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.
On Saturday, we threw Mio a birthday party to celebrate her turning one year old. We held it at Dan’s parents’ house because our own place is too small to accommodate all the guests, but it still got packed with almost forty loving friends and family, and we are so thankful to everyone who made it out to celebrate with us, despite the torrential rain earlier that morning. I had started planning this party about a month ago, and the past couple weeks had been all about preparations for it, and despite some stress and a couple anxiety attacks, I’m happy to say that it turned out to be a wonderful party, and even better than I expected! Thank you to our friends who helped with the cooking and grilling during the party, as well as those who swooped in to help with last-minute preparations. We couldn’t have had such a memorable, enjoyable party without you all! 🙂
Because we have over 300 photos to sort through and video footage that still needs to get uploaded, I’m going to split this up into a few blog posts, or else it will take me forever to get them up. (Additionally, I feel no shame in milking the party for as many blog posts as I can get out of it, because I-worked-hard-godammit! :P)Â So this first post will highlight the party decor, food, favors, etc., while subsequent posts will focus on the birthday activities. Enjoy!
Invitation for Mio's First Birthday Party
Mio's smash cake that I baked and decorated for her.
I made the cake topper with the bunting and lettering, too!
Custom mason jar mugs that doubled as party favors.
We created a stencil and frosted 48 of these mason jars so that each guest could take one home!
It took Dan and I almost a week to frost the mason jars, but people loved them!
Cupcakes with cherry blossom fondant
It was my first time making fondant, but it was fun!
Homemade macarons... (not the best batch ever, unfortunately.) The pink ones had matcha flavored filling!
Cherry blossom brownie bites
Fruit skewers. Special thanks to Sam, Wynn, and Megumi for cutting and assembling them last minute!
There was no shortage of desserts!
Sugar cookies I baked for Mio's birthday. I had a whole bunch more that I packed in 50 little bags as party favors, too!
Futomaki and California rolls
More California rolls! Thank you Grandma and Kimiko-san for making them!
Hummus and pita bread platter
The birthday girl! She was so excited that she skipped her morning nap.
Let the party begin!
Hanging crinkle fans and pom poms
Mio with one of her favorite aunties, Tarrin! Happy birthday to our sweet daughter!
…and this doesn’t even include the hamburgers and spare ribs that were cooking on the patio. Special thanks to John and Brent for grilling them! 🙂
Three month old Izumi-chan joined us for the party.
So adorable! Hard to remember when Mio was this little, even though it was less than a year ago!
There were plenty of babies to be passed around.
…and a couple older kids for the babies to look up to, too.
Friends spilling out onto the patio to eat.
Mio with Uncle Ted
Lovely sisters Wynn and Sam!
We were reminded of how truly lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our lives, seeing the outpouring of love at Mio’s birthday party. Stay tuned for more posts in the coming days on the fun activities we had prepared for Mio!
We went down to San Jose with Dan’s parents on Sunday to visit Mio’s Great Grandma! This was their second time seeing each other — the first was when Mio was only three weeks old, so it’s been almost a year. Mio was walking around everywhere in the house and in the backyard, exploring every nook and cranny — Great Grandma was very impressed with how much she has grown. It was lovely seeing Great Grandma, Aunt Monica, and Uncle Greg again!
Mio all dolled up to see Great Grandma
Mio looks on as Great Grandma cooks
Mio with peach blossoms in Great Grandma's backyard.
Such beautiful pink blossoms!
Umm... not sure what Mio's doing here. Clapping at the sky? lol
Waving at Mama
Me waving back. Mio throwing hands up in the air.
Walking on the stepping stones. She didn't want to come back inside!
Grandpa found Mio a pair of wings in the house.
Mio taking everything in with an observant eye.
Mio looks much girlier in a hairpin and dress. She's growing up to be such a sweet little girl!
Thank you Great Grandma for the hospitality and for dinner! We hope to visit again soon. 🙂
We’ve been experiencing non-stop rainy days this week, and Mio has been dying to go outside. She’ll pick up her shoes, walk over to the window, and just stare outside with shoes in hand, making it more than obvious how much she longs to go out.
Heart-melting, I know...
I will only go out in the rain if absolutely necessary, because it’s such a hassle to get all the raingear ready — windbreaker, umbrella, rain boots, raincover for the stroller, etc… and I just would much rather stay warm and comfortable indoors than get cold and damp outside. So while I feel bad for Mio, I have not taken her on any walks in the rain this week. (Call me heartless if you will!) But when Dan saw Mio staring out the window like that, he felt so sorry for her that he decided to take her with him for a quick run to Trader Joe’s last night.
She is SO excited.
Already knows how to pull on Daddy's heartstrings... 🙂
Raincover on, ready to brave the rain!
Daddy is off to TJ's with Mio! Meanwhile, I, of course, stayed behind at home, warm and dry.
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.
