Last Saturday, we took Mio to Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, a historical farm where you can see all kinds of animals and experience farm life from the 1920’s. We met up with our friends Stephanie and Chwan and their adorable son Danny, who is three months older than Mio! We’ve been wanting to have a playdate for the two cuties to meet, and this was the perfect opportunity, since both of them love animals!
One of the cows at Frying Pan Farm.
Mio and Danny were focused on the cows as the mommies chatted away.
Mio and Danny watching the piglets nursing.
There was a sandbox filled with corn kernels (instead of sand) for them to play in. What a great idea — a whole less messy than sand!
Mio playing with the corn kernels.
Staring in amazement at the baby goat.
Face to face.
One really cool attraction they had there was cow milking! Even I’ve never seen a cow getting milked, so it was very cool to see and experience! I was trying to explain to Mio that they were squeezing the “minmi” (Japanese baby word for “milk”) that she drinks out of the cow, and she started pulling on her ears. Dan and I were confused for a few seconds, but then it dawned on me that she was confusing the word with “mimi” (which is Japanese for “ear”). I couldn’t help but laugh!
Mio pulling her ears by the cow.
Mio learning how to milk the cow (with some help from Daddy)
What an experience!
Because Frying Pan Farm Park is a historical site and they showcase farm life from the 1920’s, they have a lot of old-fashioned traditional machines that have survived for almost a century! This machine de-kernels corn, and it’s the original machine from the 1920’s! I couldn’t believe how well it still worked, and so efficiently too (it uses very little gas to operate)!
Danny and Mio watching a machine de-kernel corn
The kiddos were just as interested in the machine as the adults!
Hitting their de-kerneled corn cobs together.
Mio trying to climb up the bars of a fence… typical Mio behavior.
Another neat machine they had was one in which you’d throw apples in, and the apples would get transported up into a mechanism that would turn the apples into apple cider! They handed out apples for kids and their parents to throw into the machine, so that we could watch them go up.
Mio and I threw some apples in together into the machine.
After seeing a lot of the farm life of the park, we walked over to the carousel and playground area.
Mio of course had a ball on the playground, going down the slides over and over!
Having a fun time learning to count.
Riding the carousel!
She had a great time!
After a couple hours at the park, the cuties were hungry and ready to eat!
We ended the outing with a delicious Burmese lunch at Myanmar restaurant in Falls Church! It was a fun day spent with great friends. 🙂
Today, we went to nearby Borge Street Park for a couple hours as a little family outing and to give Mio some time to play on the playground to her heart’s content. As usual, as soon as she saw the playground when she got out of the car, she squealed in delight and ran towards it!
I mentioned before that Mio is getting more affectionate these days, and we caught one of such sweet moments on video! Here she is, giving a kiss to Daddy and then blowing Mama a kiss.
Mio with her “Dadoo.” Definitely a Daddy’s girl…
On the big girl swing with mama. She squeals “whee!” while she swings! 🙂
It’s been almost a week since we returned from our family vacation in Maui, and I’m finally getting around to uploading pictures and videos! We got to do a lot of things while we were there and there are so many photos we want to share, so I’m going to split the trip up by days, like I did with our previous vacation in Hawaii. Two years ago, Dan and I got to experience Hawaii for the first time when we traveled to Oahu and Kauai for our belated honeymoon, and we fell in love with the islands! We’d since been dying to go to Maui, as a lot of our friends (including friends who were originally from Hawaii) had told us that Maui was the most beautiful island in Hawaii — some even told us it was the most beautiful island in all of the Pacific Ocean! After spending a week and a half there, we could understand why. Maui has such a rich variety of different landscapes and gorgeous views! Last time we were in Hawaii, we felt like we experienced two opposite ends of a spectrum, with Oahu being uber-touristy and Kauai being much more rugged and rural; I enjoyed both, but a lot of friends had told us that Maui was a great balance between the two, and they were right. There are definitely resort-like offerings there, but very rugged and undeveloped terrains as well, and I really appreciated that multifaceted experience.
Our trip to Maui was also markedly different from our honeymoon trip two years ago, as we invited along my three siblings from Virginia, and because we had a toddler in tow. It was definitely a very different experience — it changed the type of lodging we stayed in (we opted for private cottages with kitchen and washer/dryer, instead of hotels), how often we ate out, what kind of vehicle we needed to rent (a minivan for our party of six), and what sort of activities we planned. Last time, we really packed each of our days full of activities, but this time, we focused on only one or two major activities/locations per day, and didn’t adhere to a strict schedule. It ended up being a really memorable and relaxing family vacation, and while we definitely faced certain unforeseen challenges of vacationing with a young child, we’re so glad that we went!
On the first day, we took an early morning flight out of Oakland airport and arrived at Maui’s Kahului Airport in the early afternoon. My siblings’ flight wasn’t coming in until the evening, so we had several hours to kill while we waited and didn’t have anything planned, so we mostly wandered around and took Mio to the local park and beach, and went shopping at Costco and other stores to gather groceries and supplies.
Our first order of business upon arrival was lunch! We couldn’t wait to grab some poke from one of the local markets…
Shoyu-marinated ahi poke… amazing!
Dan also got some wasabi ahi poke.
Mussel poke flavored with kimchee. This was also delicious!
Dan showing Mio our first look at the ocean upon arriving in Maui.
Walking on the beach in Kihei.
Mio seemed sort of stunned and overwhelmed. She just stood there, taking it all in.
Wading in the water and getting all wet!
Picking up seashells with Mio.
After some beach time, we took Mio over to the nearby playground.
As usual, she loved the swing!
Already trying to climb trees…
“How did you get up there?”
A gorgeous afternoon in Maui.
Look at this chubster’s smile! She went down the slides over and over.
Mio made friends with one of the local kids!
It was nice for all of us to stretch our legs after the 5-hour flight!
Walking around more of the beach.
After spending the afternoon running around the beach and playground, we treated ourselves to some shave ice!
wSurfing Monkey Snack Shack in Kihei
Dan can’t wait to dig in!
Mio got a taste, too!
Later in the evening, we went back to the airport to pick up my siblings (who were understandably exhausted after over twelve hours on the plane) and drove over to our lodging in Lahaina, where we’d stay for the next three days. Stay tuned for our adventures in West Maui! 😀
Since Mio is at an age where she’s really started to appreciate books and songs the past couple months, I’ve started taking her to the local library for their weekly Storytime. A whole bunch of babies and toddlers and their mothers gather together to hear one of the librarians read and tell stories and sing songs. They’re really interactive songs that involve lots of actions and participation, so the little kids love it!
The first week, Mio was a little overwhelmed and tried to make a run for it out of the room. The second week, there were significantly less kids there (probably because it was the week of July 4th) and Mio seemed a little more comfortable and even got bold enough to go up to the librarian and tried to take some of the felt pieces off of her storyboard easel (much to my distress). Yesterday was our third time going, and she was clapping along with the songs and getting up and trying to interact with the other kids and the librarian.
Here’s a video I took during yesterday’s Storytime.
Afterwards, we went to the nearby playground for Mio to play. It was a bit windy, but she still had a lot of fun climbing up the steps and going down the slide over and over. She’s gotten very good at climbing around the playground on her own!
On Saturday, we drove over to nearby Arlington Park so that Mio could have some fun at the playground there. It was our first time going to this park; it’s definitely one of the nicer ones in El Cerrito — just not in walking distance, so it’s a little more of a hassle to go to. The smiles it brought to Mio’s were priceless!
Okay, I’m sure most of you could do without seeing 29513607 pictures of Mio smiling and laughing while on the swing, but I couldn’t help but post all of them. 😛
Hanging out with Daddy… a sweet father-daughter moment.
Going on the slide with Mama
Mio made a new friend at the park… we noticed that the little girl looked pretty close in age to Mio, and upon talking to the parents, we found out that they were only two weeks apart! (Mio being two weeks younger.)
Mio with her new friend Mina.
We parents shared a chuckle over how they eat crackers the same way… they like to put the crackers into their mouths vertically… (which seems like it would be harder for them to eat, right?)
Mio went for Mina’s snacks, and Mina reached for Mio’s… lol. Kids are always more interested in what the other kids have!
Back on the swing, this time with Mina. Mio grabbed the snack container from my hands while she was swinging, and continued to swing with it! Silly girl…
Playing in the sandbox.
It was a Saturday well spent! Mio was so tired from all the fun she had that she took a very long nap that afternoon… I just wish the parks were closer so I could take her to them more often!
