Simply Irresistible

Sometimes a picture says a thousand words. Ok, maybe not a thousand, but how about five....Maya you are simply irresistible!!

Your big blue eyes...

Your itty bitty nose, sweet lips and soft skin...

Your beautiful blonde hair and your love for hats...

There isn't a day that goes by that you don't make us smile and laugh. We are so proud to be your parents.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Some days are just harder than others

So this is what happened. My dear friend Lindsay and her twin boys (that are 3 months older than Maya) get together at least once a week. Last night she called me to find out what day this week we should get together and what should we do. I suggested that we try this new park that I had heard great things about, but had never been. Lindsay had been there before, but agreed to go. It is really known for their "splash pad." The weather has been very warm here, so anything in the shade or involved water would be a bonus!

Maya and I left our house at 9:20am to meet up with them at her house. We decided that we would caravan over to this park. We drove 35 minutes to get there. When we arrived, we realized that the "splash pad" was not on. We saw two men working in the area, so I decided to walk over and find out what the situation was. I was told by the men that the pump was broken and they were doing "routine" cleaning. It was now 10:20 and they told me that it should be up and running around 11. "Great," I was thinking, we drove all this way and it is not working!! I walked back over to our cars and told Lindsay the situation. She was just as disappointed as I was. After a little convincing from me, we walked across the parking lot to a play structure. After lathering the kids up in sunscreen we let the kids free. They were playing on the play structure and having a great time when Lindsay noticed two school buses pulling into the parking lot. Lindsay looked at me and said, "this isn't a good situation." I looked at her after looking at the buses and told her, "it will be fine." Well it wasn't. It was crazy. About a minute later a ton of older kids (probably 5th or 6th graders) were let loose. Our little ones were bombarded and trapped on the play structure. It was a real scene trying to get our three little ones off the structure. After getting the kids together, Lindsay and I looked at each other and just shook our heads. "What else could go wrong today?" I said to Lindsay, "what should we do?" She looked at me and said, "we need to get away from here, let's go up to the open field at the top of the hill." So, off we went. The kids were disappointed along with us. We were frustrated, hot and in disbelief. We tried to occupy them with ring a round the rosie, but that didn't last long. We eventually convinced them to run around the baseball diamond, but that only lasted a short time before they got bored and worn out. By this time it was 11 and we wanted to get them home for naps. When we got back to our cars, the kiddos were dirty from head to toes and sweaty. We quickly changed them, wiped them down and gave them snacks and drinks. Home we went.

After Maya got up from her nap, I called Lindsay to discuss our crazy day. I told Lindsay, I was off to go to a nearby park. She decided that she would meet Maya and I. I should have known something was up when she 45 minutes late. (She told me that Henry (one of her boys) had a tantrum outside of their house right before leaving) It now started to lightly rain and by the time I was thinking of packing up Maya, it stopped. Thank goodness it only lasted a few brief minutes. The kids had a great time playing. About an hour later, it was time to leave when Elliot (her other boy) threw a tantrum next to the tire swing. Poor Lindsay tried EVERYTHING and nothing seemed to calm him down. Again, we just looked at each other and smiled. We loaded the kids in the car and decided to call it a day. To top things off even more, Maya then threw a fit in the car, because she wanted more cheerios that I didn't have!

Here were some of the photos that captured the day.....

Maya, Elliot and Henry on the suspension bridge of the play structure at the first park.

Maya and Elliot on the slide together. These are pictures before the buses pulled up.

Henry, Elliot and Maya running on the baseball field. For some reason they liked to run the bases backwards.

Maya finally caught Elliot at home base.

Maya sliding into 2nd base, even though she was a few yards away from it....not bad for a beginner!

After she landed. She said, "Maya fell down, help mommy ."

Henry brushing the dirt off of his hands.

Maya trying to find Elliot's belly button.

Maya and Henry holding hands on the way back to the cars. Henry seemed a little disappointed in leaving.

At the park near our house (after nap time). Maya loves to ride on these things. She calls it a round and round. Daddy taught her how to stand and hold on.

Maya climbed this ladder all by herself. She did great until she got to the top and then said, "mommy help Maya."

Such a cutie! She said she wanted to sit on the "balance beam."

Elliot climbed to the top of the play structure to go down the "crazy slide." Check out his cute little muscle tee shirt.

Henry and Maya jumping on the suspension bridge.

Maya loved putting the bark chips in the holes of the stairs. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "putting wood in holes." I guess if she was happy, then I was happy too!

Elliot going down the slide.

All three riding the "round and round."

"More round and round" they said.

Henry and Maya leaving the park...

You can't say that we didn't try to make it a great day. Our intentions were so good. Sometimes things just don't go the way we want them to. Hopefully our next play date with Lindsay and the boys will be less eventful!

Maya met Mickey Mouse!

Yep, that's right! Last week, Stewart and I took Maya down to Disneyland for five days. We had a fabulous time and was joined by my brother and his family, along with my sister who was not able to stay the whole time, but came to play for two days. Here is a recap of our terrific time...

Early Monday morning we left for our vacation (I mean early...we woke up at 4am and at the airport by 5:15am). JetBlue was perfect! Each seat had its own TV, which was a great distraction; especially for Maya.

Auntie Jen watched cartoons with Maya.

Of course, with only 45 minutes left on the flight, mommy and Maya fell asleep on the plane!

Since went got down to Long Beach early on Monday, my brother's family and Jen decided to go to Six Flags for the day. We decided to check into our hotel and show Maya Disneyland.

Maya waited in line for the ride "Finding Nemo." Actually mommy waited in line and Maya and daddy went walking!

Maya liked "Finding Nemo." There were a few parts that were a bit scary, but for the most part she liked it. When we got off the ride, she said, "more submarine."

Maya tuckered out from her first two hours at the park!! We headed back to the hotel so she could finish her nap and we could rest too.

Maya on daddy's shoulders. We watched the evening "Street Party" on Main Street in Disneyland. (The last time I was at Disneyland, they had the Disney Parade...no more. Now it is a street party and it was awesome).

Minnie Mouse and Mickey danced on their float during the street party.

On Tuesday, we woke up bright and early (Maya decided that she needed to be up 5:30am, so our day started a little earlier than we had hoped) and headed back into the park.

Maya loved to walk and stroll through Downtown Disney; there was always so much going on. This is one of our favorite pictures!

Such a wonderful picture....Daddy and Maya with Pluto!

Auntie Jen and Maya rode Dumbo together. As Maya kept saying, "ride elephant with Auntie Jennifer, or elephant in the sky!"

After we went on "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Maya got to sit in Mr. Toads car all alone.

One of five times that we rode "It's a Small World." I think this was her all-time favorite ride at the park! While we rode in the boat, she would sing "it's a small world," it was so darn cute!

All of us (except me, because I took the picture) waited in line for "Autopia."

Stewart and I enjoyed a minute to our ourselves.

Uncle Rob carried Rileigh's backpack and wore Rileigh's hat! I think pink looked good on him.

Auntie Jen was pretty brave to take both girls on Autopia by herself. Rileigh was actually a great driver except for the few times she bumped into our car...Oops!

Three very tired people rode the trolley back to the front of the park. We went back to our hotel to rest and to play in the pool.

Just had dinner with everyone at the "House of Blues" in Downtown Disney. Just look how tired Miss Maya was....we made it an early night.

On Wednesday we had a special pass to get into "Mickey's Toontown" early. This is where Maya had the time of her life. She got to see the characters up close and visited each of their houses.

Maya with Minnie Mouse or how she said, "Minnie Mousie." She liked her big hands.

Maya greeted by Goofy. This is one of our favorite pictures.

Maya gave Goofy a kiss on his nose! The rest of the trip we heard her saying, "kiss Goofy on nose."

Maya sat in Mickey's car. She liked to say, " Mickey's beep beep."

We visited Minnie Mouse's house and Maya loved everything inside. She tried so badly to pick up her phone, pencil and paper. She kept saying, "stuck!"

Maya found Minnie Mouse's mailbox. She touched her nose and said, "Minnie Mousie's nose."

When she found these pretend phones in Toontown, she said, "call papa and grammy."

We got a chance to see all the characters together in front of "Toontown's City Hall." We were named honorary visitors for the morning. Pretty cool, huh?

Maya got a chance to slide down Goofy's slide in his backyard.

Maya liked to push the keys on Goofy's piano. The ones at the end made funny noises. After Maya pushed a key, she would say "make funny noise."

Donald Duck was a lucky duck....he got a kiss from Maya!

Look who found Mickey Mouse's mailbox!

Finally a picture with......MICKEY MOUSE!! His house was the best. We had a great time seeing everything in it.

A very exhausted Maya! She was more than ready to take a nap. We rode Casey's Jr. Circus Train to rest for awhile. We got to sit in the lion's cage.

While mommy waited in line to see the Winnie the Pooh characters, daddy took Maya into a gift store. Maya found this huge Pooh bear. She said, "sit with Winnie the Pooh" and sat down.

A family picture with Tigger.

Maya gave Winnie the Pooh a huge hug! The background was so adorable with the honey pots and honey.

Eyeore was on his way for a little "water break" when we caught him for a quick picture. Maya pointed to his eye and said, "Eyeore's eye."

The Winnie the Pooh ride was one of our favorites. We got to ride in Honeycomb cars. It was just the speed that Stewart enjoyed--------------VERY VERY SLOW!!

We now went back to our hotel and took a rest. After our naps, we headed over to California Adventure to see what it was like. Stewart and I felt that there really wasn't much there for Maya. We rode on a couple of kiddie rides, but that was about it. We rode this monster of a Ferris Wheel and this is what happened.....

Maya had such a wet diaper when we got on, that mommy had no choice but to change her. Daddy thought this was funny, so he had to capture it on the camera.

Thursday was our last full day at the park. We also had a special pass to get into the park before it opened to the public, so we were there at 8am.

Another one of our favorite pictures.

The three of us.

Mommy and Maya in a tea cup. It was too hard to get a picture while on the ride, so we found this tea cup right next to the ride.

"Open gate, " Maya said, while waiting for the tea cups.

We all rode on "King Arthur's carrousel."

"Please, I want to go on "It's a Small World" one more time!!"

A picture of the front lawn when you enter Disneyland.

Daddy and Maya in front of California Adventure.

Our last night's dinner at an Italian restaurant with everyone. Maya just loved being with Uncle Robbie!

Stewart and Rileigh wore their new hats. Actually that is my new hat that Stewart had on.

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel and this was the entrance---Mickey's hat.

Friday morning we left for the airport. Before leaving on the shuttle, Maya wanted to see Mickey Mouse and friends one more time, so walked around the premise of the hotel.

Daddy was being silly with the bear from Hewey, Dewy and Louie.

Hewey, Dewy and Louie were at our hotel. Maya saw the fire and said, "fire hot." Maybe that is why she wouldn't go near the ducks!

Maya thought this hole in Pluto dog was funny. She put her finger in the hole and said, "hole in Pluto."

Mommy and Maya posed for one last time with Mickey and friends.

A huge Mickey Mouse statue at our hotel. Maya pointed and said, "Mickey Mouse on airplane." How frickin cute is that!

All in all, we had a fabulous vacation. The weather was wonderful and at times, it was a little too warm. The family company was great and thank you to Rob, Michelle, Rileigh and Jen who helped us with Maya and our luggage!

On a side note, Maya has not stopped talking about her trip.