Since visiting Dutch Wonderland for the first time nearly two years ago, Mio has been continuing to rave about how much fun she had and how much she wants to go again. They say kids have such a short-term memory, but I was impressed that the theme park had made such a huge impression on Mio that she was still talking about it two years later! We couldn’t go last year because Mirei had just been born and required so much attention, but we really wanted to take both of them this summer! Mio’s wish came true when we took a day trip up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 19th to revisit Dutch Wonderland!
Mirei’s first time at Dutch Wonderland!
In line for the Turtle Whirl ride with Daddy
Mio & Mirei on the Sky Fighter ride together
Mio and I are astronauts!
Dan and Mio as astronauts!
M&M on the Wonder Whip together. They loved it!
You can hear Mio screaming in delight in the video below!
Cooling down at Duke’s Lagoon water park at Dutch Wonderland
Mio loves the water park!
Our little princess in the castle tower!
Enjoying Rita’s Italian ice
On the Dragon’s Lair log boat – one of Mio’s favorites!
Mio and I in line for the Sky Ride. Mirei couldn’t go on because she was too small.
Mio and I riding the Sky Ride
Mio and I on the Joust Family Coaster. Mio is such a thrillseeker – she loved it, while I was more scared! lol
Riding the rollercoaster with Daddy this time
Leapin’ Frogs ride
The girls on the Duke’s Dozers ride
Mio on the Balloon Chase ride with me
Knight and Princess!
Mio was so brave, she wanted to ride this Kite Flight ride with me.
Mio’s absolute favorite ride is the merry-go-round!
Going for round two with Daddy
Look at that content smile! I think her bucket is filled!
Sweet 18 month old Mirei
Mirei waving at the camera
For our last ride, we went on the Wonderland Special train ride!
Saying goodbye to Dutch Wonderland
Thanks for another wonderful time, Dutch Wonderland! We’ll be back next year!
Saturday, June 20th was Dan’s company’s annual family picnic, and there were lots of rides and activities for kids and we had a great time again this year!
Mio and I on a spinning ride together
Mio got her face painted Frozen-style!
Enjoying some free frozen treats
Mirei staring intensely at her surroundings (as she tends to do)
On our last full day in the Bay Area, we got to take the girls to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland! I had heard about Fairyland while we lived in the area and that it was a really great place to take kids, but we had moved away before Mio reached the age where she could really enjoy a mini-amusement park like that. It was the first time going to Fairyland for all of us (even Dan!), so it was a new experience for all of us, and we fell in love with the quaint and charming mini-amusement park from the 1950’s, with its whimsical storybook sets, gentle rides, and friendly animals.
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…”
Inside the mouth of a whale!
The girls rode on the ferris wheel by themselves!
It seemed like they weren’t sure what to make of it at first, but they had a good time and Mio wanted to go on it again.
Mio & Mirei dancing in a hut!
Mirei crawling through a tunnel:
Mirei and Daddy by Rapunzel’s tower
Clothesline and windmill:
Mio at the “Fountain of Youth”
There were llamas there!
Sitting on the flower chairs at Fairyland. The girls look elated (especially Mio!) to be on their little petal thrones.
Mio insisted that Dan sit on it, too.
Sitting on the dragon’s back at Fairyland
Mio loved running up the ramp to slide down this giant Chinese dragon slide.
Mio’s the piggy with the straw house in the Three Little Pigs
Mio and Daddy going through the Alice in Wonderland maze.
Train ride at Children’s Fairyland
The girls riding with Daddy
Loved the rainbow of colors on the train ride… 🙂
Snack time. Eating a push-pop is serious business!
Mio is getting better about sharing with Mirei. So proud of her being such a sweet big sister!
They even had a Western-themed town at Fairyland. Here’s Mio going down the spiral slide.
Mio cranking at the well
Mirei riding the carousel
Mio LOVES carousels right now, so she was ecstatic to find one at Fairyland! She didn’t want to get off!
There was even a Japanese tea garden there that can be rented for private birthday parties! I loved that the mural had depictions of Japanese folk tales I grew up with, like Momotaro, Saru-Kani Gassen, Bunbuku Chagama, Kaguyahime, Shitakiri Suzume, and Urashima-taro. Mio recognized a lot of them too, since I’ve read a lot of the stories to her.
Mio looking into the Japanese tea garden:
Bookworms coming out of a wall of books
Daddy reading to Mio in the reading room
Mirei doing some reading of her own
Looks like Miss Mirei is going to be a little bookworm, too!
Boat in the sandlot
This pirateship playground was so neat! I love that Mio is steering the ship.
Mio’s obsessed with Beanie babies right now, so of course she was delighted to find them in the gift shop!
Fairyland was truly magical, and the girls had such a fun-filled day there! Our trip to California had been fairly grownup-centric with all the people and sights we wanted to see and places we wanted to eat, so I’m glad that we could set aside a day to dedicate to doing something that was all about our girls enjoying themselves. It’s too bad we no longer live in the area anymore, as Fairyland is definitely the type of place we would love to take the girls often!
The local county fair, Celebrate Fairfax!, was this past weekend and we spent most of our Saturday there — there were plenty of rides, entertainment, games, crafts and food there to keep us busy!
Eating a lamb gyro before moving onto the rides.
Dan got a Polish hot dog which was pretty good, too!
Dan and Mio on the boat ride
Mio on the miniature drop tower. Our little thrill seeker!
Some funny video we got of Mio on the drop tower. Love how she chimed in with the other kids! lol
Bumblebee ride:
Fishing game:
Mio and I waiting in line for the caterpillar coaster ride.
Mio’s first “rollercoaster”!
Selfie video I took of Mio’s reactions on the ride. (At the end, she asks “can you more?” which means she liked it! haha*)
The sisters at the county fair.
They had a petting zoo there as well!
Mio petting a lamb.
Mio’s favorite was the tortoise! She’s really into turtles lately.
First time touching a real turtle!
Mirei got to see the animals, too!
Mio petting a goat.
This baby bunny was so cute!!! I wanted to take it home with me.
Riding the train ride.
Mio on the train.
Playing with the train table at the fair.
Mio with her balloon turtle. She loved it and named it “Crush” (like the turtle from Finding Nemo)
Mirei got a balloon heart.
Making a bunny mask with Daddy at the craft table.
Ending our day at the fair with some delicious ice cream from Blue Sky Creamery. It’s made using liquid nitrogen and was so smooth!
Vienna had its annual Viva Vienna! festival on Memorial Day weekend, and since Mio had such a great time going last year, we spent a couple hours of our Saturday morning there, going on the rides and enjoying some of the food before it got too crowded and hot. Mio could go on a lot more rides this year because she met the height requirement for most of the rides — our sheet of tickets went fast with all the rides she wanted to go on!
On the carousel at Viva Vienna
She wanted to ride on the giraffe.
On the swing ride!
Mirei’s first time at Viva Vienna! She was pretty quiet the entire morning in her stroller, letting the rest of us enjoy the festival.
Riding on the spinning dragon with Daddy.
Daddy’s girl ♥
Making her way up in the funhouse… that’s our climber!
Dashing across the bridge!
…and coming down the slide! This funhouse seemed to be her favorite (more than the rides), and she wanted to go through it again.
Riding the Wiggle Worm ride.
On the boat ride
On the train ride.
Delicious crabcake sandwich!
Dan and Mio taking a bite.
After coming home from Viva Vienna!, Mio spent the afternoon playing in the wading pool.
