Yesterday was Veteran’s Day — a reminder for all of us to remember and thank those who have served, and are serving, our country. They are the true heroes of this nation, and I will always be grateful for everything they’ve done to protect our freedom.

Mio and I came down with the cold late last week, and so we spent much of the long weekend resting, but we still managed to go out and have a little fun. Here are some snapshots from the past week, including the weekend.

Halloween costume redux for Shinくん's birthday/costume party on Tuesday.
Halloween costume redux for Shin-kun’s birthday/costume party on Tuesday. (This was actually last week, on Election Day!)

 

Happy birthday, Shin-kun! He was dressed as Woody, and Erri did such an amazing job of making a Toy Story-themed party!
Happy birthday, Shin-kun! He was dressed as Woody, and Erri did such an amazing job of making a Toy Story-themed party. We were all so impressed at how she was able to do all this as a working mama!

 

Playing with a balloon.
Playing with a balloon.

 

Fast forward to the weekend, we drove to the Japanese school in Bethesda on Saturday morning to check out a bazaar where we got to pick up some children’s books and DVDs in Japanese. She was so excited, and immediately started looking through the books in the car.

Afterwards, we took her to Clemyjontri Park in McLean. It was our first time visiting the park, and it was huge! Literally a mini theme park for toddlers. Mio squealed as soon as we approached the entrance to the park, and we spent a good couple hours there, letting her run free and explore everything.

The largest playground I've seen in NOVA. It was literally a mini theme park for toddlers!

Just look at this aerial photo of the park! (There was even a carousel in the middle, but it wasn’t running when we were there.) If you live in the DC area and you have a young child, I definitely recommend checking this park out. 🙂

Clemyjontri Park
Photo courtesy of Fairfax County Park Authority

 

Bringin' out the cowboy boots!
I brought out my cowboy boots for the outing! 🙂

 

We then headed over to Pho Saté in Falls Church for a late lunch. Whenever I am feeling sick, pho feels like the perfect remedy…

The perfect comfort food, especially when I have the sniffles...
The perfect comfort food, especially when I have the sniffles…

 

Some more snapshots from the rest of the weekend…

Mio's face while watching Sesame Street looks more like that of a 50 year old man studying quantum physics...
Mio’s face while watching Sesame Street looks more like that of a 50 year old man studying quantum physics…

 

Sushi lesson from Daddy.
Sushi lesson from Daddy while we wait for lunch at Sushi Yoshi on Sunday.

 

Today's lunch!
Amazing lunch from Sushi Yoshi.

 

On Monday, we went on a little family date to Reston Town Center.

The Christmas tree and ice skating rink are already set up at Reston Town Center. It's definitely the holidays!
The Christmas tree and ice skating rink are already set up at Reston Town Center. It’s definitely the holidays!

 

There’s nothing sweeter than a family outing with s’mores. Excitement for everyone! 😀

Nothing sweeter than a family outing with s'mores. Excitement for everyone!
Mio’s first encounter with s’mores! She was mainly obsessed with the graham crackers. Thankfully, she didn’t even notice the chocolate, and she took a nibble of the marshmallow but apparently didn’t like it because she didn’t want any more of it.

 

What I also love about Veteran’s Day is that it’s the first of all the holidays that follow throughout the winter season — I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is already next week!