We were invited to celebrate Liam and Ellie’s joint birthday party to celebrate them both turning five! It was so much fun seeing our friends and getting our kids together for loads of family fun! There were lots of great food, a well-planned obstacle course, and exciting activities for the little ones. Thanks to the Jubb and Jenkins families for having us!
The spread for the party was impressive!
The kids running out onto the front yard for the obstacle course.
Waiting in line in their teams for the first part of the obstacle course…
…the egg race!
It was Mio’s first time competing in an egg race! She ended up being the last one to finish because her team got a late start and she was the last leg, and she kept dropping her egg, but the other kids cheered her on and she did great! Proud of her ♥
Mirei was too young to participate to participate in the obstacle course, so she stayed comfortable with Daddy.
Part 2 of the obstacle course: ball throw!
Part 3 of the obstacle course: a mummifying game, reminiscent of the toilet paper wedding dress game that’s often played at bridal showers. 😛
Setting up the pinata!
The finale of the obstacle course was the pinata! Here’s Mio taking a swing at it:
When the seemingly invincible pinata finally did get destroyed, the kids descended like vultures!
Yesterday, Mio got to go to the Be with Me Playseum in Bethesda with one of her best friends, Kailee! It was our first time there, and while it looks like a pretty small space initially, there are several themed rooms in which children can play and entertain themselves — they can easily spend hours there and never get bored!
Mio and Kailee playing with ice cream cones at the ice cream section of the “grocery store.” Shelves lined with empty boxes and food containers for kids to shop. The produce area, complete with plastic fruits and veggies. Checkout counter with register. The next room was a fire station. Firefighters Mio and Kailee! Mio, I think you’re using that backwards… Entering the “Pet Shop” room I was surprised to see that they actually had real animals in the “pet store”! Mio loved looking at the bunnies. The “Bella Bethesda Salon” room featured dresses and wigs for dress-up. Trying on princess dresses and heels. Mio kept calling herself “Princess Mio!” Here she is playing with a fan.
As much as I have my reservations about the effect of the princess culture on little girls, I do admit it’s pretty stinkin’ adorable to see Mio’s smiles and spins of delight as “Princess Mio.”
A room themed to be “Grandma’s Attic.” Climbing up into the attic. There’s a lot of props and details that go into these rooms! Playing with the instruments on the performance stage. Taking a snack break while listening to Auntie Ju read a story. Mirei looking up at me from my Ergo baby carrier. She was so well-behaved the whole time we were there! Putting toppings on pizzas in the pizza parlor room. Putting their pizzas in the oven…
Mio with her completed pizza! Mio with the “cookies” she cut out of rolled dough.
A circus area where kids could dress up as clowns.
Mio and Kailee had so much fun at the Playseum that they were in great spirits on the drive home, squealing and laughing with each other! It was really sweet to see them playing so well together. Special thanks to Ju for suggesting we go to the Playseum and for driving all of us over!
Labor Day weekend was a packed weekend for us. We got to see a lot of friends and did a lot of driving around! We drove to Maryland three times in five days. We got to meet up with some out-of-town friends from Ohio who were in Maryland to adopt their first baby (such an exciting time for them! Congratulations to Hiro and Kayo, and precious Hazel, who was just born on Monday), go to a drone meetup for Dan’s hobby group in Leesburg on Saturday, followed by a couple hours at Clemyjontri Park with Pat & Theo and their adorable girls, attend a birthday party for one of Mio’s friends (Happy birthday Maya!) on Sunday, and then on Labor Day we had lunch with Masanori and Komy who were visiting Virginia from New Jersey, and then enjoyed delicious BBQ in the evening at the Stein’s. Our whole family was pooped by the end of it all, but it was so nice to get to see a lot of our friends, many of which we don’t get to see too often as they live far away.
I didn’t get to take too many photos from the weekend, but here are some snapshots of Mio from this past week…
“Look Mama, fork!” Mio playing with sticks while Daddy flies his quadcopter drone at Ida Lee Park.
Mio’s been going to a lot of birthday parties lately! A lot of her friends seem to have birthdays in late August and early September. We went to a birthday party for 3 year old Kosei and 5 year old Dojoon a couple weeks ago in Hyattsville, and then last Sunday we drove over to Gaithersburg (also in Maryland) to celebrate Maya’s 3rd birthday! We have yet another birthday party to go to this coming weekend, too! So many occasions to celebrate. 🙂 Mio has no problems with that, as she loves birthday parties as they involve cake, good food, and getting to see a lot of her little buddies! She can’t say “birthday” quite yet, but she’s been repeating “Happy Kosei~” “Happy Dojoon~” “Happy Maya~” the past couple weeks, coupled with “It’s so fun!!!” The parties are definitely a lot of fun for her!
Here are some pictures from Maya’s birthday on Sunday.
The kids anxiously waiting to eat the cupcakes.
Maya turned three! Maya-chan is a quarter Japanese, and I’ve known her mama Erika since we were kids ourselves!
Mio patiently waiting to have some cake…
Sharing a cupcake with mama… though it was mostly Mio, who just ate the top off.
Mio was very suspicious of baby Charlotte possibly stealing her cupcake. No need to be so worried, Mio!
The mamas hanging out on the deck while the kids played in the sun outside.
Sweet 11 month old Charlotte!
Some of the kids playing with the hose. Mio got soaked!
She dried off pretty quickly in the sun, though, and had fun kicking the ball around with Daddy and Maya’s dad.
Is she a future Mia Hamm? (Or shall we say, Mio Hamm? lol)
Maya opening her presents. Happy birthday sweetheart!
Thank you to the Ichijo’s and Maya’s whole family for having us over at their lovely home. We had a great time chatting with our fellow parent friends and letting the kids play together.
We took our first trip to the beach this summer on Sunday, when we went to North Beach, Maryland, which is part of the Chesapeake and only an hour drive away. (We had originally planned to go to Rehoboth but decided to save that for a whole weekend when we could stay overnight, as it’s a 3 hour drive away.) North Beach was a cute little town and while the beach was small, it was pretty private and ideal for small children in that there were no strong waves and the water remained shallow pretty far in. We felt that it was a really safe beach for Mio to splash around in.
At first, Mio was very upset and reluctant about stepping onto the sand, and just kept pointing at the water saying “ocean!” from our beach mat, imploring us to just carry her over to the water so that her little feet wouldn’t have to to touch the dreaded sand. Once she got into the water, though, she loved it and kept going in and out and splashing around in it with Daddy for about two hours! The Atlantic is so much warmer than the Pacific waters that we’d taken Mio to in California and Hawaii, so this was the first time she could really stay in the water for a long time without freezing! By the end, she didn’t even seem to notice the sand because she’d had so much fun.
Mio and I at the beach. I didn’t realize until Dan mentioned it, but we match!
She loves the water!
Our little waterbug ♥
Going further into the water with Daddy
Dan teaching Mio how to kick in the water.
Daddy throwing Mio up high!
Family picture!
After spending a few hours on the beach, we packed up, enjoyed some Rita’s Italian Ice and then headed to lunch at Neptune’s Seafood Pub nearby because we were craving shrimp! All the food there was delicious, and Mio discovered how much she loves sour cream. (She kept dipping every food she tried in the sour cream, and then ended up just scooping it up by the handful with her little fingers. She definitely has her Daddy’s taste buds, because I hate sour cream.)
Steamed seasoned shrimp and potato skins!
The hubs with a mouthful of shrimp chorizo tacos… And of course, the little hand sneaking in.
I love that summer is officially here and I look forward to more little mini trips and outings to the beaches in the area! 🙂
