It's my birthday!

Little Maya turned 1 year today!!!  She celebrated with her parents and Oma & Opa here at home, complete with super sweet cake and lots of singing.  Thanks to all the dear family and friends from afar who sent birthday wishes and gifts to help us celebrate what has been an incredible year.  We are lucky to have you all along with us on this journey into parenthood.  Bring on year 2!

Countdown...

Little Maya got a view of Canberra from atop the Parliament building when we were down there last week. We got a view of her and the Australian flag from below by lying in the grass (yes, the "Capitol" building has grass growing on the roof (Becky and all of my sustainable urban living friends will be cheering!) and taking several attempts to get her at a good angle, and the flag in a viewable state. Mission accomplished. Thanks to Karin & Marge for the great fuzzy jacket that she's wearing in this picture. It's been perfect for all the cool weather as of late, and she looks quite adorable in the pink (I must say...).

As for now, the little gal is sound asleep upstairs, unaware that she's about to turn ONE tomorrow. Where does the time go????

Oma & Opa in OZ

Maya was happy to expand her in-house fan club by 2 with the arrival of Oma Marianne and Opa Ernie on Thursday. They weathered the multiple legs of their flights from Pennsylvania-->Washington, DC -->San Franscisco -->Sydney, and a temporary loss of their baggage (it was delivered the following day) admirably, and seem to have made the 14 hour time zone transition with ease. Now we're off to explore some of the Sydney sights, and Maya is loving having a new, doting audience to whom she can show off her latest tricks: stair climbing, stair descending, stair tumbling down (oops!), babbling sounds, new food discoveries, and knee walking (which we can only hope is a precursor to regular walking, since it looks awfully painful to us! Here's a picture of the happy reunion in front of our bright green front door.

Tidbinbilla. Pouches everywhere.

Chris was sent down to Canberra last week and this week for some business down at the Embassy, so Maya and I drove down to spend the weekend with him and check out the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), located about 285 km south of Sydney.  While I can't say that the 3.5 hour drive in Friday rush hour traffic with a screaming baby in the backseat is my idea of a relaxing weekend get-away, once we pulled into the driveway of Chris' temporary home, all was better.  We spent a chilly Saturday afternoon at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, where we hiked for 3 hours up to Camel's Back ridge with a view over the Canberra countryside, and fed Maya her requisite hiking food (baby food in a pouch).  While we didn't see much more than some beautiful views and our breath during the hike, once we returned to the comfort of our warm car, we drove around the reserve and saw tons of kangaroos eating grass and jumping around.  We stopped to let Maya have a look, and she immediately pointed to the grey furry creatures, in case we hadn't seen them for ourselves.  Thanks, kiddo.  We proceeded to let her down on the ground to crawl around, but she seemed more interested in picking up the kangaroo poo (which looks, disturbingly, identical to Lola's dog food) and putting it in her mouth, than looking at the 'roos.  The 'roos seemed relieved when we picked her back up again, but hopped off to greener grasses anyway.

Happy 4th of July!!

We traveled up to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney for the 4th of July, as Chris was invited by the Blue Mountain/Flagstaff, AZ Sister City committee to speak at a flag-raising ceremony. So, early Sunday morning, we bundled up little Maya, picked up some fellow Consulate friends en route, and did the 2 hour drive up to Katoomba, in the heart of the Blue Mountains. The ceremony took place at Echo Point, a stunning lookout over the Jamison Valley and the famous "3 Sisters" rock formation. It was a gorgeous winter day---a bit crisp initially, but the sun was shining brightly to warm things up. Together with a small group of local citizens, the Mayor, a US Air Force officer, a community choir, and some confused looking Japanese tourists, we celebrated a less-than-traditional 4th of July. Songs were sung, speeches were made, tea and donuts were served, and Old Glory was raised as we sang an off-key Star Spangled Banner and lip synched the words to Australia's anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". It was a lovely morning, followed by some bush walking on the local hiking trails with our friends. Happy Birthday, America!