Summer Silliness

Maria is enjoying the beautiful summer we've been having. She is so silly and fun. Now when she fake cries or whines I ask "who's crying/whining?". She'll stop crying/whining and and point to herself and laugh and say "baby ca" meaning babies cry. She's become a big ham with new people she meets. Last week in church she was standing in the pew almost right up to the hands of the guy standing behind us. The guy moved his hands and folded them across his chest; Maria looked at him, leaned back towards him while standing and crossed her arms over her chest. She has several new words over the past month including purple, puppy, "nana ca white" (ca for car) "hey" (I think I say that too often), to name a few. Following are some new blog entries with our summer adventures :)

ORANGE ELEPHANTS!

OK well not really orange elephants...

Abuelo and Abuela treated Maria, Aidan, Elisa and I to a day at the Orange County Fair. I loved it. I don't think I will ever go back to the LA County Fair (sorry Elisa). It's not as hot, not as big, and you can still get a fried twinkie (actually I had the friend cucumber wrapped hot dog this time - like a corn dog, but you don't feel as guilty because they added a vegetable). I'm sold.Aidan always cracks us up. When we arrived he wasn't in the friendliest of moods. I guess he really didn't want to talk to us, because he pulled down his stroller cover and just stared at us through the window! Maria was amused.

And when we were leaving, he didn't appreciate that we had stopped at a booth to shop a bit. Just 30 seconds before he was playing and laughing with Maria; as soon as we stopped he plopped his head down. Maria was still amused with silly cousin Aidan and was imitating him.

The grand finale to the day was riding the elephants! Aidan had the biggest smile he'd had all day!
Maria was not smiling, but she wasn't freaked out either. Ever since that day whenever she sees an Elephant's picture she says Mama, points to herself and then points to the elephant. I hadn't been on an elephant since I was a little girl - so now I can really appreciate the circus performers who balance on the elephants head without holding on to any bars!

Cousins Isabella went to the fair the following week with Yaya and Billy and she was definitely NOT amused by the elephant. Here she clings on to her Daddy for dear life.

I'm happy to report that Isabella was not traumatized and my sister said that as soon as she got off the elephant she waved bye and said "bye el-fint" :)

Some things never change...but parts of it do

Growing up we often visited Seaside Lagoon, where the kiddies can play in the chlorinated saltwater (hmmm sounds appealing, huh?). It is a lot of fun for the little ones though since there are no waves. It was exciting to take Maria for her first visit. The place looks pretty much the same, but there are definitely things that seemed new to me like a) the freezing cold water (didn't it used to be heated?), b) a ton of people - the picture here is when we first arrived - within 2 hours the place was packed! (seriously, I don't think they put a max capacity on this place! and when did people start setting up with full on tents and tables?), and c) conveniently located Ruby's for some tasty lunch takeout. Maria and her cousins loved this place. I'm sure we'll be back often and frequently!

Greg is the sandcastle building pro. The kiddies all pitched in to build towers, bridges, and a moat that gained popularity with all the kids at the Lagoon as the day progressed.

Maria REALLY pitches in - getting up to her elbows in the sandy mud to dig the hole, while Isabella packed the towers.

Like I said the sand feature was pretty popular with the kids and since my sisters and I all brought sand toys we had plenty to go around. Luckily the other kids we are very polite and all asked to borrow the toys they wanted and they stayed near us, preventing Greg from having to be the sand toy repo-man at the end of the day.

The moat was like Maria's version of the Glen Ivy's Club Mud...
Here's our one successful shot of the cousins together...

...before Aidan decided to put a fistful of sand in his mouth! oh boys.

...and then Isabella decided to get a little taste of the club mud...

A sweet ending with a mini soft serve ice cream...yummy.

A Pet at the Zoo

Nana had given Maria a book called "A Pet at the Zoo", which used to be one of Greg's favorite books growing up. It's about a cat that gets lost at the zoo - it's now one of Maria's favorite books which she calls the "meow" book (not to be confused of course with the "Puppy" or "how" book - "how" is how spanish speaking dogs say "ruff" - when she wants to read the Pokey Little Puppy). I think the record for consecutive readings in one sitting is 4 (maybe 5?).


Abuela came over for a visit with Cousin Isabella and of course she had to read the "meow" book.

Happy 2nd Birthday Aidan

Aidan is two! A few weeks ago we celebrated cousin Aidan's birthday. He was asleep on the couch when we arrived, even though the house was full of people making lots of noise. So, I went to give him a gentle kiss on the forehead and.......woke him up! what? Sorry kid. He wasn't a happy camper and for quite a bit of time just laid in the middle of the play area.

Luckily he warmed up as the day went on, in time for a couple of rounds of happy birthday (he, he, he).

Auntie Elisa and Uncle Brad made some yummy Elmo cupcakes, which Maria enjoyed.

and some cute pics of Maria with her cousins Lauren and Nico. Nico is so proud to be holding Maria - I like how Maria just keeps doing her thing, not even acting like someone is trying to lift her up.

Because I'm a Beautiful Kid!

Maria and I go to a weekly play group. Pig Day always makes for good pictures. Just 8 weeks earlier she wasn't very fond of the paint, but this time around she had a lot of fun with it. In class she is really careful and doesn't get too piggy, but I'm sure the minute I buy paint at home it'll be all over the walls!

One of her favorite parts is the singing. She has most of them down, with the exception of "where is thumbkin", but she loves throwing her arms behind her back when they "run away". As you can see in the following video she is not shy at all - standing all by herself in the middle fo the circle! You'll have to tilt your head on this video - I can't figure out how to rotate the video camera after the fact...and once again you are graced by my singing voice, but if you made it through the 7th inning stretch from a few months ago then you'll be alright with this one!

Unfortunately I didn't get too much of the "play" for this play group since my battery died. Maybe next time...