Aryana

We've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to post very much. For the past three weeks, I taught a bunch of gifted students science for a special summer program. I really enjoyed it! My mother watched Vanessa while I was at work, and I also really enjoyed having her around every day. Vanessa's been taking really long naps since I've been at home again, which is very nice. Today, during an abnormally long nap for Vanessa, I'm posting three posts to catch up!

Last weekend, we visited my friend Sara and her husband Lee and new baby Aryana in Lexington, Kentucky. I am so glad I finally got to meet Aryana! She is such a beautiful and well-tempered baby.
I could tell that James was also very excited to see Aryana. Well, she really was so sweet!
Vanessa really liked the nursery that Lee and Sara had created for Aryana. She kept pointing to all the exciting books and toys. I only wish that Vanessa would stay in one room a little better, though. It would make it easier to finish conversations with friends!
Vanessa was pretty gentle with Aryana, I'd say. I think she's getting better at not poking other babies too much.

A beautiful Aryana and her beautiful mommy!

Vanessa checks out the new R2D2 mailbox in Lexington.
We all went on a horse farm tour. Here were are at Keeneland Farms race track.
Vanessa's favorite part was seeing the horses at Millenium Farms! These horses were all worth more than I could easily imagine! Here are Sara, Lee, and Aryana next to one of the horses.
Vanessa was SO excited to see the horses!

I almost forgot to mention that Vanessa has been learning a lot of new signs lately! Most of them look similar, but they include: doggy, bird, all done, music, and bye-bye. It's also very clear to me that she actually says aloud: ball, mama, and dada. Well, her nap is over so I've got to run!

Memphis

During the weekend before last, we went to Memphis to see James's family. We were especially excited to see Vanessa's great-grandmother, Grammy Dee!

Vanessa loves her Grammy Dee!
Grammy Dee was excited to see Vanessa too!
Vanessa had fun playing with her great-uncle Greg. (Oooh, "great-uncle." That sounds really old, Greg!)

Vanessa spent a good deal of time running around and playing with her great-aunt Lynn.
Memphis is the home of the famous Peabody Hotel, where a procession of ducks marches to music from the elevator to the fountain in the presence of roughly 300 people each day. Vanessa LOVED this. She could barely contain her excitement. Here, James is restraining Vanessa from jumping into the fountain.
I also had to try to keep Vanessa from trying to pet the ducks!
James, his dad, and his uncle Greg are giving Vanessa a tour of Beale Street.
I was there too!

Vanessa and her grampa on the trolley. For a few comedic reasons, the trolley took about half an hour to go one mile. They had a little trouble with the wheel chair lift, which looked like it hadn't been used in several years. Combine that with an unexpectedly large crowd of tourists that really should have taken two or three trolleys, and you have yourself an interesting ride!
James and Vanessa played in the model of the Gulf of Mexico that was part of the miniature Mississippi River, situated on Mud Island in the middle of the Mississippi. James is holding onto Vanessa's hands to keep her from running quite so fast, and to keep her from sitting in the water!
Well, eventually we realized that Vanessa was going to sit in the Gulf of Mexico one way or another, so we stripped her down and let her splash to her heart's content. James kept the sun off her and Greg went in to play too! This was the first time I had let Vanessa play in the water with just a regular diaper on. They really do absorb a lot of water!
Vanessa hasn't been smiling too much for pictures lately. She usually has a face of concentration instead. But James's aunt Helen got her to smile here!
Four generations of Maxteds -- Vanessa, her daddy, her grampa, and her Grammy Dee!

James's cousin Alex was really wonderful at entertaining Vanessa. Too bad she lives so far away!
We saw MORE DUCKS at a park nearby. Vanessa was in heaven.
Daddy and Vanessa went down the slide and played all over the playground equipment. Vanessa is starting to be big enough to enjoy most of the parts of a playground!
Vanessa really loved sitting in her other great-aunt Lynn's lap. (Besides Lynn being very nice, she also had extremely exciting pearl bracelets!)
Another picture of the four generations!

San Diego

I probably should have left this post for James to do, since it was he who went to San Diego a couple of weeks ago! But anyway, here are a couple of pictures I really liked that he brought back.
A shark at Scripps Institute.
Three sea dragons at Scripps. Can't see them? You're looking right at them! They look like seaweed.
A sea turtle at Sea World. My favorite animal!
James actually managed to capture a picture of a dolphin leaping up in the air! I'm impressed, since I seem to have trouble even catching Vanessa's fleeting facial expressions.

Independence Day!

We enjoyed our first July 4th with Vanessa! We spent the day at John and Liz's, since it was John's birthday. Lots of friends were there to help him celebrate (and to watch the Transformers movie!).
Vanessa played so much with little two-year-old Lucy that she was all worn out. Needless to say, we didn't stick around late enough to watch the fireworks.
Vanessa and I went to Oxon Hill farm (also a national park) with some friends last week. Vanessa got to see lots of interesting animals, including horses and cows.
Vanessa with Revie and Abigail outside the hen house at Oxon Hill.
Daddy and Vanessa being cute!
We tried fingerpainting with Uncle Terry and Aunt Heather last weekend. Vanessa wasn't sure what to make of it yet. Well, at least she didn't try eating the paint!

10 months!

Vanessa is 10 months old today. She had her 9 month appointment earlier this week (because we were in Germany when she turned 9 months old!). She was 27.5 inches tall and 20 pounds 8 ounces.

Yesterday was an exciting day for Vanessa because she signed her first sign language word -- ceiling fan (which is the gesture you would imagine)! So now I'm more motivated to sign to her more often.

Last of the Germany pictures!

For our last weekend in Germany, we decided to take it easy and visit nearby Tubingen. It was a small town with lots of beautiful architecture and dozens of little artsy touristy shops.
Vanessa and I on the train on the way to Tubingen. Vanessa enjoyed riding in her own seat for a little while (before she got tired of sitting still, that is).

James and Vanessa pose in front of the river in Tubingen. There are these gondola-like boats that are poled up and down this river. You can kind of see one in the background immediately to the right of James, but it's pretty tiny in this picture.
Vanessa and daddy in front of the town hall. We heard some exciting live jazz music from this balcony.
We discovered that the music was played by teenagers! I would never have imagined. They were quite good.
We climbed up to the castle in Tubingen (in case you haven't figured out by now, EVERY town in Germany has at least one castle). I liked the castle, but I liked the view of the town of Tubingen even better.

For some reason, I found this garden around this grain silo (I think that's what it is) near the castle to be quite idyllic. Vanessa thought it was a little boring, though, I guess, since she's yawning in this picture!
On the other hand, the red paper ball with a yellow tassel at the Chinese restaurant where we ate was a highlight of the trip for her!
On the way back to the train station, Vanessa and I paused to admire some of the older buildings along the river in Tubingen.
Vanessa always has time to stop and watch the duckies!
Vanessa had a rather close encounter with a swan!

We're back home!

We made it back State side safe and sound. Vanessa was sure glad to be home last night. We could tell because she wouldn't let go of the fish hanger on the wall that Lisa gave her. ;) We'll be sure to post the remaining pictures once we get unpacked.

Just hanging out

This week, Vanessa and I have been hanging out with Kristen and Brendan. We're really glad to have met such a great family!
We went to a German mall yesterday. In the kids' clothing section of the department store, they have these little see-saws and a TV to keep the kids busy while the parents shop. Genius! We weren't shopping, but we liked to play on the see-saws anyway. In the background, you can see Brendan playing with the speaker. We also met up with Karin and her little one-year-old daughter Antonia. Vanessa really enjoyed chasing Brendan and Antonia around (although Brendan's pretty speedy!).
Vanessa's walking from me to her daddy in this picture. She really does love her daddy!

Cue the music...

We decided that we should go somewhere special for our anniversary last weekend. So we decided to go to a city known for its music, Salzburg, Austria. Home of Mozart and the Sound of Music and countless concerts. But before we get to those pictures, we had a couple of pictures left over from Nana's visit last week.

Vanessa really enjoyed her visit to the German toy store.

Nana shows Vanessa how to use her new German soccer morrocas.
Nana and Vanessa enjoy a beautiful day along the river with the duckies...
Vanessa met a new friend Brendan. James met Brendan's mom Kristen at work and mentioned that Sarah and Vanessa were sitting around the hotel with nothing to do. Kristen took them to a beautiful little place called Bebenhausen, which was once originally a cloister and later a hunting lodge.

Okay, on to the Salzburg photos. Daddy and Vanessa stand in the Mirabell Gardens. You can see the castle in the background as well as several of the huge churches in Salzburg. Mommy and Vanessa hang out in front of the Dom in downtown Salzburg.

We made our way up to the top of the castle via a funicular (mountain tram that Nana wouldn't have survived). We were rewarded with a fantastic view of Salzburg.
Daddy and Vanessa walk around in the castle. They were having a Middle Ages festival at the castle that weekend. The person in the background is demonstrating iron working.
Some Middle Age singers. (Pun intended). Actually, I swear they played Ana-godda-da-vida once....
We walked up to the top of the inner castle and looked out over the southern edge facing the Alps. What a view!
We made our way down and walked around the cementary and catacombs at St. Peters. There was a wedding going on, but they quickly closed the outside doors because too many tourists (like us) were poking their heads in. Instead, we pose in front of a fountain outside it.

As we walked in downtown Salzburg, we found a festival for the Pathfinders club in Austria. I guess it's the equivilent of Boy/Girl Scouts in the US. Maybe 4H club? Anyway, they had a human füssball rink that I had to take a picture of. I didn't participate though because there were only kids playing. Maybe when Vanessa is older next time...
On our way back, we walked through a gnome garden in the Mirabell gardens.
The next day we walked out into the gardens into an Austrian band performing. Daddy and Vanessa were grooving to the march music.
We walked across one of the bridges to visit the market across the river. Mommy and Vanessa pose in front of the beautiful scenery.
After visiting the market, we did a tour of Mozart's birthplace and where he lived. Here's daddy and Vanessa in front of his birthhouse. We thought the coolest part was seeing actual set designs and scene paintings from the operas from his period. Very cool!

On the way back it was really hot so Vanessa decided she wanted to play in the street fountains.
Look who's all wet!
After a long day, Vanessa and daddy relax in a garden outside Mozart's house.
On the way back to the train station, we found a really cool playground in the gardens. Vanessa and Mommy are walking on a grid of chimes that play when you step on that. Poor Vanessa didn't weigh enough to sound it herself.
Vanessa and Daddy check out the swings before they got back on the train.