Day 3&4 - Panama Canal Cruise - San Francisco

Our 3rd day on the ship was an 'at sea' day.  These days are a bit more relaxing as there are no schedules to meet but our own.  Time at the gym, cocktails in the lounge, meals whenever we want, Maya playing in the kids club decorating cupcakes, riding motorcycles and general lazyness is the order of the day.  Sillyness often follows...

   

 

  

Our 4th day was spent in San Francisco, CA.

John & I have been there many times before and LOVE this city.  So, knowing our way around, we decided to take Maya in the stroller & just walk for the day.  Mom & Dad, never having been here before, chose the bus excursion option and got the opportunity to see some of the key sight-seeing stops of the city.  Shorelines, cable cars, china town, playgrounds, Sea Lions, Alcatraz and more.  Unfortunately, the famous SF fog prevented proper views of the bridge...

  

   

   

     

Dinner chats...

M: Mommy, do you remember last Christmas when Santa left me the trick-or-treat bag?
Me: Sweetie, Santa doesn't bring Trick-or-Treat bags.  You get that at Halloween.
M: Yes he does... and then he hides chocolate eggs all over the house for me to find!
Me: (giggling) The Easter Bunny hides chocolate eggs in the house, Santa puts presents under the Christmas tree and Halloween is when you wear a costume and go from house to house Trick-or-Treating for candy or toys...
M: oh...

(I think we need to help her sort out her fables...)

Day 2 - Panama Canal Cruise - Astoria, OR

Day 2 - Panama Canal Cruise - Astoria, OR
We arrived early the next day to Astoria, Oregon.  It was rainy when we arrived but cleared by the afternoon.  We weren't really sure WHY we were in Astoria, we just were. 
Astoria is a very small town with little to see or do and, as it was less than 24 hours since we boarded, we decided to stay on board and relax with M.  My parents went in to town and saw the local farmers market, antique vehicles & rode the cable car.  Of course, due to health & disease issues, you are never allowed to remove or bring on food to a ship so they weren't able to buy anything but lunch at the farmers market.

       

Day 1 - Panama Canal Cruise - Vancouver

Panama Canal - Day 1 - Sept 22
...Sit right back and we'll tell a tale.....
On Sept 22, we boarded the Norwegian Cruise ship JEWEL in Vancouver with my parents.  Although it was a rainy day, the rains stopped long enough for us to enjoy the departure party. 
....on a 3-hour tour la-la (oops, 3 week tour)....
Bon Voyage!



    

NCL Jewel                               M and Grampa   

  

Chillin                                     M and Gramma

  

Going under the Lions Gate Bridge                        Cheers!                

Travel Vaccinations...

We went to get our travel vaccinations updated today & to get Maya's first travel shots done.  We had to get I.M. shots in the shoulder which hurt a bit more so wanted to prepare Maya.  I went first so she could see what would happen & I expained that it felt like a finger-nail pinch but that it didn't last long.  I had her Elmo ready for comfort, I even bought twizzlers (a rare candy offering) if she was brave.  She was a trooper! She watched carefully, asked questions then jumped up on Daddy's lap while I ran for my cell camera, lifted her sleeve and was ready.  The nurse was awesome & really quick.  Maya wasn't too thrilled for the first 10 seconds after the shot but stopped crying quite quickly then asked for a Twizzler....  Stomach over-rules pain again...

     

Right Before                         5 seconds later

(my cell camera wasn't fast enough to get the cry shot)

First day of JK3....

Our super-hero was so excited to be back to pre-school today.  Even though she's been at her school, and in her JK3 classroom all summer, she wanted to see her friends again, wear her uniform again (!) and get back to learning instead of just playing...  wow!

She likes her unifrom so much, she wanted to wear every piece of it.  We compromised and she agreed to wait to wear the winter clothes until after our vacation...

As of this morning, she is 40"tall and weighs 32lbs.  (She gained an inch & lost a pound since the end of June).  Gumby growth...

  

  

PNE...

We planned a week-day to head to the PNE this year, avoid the crowds and enjoy all that the fair has to offer - shows, food, shows, rides, food, sun, noise, food....  Unfortunately, Maya was only interested in what the fair had to offer in kids-land.  It was a wonderful, sunny day and we did manage to see a couple of shows (Peking Acrobats & Extreme Motorcycles) but the bulk of the day was spent in/to/from/talking about the rides that Maya wanted to go on.  Last year, she WOULD NOT go on rides so we were glad to see that she was a little braver this year.  Next year, we're going to have to get a ride pass!  Plus, we had some friends suggest we do PLAYLAND the week before the fair to get the ride part over with before the PNE starts so we can just relax & enjoy the fair.  Great idea!

 

Here is a video of Maya's first PNE ride and her first 'motorcycle' ride.

Daddy was so proud....

Random Stuff...

We had a busy summer so here are some pictures of random stuff we did/saw/conquered!

 

        

Wedding Anniversary - motorcycle ride to Squamish then picnic on cliffs at Whytecliff Park. 

 

     

 Girls Weekend in Seattle with Carolyn              NOT HAPPY!                        

     

 Riding the cart at Kerrisdale Play Palace       Cooling off at the Splashpad

     

Riding the train in Stanley Park

 

          

                  The 2 Maya's                           Painted Face at the Chili Festival       

  

 Cuddling with her 'brother' Joshua          Anniversary Flowers    

Glass Blowing... results

Here are the highly anticipated & long awaited (not really) results of my first glass-blowing class.  I'm SOOO pleased with what I did.  I see glass presents in the future of a few people in my circle!  Any requests?  (Sue, no I can't make you a perfume bottle....yet!)

     

 

      

           fish                                paper-weight (2)                salsa bowl + goblet

Glass Blowing...

In my efforts to keep my brain occupied & out of renovation mode, I've been taking a variety of clinics & courses over the past few months.  French Cooking, Bread Making, Bead Making (jewelry), Running, and most recently, Glass blowing.  What fun that is! 

Glass blowing is taking molten glass & sculpting, blowing &/or moulding it in to different shapes.  It was hot & physical work but I enjoyed every minute of it.  It wont be my last class either...

The list of what can be made is infinite but we started with the simple stuff: paper-weights, fish, goblets & bowls.  It takes YEARS to become proficient in working glass, knowing how & when to manipulate it, dip it, draw it, blow it, flash it, jack it... (this is starting to sound a bit riske)   

Pictures of the finished products to follow in a few days...

2 year old stuff

(this is a draft entry that, apparently, was never published.  It's so funny to read this now, knowing how advanced her language and physical development is...)


Maya is changing SOOO fast! Here are some updates on what she now does...

Things she says:
-help (hep)
-up (uppa)
-yellow (sounds more like lellow)
-ok (more like o-tay)
-baby (be-be)
-cereal (ce-al)
-Milk (mik)
-Liar! (i-ah!) ...its an inside joke...
-A-ha!
-Good Job! (goo-ja)


Things she signs:
-help, down,
-chair, table, swing


Things she does:
-walks up & down stairs standing
-walks her baby-dolls around house in stroller
-pushes the big stroller
-says 'hi' and waves to many people


Things she knows:
-She's always right (I need to get used to conceding things)
-Body Parts
-Colours
-Shapes


Things she loves:
-Toys & her dog woofie, her dolls Mei-Mei and Jade, her cat Jennifer
-giving kisses anywhere, anytime
-Yogurt
-Japanese Food
-watching her 'Baby Einstein' and 'Baby can Read' videos


Things she doesn't love:
-green beans, tomatos, mushrooms,

Sesame Street...

Sesame Street came to town in July so we HAD to go see our buddies.  Maya was so excited to be going that she barely spoke of anything else all that week and her toy Elmo didn't leave her side.

Finally, event day arrived and she chattered excitedly all morning.  We went to the 'pre-show' which, unfortunately, was nothing but wood paintings of the characters & some recorded music from the videos.  The show itself was definitely more engaging.  What outwardly appeared to be an wide-eyed coma on Maya, was her being utterly mesmerized by the show.  The only way we knew she was still alive was the blur of her hand-to-mouth popcorn eating frenzy.  We guessed she liked both of them...