July walk to Ocean Beach

 

 

 

grammy and josie visit

July 25th-31st 2010

Janet, Josie and Grammy also trekked out on the road to San Francisco from Iowa! We got back from our Colorado trip on a Saturday and by the next Sunday we were welcoming more family to visit! Janet dropped Grammy and Josie off at our place and they stayed with us till Thursday night while Janet went to spend time with her cousin who lives in Alameda. They arrived Sunday early evening so J actually had some time to spend with them before the work week started back in full swing. He is always teaching Josie something art/drawing related when she comes to visit. They get so serious and she just sits and watches him intently while he teaches away. It is really something to watch. Grammy brought out one of her water color paintings as my birthday present. She did a water color of a the painted ladies here in San Francisco and I just had to have a print of it! The colors are so vibrant! (and I didn't even brighten them in photoshop in the pics below).

Grammy and Josie accompanied Maya and I to her 6 month appointment and then we were off to our favorite thrift store down the street. The next day Kyle and Brandy came to visit and we all took a stroll to ocean beach (which will be its own post.) And I worked a weekday night so Grammy had the chance to have little miss all to herself. Per report she did fabulously and took her bottles without a fuss! Grammy even ventured out with Maya in the bjorn for a long walk to keep her occupied. The last night they were in town was quite the treat. Janet's cousin offered to take us out for dinner to anywhere we wanted to go in the city (she is a CA lottery winner). After having such a fun time two years ago at the Tonga room for my friend Mandy's birthday I thought I would suggest for our family to go there. It was such a hit! It is a hawaiin inspired place with live music and yummy food!  The Tonga Room lives on the basement level of the ritzy Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco's Nob Hill. We stayed up way past Maya's bedtime, but she did great and didn't even fuss until we were on our way home.

he is totally enamored by her....

and by the 6th shot we finally have a semi-decent family photo!

Many many thanks to Janet's cousin Judy for treating our family to such a nice evening!

cousin chad and miss ashlee visit

My cousin Chad and his beautiful girlfriend came for a brief visit all the way from Iowa. He is a Harley rider and somehow convinced his lovely girlfriend to road-trip on the Harley for a week! They rode from a tiny town in Iowa all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah on their first day! Apparently it was over 20 hours on the road, on that Harley! Ashley was BEYOND sore. They just stopped in long enough to see our place and get a few hugs and pictures. It felt so good to have them visit, even if it was for only an hour.

So adorable. He is pretty hilarious and grew out the handle-bar mustache specifically for this trip!

she can totally rock out the biker babe title

me....not so much

can you even take me seriously in this picture? lol

hopefully they loved it here and will come back to visit longer next time!

maya's 6 month stats

let me just say that she is one happy girl

While we were waiting for our appointment (which ended up being 2 hours) she discovered the LOVE of the crinkly paper. We had to shoot a video of her playing with it, it was just too hilarious. Luckily Grammy and Josie were there to help pass the time while we were waiting and waiting and waiting.

things maya is doing at 6 months:

loves to look at, feel and taste any kind of tag

sleeps with one arm on top of her blanket at all times

throws her toys in frustration sometimes

actually shakes her rattles now

makes all kinds of different noises from screaches to growls

loves when I sing to her

loves to kick kick kick her little legs in the bathtub

is entranced by the kitties

sits up really really well on her own

is able to go from sitting up to leaning foward into a tummy/crawl stance

can pivot herself around in circle while on her tummy

she wants to drink out of our glasses or water bottle whenever we do

she watches us eat everything

when you wipe her face with a wet washcloth she tries to suck on it

loves new faces and smiles at everyone

giggles when she swings at the park or when we give her kisses on her tummy or neck

has her two bottom teeth

goes to bed around 9 and wakes up at least twice a night around 1 and 5

foods she has eaten so far

avocados

bananas

sweet potatoes

squash

oatmeal

green peas

bites of my yogurt

celebrating 28 years

After our week long trip to Colorado I came home to these lovelies!

Aren't the GORGEOUS?!?

I always look forward to my cards from J because he designs them himself. I am especially in love with this one....loving the silohuette of my love. And I finally got a necklace from one of my favorite places to shop.

And a birthday wouldn't be complete without dinner with the girls. We met at Mona Lisa in the North Beach area and had a scrumptious dinner. I tried gnocchi for the first time and loved it! I also received some of the best birthday gifts ever! I have to say that getting gifts from your girlfriends is so much fun because you get to have a little something that they perhaps would have gotten for themselves that you would have never thought about getting for yourself.

and a post just wouldn't be the same without a little bit of maya....

her new obsession is water bottles

she whines when you have one and she doesn't.

p.s. hawaiin outfit compliments of great great auntie noreen

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Ahhh...finally getting around to doing a little posting.

July 2010
Maya and I headed out to Denver on a Friday evening to meet up with my brother, mom and dad to begin our adventure to Steamboat Springs for the Jordahl family reunion. Sadly J had to stay behind and hold down the fort with the kitties since his work is contractual he doesn't really have any vacation time to utilize. If you ask me he was secretly looking forward to having some time to himself to dedicate to the newest creation he could add to his portfolio. He was able to take us to the airport and accompany us all the way to our gate! It was so nice to have another set of hands as we went through security. Between holding Maya, taking off your shoes/jacket and trying to get the laptop out you run out of hands pretty quickly. As he was saying goodbye to us at the gate I think it started to sink in that we were actually going to be gone for an entire week and he just may actually miss us! :)

Maya did fabulously on the flight out to Denver and LOVED meeting Justin's dog Boji. She LOVES animals! We had a quick trip to Justin's chiropractic office to get adjusted and then we were off to Steamboat Springs! We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and the weather was absolutely beautiful! I actually got a taste of summer! Oh how I miss thee.

We had such an amazing time getting re-aquainted with many of our extended relatives. We went to art in the park one day, hiked to fish creek falls, tubed down the Yampa River, shoppeddowntown, swam at the strawberry park hot springs, attended a pro rodeo, did lots of swimming and sun-bathing and had scrumptious pot-luck dinners with the WHOLE family. Although not everyone could make it we still had over 40 relatives attend! I have to say that one of my favorite parts was watching all of the children and just marvel at how they have grown and what they have discovered. I loved watching my cousins parent their toddlers while making mental notes to self of what worked  vs. what didn't. It was fun watching my mom and dad dote on Maya and get her fill of her grandparents. Even though we live so far away, they have such a calming effect on her, like she knows they are her people.

Maya got a taste of her first time swimming in a big pool and enjoyed it! Between the baby sunblock, sun hat, sunglasses and and little mini rashguard she was as protected as she could get! She just kicked her little legs and splashed her little arms, and of course tried to drink or eat the water! She even got the giggles when uncle Justin was holding her and playing with her in the water! And after a night of waking up every two hours she cut her first tooth! Her bottom left tooth came in while we were on vacation and I would have never known to even think she was teething because she was never fussy. She drooled maybe a tiny bit more, but the waking every two hours was what clued my mom in on things. My mom was the first to find the new chomper! Oh the milestones!

I celebrated my 28th birthday surrounded by so many loved ones. It was a good trip. And believe it or not by the second night J was missing us! :) I sent him daily videos and pictures of our precious little girl. As much fun as it was it was also nice to get back home to our daily routine.

A video recap of our trip to sunny Steamboat Springs: