I took Christmas week off, and before we headed off to Oceanside to see Auntie Rose & family, we went to Tres Rios Wetland south of I-10, just east of 91st Ave. Doesn’t look like much from the road, the sign is tiny and hard to see. The area isn’t very developed (which is one thing I liked about it), but the birds! It was amazing. Right off the bat we saw a male Cardinal in all its glory! The snowy egrets, great egrets, great blue herons, and a cinnamon teal were my favorites (in addition to the cardinal, of course). Like a dingdong, I didn’t bring my binocs; probably good though since I was with Maria and Manolis–they’re not so into birds. Next time Auntie Rose comes, though, that’s where we’re going! There are 2-3 large ponds to walk around, a couple of boardwalks that take you in the middle of a wetland, and several benches to sit on to observe the birds. We had Maria in her stroller, of course, and there was no problem getting around; well, except for a small patch of loose gravel that was tough to push her through, but other than that, it was awesome!! Highly recommend this spot!
Wed we headed to CA, spent a couple days with Maria’s aunt and uncle and cousin Amelia. Amelia’s 4, and finally able to interact with Maria (although she was puzzled as to why Maria doesn’t talk, etc). They held hands a couple times and you could tell Maria liked having Amelia around. Rosanne and Paul did a bunch of work on their back yard. It looks great! Looks like a park or a resort or Mediterranean villa. They did a fantastic job!! (esp considering that a couple short months ago Paul was very, very ill with pneumonia from swine flu). It was a low-key trip–a little shopping, a little walk near the ocean, a lot of eating–the usual! Since we’re getting Maria her very expensive bike, she didn’t get much in the way of gifts to open, but fortunately she doesn’t sweat the small stuff! One of the things I got her was some cute brown cords with fancy designs on the pockets and a glittery belt. Trouble is, they’re low-rise pants, and when you’re still in diapers, it’s not a good look…
Today we had our quarterly review with the state. It was the shortest one ever. And the best news of all–we’re getting a new coordinator!! It’s pretty obvious the current one doesn’t care for me much (she kept asking nanny Sue what Maria is improving at, what she’s been doing, etc.). I just kept my mouth shut and tried not to cause any trouble. She was nice enough this time, and appeared to be trying, but I’m still pretty pissed off about our last visit, so I admit, I didn’t try very hard this time to be anything more than polite. Needless to say, I’m very happy that we’re getting someone new.
Maria’s been out of school for just over a week. 3 more days of freedom and laziness, then it’s back to her schedule. She’s still going to bed around the same time, but we’ve all been getting up kinda late. It’s been nice!