Monday, July 25, 2011

Happy Birthday to Maya - Part I

Maya started receiving birthday gifts even before she officially turned two - what a lucky girl! The gifts started with a rocking horse-drawn carriage, along with some lovely clothes, from Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ken:














She loves rocking in her little princess carriage, as evident from this video clip.

Next up were some great books from Chethu Auntie and Eric Uncle:


















After that she got some more books from Naeem Uncle and Srimoyee Auntie:














And a cool tee ball set:


















She also got some great gifts from her Aunt Sidney and Uncle Andrew up in Canada, including hand-made alphabet coasters (check out the online shop), an adorable dress, and some great sunglasses:














And along with all these gifts, I made cupcakes for her to share with her daycare buddies:

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Brunch, Billiards, and Bears

My love of alliteration in blog post titles continues - sorry for the cheesiness! Anyway, here I am, catching up on last weekend's happenings. We started with a lovely outdoor brunch at The Neighborhood Restaurant with our friends Kitty and Joe:




























Next, we headed to Flat Top Johnny's in Cambridge to shoot some pool for a fundraiser organized by some old friends. Maya seemed to enjoy her drink:


















Then she shot some pool:



















The next day we headed to the zoo with our good friends Kathryn, Kieran, and Erica. Maya seemed to enjoy herself while looking at a wolf:














She and Erica were all smiles while posing with a wolf statue:














And then Maya enjoyed dragging her Dada through a small tunnel:


















We did see a couple bears, though they were fast asleep and barely visible on this warm summer day:














Another fun weekend!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Adventures in Fine Dining

We've been very lucky that Maya is quite easygoing and is happy to dine out with us most of the time. Over the past few days we had a few dining experiences at restaurants that ranged from smooth to lovely to bumpy.

First, we returned to Tango Restaurant last week to celebrate a friend's birthday. Maya got to spend time with her daycare buddy Sonia, which they both enjoyed:




























We were with a large group and had a great time - lots of delicious food and wine, and entertaining conversations!

A couple nights later, Hyder and I went out to dinner at Salts Restaurant in Cambridge for our 10th wedding anniversary. The food was amazing and the meal was lovely!

Here's my first course:












 

Here's my second course:














And here was our festive dessert:














As much as I love Maya, sometimes it's nice to dine without interruptions or worries. Thanks to our friends the Wades, the Summerses, and the DiCarlo-Scaparottis for taking care of Maya that night!

Finally, tonight we had a lovely dinner with our neighbors Ken and Marilyn at The Elephant Walk, which is a French Cambodian restaurant. Maya was in a very playful and loud mood. I'm not sure if the neighboring parties around us enjoyed the noise! But she was very cute; here she is playing peekaboo:














And here she is posing for the camera:














Of course, she loves taking pictures too, so here's one of her shots (assisted a bit by me):















More to come tomorrow!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Fourth of July Canoeing and Swimming

We had a terrific time today canoeing and swimming on the Ipswich River with our friends.

Maya started out thoughtful:


















She started to look a bit more eager once we put on our life vests:














After canoeing upriver for a while, we stopped for lunch - this was the view from the site:














After lunch, we canoed downriver and found a good swimming spot. Maya was quite happy to play in the water:


















By the time we packed up, she was soaking wet after lots of fun splashing in the water, and rather unhappy to leave:














Fortunately we got delicious some ice cream at a nearby shop, so that seemed to cheer her up!

Fun with Bubbles

Maya, like many other little kids, loves bubbles. She's lucky enough to have received a great bucket o' bubbles from our neighbors. Now that the weather is finally nice, we've been spending time outside in the yard, and what better way to pass the time than to blow bubbles?

First, Maya made sure to bring over the bucket o' bubbles:

















 
Then she tried to blow some bubbles:


















She was not too successful so we took over at that point. We didn't get any pictures of her chasing the bubbles, but it was definitely lots of fun!

In other news, Maya has learned the word no and accompanies it with finger-wagging, to much comedic effect.

The Littlest Hockey Player

Hyder loves to play sports with Maya, and the latest pursuit has been hockey.

Maya started out putting on some gloves:














Then her buddy Ryan joined in the fun:














A couple days later, Maya and her Dada took the hockey fun inside:














Clearly, this is a lot of fun:



















I got one video of her smacking the floor with her stick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yjHcasWFpU.

And I got another video of her combining hockey and yoga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXSpapOk8w4.

It's so much fun to hear her giggle and watch her develop these skills! :)