Monday, June 18, 2007

Whirlwind Weekend

Tony's parents Fran and Don stayed at our house this weekend to visit. On Saturday, we went to Tony's Godmother Valerie's 60th Birthday Party. On Sunday morning, Tony and I made a Father's Day's Day Brunch for our families. Then on Sunday night, we went to dinner with Fran's family and long-time family friends.

Maiya and her god-cousin Erin

Fran & Valerie

Fran, Don and Maiya. Maiya's eating ice cream - a rare treat!

Three Monkeys Sitting in a Tree
Maiya with cousins Kevin & Kyle

Tony and Maiya on Father's Day with my parents and his parents

Fran, Maiya, Grandma, Cousin Robin & Aunt Gail

Dinner at Billingsley's in West LA with extended family & friends

Maiya at the end of a busy weekend!

This blog entry is dedicated to blog lurker Cousin Patty.
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Leo Carrillo Day Trip

Last weekend I took Maiya to Leo Carrillo State Beach for the first time. My brother Darin's family went camping for one night--and we joined them the next morning. We only stayed a few hours but it was fun playing in the sand and running around the beach. It brought back many memories of summers camping at Leo Carrillo. In fact, Tony reminded me it was where I had my first kiss the summer before 9th grade in the caves. I didn't tell Maiya that story, although I did share how much fun playing there with my cousins as a kid.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Celebrate Good Times

Two exciting things yesterday. First, is that Maiya's Bubbe & Zeyde (Grandma Fran & Grandpa Don) are here in town this weekend visiting from Idaho. Maiya the host did her best to entertain them last night (hyper crazy hammy girl). The second exciting thing is that Grace Lee Boggs, our 91 year old friend and mentor from Detroit was on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS yesterday talking about grassroots activism and social change. I was at our Family Literacy Awards Ceremony/Parent Recognition Dinner for work so I missed the beginning.

Ok, folks this is a short blog today, but here is some cute video from dinner the other night with Kool & The Gang (I thought it was The Commodores or Earth, Wind & Fire--and I think Tony might have scoffed at me).


And in case I don't get to blog again this weekend--Happy 3rd Father's Day to my best friend, Maiya's Daddy! You can see from the video how much he enjoys his girl. It warms my heart to see them playing together.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Mama's Day Off (Photo Blog)

I was off work today. We were up at 7:30 am. For breakfast, we had toast, juice and apples. We watched Sesame Street, played with stickers, and played with a stuffed bear and Maiya's Japanese/English speaking Yumi doll while I vacuumed the house, unloaded the dishwasher and did the dishes.

At 9:30, I made my 4th attempt to go to the gym this week--but my first time to actually work out. (Last night, I got there 10 minutes before closing, last Wednesday, Maiya freaked out at the Y's Childwatch and wouldn't let me leave her, so I didn't get to work out but we did sign up for swim class this summer. Last Tuesday Maiya got upset when I was leaving the house, so instead Maiya, Auntie and I ran errands and went for pizza.) Anyways, Maiya had a lot of fun at Childwatch playing outside on the playground today. We ran into a little boy and his mom who we used to see at the Y a lot. I got in an hour-long workout (first time since January!) and when I went to pick her up, she was so busy with Legos that she didn't want to leave. We shared apple slices, ran around the courtyard at the Y, and watched people swimming.

After the gym, Maiya & I came home for lunch about noon. We had leftover pasta from last night, shared a bean burrito and some soymilk. Daddy got her this hat last night at In-N-Out. That's bean burrito all over her smiling face. I love this picture.

Then, I tried to get Maiya to take a nap (she dozed for 20 minutes in the car before noon), but she wasn't having any of it (it's a new trait this refusing to sleep thing). I went on the computer, nursed her a lot, and Maiya played with playdough and alphabet letters. About 3:30 pm, Auntie Keiko came over and brought Maiya some cute shoes and clothes and did some more alphabet play with Maiya. Then, we met Daddy at Johnnie's Pastrami's for dinner. Auntie and Daddy had pastrami, and Maiya and I shared an apple and a chicken sandwich. Yum.

Then, after dinner we went to Trader Joe's. I went grocery shopping while Daddy and Maiya took a nap in the car. We came home and I put away 3 baskets of clean laundry and straightened up the bedroom. We watched some great insects on PBS, then Daddy took Maiya for a bath--and more alphabet play.

And that's it for today. It's after 10 pm and Maiya is having a tantrum so I better go put her to bed. Tomorrow is a work day. Still to come, more dancing video, pictures of our trips to Leo Carrillo, Sesame Street Live at the Kodak Theater, LA Zoo, and more! Sure would be nice to get some comments once in awhile so I could know if anyone is out there reading.

Backyard surfing with Daddy

Daddy bought a skateboard recently. He'll have to tell you what kind it is. He has been taking Maiya for short rides on his back. Cute pix.



Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Playing Around

Just monkeying around in our bathroom! Eee ee!
(I got tired of our old shower curtain so this is our new one.)

What do you do with 101 yogurt cups? You can stack them up high...

...Or you could build a pretty wall on a Sunday morning.

Lately, Maiya has been confusing the words "poo poo" and "pee pee." Yesterday, she was wearing 2 cloth pullups (like underpants), one diaper cover, 2 pairs of "Hello Kitty" underwear (her request) and her monkey PJ bottoms (seen above). That was 6 layers, all at the same time. It was a crackup. In other news, we picked 8 strawberries from the backyard today, signed up for swim class and had a big tantrum. Tonight I'm off to the spa with Lily. Peace. Out.