| Some quick facts about Maria
Current Age: 11
Birthday: July 7
Place of birth: Bryn
Mawr,
Pennsylvania
<>Favorite toys: Dolls,
stuffed animals, trolls, crayons, markers, and pencils
Favorite foods: Cereal,
pasta, grapes & pears, peanut butter, juice drinks, seafood
Favorite activities:
School, Arts &
Crafts, Reading, Math
Visiting with friends,
Sleepovers
Writing and illustrating
original stories
Favorite
restaurants:
1 -- Steak
&
Shake
Maria used to
call it "Fences"
2 -- Radio
Maria
Reason: Lots
of
restaurants have good food, but this one, located in downtown
Champaign,
Illinois, is the only one where she's eaten that shares her name!
Nicknames:
Dove, Sweet One, Dad's
Fun, Little Silly
<>Pre-bedtime rituals:
One
is the kissing
Two is the hugging
Three is the rubbing of
noses
Four is more hugging
Five is Maria bending down way too low
Six is Dad telling her to get higher
Seven is the smelling of her hair
Eight is the saying "Have a good rest, I love you best!"
Reading
bedtime story with Mom
Maria, age 3,
enjoying
the sand on a Lake Superior beach on July 27, 1998. No, the water was
NOT
warm enough for swimming, at least for sane people, but the sand was
fun.
 Maria hiking on
a trail
at McCormick's Creek State Park near Spencer, Indiana, on October 17,
1998.
One of her favorite activities during fall hikes is holding leaves in
her
favorite colors. |
More
Maria Photos
Original
Maria Artwork
Maria's
Horticulture Page
Maria's
Math Page
Maria's
Story Page
Return
to Mike, Aimee, & Maria's Home Page
|
First
professional
photo
Age 8 Months
Maria's 1st Hike
Age 6 Weeks
Our Little Tiger
Age 11 Days
|
Some Maria Firsts
First baseball
game:
Williamsport Cubs,
August 18, 1995
First car trip to
Midwest:
October 11-22, 1995
First plane
trip:
Baltimore BWI
to Chicago MDW,
March 2, 1996
First numbers
learned:
2 and 9, October, 1996
First hiking trail
completed:
Loyalsock Trail, 59.28
miles,
Sullivan & Lycoming
Counties,
Pennsylvania,
Completed May 24, 1997
First major league
baseball
game:
Chicago Cubs at Detroit
Tigers,
June 24, 1998
First day of
preschool:
Indiana State University
Early Childhood
Education Center
August, 1999
First day of school:
Farrington Grove
Elementary School
September 5, 2000
First Cubs' victory
attended:
Cubs 15 Tigers 9
At Comerica Park, Detroit
July 6, 2001
|
Maria's
happy to be hiking the Government Peak Trail with Dad. The two of them
hiked
7 miles from the south to north boundaries of Porcupine Mountains
Wilderness
State Park on July, 27, 1998. Here, she's posing on a rock during a
lunch
stop near Trap Falls.
Maria, dressed in a
Winnie-the-Pooh costume, has just walked down our front porch on her
way to a Halloween evening
of trick-or-treating with Mom, on October 31, 1998.
They visited houses
along
Center St between College Ave and Hulman St. Mom estimated there were
several hundred people on those blocks.
Dad stayed home to
distribute candy. We had approximately 200 trick-or-treaters over the
two official evenings
in Terre Haute.
Maria
and
Mike visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, in March, 1997, when
she was 20 months old. Maria made several visits to Washington during
the time when she lived on the East Coast. In addition to the Lincoln
Memorial, she
saw the Washington Monument, White House, Capitol, and other sights in
our
nation's capital.
|
Left:
Maria getting ready to blow out the candles on her star-shaped
cake.
This year's cake had blue frosting and candy fish as part of the ocean
theme that Maria planned for the party.
Left:
Maria went downtown with her friends Alyssa and Sophia to eat on her
10th birthday.
History repeats itself as the
three girls pose for a photo on February 18, 2001, during our visit to
the
Philadelphia area. This time, we got together at Marley's home in
Merion,
Pennsylvania. Over four years later, they're still seating
themselves
in the same order!