Last weekend was the last one of the summer, and the weather was beautiful so we spent our Saturday at Clemyjontri Park with our friends Pat, Theo, and their little girls Anna and Cara. We each brought food and picnicked on the grass and let our kids run around on the playground and ride the carousel. We always love seeing them, and we had a great time catching up!
Yesterday was Veteran’s Day — a reminder for all of us to remember and thank those who have served, and are serving, our country. They are the true heroes of this nation, and I will always be grateful for everything they’ve done to protect our freedom.
Mio and I came down with the cold late last week, and so we spent much of the long weekend resting, but we still managed to go out and have a little fun. Here are some snapshots from the past week, including the weekend.
Fast forward to the weekend, we drove to the Japanese school in Bethesda on Saturday morning to check out a bazaar where we got to pick up some children’s books and DVDs in Japanese. She was so excited, and immediately started looking through the books in the car.
Afterwards, we took her to Clemyjontri Park in McLean. It was our first time visiting the park, and it was huge! Literally a mini theme park for toddlers. Mio squealed as soon as we approached the entrance to the park, and we spent a good couple hours there, letting her run free and explore everything.
Just look at this aerial photo of the park! (There was even a carousel in the middle, but it wasn’t running when we were there.) If you live in the DC area and you have a young child, I definitely recommend checking this park out. 🙂
We then headed over to Pho Saté in Falls Church for a late lunch. Whenever I am feeling sick, pho feels like the perfect remedy…
Some more snapshots from the rest of the weekend…
On Monday, we went on a little family date to Reston Town Center.
There’s nothing sweeter than a family outing with s’mores. Excitement for everyone! 😀
What I also love about Veteran’s Day is that it’s the first of all the holidays that follow throughout the winter season — I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is already next week!
Merry Christmas to all! Hope that everyone is having a relaxing, enjoyable time with their families and friends.
Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday, and today I turn 27. We arrived in Dulles airport last night with no delays and a relatively smooth flight. Once I got home, my friend Angel picked me up to go have dinner together, since she is leaving for China and Thailand tomorrow and I would not see her for the rest of the holidays. We were going to have a quiet late dinner at Tachibana, a Japanese restaurant in McLean. Once we got there, I was greeted by some of my closest friends, great sushi and cake, and ton of colorful birthday balloons. I was stunned speechless, and it was totally unexpected. Dan and one of my best friends Hanna had apparently put the whole thing together and coordinated it. I was really touched because with my birthday being on Christmas, I rarely get to celebrate it with friends since everyone is with their families, and things are just so busy in general over the holiday season. There were so many thoughtful presents that my friends had gotten for me, but honestly the biggest gift to me was that they had all taken some time to come out on Christmas Eve to celebrate with me, especially after I’d been away for so long and I had missed them so much. So a heartfelt thank you to all of my friends who came last night, as well as to those who wanted to but were unable to. You guys are the best, and I love you all!
Dan had also gotten me a Tiffany necklace for my birthday! I immediately felt guilty for bugging him about getting a Kitchenaid stand mixer for the past couple months, because when he gave it to me he said, “You can trade it in for a Kitchenaid mixer if you really want it.” As much as I want the mixer, I am too much of a Tiffany fan to give this darling up. The mixer can wait. 😉
Christmas Day has been fun and relaxing so far. In the morning, we exchanged gifts among the family, and we siblings have been spending much of the day playing board games and on the Wii. My mother made some delicious hot soba noodles for lunch, and we’re going to have a sashimi dinner tonight! Not the traditional Christmas dinner, I know, but I’ll take raw fish over ham any day. 😉
And the snow! Although much of it has been shoveled off the roads or has started to melt, there is still over a foot of snow blanketing the ground. This is the first white Christmas I’ve seen in years and I’m loving it. The white landscape is gorgeous and makes for a true winter wonderland. Time for snow angels and snowball fights!
We’ll be taking a weekend trip up to New York City tomorrow, but we’ll be back in the DC area on Monday. Looking forward to all the fun times ahead with our friends and family! 😀