Maia says “UP” and “MORE”. The kid is fearless…most of the time.

We were told moving here to Southern California that visiting the Huntington Gardens is a must. We now understand why everyone recommended it and plan to go often with our new annual membership.

Now, a few more photos from the day:

Maia could not get enough of the vast space she had to move around. The marble floors in the main areas was ideal for sliding about belly down. She ran, slid and scooched and squealed in delight almost the entire time. For the first time we felt like we were working hard to keep up with her. Here are a few pictures:

A view of Los Angeles at night.

The pendulum that I took way too many pictures of.

We toured the Hearst Castle during my birthday weekend and neglected to bring along our real camera. Lesson learned. Taking a picture with Maia standing next to me (crazy that Maia can now stand next to me!) is near impossible with a phone camera! See picture #4 below .

Ahhh, the fun with Maia continues…

I don’t need no stroller

I could do this all day long

Catch me if you can Mommy

We tried to have her take a picture standing next to me but look how far she got before we did. The iPhone camera is just not quick enough for on the move Maia.

I think she appreciated the view as much as we did.

This past Tuesday, Maia and I made mother-daughter day of it. With our map in hand, we began our stroll through the garden. It was really hot so we didn’t go through the entire grounds. Maia and I eventually found ourselves some shade and spent the rest of the afternoon rolling around and playing in the grass. I think Maia’s favorite thing was playing with the crumply dried leaves. Here are a few pictures:

Did you see the transit of Venus on June 5th? Since Maia’s dad and my dear husband is an astrophysicist, astronomical events of this kind don’t usually go unnoticed. Even if I have to sometimes remind him about it.

The 5th of June was a cloudy day here in Central Pennsylvania. As the sun became closer and closer to setting (optimal viewing time), we also had to contend with it getting hidden behind the Mount Nittany mountain range. We had to decide whether or not to continue hanging around Bellefonte, PA where our chances of seeing this historic event was quickly diminishing, or to make a mad dash around the mountain in the hopes of a better view.

Dear husband was not going to settle for missing it so we jumped in the car with the Maia Bear and went on a wild sun setting chase. We made it on the other side of the mountain just in the nick of time! As luck would have it, the sky was cleared and the transit of Venus was in clear view. Serendipitously, above a quarry off the main road, Andrew Sicree, a physics teacher in the area appeared just when we did and with a sunspotter in hand. We got great views via the sunspotter and also wearing our eclipse glasses.

We will never forget where we were during the transit of Venus on June 5, 2012. And, 106 years from now, Maia will look back at these photos and say she saw the previous one with her parents standing above a quarry off the main road in a small Central Pennsylvania town.

(Thanks to the resent subscribers to this blog. It’s nice to know that there are people reading it who aren’t related to me. Cheers, Kerean)

Me and the Maia Bear

“Venus is that little black dot on the face of the Sun. There are also clouds.”

My new favorite Hallmark holiday (I don’t think I had an old favorite) is without question Mother’s Day. Even though Maia is a baby, I found myself fantasizing about all the Mother’s Day cards she will make me and how much I will treasure each and everyone of them! I imagined each of them residing first on the refrigerator or my desk before retiring into my treasure chest to be dug up again and enjoyed. I also day-dreamed about all the mother-daughter bonding things we will do together.

I found myself reflecting upon how much more being a mother makes me understand and appreciate my own mother’s dedication and discipline in raising me. Looking too at the beautiful man I get to call my husband, my appreciation and respect for his mother grew. As the saying goes, it’s the hardest but also the most rewarding job to raise a child/ren. I don’t want to succeed at anything more!

For Mother’s Day, my dear husband planned a trip for us to Niagara Falls, Canada. Being as close as we currently are living in Pennsylvania, we have talked about going before we move out west and this was a perfect weekend to have gone. We had a really nice time exploring the immediate area of Niagara and the American Falls and also exploring Ontario and New York. It was another smooth travel and getaway with the Maia Bear.

Some highlights:

Maia taking in the view of Niagara Falls from our hotel room.

Any opportunity to stand and hold on to something.

Maia resting on Daddy’s back during a long walk.

All ready in our ponchos to walk behind the falls.

Maia Bear was not phased in the least by the roaring falls behind us.

She was more interested in “drinking” the falls than anything else

We went to watch this very big ship navigate it’s way through this channel

Getting closer…impressive process to watch. Including the lowering of the water level to that of the river. The ship almost disappeared from view when the water level went down.

Stopped for a bite…

Me and the Maia Bear

oooh, I really want to eat this flower if only daddy would let me. (We stopped on the American side to hike around).

Dang it, I missed my mouth!

We spent last week exploring Southern California with Maia. We will be moving there permanently in a few months and made a trip out to get the lay of the land. All in all a successful and fun trip. So much so, we didn’t want to come back! The weather was perfect! Everyday. Well, except for our last day when we headed to the beach. Temperatures were only in the low 60s. Still perfect weather compared to the April snowstorm happening at the time back here in Pennsylvania. So glad we missed it!

This trip presented many firsts for Maia, which also meant many firsts for Matt and me with Maia. This parenting thing never gets boring! Of all Maia’s firsts on this trip, such as her first time having watermelon (fruit is so much better on the west coast!), attending her first birthday party, being around and playing with many kids all at the same time, driving in a convertible, experiencing a drive-in (is there a better way to bring your baby to the movies with you?!), being in a pool, seeing the ocean and riding on a merry-go-round; her first pool experience is so far and was by far the most fun she has had in her entire life!

As the saying goes…”A picture is worth a thousand words”…

Maia's first pool experience

For a minute there, we thought she would pass out from sheer excitement. Pictures don’t do the experience justice. Here are a few more pictorial highlights of Maia Firsts from our trip:

Maia meets Jackson whom she took a quick liking to. In this moment, Maia stepped at her own initiative for the first time to get closer to him.

Oranges so good, Maia feeds herself some for the first time. She had oranges every morning at the hotel where we stayed.

Ahhh, Maia’s first merry-go-round ride. On Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. She started getting excited towards the end once she got over looking around and wondering what it all was. She is such a little observer first before anything else. A sign of brilliance if you ask me.

Both Matt and I grew up with the Ocean. For me, it was the pristine beaches of the Caribbean Sea and for Matt, the scenic Maine Coastline and Atlantic Ocean. Our dear Maia will be a California girl with the Pacific as her playground. Here she is with us her first time seeing the ocean.

I just had to add a few more shots from the pool. I know you are smiling because I can’t stop smiling looking at them myself.

Matt having all the fun. But capturing these moments that I get to relive over and over again is priceless.

I can’t seem to stop myself from posting more of these!

Looking satisfied and like she would sleep all through the night. She didn’t. But how cute is she!!?? Also, this is one of the few pictures we could get of her NOT licking the handle of that chair. She was pretty insistent on cleaning the chair handle with her mouth so we had to get over her cute towel-wearing self pretty quickly and snatch her up.

In between way too much chair licking

On our way home, Maia takes in the view of the Philadelphia city lights from the plane. I will have to write a new post about how to travel effortlessly with a baby. Maia is the easiest to travel with. Six hour flights and with zero fuss (sounds like a working title already). I would love to think that I aid in that somehow to share pointers.

And finally, dinner in Philly with Maia’s uncle Romaine before driving home. Maia can’t seem to get enough of him. She doesn’t stop laughing when he is around. He will make a fine father himself someday.