31 for 21, Day 5 - 2012

A quick snippet from our Cali trip.  I thought this was such a cute photo. It's not the greatest because I was using my phone.  Here we are on our road trip.   K and A are riding with us to Angel Island.  All three of them are in their own worlds.  K is listening to music, Maya is reading the wiggles coloring book and A is using the ipad,  they are enjoying the road trip in their own way.  I love this photo because Maya looks so grown up.   It almost seems like she is an older person reading the newspaper.  She spent a lot of time looking at all the drawings in that coloring book.  Of course not any of the time was spent actually coloring it.

31 for 21, Day 4 - 2012

More about the summer.

Every year we go to California to visit family/friends.  We even took Maya as early as six months old. The first time was in a car.  That was brutal.  Since then we have flown.  Every year keeps getting better.  Maya's always been a good traveler.  She does well on the airplane, thanks to my ipad, and she doesn't mind change in scenery or routine, too much.

Maya loves her cousins dearly.  I think part of that is that they pay so much attention to her and are willing to do pretty much anything to make her smile.  Our family friends adore her and luckily their dogs don't mind Maya too much.  Of course Maya loves doggies, but I noticed lately she thinks those dogs are horses.  The last two years instead of signing dog, like she did previous, she signs horse.  I think that is hilarious.

So this year we took a little road trip with the family.  We went to Angel Island for a day.  The weather was perfect, and we had a chance to do some hiking on the island.  For Maya the best part was hands down the ferry ride to the island.  She loved the wind blowing in her face.  The entire time she had a smile from ear to ear.  It was such a joy to see.

We went the next day up to the Russian River.  It was no surprise that Maya wanted to get into the water.  It was a little cold but she enjoyed playing in the water.  We spent a while there and even had a little lunch on the beach.  During that time we spent most of the time with Maya's cousin.  It seemed she was Maya's new best friend.  In my husband's culture they always refer to their cousins as brother or sister,  never do they really use a word that means cousin.  This is different then the way I was brought up, but it feels right for Maya and her cousin.  They really are like sisters. 

I'm grateful for that lesson.

Maya and Maya.

Sisters.

A little help from her sister.

On the ferry to Angel Island.

Oh the wind!  She loved it!

Russian River.

Deep thought on the river.

A hug from her uncle.

Quality time with her aunt.

Family.

adventures in Cali

on the airplane to Cali

it always amazes me how Maya rolls with the punches.  Maya doesn't stress about flying on a plane which is so wonderful. thank goodness for ipods and now our ipad.  she watched her videos and played her favorite games quietly. unlike other times we've travelled, Maya seems to have adjusted to sleeping or should i say falling asleep at a reasonable hour.  this made me very happy to say the least! she never did get very good about nap time though.  the only way we could get her to nap was by driving around. these are the joys of traveling with a toddler i guess.

by the second day, Maya taught herself how to climb up on the couch at my sister in-law's house.  from then on she has been climbing on couches and getting off by herself just fine.  it makes me feel like my little girl is growing up.  i love seeing her independence.

it was so great to see the interaction between Maya and her two older cousins.  she seemed to really enjoy just hanging out with them.  they were so sweet with Maya and indulged her by singing and dancing when she asked.  every time i see them interact i wish we lived closer to each other.

when we visited our friend in San Jose the first thing that Maya did was walk right to the doggies.  she just loves dogs and she is not at all afraid of them.  in the beginning she kept signing horse because i guess to her they are large enough to be horses.  she even tried to ride them a couple of times.  i thought that was cute.

at the playground

the highlight for me was when we drove down to Monterey. our first stop was Monterey Bay aquarium.  Maya wasn't as interested in the fishes as she was just roaming the place.  luckily it wasn't crazy crowded and she could walk around quite a bit.   on our way back to the hotel we saw a farmer's market and decided to check it out.  it was super crowded but we managed to get Maya in the stroller (a small feat in itself) and walk around a bit.  the best part was when we found a couple of musicians playing on opposite ends of the market.  Maya was just so mesmerized by the musicians. she wanted to hang out and hear every single song.  she watched them intently and clapped at the end of each song.  we could have been there all night i think and she would have been perfectly happy.

it was the perfect ending to our week long trip to Cali.  being with our friends and family is always so special to me.  it seems now more than ever.

Monterey Bay aquarium

not so impressed with the slimy water

listening to some funky music

the best fan anyone could ever have

whispering hope ranch

a few weekends ago we went to a wonderful retreat with maya.  thanks to an anonymous donor and the local down syndrome network we were able to enjoy this amazing ranch.   whispering hope ranch provides a place for special needs children and their families to enjoy the outdoors and the opportunity to interact with various animals. 

this was our first experience being in the wilderness with maya.   i was quite impressed with maya's ability adapt to her surroundings.  i think her favorite animals were the donkey and little baby goat.  and for the first time she really got into the crafts.  i could see that she was more patient and focused.  as a family we did things that we don't often do, like eat s'mores around the campfire and go to the playground together.  i am very grateful for this wonderful experience, it was a well needed retreat from our normal, hectic lives. 

entrance to whispering hope ranch

maya petting the baby goat

kiss, kiss!

artist at work

walking across the bridge

going for a walk

first trip since walking

this last weekend we took a quick little trip up to denver to see some of our friends.  we have been wanting to do some traveling this summer but we were waiting until maya started walking full time.  now that maya is pretty much walking 99% of the time we are happy to get our traveling shoes on and get moving.  our first stop was denver, colorado.  it went really well.  it felt quite liberating to not have to carry maya around everywhere.  of course we still use the stroller when in public places and carry her around quite a bit but now maya wants to get out and walk around also.  she is totally in an exploratory mode.  she is still waddling a lot but she is walking!  here are some photos of our little adventure...

walking around boulder, colorado

maya and aavan

dada and maya looking at ducks

walking on a downward slope