Christmas in California

We had a WONDERFUL time in CA for Christmas with the Wayne/Tacketts. Gene, Wendy, Cindy, and Danny - thanks for hosting us for 5 days filled with laughter, great food, and not too much snow!

We spent the first 2 1/2 days in Bakersfield.
We spent a lot of time with Grandpaji, Shushu, Benji, Amy, and cousin Lola just hanging out.
Lola was a little more into Maya at times than Maya was into Lola.

But we got them both to smile at the same time a couple of times (Maya is just like me in that a necklace always brings a smile).
We also spent time reading...
...making tea with a brand-new tea set....
...sending emails on Uncle Marshall's Blackberry...
...pushing Great Grandma around (literally)...
...giving kisses....
...playing in a brand-new Princess sleeping bag (thanks, Elana!)...
...hanging out with Shushu...
... and cuddling (the 3 hour time difference really through Maya for a loop - as well as waking up to a new group of people after every nap. No complaints from me, though!)
We (Larkin and I) also had a great time playing with Lola - she is one of the happiest babies I have ever met. I thought Maya was pretty happy; Lola tops her.
We spent the next 2 1/2 days in Lake Arrowhead with the Chernows, Wayne/Tacketts, and Tom and Laurie. We had a great time relaxing in front of the fire, going for walks (Larkin), and watching college football (me). I, unfortunately, can't seem to download all of the pictures from Arrowhead for some reason.

Maya did some drawing with Laurie (I think by this time of the vacation Maya was OVER having her picture taken, which is unfortunate given her Shushu's propensity to have the camera nearby at all times).
We tried to get pictures of Maya with all of the cousins (Sarah, Samuel, Justus, and Lola) but she wasn't having it.
Oh well. Maybe next year....

Thanks again for a wonderful trip to California!

The Tackett family is looking forward to a cancer-free 2010... and welcoming our newest member in May!

Snow!!!

Washington, DC got hit with almost two feet of snow yesterday - luckily, we were not among the thousands of people whose holiday travel plans got ruined or were counting on another day of Christmas shopping or just needed to be out and about in general. The 3 Tacketts and Abe hibernated in our house all weekend and enjoyed it immensely!

Abe was a little unsure of the snow at first... but it didn't stop him from hunting for cats.
Maya didn't like the snow this time as much as last time, which probably had to do with the fact that the snow came up to her thighs (and this was Saturday morning - by the time it stopped snowing, poor Maya would have been almost shoulder deep!)
We need to get her kid-size gloves.

Our neighbors' car. Fortunately, Jen and Ricardo were able to just walk over for an impromptu dinner party Saturday night.
Our backyard Sunday morning....

Sheridan Street on Sunday morning

We spent a lot of time looking at the "nnnnoooo." (We think that was Maya's attempt to say snow - it may be that she was just letting us know that she didn't want to go out in it).

As we'll be in CA for Christmas, we decided that Sunday morning was as good as time as any to open gifts.
Maya enjoyed playing (i.e., taking all the blocks in and out of the box) with the blocks from the Barnards.
She also had a lovely tea party with the tea set from the Atlanta Klinglers.

Maya loved playing with her new grocery cart from Grandma and Grandpa.
Here she is helping Daddy nap.
The pictures below are from a few weekends ago - we went to a botanical garden in Maryland where they have quite the light display.


We are looking forward to spending a nice loooonnnnggg weekend in snow-free CA!

Snowing in DC