It doesn’t feel like fall without a visit to the pumpkin patch! We went to Pumpkin Village at Leesburg Animal Park for the first time this year, as it’s not too far of a drive from our new neighborhood. Turns out it was the perfect manageable size for us, as it had a lot of the rides and attractions that larger, more popular pumpkin patches like Cox Farms has, except everything was in closer proximity and there were less lines. There was also the playground and animal exhibits that are already there year-round at the Leesburg Animal Park, which added to the fun. The girls had such a great time!
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!
I can’t believe it’s already November! It’s been getting noticeably chillier in the past week, and we’ve been bringing out our winter wardrobe. Mio is now 19 months old, and as my mother says, “just keeps getting cuter and cuter.” Here are some precious moments we captured with her on the playground this weekend.
19-month old Mio at the playground.
On the tunnel slide.
Happy to be on the slide!
Giving us high fives while on the swing!
…and then on the tire swing (we used my handbag as a counterweight… lol).
All bundled up!
There’s less than two months left in the year, and I can’t wait for all the fun and warmth that the holiday season brings! 😀
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! 😀
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!
