First Haircut (not by Papa)...

Maya had her first Washington haircut this week.  I took my poor little ragamuffin to a cute kids' boutique and hair salon at the Country Village shops called Bella & Max.  It started off a little rough with a few tears, but some Elmo's World and fruit-snacks made it all ok!

So behind it's ridiculous...

Seriously...June 13th!  That's the date of my last post.  Can we say SLACKER!  We have been busy busy busy these days!  Between settling in, visitors and a trip to CA, there's a whole lot to catch up on! I'll focus on our visits and use some pictures to walk you through the last month...

We actually had four sets of visitors and loved every minute with our family and friends who came to see and spend time with us!  Our friends, the Mongers, came first.  They were visiting family in Oregon and made the drive up a few hours to stay a night with us.  It was so good to see Ryan, Janet and their twin boys, Henry and Andrew!  Grammy and Grampy were next.  We enjoyed time with them as well, but unfortunately we got no pictures of either visit!  Booo.

Paul and Tina came in town the week before 4th of July.  I loved having my little brother and his wife  here with us and I felt so loved that they decided to take time off work to make the 16 hour drive up to see us!  We loved our time with them and got to check out some fun touristy spots!

Unkie and Maya at the Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo

Yumm...thanks for the ice cream unkie!

Cheesy Space Needle Picture...definitely Paul's idea

Next, these three came to see us!  I just love the Burgers and had been missing my dear friend Lacie so much!  It was so great to spend time with them and I'm so thankful they also made the 16 hour drive to come see us!

Friend love

We took a ferry to San Juan Island for the 4th of July

Maya throwing rocks with Grammy down by the water

We took the Burgers to Whale Watch Point.  I didn't get a picture of it, but we saw a whale!  It was awesome!

At the 4th of July Parade

Enjoying a sunny day at the beach on 4th of July

Stutzmans and Slyngers at the beach

So thankful for this girl xo

Silly family picture :)

And the boys just couldn't pass up LEGAL fireworks in WA...go big or go home!

A couple weeks later, we took a trip to CA to visit family and friends we were missing so much!  We enjoyed a surprise birthday dinner, time at Happy Hallow, trips to the park, and BBQs with family and friends.  It was a great trip!

Maya sat in her own seat for most of the flight!

A trip to CA wouldn't be complete without a Happy Hallow visit with our best buddies

And we loved hanging out in the California sunshine at the park

With Papa at Happy Hallow...yes, we went twice during our visit...we just love Happy Hallow!

We ended our CA visit with a playdate with our Las Madres friends!  We sure miss these guys too....so much, the kids just cried and cried ;)

Ok stay tuned for more updates specific to miss Maya B.   She is growing, changing and learning by leaps and bounds these days!!  

Mmmm, mac and cheese...

Just a few pics of my little love from lunch today...she couldn't get enough of her mac and cheese!  Annie's organic of course- wink ;)

the toof!  praying the second top one comes in soon!!

love those baby blues...

New adventures...

We've now been in Washington for 3 weeks!  This week has been particularly busy!  Maya and I had two play dates with new friends and we tried a new class at Little Gym.

We had been doing Gymboree Play and Music in California and loved it!  Once we moved, I discovered that the Gymboree that was near our new home had closed down and the closest location was 30 minutes away :(  Desperate for our normal routine, I signed us up anyways and we went to our first class last week.  It was generally the same, but they changed some of the songs and some of the movements with those songs.  I know it shouldn't be a huge deal, but Maya knows those songs and I was so excited for something familiar for her, it was really disappointing that even our trusty Gymbo was now different.  Add that to the long commute and I decided to look into other more local options.  

Deanna had told me about a Little Gym that was nearby...I had heard about it in California, but never checked it out.  I signed us up for a free trial class for this morning.

The sweet sign for us!  Made me feel so welcome!

We loved it!  Maya was a little hesitant as expected, but slowly detached herself from me and wandered around to check out the different gymnastic equipment for the kids to play on.  All the kids in her class were 10-19 months old and were in different stages of learning how to roll, grab and hold on to bars, walk on the balance beam, etc.  They also incorporate songs, parachute time and bubbles; all things we are used to at Gymboree.

baby steps towards new friends...

playing on the mats

Today was the end of the Spring session so it was "show" day and many dads and grandparents came along to see what the little ones had been learning.  At the end of the class there was even an awards presentation and everyone clapped and cheered while each child received a medal.  I wasn't expecting anything for us, but after everyone else was called, the teacher called out Maya and had a medal for her for "being brave".  I brought her up to the podium to receive her medal and held back the tears...seriously, my baby girl got a medal for being brave... so sweet and totally hilarious!!  I was so proud!

I decided this will be a great new activity for us!  I called and cancelled Gymboree and signed us up for a 10 week summer session at Little Gym.  We are turning over a new leaf!  Bye bye Gymbo, hello Little Gym!

We also had two play-dates this week.  For the first one, we met a friend of one of my old co-workers. Elizabeth and her sweet son Eli met us at a place called the Happy Nest which offers open play time in an indoor playground.  Maya and Eli had fun playing with all the toys and equipment while Elizabeth and I got to chat and hang out.  It was a great day and I definitely see more trips to Happy Nest in our future and hopefully more play-dates with Elizabeth and Eli!

Finally, we met my friend Mandy's friend from high school, Miriam and her daughter Kate.  There's a cute little place in Mill Creek town center called The Spotted Cow that serves ice cream and coffee.  We picked up a couple drinks and headed out to a great trail right behind the town center.  We had an awesome walk together and it was great to chat and get to know each other more.  Maya only lasted half way in the stroller and then needed to get out and walk!   She actually kept a good pace and towards the end of the walk, the girls got to see ducks!  

I'm excited for more play dates with Miriam and Kate!