Happy Easter! Mio got to go on her first egg hunt yesterday when her friend Danny and his parents invited us over for an Easter egg hunt in their front yard. Even though it was Mio’s first time, she knew exactly what to do and was a egg hunting pro!
Stephanie made little signs in each area with numbers indicating how many eggs each child could pick up in that respective location, to make sure that they would all get an equal number of eggs.
There were also various themed eggs, from metallic ones to iridiscent ones, to ones shaped like ducks and cars!
Mio’s favorite was definitely the ducks!
Mio is distracted by a pretty pom pom decoration on a tree.
Back to the egg hunt!
Danny also hard at work finding eggs!
Mio showing us her loot! So many eggs!
Adorable Danny counting out his eggs.
Mio randomly came over and gave Daddy a hug. Such a sweetheart.
Looking quite pleased with herself.
Cutiepies with their eggs!
Mio suddenly grabbed one of her car-shaped eggs and held it out towards Danny, as if she wanted to give it to him.
“Danny…?” No response.
He finally turns and notices!
Negotiating a trade. lol
Are you being bashful, Mio? Too cute!
The three cutiepies, quite happy with their eggs!
A family picture. 🙂
The beautiful Lee family! Thanks for organizing the egg hunt, Stephanie!
Mio inches in towards Danny and oustreches her arms for a hug.
…but instead of a hug, they just ended up standing really close to each other and staring down at their toes.
Danny getting a little push from his Daddy.
This looks like a scene from a sappy Asian drama. lol
Back at home, checking out the toys inside the eggs. Instead of the usual chocolates and candies, the eggs were filled with little stickers, toys, and other goodies that are fun for kids to play with.
Cute Easter-themed stamps from inside the eggs!
There was even little bunny dolls with parachutes attached to them. Here Mio is trying to test one out.
Mio had such a great time at the egg hunt, and was playing with the eggs and the little goodies from inside the eggs all day yesterday, even reaching for them right after she awoke from her nap! It must have been just that much fun for her. Special thanks to Danny, Stephanie, and Chwan for planning and preparing the egg hunt and having us over! It was a very fun and memorable occasion for our whole family!
Last Saturday, my high school girlfriends and I threw our dear friend Mimi a bridal shower! After getting engaged with a very romantic proposal last October, Mimi and Sujay just tied the knot earlier this month in San Diego with a spur-of-the-moment, intimate marriage/elopement(!) ceremony. While some of our friends were able to attend the beautiful ceremony, half of us couldn’t make it because of scheduling conflicts, and we all wanted to gather to celebrate this wonderful occasion with Mimi! Our friend Juli rallied all of us together and assigned us different tasks to create a lovely and memorable post-wedding bridal shower for the bride.
My best friend Debbie and I were put in charge of cooking and baking all the food for the shower, and we had a great time planning the menu together and cooking together the day of. Thank you Angel for letting us use your kitchen and stepping in to help us with the cooking — we couldn’t have done it without you!
I baked and decorated these sugar cookies for the shower in the days before. Mimi had had a henna night prior to her wedding ceremony, so I piped some henna-inspired decorations on the purple cookies. The amount of detail was challenging, but I’m happy with the result!
The bestest hard at work making matcha frosting. She was the true star chef of the day!
Me piping Debbie’s olive oil cupcakes, filled with blood orange jam.
A delicious banh mi bar.
Debbie’s amazing gluten-free chocolate cake with matcha frosting. SO GOOD!
Another look at my sugar cookies.
I assembled these easy strawberry feta skewers with mint leaves.
A simple favorite: mini baked potatoes topped with sour cream, chives, and bacon bits.
The glowing bride arrives!
Mimi telling us about her wedding day, followed by bridal shower games!
Mimi is all smiles! 🙂
Time to open presents.
Everyone watching Mimi open her gifts.
Some of the ladies at the bridal shower! (Missing Xiaolu and Stephanie and some other girls who had to leave early…)
Hugs!
Thank you Juli for organizing everything and making sure it all went off without a hitch!
Special thanks to Angel for hosting, and to Michelle and Xiaolu who handled the decorations and favors!
Chefs for the day Debbie and I with the bride. We love you Mimi!
A picture of us high school girlfriends together! I love these ladies. 🙂
I’m so happy we could come together to shower Mimi with love and wishing her the best! She looked so happy with a newlywed glow to her, and just seeing her and Sujay makes us so happy. They are such a great couple and are just so adorable together when you watch them because you can see how in love they are. With that, I’ll end with this breathtaking picture from their wedding that shows just that!
Happily ever after ♥ Congratulations Mimi & Sujay!
On Tuesday, Mio and I drove over to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna with our parents for an early afternoon stroll. My parents used to take my siblings and I here all the time as kids, and we always called it “duck pond” because of all the ducks and geese we’d see there every time we went. It was really nostalgic to revisit the park for the first time in almost twenty years, and share one of my childhood memories with Mio and make it hers, too. 🙂
The entrance to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens During the holidays, large nutcracker dolls flank the path to the entrance. Snowflake decorations hanging from the ceiling. So magical! An experiment in exposure… A second picture, a moment later. Such a different look! I love playing with different settings on my phone camera. We could see the water shimmering at the end of the winding path. Geese crossing the path! Mio immediately started quacking at them. Watching the geese by the pond Mesmerized. Mio trying to feed a leaf to a goose. Together with the grandparents. On a sled inside the visitor’s center. Enjoying some lad na for lunch afterwards.
On Tuesday, the girls in the family went on an outing to Meadow Lane Park in Vienna! Mio loves this park because there are so many fun things to ride and play with. It was extra fun for her that day because her Auntie Miwa and Obaachan (grandmother) came along!
Posing with Auntie Miwa in the car, on the way to the park.
The swing is always one of Mio’s favorites.
Getting some help from Obaachan on the slide.
It’s definitely autumn here!
Mio was so excited about the rocking horse!
This was Mio’s first time on this spinning ride.
Mio was having so much fun at the park that we knew it was going to be an ordeal to wrench her away when it was eventually time for her to go home. Sure enough…
If there was ever something called the “ugly cry,” this would be it.
But then, she quickly forgot about why she was so upset and started posing for the camera.
Now you’re just being silly…
Thank you Obaachan and Auntie Miwa for coming along with us to the park! 😀
Yesterday, I took Mio to Annandale to meet my friend Erri and her two adorable children, Audrey and Brennan. Audrey is almost four, and Brennan is almost eight months old — about five months older than Mio! It was their first playdate together and Mio had a great time, as you can see from her smiles here…
Look at that huge smile! Mio is so happy to meet Audrey and Brennan.
Mio looks so smug here. Brennan is so cute!!!
Later in the evening, we went to Sushi Yoshi in Vienna to have dinner with my girlfriends from high school. It was so much fun catching up with everyone and introducing them to Mio. Thank you Debbie for organizing the dinner!
With some of my girlfriends from Madison High School
