What a trip!!!!
We got home from Ohio yesterday. It was a blazing fast 8 days mixed of tears and cheers. Unfortunately Daddy lost his phone (camera) the last day of the trip so most of our pics are gone. We still got some good ones though! Let's see... what did we do?
Besides kicking it at the Granville Street Fair, You loved to play in Grandma's pond. You should know that Grandma, never, ever, EVER let's any kid throw rocks in her pond. Except for Maya. Because this made Maya happy.
You got to feed the fish in her pond.
You loved to dip your toes in the pond with cousin Hannah. Hannah was pretty cute and ready to play with you the entire time. You were probably a big disappointment for Hannah because well... you're still just a baby! Hannah was cute and even sang you her version of the "Maya Papaya" song. You did have fun with her in the pond though!
But what comes with playing in the pond? Dirty, dirty baby with pond scum. ew. yuck. That meant you got to take your first hose shower! Yea! You were pretty impressed.
You also got to have your first Tea Party with cousin Hannah!
You, Grandma and Mommy visited the Columbus Zoo and you loved it! This was a much different experience than visiting the Tacoma Zoo. You actually saw all the animals and were interested! You loved the flamingos and the Elephants were your favorite. You came back able to make a pretty impressive Elephant sound. The Gorillas scared the bejesus out of you apparently though. Any mention of the word "monkey" that day was responded with a prompt "no" from you and a a violent shaking of the head.
The Toledo visit was a blur but it was a great visit. Unfortunately I lost most of those pics. But besides hanging with the family you got to go visit Grandpa again and visit the house Daddy grew up in! I had a great pic of you and Grandma on the front porch but it was still on my phone.
This is the tree outside of that house. Most of my childhood friends climbed that tree at one point in time. Daddy wasn't the most athletic kid on the block so I got as far as up that first stump. You also got about that far already. It is quite possible that you might become a professional rock climber.
We took you to Maumee Bay State Park and you got to take a dip in Lake Erie for the first time!
Now when I was a kid we used to head just east of that State park to Reno Beach Ohio. My friends and I had some good times on those shores and if we were lucky we got a view of Davis Besse (The Nuclear Power Plant) from the beach.
Aunt Rosie and Uncle John are the restaurant connoisseurs of Northwest Ohio and Southwest Michigan. There is a great Lebanese restaurant they take us to in Dearborn. You loved the Hummus and Pita! After we ventured to this incredible bakery. You walked in like you owned the place and said hi to just about everyone. Twice.
Most of the Toledo time was just hanging with Family. Uncle John was your favorite by far. He had you laughing and you mimicked just about anything he did. In fact if Mommy or Daddy tried to get you to try some food you answered with your favorite word. "No." If Uncle John asked you to you more than willingly did. Beast. He taught you what "stuck" means and now when something is stuck you say "stuck" and proceed with the dramatic struggle to "un-stuck" it. Here you are kicking back on Grandma Castañeda's patio enjoying some watermelon. You got your first taste of real humidity. The pictures don't show the incredible mess you were that day. I think you had to have three baths that day to just not be totally gross.
On the way back to Granville from Toledo we had to take a pause in driving because of the torrential downpour we were in. Now people say it rains a lot in Seattle. It doesn't rain like what we drove though. Not even close. But our pause gave you a chance to cross off another Ohioism kids do. Late night Meijering.
With such a short visit, most of the time was spent with Family. We did manage to see a few of our friends and you had a blast playing with their kids! Here you and Ryan are enjoying some ice cream in Granville.
Here you are playing with Wyatt and Sophia. You LOVED Wyatt and all his toys!
All in all it was a great trip Maya. The first few days were rough. Probably because of lack of sleep after taking a red eye. I think Mommy and Daddy learned a valuable lesson this trip. No more Ohio red eye trips. We also need to start buying you your own seat. A seat for you instead of on the lap makes a world of difference. You were pretty good on all the planes though. You were pretty attached to Mommy and Daddy the whole trip but warmed up a little bit. I think both Aunt Linda's "won" in the ability to hold Maya category. I think they both got to hold you three times without you throwing a crazy baby fit. All that will get better in time. Overall I think Mommy and I agree that you get somewhere between a "C+" or "B-" for the trip. :)
Now that we're back home its time to catch up on sleep and back to eating healthy. Time to get back on that potty too girlie! You do take after your daddy in lots of ways.
On to our next adventure...
Love,
Daddy
