When little Miss Haana was born, one of my dreams was to travel the world - go and stay in different places with her. Keep alive the spirit of adventure, not only in her childhood; but in essence bring my childhood alive as well. She's four now and able to experience the world and have an opinion about what she likes and when, I thought it was time to test-drive the theories, and begin the ride.
To test the waters I decided to head out on an impromptu trip to Santa Fe, NM for a couple of days. And here are just some of the highlights:
We stayed as paying guests with Susan and Steve and their beautiful house in Santa Fe: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/28066905
To say that they were gracious hosts would be an understatement. Miss Haana became very thick with both of them and soon was narrating to them all the happenings of her classroom, her teachers, her best friends, what she likes and what she doesn't. She enjoyed the attention of the two new-found, doting friends of her's as she pranced around the house! Before leaving she also let them know she'll be back soon. At Christmas! We left with warm hugs and an even warmer feeling of having made unexpected friends at unlikely places!
The best part of being on a vacation should be that when you get up in the morning, there is absolutely, candidly, completely, nothing better to do than to roll around in bed for a while! Miss Haana woke me up one day and said "Mumma, Mumma, wake up! My stomach just growled".
I asked - "Gugu, did you eat a lion yesterday? Is that a lion growling from your stomach?"
"Noo!!", giggles all around.
If there was ever a time when I had my hands full and my mind occupied with things to do or stuff to carry, there was this little helper who would remind me (there was definitely a motherly nagging in that little voice):
Hey, Mumma, don't forget to put my buckles on the stroller! And don't forget to put the buttons on my jacket!!! (delirious laughter along with "Who does that?!")
Hey! Don't forget to pick up the jacket, huh! (snickering follows)
Hey Mumma! Don't forget to pull my pants up! hahahah! (Don't ask)
At the New Mexico Museum of Art, we found some children's books on Georgia O'Keefe. Miss Haana and I sat and read through each one of them. Then, the little girl declared she wanted to draw and paint. Now. We headed out looking for paper or colors. The little girl confidently walked up to the museum shop and asked for paper to draw on, all on her own. I was proud of her. We continued on our quest for colors in nearby store full of trinkets. But now, she got all distracted with all the other "stuff". We sat and read several more books.
On canyon road, strolling up and down the galleries, little Miss Haana decided which galleries to get into. There were several bronze sculptures of dogs, horses, boys and girls in the yards. And someone was prancing around through all of them. Once inside the Barbara Meikle gallery (one I wanted to visit), we met with the artist; Miss Haana told her she was an artist too. They talked and talked about what she liked, and the bronze sculptures, and played games in the gallery.
Theme for our entire trip was this sentence repeated through the trip:
Mumma!! I got an awesome idea! Let's go on an adventure!
But then also this from time to time:
I want to go back home!
On our drive back to Albuqurque to get on a flight back home, I told Miss Haana to bid the mountains good-bye. Then we noticed someone was following us:
We noticed we left most of the snow covered mountains behind as we headed south-wards, but one mountain was following us down south. I told Miss Haana to talk to him:
"It's ok, Mountain. You don't have to follow us around to our home. There are no other mountains down there, you wouldn't have any other friends. We'll be back in Christmas, Mountain. We'll all play together then. Go back home now Mountain, ok?"
I have to say, the talk did work because I haven't seen any strange mountains back at home lately!
On the airport on our way back, we saw the most wonderful plane of all! It was the Mickey Mouse plane on Alaska Airlines:
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/739-spirit-of-dl2.aspx
We stuck like flies on the glass windows at the airport, wondering whether Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy and all were headed to the Clubhouse.
Another note - everyone doted on little Miss Haana! On her jacket, the bow on her jacket, the braid in her hair, her cowboy boots, and most of all - her!
I was a bit tired coming back from the trip. But it was an absolute fun filled adventure!
To test the waters I decided to head out on an impromptu trip to Santa Fe, NM for a couple of days. And here are just some of the highlights:
We stayed as paying guests with Susan and Steve and their beautiful house in Santa Fe: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/28066905
To say that they were gracious hosts would be an understatement. Miss Haana became very thick with both of them and soon was narrating to them all the happenings of her classroom, her teachers, her best friends, what she likes and what she doesn't. She enjoyed the attention of the two new-found, doting friends of her's as she pranced around the house! Before leaving she also let them know she'll be back soon. At Christmas! We left with warm hugs and an even warmer feeling of having made unexpected friends at unlikely places!
The best part of being on a vacation should be that when you get up in the morning, there is absolutely, candidly, completely, nothing better to do than to roll around in bed for a while! Miss Haana woke me up one day and said "Mumma, Mumma, wake up! My stomach just growled".
I asked - "Gugu, did you eat a lion yesterday? Is that a lion growling from your stomach?"
"Noo!!", giggles all around.
If there was ever a time when I had my hands full and my mind occupied with things to do or stuff to carry, there was this little helper who would remind me (there was definitely a motherly nagging in that little voice):
Hey, Mumma, don't forget to put my buckles on the stroller! And don't forget to put the buttons on my jacket!!! (delirious laughter along with "Who does that?!")
Hey! Don't forget to pick up the jacket, huh! (snickering follows)
Hey Mumma! Don't forget to pull my pants up! hahahah! (Don't ask)
At the New Mexico Museum of Art, we found some children's books on Georgia O'Keefe. Miss Haana and I sat and read through each one of them. Then, the little girl declared she wanted to draw and paint. Now. We headed out looking for paper or colors. The little girl confidently walked up to the museum shop and asked for paper to draw on, all on her own. I was proud of her. We continued on our quest for colors in nearby store full of trinkets. But now, she got all distracted with all the other "stuff". We sat and read several more books.
On canyon road, strolling up and down the galleries, little Miss Haana decided which galleries to get into. There were several bronze sculptures of dogs, horses, boys and girls in the yards. And someone was prancing around through all of them. Once inside the Barbara Meikle gallery (one I wanted to visit), we met with the artist; Miss Haana told her she was an artist too. They talked and talked about what she liked, and the bronze sculptures, and played games in the gallery.
Theme for our entire trip was this sentence repeated through the trip:
Mumma!! I got an awesome idea! Let's go on an adventure!
But then also this from time to time:
I want to go back home!
On our drive back to Albuqurque to get on a flight back home, I told Miss Haana to bid the mountains good-bye. Then we noticed someone was following us:
We noticed we left most of the snow covered mountains behind as we headed south-wards, but one mountain was following us down south. I told Miss Haana to talk to him:
"It's ok, Mountain. You don't have to follow us around to our home. There are no other mountains down there, you wouldn't have any other friends. We'll be back in Christmas, Mountain. We'll all play together then. Go back home now Mountain, ok?"
I have to say, the talk did work because I haven't seen any strange mountains back at home lately!
On the airport on our way back, we saw the most wonderful plane of all! It was the Mickey Mouse plane on Alaska Airlines:
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/739-spirit-of-dl2.aspx
We stuck like flies on the glass windows at the airport, wondering whether Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy and all were headed to the Clubhouse.
Another note - everyone doted on little Miss Haana! On her jacket, the bow on her jacket, the braid in her hair, her cowboy boots, and most of all - her!
I was a bit tired coming back from the trip. But it was an absolute fun filled adventure!
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