Friday, September 7, 2012

A Summer of Firsts

Maya and Jane have been busy little travelers this summer. Most trips were quick weekenders that didn't involve seeing much other than a relative's home or the inside of a hotel, so I didn't bother teaching them about their destinations. But the trips did have a few firsts.

In July, I took the girls to Charlotte, North Carolina to surprise their grandma for her birthday. The trip was Jane's first plane ride, as well as my first trip solo with two small children. (Chris stayed home to work.) Surprisingly, it wasn't as stressful as I imagined, thanks to an iPad pre-loaded with Dora and Yo Gabba Gabba:

Maya always gets the window seat.

While in Charlotte, Jane got to meet her Aunt Lizzie for the first time:

Think they're related?

and Maya received her first chair massage:

It's hard out here for a shrimp

A few weeks later, we drove to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a wedding. Once again, the iPad came to the rescue and made for a somewhat pleasant 8-hour drive each way:

Say backpack.

While in Pittsburgh, Jane got to meet her great-grandmother for the first time:

Jane Patricia meets great-grandma Patricia.

and I got to experience my second Pittsburgh wedding cookie table:

Totally didn't share any with the kids.


We rounded out the summer with a trip to South Haven, Michigan, with my extended family. The weekend consisted of endless hours of sunshine, open fields, playgrounds, the beach and lots of small children. Maya was in heaven:

Maya and her cousin Aubree. Yes Michigan!


Aubree teaches Maya about big kid swings.

Cinda and Maya being too cute

Even cuter

The cutest
It was pretty heavenly for the rest of us, too:

She really needed to get away from it all.


Janie and her Abuelita, watching the sunset.

Same lake we always see; so much prettier on this side.
Don't you hate clothes?

We all has so much fun, we didn't even need the iPad on the way home:

Success!

As much as we'd all love to take a few months off from travel and gear up Costa Rica, we'll be on the move the next few weeks, both with and without the kids. As far as family trips go, we have some Missouri football on the horizon. Time to teach the girls about where and how mommy and daddy met, minus all the cheap booze.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

"CR"

As we've started arranging our Costa Rica trip, we've told Maya about some of the things we'll do there, how Santa will come all the way to Costa Rica to deliver her Christmas presents, that we'll celebrate Dad's birthday in Costa Rica, etc. And as a result, we've successfully gotten Maya excited about our trip. Problem is, now it's all she talks about.

For example, we told Maya that by the time we go to Costa Rica, she'll be 3 years old (she's currently 2 1/2). For a while she kept repeating this idea: "I go to Costa Rica, I be 3 years old." But it's morphed into the following:

Some soon-to-be-confused adult: "Maya, how old are you?"
Maya: "I go to Costa Rica"

Sensing that the next 6 months are going to be very long unless we dial back the Costa Rica talk, Chris and I have started referring to our upcoming trip as "CR." I give Maya about 3 weeks before she figures out what that means.

However, our CR talk will probably taper off a bit now. We've booked our flights, arranged to rent a house for a week on the beach and a hotel room for a few nights near the Arenal Volcano. Now all that's left to do is plan our inter-country travel and tours. CR is well-known for its abundance of outdoorsy activities: hiking, zip-lining, mountain biking, deep-sea fishing, and the like. But I'm not sure what kind of activities can be done with a 3 year old and 8 month old in tow. Just one more thing to research — quietly, so as not to excite the Maya.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bluegrass Babies, recap

The girls' first camping adventure went pretty well. The biggest issue was the heat. It was in the mid-90s all weekend, which is pretty darn hot for two little girls of German descent.

Maya enjoys one of her many ice cream treats.



Bluegrass baby Jane staying shaded


As much as we tried to rough it the whole weekend, we did break down one morning for some air-conditioning, iced coffee and cold milk at a nearby McDonald's.

City-folk camping

Despite the heat, Maya still got her bluegrass dancing on, while eating ice cream and counting.



The festival we attended takes place on a campground, meaning you can just walk from your tent to one of the stages.

Maya and her cousin Lucinda beyond excited to play in each others' "houses"

A view of the main stage

The festival had two stages, and the headliner on the final night on the main stage was Ralph Stanley, who you all might remember from the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack.

Although there was tons of music beyond the two stages. One of the other perks of camping on site is that many other campers bring along their instruments and play 'round the fire at night. You can just stroll from campsite to campsite, listening to bluegrass all night long. These jam sessions occurred way past the kids' bedtime, but my sister and I had a chance to have a "girls' night out" one night and visit some campsites, while the husbands stayed with the kids. I didn't think to grab any pics of these, so here's a shot of me and my sis:

Two sisters and two babies.
We're already talking about next year, which will be hopefully a little less stressful because our two infants will be toddlers. Then again, maybe babies are easier.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Bluegrass Babies

This weekend, we're heading down to Brown County Indiana with my sister and her family for the Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass festival. It's something my parents used to take us to as kids, and we wanted to try it out again now that we have our own families. We'll be camping on the festival grounds, which will be the first camping trip for all the kids, as well as my brother in law. It's also the first camping trip Chris and I are taking without our dog, Rosie, who's no longer up for such trips. She'll be enjoying the cool A/C at my parents' house.

To prepare for the trip, I checked out a few things from the library on bluegrass to show Maya:

A bluegrass CD was a must. We've listened to it a few times, and Maya can't help but dance when it's on. I tried to catch a few videos of her dancing, but as soon as the iPhone comes out, Maya stops dancing and wants to watch videos on it. So, I'll have to shoot some candid videos this weekend.


A book on Ralph Stanley, who will be at the festival this weekend. This book's a little too word-heavy for Maya, but we looked at some of the tour photos inside.


An introductory book to bluegrass. This one has lot of pictures for Maya to see. I especially like the opening chapters on each instrument because I could scan and print the page, and turn it into something for Maya to color, while learning about different instruments (as well as letters and numbers):


I also bought two ebooks on the iPad:


Banjo Granny. This is a really cute book about a grandma who travels to visit her grandson who loves bluegrass music. The grandma's banjo case comes in handy as she has to cross a river, a mountain and a desert. Maya seems to enjoy it, although most of the fascination is turning the pages on the iPad.



The ABCs of Bluegrass. I can't tell if this book is a joke or not. Some of the letters make sense (A if for Autoharp), while others seem a little ... lazy (N is for Neo-traditional Bluegrass performer...???). Also, it completely skips the letter W. But is was $0.99 on iBooks, so I can't complain.

Next up, we're teaching Maya about camping, right before experiencing the real thing this weekend.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Little Wunders travel the world

Maya and Jane are my two girls, currently ages 2 1/2 and 6 weeks, respectively. We're currently planning a trip to Costa Rica in December, and I wanted to make sure the girls (well, Maya at least) had an appreciation for where we're going. Or as much as a toddler can.

So my plan is to teach her about the culture, geography, food, climate, etc. of Costa Rica before we go. I hope to do this with any place we visit so my girls grow up with a better understanding of the world. I want them to learn all about a place, and then get so excited to finally see it. And when they're older, hopefully this will make trips to museums, historical sites, city centers, and any other place Mom and Dad really want to see less painful.

 A blog provides a nice format for us to document what we learn and what we see, both so we can revisit it from anywhere, and so the grandparents can follow along as well. Plus, it gives Maya a chance to interact with the computer, or Mommy's iPad and iPhone — things she can't keep her grubby little hands off of.

So here we go: Maya and Janie's travel blog. For followers of my other blog know, I'm fabulous at starting stuff and not following through, so we'll see how long this lasts. But it's a beginning.