Our good friend Ryosuke (Richard) was in San Francisco helping his girlfriend Michelle move here! We met up with them for dinner and showed them Japantown — so great seeing Hokie friends again and enjoying some delicious Japanese food! 🙂
A trip to Japantown isn’t complete without the geisha float from Murata’s Cafe Hana, of course. We ended the evening introducing them to one of our favorite desserts! Green tea slush, green tea ice cream, red beans, and mochi pieces. (It’s usually topped with whipped cream but I ordered it without because I don’t like whipped cream.)Â It was, as usual, amazing.
On Sunday, we went to Crissy Fields in San Francisco to attend Nakayoshi‘s Annual Welcome BBQ. We haven’t been able to go the past couple years because we’ve always happened to be out of town, but we were glad that we could make it this year, especially since it’s been a lot harder to go to Nakayoshi’s events since Mio was born. The BBQ picnic was a really family-friendly event, and it was a good chance for Mio to meet all her aunties and uncles in Nakayoshi! 🙂
Jamie did an awesome job organizing the BBQ! We’ve known each other since she was a freshman at Virginia Tech who joined JCA during my senior year. It’s awesome having a fellow Hokie transplant in San Francisco, and I love that Jamie’s involved with Nakayoshi now! 😀
There was so much delicious food that everyone made!
This was seriously the best spam musubi I have ever had.
Mio happily eating some onigiri.
Mio reunited with Uncle Graig — she loves him!
With lovely Auntie Sam! Thank you for always being so sweet to Mio. 🙂
Nakayoshi Chair Haruka welcoming everyone welcoming everyone at the Meet & Greet.
It was hard to keep Mio from running around everywhere during the Meet & Greet. (><)
Touchdown! She discovered a football.
Despite the foggy weather, it was a great turnout!
Megumi made a surprise appearance — it was so good seeing her again!
Mio meeting Tiffany and Atsushi for the first time.
Giving high fives all around!
Jason leading all the fun of the Nakayoshi Games!
Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay for the games because it was Mio’s naptime and she was getting cranky, but we heard it was fun! 😀 We’re glad that we could at least be there for the first half and see everyone again, as well as meet some of the newer Nakayoshi members!
My college friend Amy just moved to San Francisco last month, so Mio and I went to go visit her in the city on Friday. We hadn’t seen each other since she had graduated in 2005, so it had really been a while! We picked up just where we left off, though, and could talk and laugh like old times. We ate oyster po’boy sandwiches at the Ferry Building and then walked over to the artMRKT event (a contemporary and modern art fair) that was going on this weekend, which Amy had tickets to. We couldn’t fully enjoy all the awesome art there because Mio kept needing to be fed, changed, or taken outside to run around, but the art that I did get to see was pretty cool!
The photos I took were from my phone so they’re not the greatest quality, but here’s a peek into some notable pieces at the event…
Life is like a box of chocolates... my kind of art!
LOL
Cake monsters!
Pretty cool...
"Occupy Art Fairs"
Thanks for inviting us to go to the art fair, Amy! I love sharing new experiences with old friends in this beautiful city.
On Sunday, we drove out to the city to go to Golden Gate Park, where the cherry blossoms are in bloom by the Hagiwara Japanese Tea Garden. Cherry blossoms are my favorite flower, and I love seeing them come in bloom every spring and this year, Mio got to see the beautiful blossoms she was named after. There were a lot of people having hanami (flower-viewing) picnics around the trees in Golden Gate Park — gotta enjoy them while they are still in bloom! 🙂
We captured some lovely photos of Mio, our own little blossom, among the sakura…
Arriving at Golden Gate Park
Cherry blossoms!
Mio with her namesake.
Love that smile!
A cascade of blossoms
Mio with Daddy
A kiss from Daddy
It was a cowboy boots kind of day!
Tickling Mio's cheek with a flower.
Mio clapping her hands in delight.
Mio and Mama
Our family's first hanami
Picnic time!
Happily eating lunch.
Attacking Mama while she dozes...
Mio is so full of energy that we can't keep up!
For the full slideshow of photos of our hanami, see below! 😀
On Saturday, we spent the day in San Francisco and visited the Fairmont Hotel to see the largest-ever gingerbread house to be built in San Francisco! It’s constructed of 7,500 gingerbread sticks, 1,200 pounds of chocolate icing and 650 pounds of candy! It was beautifully decorated and everything had so much detail. Thank you Megumi for suggesting we check it out! 🙂
Mio looks suspicious of all the candy.
A snowy landscape in the window of the gingerbread house... made of frosting, littered with cinnamon sticks.
A toy train runs on the track.
We had a great time seeing it with friends!
Beside the huge Christmas tree!
Our little family by a smaller tree.
This will be Mio's first Christmas!
The excitement is palpable.
A family picture by the Christmas tree.
Mio's beautiful dress was a gift from Megumi back in the summer. She's big enough to wear it now!
Before we went to the Fairmont, we had lunch at The Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant in San Francisco. I love garlic, so everything we had there was amazing!
Megumi caught this perfect moment of Mio in a "banzai!" pose.
Lunch with dear friends!
Mio loves Uncle Graig
Hadn't seen Megumi and Sam in so long! I love these two!
Megumi brought thoughtful, generous Christmas gifts for everyone… so sweet of her!
Even Mio got some presents!
Opening Mio's present for her.
"Come to Auntie Sam!"
Megumi brought her signature sugar cookies… they’re always so adorable, and get better and better every time (if that’s possible!).
The cutest reindeer and Santas!
It was so great seeing some of our San Francisco friends before we fly back East for Christmas! We had just all recovered from being sick the past couple weeks, so it was nice to be enjoy some holiday cheer! 😀
