reston.Â Despite being a “Mini” Maker Faire, it attracted 5,000 attendees that preregistered, and they estimated about 3,000 more registered at the door — it was really crowded! We’re really glad we went to check it out this year –Â it’s so valuable to expose children to creativity and science from a young age, and show them all the ways people are harnessing technology and their creative minds in exciting and fun new projects.

This boy very patiently explained to Mio how to build things with these "Strawbees." — This boy very patiently explained to Mio how to build things with these “Strawbees.”

There were also a lot of booths with craft activities available for younger children. Mio and I spent a lot of time at them while Dan walked around with Mirei checking out the booths with more serious exhibits.

Spider craft booth — Mio and I at a craft booth, beading spiders.

Stringing beads onto the pipecleaner legs of the spiders.

Mio also got to decorate and make a mask... — Mio also got to decorate and make a mask…

"How does this work exactly...?" — “How does this work exactly…?”

making silly putty — Making homemade silly putty.

Mio enjoying a lollipop she got at one of the booths.

There were some food trucks at the event, so that people could grab food to eat while at the Faire.

Hugs at the NoVa Mini Maker Faire — Mio hugging Mirei during our lunch break.

Waiting for the shuttle home — Waiting for the shuttle back to our car. Mio fell asleep after experiencing all the excitement!

The Maker Faire was interesting and educational fun for everyone! (Well, maybe with the exception of Mirei, who was sleeping the whole time.) We might make it an annual tradition to go, since it’s enjoyable for the whole family and the girls will probably enjoy it more and more as they grow older.

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