Peek-A-boo Video

There are certain times that children do things that make you stop and marvel at how big they are getting. This was one of those times. She opened the gate and went through it. She shut the door and then started opening and closing it to play peek-a-boo! Enjoy Mommy being Debbie Downer at the start of the video too (wha-wha).

Random Photos from December/January

Here are some random photos from the last month or so. First up, Priya driving the shopping cart. You never realize the power of this device until you are done with your shopping and realize she didn't make a single fuss:

She did so well in the cart car, I took her straight out for her own set of wheels:

Priya looking fly in her Puma track suit:

Priya and I enjoying the snow after my 4.5 hour commute home. Luckily she stayed up past her bedtime so we could enjoy a few minutes outside in the snow:

Videos soon...

Bath Time

I hope to get some more posts up here shortly. I want to get some recent videos up. Since I know it has been a couple of weeks, I wanted to get some pictures up. Priya loves bathtime. She never wants to get out.

You would think the colorful plastic animals would be her favorite. Nope. She loves to fill these small cups with water. They have holes in the bottom and she loves to watch the water spill out of the bottom.

She likes to stack the cups too. She could spend all night in the tub. I have to pull the plug and tell her it is over when the tub is empty. She still pitches a fit when I pull her out.

More posts to come shortly....

Christmas Day - It is always the unexpected gift

You have your thoughts on which gift they will be most excited about. You are never right. It is always an unexpected gift that kids find most exciting. Christmas got off to an early pre-dawn start, and Priya was ready to go.

She went straight for the play kitchen because it was the first thing she saw. She even played with it for a little bit...until she saw her chair!!! The chair was it. Up and down. Up and down.

She did manage to make it back to the kitchen. Do yourself a favor and click on the picture above to see the face Priya is making on the "glass" of her play oven. Hilarious.

Since I posted her making an ugly face, I better post a nice picture from Christmas morning. Then, it was back to the chair! After that she would barely leave her chair to open her other gifts.

All of Priya's running around really pooped Sona out. A great Christmas. I will try to post a video soon.

Christmas Eve 2009 - Lights and Boxes!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! It is New Year's Day at 8:30 am as I write this. I was on call last night - hence why I can work on my blog with Priya this early in the morning. This is the first of a few posts from the holidays. Enjoy!

On Christmas Eve, Priya's friend Ella came over and picked us up. We all headed to the Eastside to Portland's famous lights display on Peacock Lane. This 2 block long residential street really goes for it on the displays. The traffic backs up like crazy. We decided to walk it, which was a great way to see the lights.

Back at home Priya was noticeably excited....

To play with the large box that one of her gifts came in! Typical kid. Next year, I will just wrap up some empty boxes.

After putting her to bed, we were able to bring out all of her gifts and the other gifts. We made the mistake of putting out Grandmaman and Pappy's gifts after returning from FL for Thanksgiving. Priya quickly started unwrapping them. So, we didn't have any gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve after she went to sleep. Until the morning....

Zoo Lights

If you will remember, we got a family membership to the Zoo for Father's Day. We upgraded so we got free admission to the summer concerts and the holiday money maker - "Zoo Lights". We passed up going during the recent cold front we had. Although it was nice and dry for 10 days (which is very rare in Portland in December!), the highs were below freezing over most of that stretch.

Then the rains returned. We got a nice break in the rains on Friday night and seized the opportunity to throw the wagon in the Outback and head to the zoo.

I think Priya was just happy to be back in her wagon, but she seemed to enjoy the lights as well. They were pretty impressive lights and they were all throughout the zoo grounds, even on the trains.

Priya stayed nice and warm in the mittens and hat that her Grandmaman knitted for her.

The zoo had animal mascots walking around the zoo. Priya was not too excited to see any of them, especially Mr. Lion. Even when we would roll by them in the wagon, she would lean away from them in the wagon as we went by. It looked like she was getting her gangsta lean on!

It has been hard enough trying to keep her from pulling at the lights on the Christmas tree at home. This was just impossible.

The Hunt for the Perfect Tree

Our first year here in Portland we headed out of town a little bit in search of a christmas tree in the small town of Sherwood. Looking for a tree in Sherwood's forest? Has a familiar ring to it. But we were not here to steal from the rich. We just wanted a good deal on a nice Noble Fir, and we found it. $25 for any tree you cut down on a family farm. They even tied it to the top of my car and gave us some cookies and hot chocolate. And the farm had amazing views of Mt. Hood.

What a great way to spend an afternoon looking for the perfect tree. Of course we didn't right down the address. So, last year we spent close to an hour driving around the area before we found it. Still didn't write down the address. But, at least this year I remembered the name of the road. So, it only took us 15-20 minutes to find the same family this year! It was a nice day again, but the clouds kept the mountains out of view on this day.

So, off we went in search of the perfect tree. No need for those small trees, we need a big one. But Priya sure liked this one closer to her size:

Just like the previous two years, despite walking around the whole property, we ended up picking one right near the front. That's Priya and I in front of the chose one. Then Priya and Sona decided to help me cut it down:

Mom and Priya standing in front of our fallen prize. Now all I had to do was carry it back to the car. Once we got home, Sona was pooped from running around the farm. You know Sona is tired when she does not try to remove this Santa hat:

After struggling to get the tree to stay upright in the stand, we got it decorated the next day. We had to put the kid friendly ornaments on the bottom and Priya headed straight for them:

We even have presents under the tree already thanks to Grandmaman and Pappy. Early season's greetings to all!

Early Thanksgiving in the Sun

Thanks to my overlooking the full vacation schedule at my work, we ended up heading to Sarasota before Thanksgiving to spend some time with Grandmaman and Pappy. Regardless, the sun was shining (mostly) and it was a relaxing several days with family.

After taking a second to bask in the sun, Priya took Grandmaman and Pappy for a walk down the pier in Bradenton. She loved watching the pelicans here on the pier.

The beach in Bradenton had a sandcastle competition. Priya was amazed by this professional one with all of the cartoon characters of classic Christmas specials.

She was hesitant playing in the sand at first. But it didn't take her long to get into it and soon she was filling her bucket with sand. She especially enjoyed destroying all of the stuff I made in the sand. Even after going home for a nap she refused to go inside. So, Pappy had to swing her to sleep in the hammock. It was a bit chilly that day, so we covered her up to keep her warm:

A short but sweet trip with family in the sun.

Maui Leftovers

Here are the last of the Priya-less images for a while. Here are some random shots from our trip to Maui. You might be wondering where the pictures from the beach are. Well, I was lazy at the beach and didn't feel like bringing my camera. Plus, I could not take pictures with a Tidal Wave drink in one hand and a book in the other!

Here is the sunset as seen from our balcony:

This is Ami in front of the Iao Needle.

Ami in front of a stream near the Iao Needle. This cute kitty was just chilling near the parking lot.

One last sunset for the road. I hope you enjoyed these pictures. We enjoyed taking them!! We head to visit my parents in Florida next week leading up to Thanksgiving. Will have more pictures of Priya then.

The Road to Hana

The day after watching the sunrise at Haleakala Crater we woke up early again (not as early) to hit the Road to Hana. This 50 mile road winds slowly around Northeast coast of Maui with hairpin turns and tons of banana bread. We were ahead of schedule as we pulled out of Paia town with full bellies well before 8 am.

Then we hit our first "adventure" stop. The book made it sound so easy: pull over, hike through some bamboo, boulder hop and stream and make a quick hike to see 4 waterfalls with idyllic pools to swim in. 20 minutes later we had gathered a group of 8-10 fellow lost "adventurers". A quick look at the map and I realized our error and we were back on track.

That's us at the second waterfall. It was a slice of Maui jungle heaven. Peaceful waterfall with a crystal clear pool that we took a cooling swim in. Ahhhh, Maui. We should have stopped here.

We had to climb a very questionable wooden ladder and pull our selves up uncertain ropes to actually climb over the waterfall in the background. Then we had to hike along the stream above hopping from rock to rock on what I believe to be the slickest rocks on earth. At this point, Ami was less than amused. The trail eventually ends at a long pool that is about 100 meters long, which I had to swim to get to and over the 3rd waterfall (that's me jumping off of it on my way back below) to find the 4th waterfall. The 4th waterfall was a trickle. What a disappointment. But still kind of fun.

Well, that little sidetrip ending up take almost 3 hours and we were only 5 miles into the road! We went from ahead of schedule to way behind. Oh well. You can be in a rush on this highway. The speed limit is usually about 15 mph and you can see in the pic below that it winds right along the edge of the earth.

I did not follow the local kid above of that cliff. I did go swimming in the pond below and then the local kids through stuff at me and told me I "was muckin' up the water bro!". Welcome to Maui! We found the locals to be less than inviting. But we carried on and found ourselves at this black sand beach:

The beach above was my favorite beach. The combination of sheer cliffs, grass pasture with cows, sand, and pine trees in the distance was magnificent. If I were a cow, this would be the pasture for me.

We left the cows and headed for the scheduled stop - The Seven Sacred Pools. The guidebook says you should get here around 12-1 pm. We rolled in at 4:30pm just as the rain began to fall. Didn't stop us from jumping into the various pools though.

After the pools, you have a decision to make. Turn around and drive all the way back the way you came on twisty, well paved roads. Or continue the way you are going around Haleakala on straighter roads that are not as well paved. We chose the latter and here is what we were up against in a setting sun:

It was actually a great decision. Despite the bumpy road, the backside of Haleakala was incredible. The topography of the crater made it so you could just envision the lava running down the side of the hill. Plus, there were cows everywhere on the road! Our chariot was certainly made for bumpy roads:

In the end, we made it. We hit the upcountry for a great dinner and were in bed by 10 pm. One more post on Maui coming up, with all the leftover pictures....