Holiday Travels Part 5: Pasadena

After celebrating the new year in San Jose, Hyder headed home to Boston while Maya and I headed out to Pasadena to visit my sister. We managed to spend time with both sets of aunts and uncles, plus meet up with some old and new friends. And again, we got lucky with some really amazing weather, which allowed us to get out to see a few sights in the LA area.

First up, the Huntington Garden, which has a really lovely children's section. Maya loved playing in the water:

We all squinted in the sun with some beautiful flowers in the desert garden:

And Maya enjoyed walking around with her Chethu Auntie:

The next day we headed to Griffith Observatory, which has phenomenal views of the LA area, including the Hollywood sign:

Maya also enjoyed the exhibits inside, especially the statue of Albert Einstein, who is in a perfect pose for tickling by toddlers:

She was also fascinated with a replica model of Jupiter:

We got some great photos outside:

After a nap, we headed out for dinner that night at a delicious Thai restaurant. As usual, Maya was thrilled to get some chopsticks:

Here's the whole group at dinner - Bhuvana, Maya, Naeem, Srimoyee, Chithra, Keith, Chethana, and Eric:

We went back to Naeem and Srimoyee's place afterward, where delicious cupcakes were awaiting us:

 

Maya was very happy to get a cupcake!

And of course, there were lots of giggles at home with Chethu Auntie and Eric Uncle, just like in San Jose: 

Who knew that toys falling off people's heads would be so funny? Apparently Maya's sense of humor hasn't changed much since last year at this time!