Some fun snapshots from Labor Day weekend. We spent most of it painting the girls’ rooms, with multiple trips to Home Depot!
My college friend Jon was in town visiting, and Pat and Theo kindly hosted a playdate for all of our kids to get together and for us grownups to catch up!
Here is a funny conversation between Mio and Anna that Theo caught on video. So adorable!
Labor Day was the last day the pool was open, so we made sure to get one last dip in!
Although our time staying in the East Bay was short, we were glad we could see some of the faces we have so missed since moving away! There were new babies to be held and kissed, delicious restaurants to be visited (both old and new!), and a lot of catching up to do with dear friends.
On the second day of our trip, we had dinner at Burma Superstar with Dan’s brother Ted and his fiancée Jackie in Alameda, because it was one of our favorite restaurants that we were excited to revisit while we were in the area.
After our dinner at Burma Superstar, we drove over to Castro Valley to have some ice cream with Aileen and David!
This wasn’t exactly meeting up with a familiar face, but we have definitely missed our favorite taco truck! We had to make a stop in Oakland to get our fix of those amazing al pastor, chicken, and carne asada tacos (plus lengua for Dan).
Up there among our top most-anticipated moments of our visit was seeing a couple of our dearest friends, Tarrin and Jason, and their newborn son Theo! He was only two months old when we got to see him, and I was euphoric holding that teeny baby and sniffing his head. That newborn smell is so intoxicating! (Before you write me off as a complete nutcase, I urge you to try sniffing a newborn head sometime — I’m pretty sure you will agree with me.)
On our last day, we spent the evening with Dan’s family after we came back from Fairyland in the afternoon. Mio had fun helping Grandma prepare dinner for everyone!
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!
We hadn’t made any real plans for Memorial Day, so we were delighted when our friends Pat & Theo invited us to go with them and their daughters to the National Zoo on Monday. It’s no secret that Mio loves animals, and although she’s been to the Oakland Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo, this was her first time going to the Smithsonian National Zoo! This is the zoo that I grew up going to, and boasts 163 acres which serves as a home to 2,000 animals from 400 different species. As one of the nation’s oldest zoos, it’s part of the Smithsonian and therefore doesn’t charge admission. We decided to take the Metro over to Woodley Park together, and walked to the zoo from there.
Thanks for inviting us along to the zoo! We had such a great time and Mio loved seeing all the animals and spending time with Anna and Cara. 🙂
Our dear friends Pat & Theo are expecting their second baby in March, and Theo and his sister Aivi planned a surprise baby shower (or “baby sprinkle” as these low-key parties to celebrate the arrival of Baby No. 2, 3, etc. are called) for Pat! Our favorite mama didn’t suspect a thing, and was very surprised to see her family and friends gathered together to celebrate the much-anticipated arrival of their baby girl!
It was a lovely baby shower, and we had such a fun time catching up with Pat and Theo and celebrating this happy occasion with them. Best wishes to the soon-to-be family of four! 🙂