We recently returned from our trip to California! It had been a little over two years since we last visited the West Coast, so it was long overdue and we have really missed the Bay Area, including all of our friends and family there. We were so glad we could spend a week in Northern California, catching up with loved ones and seeing familiar sights and eating all the good food we’ve missed from the area.
We woke up early the morning of Friday, May 15th to go to Dulles to catch our flight to San Francisco.
Riding the shuttle to the terminal:
Despite how early it was, Mio was hyper and running around the airport. She got especially excited about this rainbow wall at Dulles.
Collapsed on the floor.
…only to jump back on her feet to run around again!
Waiting at the gate to board our flight
This was Mirei’s first flight ever! We were all a little anxious about how she’d do, but she did surprisingly well and was well-behaved for most of it.
We had told Mio we were going to be visiting California in the days and weeks before the trip, so she was really excited!
We arrived in the afternoon and spent the first couple days of our trip around our favorite city!
Arriving in San Francisco!
Dan’s parents came to pick us up!
 We were pretty hungry when we landed, so our first order of business was of course…
In-N-Out Burger!
Thirsty Mio
Mirei dipping her fries
She’s so independent now and loves to eat food on her own, whether it be using her fingers, a spoon, or a fork!
On Saturday, we spent the morning in Japantown — probably the part of San Francisco I spent the most time in when we lived in California. So many good memories of shopping around, browsing Kinokuniya bookstore, eating delicious Japanese food, attending the annual, Cherry Blossom Festival there, volunteering with Japanese American organizations like Nakayoshi… it’s really a place that is close to our heart, so I’m so glad we could stop by and visit this time, since we weren’t able to our last trip.
At Japantown’s Peace Plaza in San Francisco
We also wanted to stop to see the Golden Gate Bridge, so we drove through the Presidio, hopping that the fog would clear…
Missed this view!
We left our hearts in San Francisco… We missed our favorite city!
On Tuesday, the last day of March, my parents and I took the girls out for an outing to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, as the weather is finally starting to warm up! It’s my Dad’s favorite local garden/park to go to, so it’s become a sort of annual tradition to visit a few times a year! He took a lot of photos, so I thought I’d share some here on the blog.
Grumpy-faced Mirei
Mio by the water.
Obaachan feeding Mirei snacks
Mio looking out at the geese from the interactive children’s garden
The girls with their grandparents
A video of the girls at the Interactive Children’s Garden area:
Look at those towering plants!
Mio loves this park too, and she was happily skipping and running all over the place!
Mio running ahead of my parents
Some videos from when we got to the gazebo:
The girls sitting in the gazebo. I love the plaque that reads, “We are all meant to shine.”
Such sweethearts.
Mio giving Mirei a hug! So adorable.
Sisters, but they look so different.
No more nice sister! Mio yanking the water bottle away from Mirei.
Taking a rest before heading back to the car.
I love this photo of a couple sitting by the pond, watching the geese. The gardens will be even more beautiful when all the flowers come into bloom!
Dan’s parents flew over from California last week to visit us from Tuesday night to Saturday morning. Mio’s face broke into a huge smile as soon as she saw her grandparents on Wednesday morning, and they were nearly inseparable for much of their visit! It was so sweet to see Mio interacting with her loving grandparents, and they got to meet their new granddaughter Mirei for the first time, too! Here are some photos and video from their visit.
Mio & Mirei with their grandparents
Mio has been doing this funny thing lately where after she touches or comes in contact with Mirei, she smells her hands and often goes to wash them afterwards. Kind of mean, but I guess Mio doesn’t like the baby smell! lol
Grandma meeting Mirei
Mio’s scrunchy face of joy!
Mirei curiously looking on.
Grandma with Mirei
They got a big smile out of her!
Grandpa with his newest granddaughter
Such sweet moments ♥
I captured this video of Grandpa and Grandma singing to the girls on my phone camera. Unfortunately the lighting is a little dark, but it’s still a very sweet video nonetheless!
Sisters in Grandpa’s arms.
On Friday, Dan took the day off so that we could spend the day together with his parents. Even though they used to live in Maryland and are familiar with the sites, there were some new memorials that were built since they moved away 19 years ago, and they wanted to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in particular.
By a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt. Mio kept pointing and asking, “Who’s that?”
Mio and I at the fountains by the FDR Memorial.
Mio and grandparents by the FDR statue.
With Dan and I this time.
Mirei was asleep for most of the time we were sightseeing the memorials in DC.
Mio was all smiles with Grandpa
Sharing a laugh!
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, always impressive! It’s definitely one of my favorite memorials.
One of my favorite quotes by Dr. King. I love reading all his quotes along the wall at the memorial — he was such an eloquent man and his words are often very poetic and beautiful.
“Out of the Mountain of Despair, A Stone of Hope.”
Mio and grandparents by the MLK memorial.
Washington Monument across the Tidal Basin.
Mio was in such a great mood while she was being pushed by Grandma in the stroller as we were walking around the memorials that she started singing! I’d sang this Japanese song to her a few times, but this was the first time I’d heard her sing so much of it on her own so I went a little overboard with recording it on video:
Take 2:
Take 3:
Dan’s parents wanted to see the Jefferson Memorial again, so we stopped there before leaving DC.
This was one of my favorite pictures from that day.
Posing with TJ inside the Jefferson Memorial.
Enjoying a Japanese lunch before heading home.
We’re so thankful that Dan’s parents could make the trip out here to visit us and the girls! Though their visit was short, Mio and Mirei both got so much love from them and were able to make priceless memories with them. We look forward to the next time we’ll get to see them!
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!
My father took this photo of Mio with my mother while we were visiting Virginia for the holidays. It tickles me because they both look so happy, and you can kind of see a resemblance in their expressions. åŒã˜è¡¨æƒ…ã‚’ã—ã¦ã‚‹ï¼ï¼ˆç¬‘）
Mio seems to still remember my parents and siblings, as she gets a huge smile on her face whenever we’ve talked to them via FaceTime (video chat) in the days since we came back to California.
Conversely, we had wondered if Mio would have forgotten her loving Grandma (Dan’s mother) that takes care of her three days a week here in California, after being away from her for almost two weeks while we were in Virginia. But as soon as Grandma stepped through the door on Tuesday morning, Mio smiled and crawled over to her. You never know how much babies remember and recognize people… perhaps much more than we give them credit for! 🙂
