During the week we were in the Bay Area, we went on a mini-getaway (a vacation within a vacation for us) with Dan’s family for three days, and we chose to explore the Monterey Bay area, including Santa Cruz, Point Lobos, Big Sur, and Moss Landing, renting a beach house for two nights at Pajaro Dunes Resort in Watsonville. It was a fun few days in which we could really spend some quality time with Dan’s side of the family, and the girls had a blast!
Here are some photos from Day One, which was mostly spent in Santa Cruz.
Mirei enjoying the breeze!
There were clouds overhead and it was a little chilly, but still beautiful!
Mirei with her aunties
Santa Cruz strolling with Grandpa
Picnic lunch at Santa Cruz
Mio with Grandma on the boardwalk
Mirei with Auntie Jackie
The sun came out to make it the perfectly sunny day!
Mirei and I at the Santa Cruz Wharf
Sunbathing sea lions at Santa Cruz Wharf
Mio and Grandpa looking down at sea lions
Mirei with Grandma
After thoroughly enjoying Santa Cruz, we headed over to Pajaro Dunes in Watsonville to settle into our beach house where we’d be staying for the rest of the trip — we’ll share photos from there in our next post!
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!
It’s DC’s most beautiful time of the year… sakura season! †On Saturday, we went out to DC with my parents, my brother and my sister-in-law to go see the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin in DC. I’ve gone every year since returning to DC, but last year we went a little late and missed the peak bloom. We had better luck this year, though, and were able to catch the blossoms in full bloom, just in time for the main Sakura Matsuri weekend event during the National Cherry Blossom Festival! Mio was so excited to go from the moment we told her we were going the night before, and she kept exclaiming, “We’re going to see the cherry blossoms! My name means ‘beautiful cherry blossom!’ We’re going to go see them!!!'” I love that she loves the meaning of her name, and can get so excited about the flower that is her namesake.
Mio on the Metro to DC Saturday morning on the Metro with the girls Mio eating some onigiri that my mom made for the outing Family outing to see the cherry blossoms!
Blossoms surrounding the Washington Monument Our family with the Washington Monument Mirei and Mio riding in the stroller
Ted & Elisa under the blossoms My parents under the sakura Love our girls ♥ Mio playing with Mirei in the stroller Mirei loves when Mio plays with her! M&M being silly Mio was in such a great mood to be with everyone… especially when Uncle Ted pushed them in the stroller!
Mio giggling her way through the cherry blossoms:
Arriving at the MLK Memorial Yet another family photo ruined by a photobombing by Ted Ted & Elisa at the Tidal Basin photo by my Dad
Some of the pinkest blossoms we found Catching the end of the cherry blossom parade
After seeing the cherry blossoms, we had lunch in DC together (we wanted to eat at Daikaya, but we ended up going to Full Kee instead because the wait was two hours!), and then took the Metro back home in the afternoon. DC was so crowded and we got a lot of walking in, so we were exhausted! All of us took a nap when we got home. We’re so glad we could see the cherry blossoms together with almost the whole family this year!
We had a very busy Saturday on Easter weekend, as we went to two Easter egg hunts! The first one was at Van Dyck Park in Fairfax, and then we headed over to the Lee’s for their now-annual (?) Easter egg hunt event!
Arriving just in time for the egg hunt to begin!
Mio’s ready to get some eggs!
Meanwhile, Mirei is pretty oblivious, happily held by Daddy…
Rushing the field to pick up the eggs!
After the egg hunt, we took some time to let the girls run around and play, as Van Dyck Park has a fairly large playground! It was so windy that morning!
Mio peering through the window on the playground
Mio dashing around the playground!
Mio climbing the rock wall at Van Dyck Park
Some of the climbing action!
Mirei with her Easter eggs:
Lunch at Tequila Grande after Van Dyck Park
Mirei learned how to dip her French fries into ketchup!
After lunch, we headed over to the Lee household for the egg hunt they organized with all their family friends! We had so much fun with them last year and the year before, so we were excited to join them again this year!
Ready for the second egg hunt of the day!
Listening to the egg hunt rules from Stephanie
Let the egg hunt begin!
Mirei participating, too!
Mio showing us the eggs she found.
Picking flower lollipops…
Group photo with all the kiddos at the egg hunt
Uh oh, Mirei’s got a lollipop…
“Look what I found!”
Sticking the whole lollipop, wrapper and all, in her mouth…
Mio & Mirei together after the egg hunt
After the egg hunt, we enjoyed a delicious Easter-themed lunch and snacks prepared by Stephanie and Chwan, and they kids enjoyed playing with all the toys inside! The grownups had a great time chatting and catching up while the kids had their fun. On the short ten minute drive home that afternoon, both the girls fell asleep and continued to nap for a couple hours when we brought them inside. They were tuckered out from all the excitement!
Mio is now four years old! On the morning of her birthday, she woke up to her favorite donut for breakfast — quite a treat, since we don’t usually give them to her because they are so sweet!
Chowing down on her birthday donut! nom nom nom Relishing her donut… she looks like she’s in pure bliss! Birthday kisses from Daddy before he leaves for work
Conversations with Mio on her fourth birthday:
Playtime in the backyard in the afternoon Mirei loves going down the slide
Mirei loves to explore the backyard, and runs off everywhere M&M sitting outside, enjoying the spring weather
This year, we decided to have a small birthday celebration at home for Mio with family! (Dan and I have decided that especially now that we have two kids, we can get away with doing the big party inviting all their friends every other year for each of them, so that we only have to do one big party a year, switching off between the girls.) Thankfully, she seemed just as excited as she was when we had a big party for her 3rd birthday!
Mio at her birthday dinner celebration. Mirei could feel the excitement, too! Mio with her gift from her great grandparents in Japan — an Anpanman activity book!
Mio’s reaction to her birthday cake that I made for her was priceless! It made all the time and effort spent baking and decorating it worthwhile!
Dan made a little pinata for Mio, because she really enjoyed the one at Ellie and Liam’s birthday party a couple weeks ago. Here she is hitting it!
Opening presents afterwards:
Mio loves watching Kinder egg surprise toy videos on YouTube, and her Uncle Ted & Auntie Jackie sent her a package full of their own version of “egg surprise” gifts! She was excited to open all of them:
Mio with all her birthday gifts — quite the haul!
After pinata and presents, we ended with the birthday cake!
Singing happy birthday to Mio
Blowing out their candles
Happy 4th birthday to our sweet Mio!
Dearest Mio,
Happy fourth birthday to our precious little sweetheart! We look back in wonder at how much you’ve grown in the past four years. You are charming, animated, playful, funny, thoughtful, bright and curious… and even show a little sass these days!
Three years old has been a really fun and memorable age… you completely potty trained as soon as you turned three, making our lives a whole lot easier (though you still hesitate to go to public bathrooms and will try to “hold it” until we get home), and you have gotten so much more talkative in this past year! While you used to speak more Japanese, you definitely seem more comfortable with English now that you’ve been going to preschool for almost two years — you do still say some things in Japanese, though, and we hope that you will continue to show an interest and appreciation for the language, as well as your ethnic culture and heritage. You have grown to be a more tolerant and loving older sister, and no longer show as much jealousy and irritation towards Mirei — you play well with her, share with her, and even defend her sometimes when we scold her, interrupting, “Hey! That’s my sister. Don’t be mean to her!” You have also learned to joke, and make puns (the most recent one being you calling me “Mommy… moo meh moh!”　(「マミー・・・む・ã‚・もï¼ã€) faking me out to say a part of the Japanese hiragana alphabet!) When we exaggerate or say something funny in front of you, you smartly ask, “Are you joking?” and will say funny things yourself, followed by “I’m just joking!” It’s so fun to see you make these associations and develop your own sense of humor! You continue to love building with Legos, blocks, and structures, and are finally showing more of an appreciation for drawing and coloring on your own. (You stay pretty cleanly within the lines when you color, too!) You’ve been able to write your name for a few months now, and will recognize it whenever it’s written somewhere. You love to sing, dance, will volunteer to pray at dinner, and seem to be making friends and becoming more social at preschool. You are so independent now, and will pick out your own clothes, change out of your pajamas and dress yourself in the morning before coming to our room. The impressive thing is that most of the time, the outfits you pick out match pretty well — you’ve already a great sense of fashion! You’re very helpful and like handing grocery items to the cashier at checkout when we go shopping, and ou make fast friends with new people you meet, whether it be the Trader Joe’s cashier or the UPS delivery man! Lately, you like to inform people, “My name is Mio — it means ‘beautiful cherry blossom! Did you know that?'”
It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to your 3 year old days, but I try not to think of it so much as “already four,” but “still only four” as a fellow mom friend reminded me (「もã†ï¼”æ³ã€‚ã§ã‚‚ã€ã¾ã ï¼”æ³ï¼ã€ï¼‰ Daddy and I adore you with all our hearts, and we can’t wait to see you blossom as a 4 year old! We love you, sweet girl!
