Maya leaves CA

Grandma Liz came into town to spend time with Maya and then head back with her to MI.  Maya immediately took to Grandma Liz and they read lots of books, no surprise there...

Maya hit the good-bye circuit, starting with Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen's house.  She hung with her cousins, Jack, Quinn, Sean and Audrey.  She had a marvelous time with her cousins.

It's hard to say good-bye, they have all been so lovely to us here.
Ailene stopped by with baby Gabi to say good-bye to Maya.
Maya loves to hold babies and all of her baby dolls are Gabi in our house.
Ailene has been such an important person in Maya's life since she was born and it was sweet how Maya held on to her at the end of the night.
Another key person in Maya's life is Zoe.  Here the two played side by side.

Zoe is a new big sister to baby Sophia.  It was so nice to hold a new baby and we are sad to not be around on a daily basis for this little one.


Our good-bye to Aunt Mary and Uncle Marty was very hard and emotional.  Maya was sad to see her go but she knows she will be back to visit and hang.  
Now she is MI and loving all of her family.  We are to join soon, just a little chore of packing up the house (oh no).  But we look forward to next chapter in our lives.  I am going to Western Michigan University to study Counseling Psychology and John is heading to NY through January to do a 5 night a week gig at Feinstein's in Manhattan.  He will commute 2 days a week to MI to spend time with the family, and we will go and visit him each month.   Life is crazy full and we couldn't be more excited.

Fireworks and Hiawatha

I spent an evening away from Maya with Mary and Marty at the wonderful Hollywood Bowl. It was a night of Prokofiev and we had box seats.
Mary and Marty brought a fabulous spread of food and wine. Needless to say, I was in heaven.
The night ended with fireworks to my favorite section of Romeo and Juliet.

The following day, we received the DVD of my nieces and brothers performing in a children opera workshop, Hiawatha. Maya was enthralled. She was especially impressed with Nokomis' ballet solo and here she is reenacting the magic in her diaper...

And in tribute to Michael Jackson, we have been listening to his music at home. She loves to hear "that lady sing." Here she is dancing to Jackson 5...

4th of July Flower Girl

Maya tried her luck as a flower girl this Fourth of July for my dear co-worker, Patty.  
She looked so adorable and started the afternoon with energy and gusto for her very important role.
As always, the dress provided hours of fun and amusement.  She thought she looked like a ballerina.
Needless to say, she did not make it down the aisle.  Last minute change of heart left her holding on to my leg for dear life.  We did, however, spend the rest of the wedding running in the back given that she could not use her inside voice during the wedding.  With a loud voice, she continued to say that the man (priest) was talking to her, that the cantor was doing a "great job" and that the images of angels and saints were "fairies."
By the end of the wedding, the flower girls were pooped.
John took her home with her basket of jelly beans (I tried anything to get her to go down)...
Off we went for photos outside our school church.  Here is my co-worker Ana and my boss, Marsha.
The beautiful happy bride, Patty!
The wedding party.
It is officially hot and we are enjoying the summer spirit.  With lots of bubbles...
ponytails and...
swimming.  Maya has enjoyed the pools at Aunt Mary's, Uncle Tom's, and with her cousins Logan and Bannon.  She has been a summer sleeping champ with all the workout.

NY Trip

I took an extended weekend to join John in NYC.  He was opening for Michael Feinstein at the Loews Regency Hotel on Park Ave.  Amazing hotel!
Here's John selling his CDs outside the nightclub.  He had a wonderful run at the club, playing for the likes of Clive Davis and Judge Judy (oh, the clientele).  
Joseph Howard lived with John back in the day and managed to come by and meet up with us the first night in town.  After the show, we headed to yet another show at the Carlisle with Michael and his partner, and then a late night drink with Joseph (we went home at 3:30am - oh NYC never sleeps)...
John's mom, Suzanne, just moved to NYC to take care of Paul and Peggy's darling little boy, JP.  I spent the day with Suzanne and JP, getting a much needed baby fix and a quick jaunt to a French cafe with the little guy.
That same night, I met up with my cousin Sarah and headed to the meat packaging district for Malaysian food.
Our very messy crab experience.

It was a busy trip!  We are both glad to be home with little pea but thrilled to have had the opportunity to make the NY trip.

Visits with Aunt Mary

Hi everyone!

It's Aunt Jeannine again.

Maya and I have had quite the adventures here in the last few days.
Anna went to NY to go spend some time with John while he's opening for Michael Feinstein and doing the thing he do so well. While she was visiting with my mom, my brother Paul, Peggy and their new son JP, Maya and I were visiting her Aunt Mary and Uncle Marty. We have had soo much fun!

We got to read books every day...


We went to the park and did some slap happy swinging! "Higher!" is a favorite phrase, or "High ya!". She sounds like the karate kid, I love it! :)

And some quiet time swinging.. here she said she said "butterfly." She was making butterflies in the sand with her feet. What an imagination!

While we were at the playground they were filming a TV show across the park... only in LA! Maya really, really wanted a balloon from there. I say, if you are going to have balloons on set next to a real playground, there should be some for the kids too.. 'cause that's just cruel!

We did a lot of climbing.

And sliding...

And thinking...

And walking with Aunt Mary. How fun!

Then after a nap, we went to the mall! Who knew LA with all these small shops had inside malls too!

Maya was ennamored with the pink polka dotted dog at Victoria's Secret.. potty training here we come!

But that dog was too cute to be left unloveed. Here she is kissing the pink polka dotted doggie... the sales girl thought it was hilarious! So did we. How nice!

At the play area, there was this cool glassed in fishtank with giant Coi. That was Maya's absolute favorite. She is a total water baby for sure!

Although there were a few fun toys there too.

Still a bit unnerved by the big machines that move, she was facinated with the face of the firetruck.

And had a ball shopping at Bath and Body with Aunt Mary.. ah-oh, watch out John! Hide the credit cards, this girl's on a mission!!!

(PS> There's a present for Anna in that bag, don't tell her. It's a surprise!)

But, alas, it is the water that captivates this one so. This fountain was great, until we wouldn't let her reach in and get the penny she threw in the water. The whole concept of wishing just wasn't a good enough excuse for throwing away money! Especially with all that shopping to do! :)

But, at last we went back to Mary's and took some time to smell the roses.

Ate some wonderful food Marty made and read some books before bed.

What busy, fun days! John and Anna come home Sat. and I leave Tuesday back to Michigan. Thanks for all the memories Mary and Marty! Looking forward to more fun to come.

.

With Love ~Jeannine

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Here is some video of Maya's other favorite activity.. hopping and running around! Yeah!

Maya Reading and Singing with Aunt Jeannine

It's Aunt Jeannine again!

I'm here visiting, helping out while John is in NY opening for Michael Feinstein and Cheyenne Jackson.

I have tons of pictures already, but no time to post them, as Maya takes up quite a bit of time running around and talking up a storm these days! I didn't believe it when Anna said Maya would sit and read books to herself, but spontaneously this morning she did! I grabbed my camera to get proof, here she is sitting still for almost a minute, reading a book. It is possible! But, then she notices me and has to talk, which is cute too!!

This one is for Grandma Liz.

Much love ~Jeannine

Arboretum

This past Saturday, Maya and I headed to Arcadia to meet our friends Anna and Kate.
Maya was thrilled to see Kate and has not stopped talking about her and the peacocks since.
She couldn't believe the good fortune - ducks, geese, peacocks, turtles, fish and most importantly loads of bird poop.
Very cute pic of Anna and Kate!
And of course, peacocks...

Since the arboretum, John took off for NY for 2 weeks and Maya and I have been keeping one another company (with many much needed Mary breaks). Here is a little of what we do on our free time (I saved everyone from the screaming temper tantrum after I put the violin away, I thought the violin song was enough for any adult ears).