Rebecca Smith and Andrew Bayley were married in a civil ceremony on Thursday, February 16, 2006. On July 23rd of 2007 they both welcomed Margaret Suzanne into their lives.
Maggie in her car / boat 2009:
All in all, we had a great time on the water. Maggie was a hit and brought smiles to everyone’s faces. Mom and Dad got a little too much sun, but Maggie was well protected with her SPF 1,000,000 and faired her day out in the sun very well. The boat still needs a little work, but we were able to enjoy an entire trouble free day otherwise.
Love, Maggie Sue (with some help from Dad, but only a little bit.)
Sunday we headed to church and then Mimi and Papa's. If she'd thought of it before hand, she may have thought it was too good to be true, but Mimi got her a hat too!! Yay!! Tomorrow it may be hard to decide which one to wear, but today there was one for Maggie AND one for Mimi...
Maggie also (of course) ended up with plenty of traditional Easter candy. Hopefully she doesn't grow to like it quite as much as her mommy does - YUM! Yesterday she was a little hesitant at first, but then really enjoyed her first Peep. Today she attempted to cram one of those big mallow eggs in her mouth as one bite - don't think so, kid!
We were very happy to add matching aprons for Maggie and mommy from Mimi to our collection. Maggie's smock will go perfectly while she works on her new easel from Grammy and Grandpa.
We were able to spend some time with all of our favorite people this weekend - thanks!!
It was a little bit further to Twelve Oaks than to the mall right by our house, but I knew she had liked the Easter bunny there, so I figured it was worth the trip. And the bunny costume there was cute too. Once we got to the mall, my first mission was to find a pair of white tights to go with the dress. Fifteen dollars later (are you kidding me??), we headed to the restroom to change her into her new tights and pretty dress. We got nothing but compliments from there on out. She looked adorable!!
In line for the picture with the bunny, Maggie was having a ball. She kept pointing, saying, "Bunny," and waving and blowing kisses. I was so proud that she was still cooperative after hearing other people's horror stories. We already had two good Santa pictures and a good bunny picture under our belts, and it seemed to just be getting easier.
Then, it was her turn. "C'mon, Maggie. Let's go see the bunny!" One of her first spoken words is still one of the most audible. "No. No. No," while shaking her head. I didn't want to be 'that mom,' so we just hung out for a while. Luckily it was the middle of the day, so there was no line. I sat with the bunny, I sat on the ground at the bunny's feet, I gave Maggie fruit snacks while I was with the bunny and I gave the bunny fruit snacks to give Maggie.
Finally, it was time for the bunnies to switch shifts, and we'd been there over an hour. I decided we'd go with what we got. So here it is....
Hoppy Easter!!
After a long two week test drive for work into the cold northern wilderness, it was decided that a nice impromptu driving vacation was in order. Without any sort of concrete plans or expectations, we packed up the family car and drove out to our nation’s capitol.
In route to Washington DC, we stopped at the Kalahari Resort and Hotel in Sandusky Ohio to bask in their clear blue (because it’s chlorinated) waters of the world’s largest indoor water park. Maggie wasn’t a huge fan of the water park, but she did have fun sitting back and watching Daddy come down the big slides.
We were welcomed to the capitol with unseasonably warm weather. Just five days prior, the city was shut down for a snow day. However, we were treated to temperatures in the lower seventies all weekend long. Even better, was that our hotel was two blocks directly north of the White House. We started the day off by posing for pictures in front of the north lawn.
After the White House, we meandered over to the Washington Monument and gazed upwards.
Maggie also did a few laps around the monument... just because.
From the monument, we explored the Air and Space museum.
The day concluded with a visit to the Capitol building. Maggie loved running up the stairs, sitting down and then posing for a picture.
After her first picture, Maggie remembered her hat that she received from the Hershey chocolate tour the prior day, ran back to her stroller, grabbed the hat, ran back to the stairs and then posed for a second set of pictures.
...and finally, what trip to Washington DC would be complete without a ride on the Metro.
After being cooped up in the house all day, Maggie and Dad decided to take advantage of the fresh fallen snow on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Dad makes sure Maggie is bundled up nice and warm!
"I'm ready to go Dad, bring out the sled!"
At each house, she would reach first one hand, then the other into the bowl of candy so she'd get a treat in each hand. Luckily she was still young enough and cute enough to get away with it! All she ate from her loot that night was a treat sized Kit Kat (and maybe some Nestle Crunch snuck in by Papa), but she sure did like it.
Here are a few pictures from trick or treating.
Another beautiful weekend equals another beautiful boat ride. Since Andy is leaving (again) for Germany this Tuesday for three weeks, this was pretty much our last guaranteed summer weekend on the boat. While we sometimes get a late Indian summer, anything towards the end of September and into October is always a crap shoot. Besides smashing a finger between the spare tire holder and a falling spare tire, everything went well.
We launched the boat down at Sterling State Park and took a trip across the lake into Put-In-Bay. The lake was amazingly smooth. We cruised along at 55mph for the entire distnace. We didn’t want to push anything too hard since the trip out to the island is ~35 miles across some pretty big wide open water. In typically form, Maggie slept the entire was across. Once we got to the island, we did the standard tourist stuff on the island. Ate lunch at the “Boardwalk Restaurant” and took a ride up to the top of “Perry’s Monument”. The ride back in at the end of the day was just as nice as the ride out. The wind and waves built up just a touch once we surprisingly got about 2 or 3 miles from shore. I’m guessing they chopped up to about 2 feet.
Becki did a good job manning the dock lines. We kept Maggie in her car seat when we launched the boat and then left her (sleeping) in the cabin when we retrieved it. This was Becki’s first time out on the boat without anyone else to help her. We all concluded that it was a success.
Someone found the broomstick handle that we use to lock the rear sliding door. It took my little girl approximately three seconds before she went into Ninja mode.
"I fight you now! Take THAT, you evil table!"
Well, can you believe that it’s been a year already? Some days it feels like just yesterday we discovered that Becki was pregnant. Other days it feels like little Maggie has been with us forever. One this is for certain though, she is growing up FAST! Her cute little staggered walk is rapidly progressing towards a full fledged RUN. It won’t be long before she starts riding bicycles with training wheels and signing up for ice skating classes.
We had a nice little birthday party for Maggie back in July. It was a very casual affair with various family and friends showing up throughout the day. Maggie made off with quite the haul. Some of her favorite gifts include the princess outfit from Aunt Alicia / Uncle Rob and the bubble maker from (second) cousins Linda and Mike. However, her most favorite gift was the new play area that Daddy and Uncle Ron built for her just days before the party.
Maggie with her "smash cake".
Maggie's new play palace!
Earlier in July, we all went to San Francisco for an old High School friend's wedding. I (Andy) had only been to the Bay Area once before, and that was ten years ago. My friend (Jeff) had just moved out to the area and was renting a flat above a liquor store in a very shitty part of Oakland. At the time, I wasn’t sure if it was safer to sleep on the floor of Jeff’s apartment or in the back seat of my 1975 Cadillac which I paid $500 for.
Fast forward ten years, Jeff has built up quite the resume’ working for all the major CGFX studios around the world. He’s now got a nice little place in Berkeley and ready to settle down with his lovely lady Bonnie. I figured it was finally time to make another visit rather than his standard annual visit to my place when he’s in town visiting family.
We arrived on Thursday morning and checked into our Bed and Breakfast up in the fancy-schmancy neighborhood of Tiburon. After unloading our luggage, we headed out to Berkeley and had dinner with Bonnie and Jeff. After dinner, Jeff and I broke out into one of typical hour long death metal / progressive / noise jam sessions. While it brought back all sorts of memories, the ladies weren’t impressed and we wrapped up it around 11PM.
While in the Bay area, we partook in all sorts of fun activities. We drove up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais, rode the ferry from Larkspur into the city, took one of the historic cable cars to the Fisherman’s Warf, ate lunch on Pier 39, visit the beach, and many more fun activities. All this while taking in Jeff and Bonnie’s beautiful commitment ceremony.
Becki and Andy at the Marin Headlands
Daddy and Maggie on the Ferry into the city
Mom and Maggie on Pier 39
Maggie enjoying the fresh air.
Maggie asking Mom and Dad "Can we PLEASE stay a little a longer? Mayne an hour or so?"
For the first time in five years, I brought the boat back without breaking it!
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus… and I also own a working boat.
I took Becki and Maggie out to Lake St. Clair this past Saturday for my friend’s birthday. We started from the Clinton River (South River Launch to any / all the locals reading this), ran across the lake to the South Channel, and the up the St. Clair river to “Pepper Joe’s” in the town of St. Clair. After lunch, we ran back down the St. Clair river and into the Middle Channel and then down into Muscamoot Bay. Our six boats joined a raft of 12 other boats once we got to “The ‘Moot”. After a couple hours of rafting off, myself and two other boats made a run down to The Nautical Mile for dinner. We originally tried to grab a dock at Jack’s, but the place was p-a-c-k-e-d and the DJ was blaring music at stupid volumes. So, we kept moving down the channel and got dinner at the slightly more upscale Beach Grille. Once dinner was over, we made a nice and slow (~40 mph) twilight cruise back to the launch ramp. The trip back was very relaxing except for the last 1 or 2 miles driving through MASSIVE fish fly colonies. Nasty!
All of the boats lined up at Pepper Joe's in St. Clair Michigan.
Maggie and Mom enjoying the sun and fresh air... even though I'm pretty sure Maggie was asleep in this picture.
We bought Maggie a little blow up raft and led her around for a while. I seriously was expecting her to HATE the idea and was reluctant to even try it... but she surprisingly had a blast in her little boat / car. If anything, she didn’t want to get out!
Here are the three Bayleys, chilling on an old fire engine near the entrance to the park. Get used to Maggie's darling sun hat - I've already told her that she WILL be wearing it whenever we're outside in the summer. We've got to protect her precious baby skin!
Here's Maggie with Daddy and Prem in the old sawmill. Daddy thought he heard some heavy machinery to check out, but it was just a recording.
Maggie and I are also just finishing up our first swim class! Daddy came with us last week to see how much fun we have, and he took a few pictures. Maggie's favorite part is the 'Popcorn Song.' Sometimes we sing it at home, not even in the water, and she giggles almost as much as at the pool.
Andy's currently wrapping up work on a Ford Contour that he's replacing the transmission on for a co-worker, and then he's planning some oil retention modification thingy for his Subaru (obviously I know very little of what I'm talking about!). He's got a trip planned with work to head out west for some vehicle testing later this month. I figure a trip that includes Vegas and visiting California friends can't be all work, right?
Once he's back home, all three of us will be heading back to California for Jeff and Bonnie's Big Event. Yet another state to cross of Maggie's list - hopefully her practice of being such a good traveler will continue :)
And before we know it, we'll be celebrating Maggie's first birthday!! No concrete plans yet, but we'll keep you in the loop here!
We had little matching necklaces on that Mimi got us when Maggie was first born.
Here's a picture during the ceremony.
Here's one of the pictures we got playing out in Grandma Judi's yard a couple weeks ago while Papa, Daddy and the boys worked on tearing off the roof. Hope we get that warm weather back again soon!
She'll be driving in no time ;)
Actually she's going for the 'horn.' She loves to bang on the yellow head of the Pod chair.
I (Andy) posted this story on another website that asked us to look back and reflect on 2007. I spent a good time of time writing it, so I thought it would be nice to share on this site as well:
I guess way back on January 1st of 2007, I realized how fortunate I was (still am) to have such a wonderful woman in my life. On New Years last year, my older sister and her pseudo husband took Becki and me out on the city (Detroit). They also brought my sister’s friend from Chicago with them. My sister’s friend is a very sweet and attractive woman in her mid thirties. However, she was recently TOTALLY screwed over by her cheating (now ex) husband. She looked pretty sad being alone on New Years, but it gave me a greater appreciation of what I have accomplished. While it sometimes feels like we’ve been together for an eternity, both Becki and I remember what it was like to be alone and without each other. Now that we have little Maggie together, I’ve never felt closer to Becki than I do today.
In February, I blew the most amount of money I’ve ever blown on a single vacation. Trying to keep up with the Jone’s, or the millionaire Canadians in this case, cost me some serious coin. It was fun while it (the money) lasted, but I’ll never do it again. At the end of the trip however, I still had just enough money to buy my pregnant wife a nice four door Cadillac.
Later on in March, I tried to take a more economical skiing “men’s vacation” with some friends from all corners of the country (Florida, Arizonia, and Colorado). I was financially on track to achieve my budgetary goals until I blew my knee apart. That little incident put a small kink in my plan. I also learned a very valuable lesson regarding snowboard parks. If the second jump was larger than the first one, the third will likely be the largest. Also, if you’ve nearly blown the first two landings and are preparing to hit the third jump with even more speed, prepare for failure.
Over the course of the spring time, I became really good at shifting the WRX without using the clutch (which would have required using my left leg.)
Another important lesson I learned is that no surgery is “routine”. I went to sleep for a quick knee reconstruction surgery and woke up two hours later with all sorts of oxygen hoses shoved down my throat and a crap-ton of hospital people frantically telling me to “BREATH!!!” After my ambulance ride to the neighboring (University of Michigan) E.R., I recognized that no matter how uncomfortable my hospital bed was, my seven and a half month pregnant wife sitting in a standard waiting room chair was probably less comfortable than I was. Especially after 24 hours.
On a good note, last summer I learned that my control strategy for no-idle HVAC systems in Semi-Trucks was submitted for a patent. Still no word if it has been awarded or not, but to have an idea of mine even submitted was already quite the personal accomplishment for me.
I drove the boat one afternoon in the summer and it broke. That’s all I want to say about that.
We had one heck of a good time during Labor Day weekend. I wish all my friends lived a little closer so we could do this more often, but I’m glad we were all still able to get together. Let’s just make sure those mortar tubes are dug extra deep into the sand next time. K? Thnx! Bye!
I’m sure most people remember hearing all my Germany stories, so I won’t relive any of the details. I will say again that driving the Neurburgring was a once in a lifetime experience that I’m glad I didn’t pass up. I’ll also miss driving on the Autobanh. There is just something about blowing past a polize car on the shoulder of the road at 130 mph and not thinking twice about it.
And last but not least, little Maggie is “by far” the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Some nights I just sit and stare at her while she sleeps. Not in a weird creepy old man way, but more with a sense of accomplishment and gratification. I just look at her and say “I made that… woah!” This morning, Becki said something a little sobering at breakfast. She told me to enjoy these days, because there will be a time that Maggie will no longer think I’m the most fascinating person on Earth.
I’m going to do my best to prolong that for as long as possible though by playing the part of “Super Dad” for as long as Maggie will let me get away with it.
We took a few road trips over this past extended holiday weekend. I decided to blow Thursday and Friday off from work since us Americans have such few holidays when compared to our European colleagues. Since I had Mom and Nolan in town, I decided to give the family an opportunity to see whatever they wanted to see in Europe. Becki and my Mother both wanted to visit a good old fashioned mid evil castle, akin to what they see in classic Disney films. My brother, however, had a different agenda. At the tender age of 15 years old, he had ‘Amsterdam’ on his mind.
Leaving Becki, Maggie and my mother at the apartment, Nolan and I gassed up the rental car (which has never been driven on the Nürburgring) and headed west for the Netherlands. It was actually a pretty quick drive. The total distance was only ~320 kilometers (200 miles).
Before we got to the city of Amsterdam, I decided to make a side trip to the coastal town of Zandvoort. I randomly picked this town because of its proximity to the North Sea. However, I soon learned that there is a famous formula one track of the same name right next to the beach. I tried to stop and get pictures, but all of the access gates were closed. It’s too bad because it looked like a really cool track being totally surrounded by many sand dunes.
On the way into Amsterdam, we saw all sorts of goofy cars. Some woman was starting her own fruit smoothy business and covered her entire minivan type vehicle in artificial grass. Next, we saw some old man driving a golf cart sized car on the bike path. Apparently, these tiny little vehicles are allowed to share the bike lanes along with all these little three wheel local delivery vehicles. All that was missing from the bike lanes were a pack of Free Masons. Oh wait, it was Thanksgiving Day… that would explain the lack men with funny hats.
The city of Amsterdam was nice. We actually had decent weather. The first time I visited this city in 2005, it rained the whole day I was there. This time, we were actually a little lucky as the sun came out for a better half of the day. Most of the day was spent wondering around music stores and just people watching. We ate lunch at a little Pizza place right next to the city center. We paid €30 (~$44) for two crummy personal pizzas, a coke and a beer. When it came time to pay the bill, the bad waiter looked as if he was expecting a tip... since we were American and all.
I don’t think so pal! If he could have seen my bitchin’ Mercedes, he would have noticed the German license plate… and that’s just how I roll: NO TIP FOR YOU!
After lunch, I took my brother through the red light district and showed him what a “real” prostitute looked like. He commented on how they looked nothing like the ones in the movies. We also walked through some museum of hemp. I showed him that marijuana usage does not turn you into a violent criminal like the mass media has led you believe. However, I also showed him how usage can easily turn a normal productive citizen into one of the many smelly homeless hippies walking in and out of the coffee shops. I think my plan worked when a hippy walked by and Nolan said: “Wow, that guy REALLY smelled like Ozzfest.”
That about did it for our trip to Amsterdam. Next stop, the Rhine!
Using some jankety web site, I was able to get two rooms in the city of Bacharach Germany, which earned a one star rating from a single previous review. The hotel earned this one star status based on its supposed lack of cleanliness, wood paneling, and proximity to train tracks (approximately 10 feet). Needless to say, we weren’t expecting much for €58 a night.
However, after arriving at the Hotel on Friday evening, we were delightfully surprised. Becki and I were upgraded to the larger triple room at no cost, both rooms were surprisingly clean, and the train tracks were probably more like 12 feet away rather than 10. It was quite the score.
The town of Bacharach is a neat little town. Everything is built on the old city layout from a thousand years ago. The Hotel itself is situated in one of the nine original guard towers. The four foot thick stone walls made the trains (which passed by every 3 minutes or so) virtually unnoticeable. Inside the city walls, all of the streets were old cobblestone and just a little bit wider than the width of one rental car. The town had one old church and one new one. The “new” church was built in the 1600’s some time. Finally, the town is over looked by the Castle Stahleck or ‘Burg Stahleck’ as the Germans say.
After checking into our rooms and parking the rental car, we quickly walked through the little village and grabbed dinner at a local restaurant. Mom sampled some of the famous Rhine area whines while I stuck with my favorite Alte (old style) Bier (beer). Becki tried a Dunkelweizen (dark wheat) and decided that would be her new favorite German style of beer.
After a brief walk down to the river the next morning, we headed off on our castle hunting expedition. Our main goal was to tour the famous Rhine castle “Marksburg”. All of the Rhine castles had originally been destroyed (typically by the French) and rebuilt from the rubble at one time in their thousand year(s) existence. The only exception to this is the Castle Marksburg. Not only has it been mostly restored, but all of the structure and foundations are as true today as they were when originally build back in 1100 AD.
The drive down to Marksburg was nothing short of spectacular. The scenery along the Rhine River is straight out of a fairy tale. All the little villages look like something in children book or model. Each little village seemed to have some sort of Castle or remains perched above on a hill side. Half way to Marksburg, we had to take a ferry boat across the river since there are no bridges across the Rhine between the cities of Koblenz (50 km away) and Mainz (75 km away). Besides, what trip to the Rhine would be complete without a river cruise of some sort?
Abandoning the navigation systems crappy advice and instead going by instinct (i.e. following the damn signs) we eventually found the visitors parking lot for Castle Marksburg. We each pony’d up the five Euros for the guided tour since this is the only way you are allowed to walk inside the castle. On the (German spoken) tour, we able to see the batteries, kitchen, guard towers, ye’ old TOILET, stables, and chapel with its original paintings from year 1100AD. The castle was pretty incredible and well worth the money. The tour guide even stopped and repeated some of the REALLY cool stuff in English, even though we already had an English written handout that explained each room.
On the way back to Bacharach, we made a pit stop and explored the “Loreley Rock”. The Loreley Rock is a famous section of the Rhine River. Since this is the narrowest portion of the (navigatable) Rhine River, the current at Loreley is pretty fierce. The legend is that the devil himself tried to slam shut the river valley, but the power of the Rhine was too strong and eventually prevailed. However, the Loreley Rock was the devil’s final strong hold and some say he is still trying to close off the valley to this day. Because of this, many sailing ships have crashed on the shoals surrounding the Loreley. Whatever the legend is, this was a really great vantage point to take many pictures of the Rhine River below.
Returning back to our hotel in the town of Bacharach, we ventured out in the evening to take a closer look at one of the other old city gates on the far end of town. This one particular gate is still being used as the main entrance into town from the west. It is only one car width wide and serves as a reminder that this village is much older than anything which passes through this gate. The light from the full moon above helped add to a certain ominous that was already in the air. Nolan tried hiding in the old city gate pretending to be a gargoyle, but the sub freezing temperatures quickly moved him back inside.
On Sunday afternoon, we dropped off my mother and Nolan for their (hopefully) quick and peaceful return flight back to the states. It sure was nice having them around to help with the baby and everything else. After getting back to our apartment on Sunday evening, both Becki and I commented on how quiet things suddenly were and how much larger the apartment felt. At this rate, we should be returning to our “palace” in Westland next month!
Looking forward to seeing everyone again, hope you all had a great holiday as well!
Saturday, we decided to take a drive into the Rhineland and explore the city Zoo in “Wuppertal”. The city of Wuppertal (translation: ‘River Valley’) was about an hour drive on the Autobahn to the west. The weather forecast was for on and off rain showers with temperatures hovering around 4˚C (40˚F). We made sure that Maggie was well bundled up.
Because of the cool(er) temperatures, we virtually had the zoo to ourselves. We saw maybe a dozen other people the entire time we were there. It was a fairly nice zoo too! They had a large Tiger and Lion display. Unfortunately, the Lions were inside their warm dens avoiding the cold outside. I wish we would have known this after walking up the large hill to the Lion den. The “Wupper” in Wuppertal is a very steep valley, meaning lots of hills to walk up and down. Both Becki and I were pretty worn out by the time we reached the end of the zoo trail.
After the zoo, we took the Schwebebahn to the city center (Zentrum). The Schwebebahn is the local mass transit system (train) that has been in use for the past 80 – 90 years. The catch, is that the Schwebebahn is a suspended train that hangs directly over the center of the river. I guess real estate was at such a premium 90 years ago that the only place they had left for a public transit train was directly over the river. It made for a unique and exciting ride.
We eventually found a nice local tavern in the large and busy city center of Wuppertal to enjoy a late lunch (~4PM). Maggie was on her best behavior the entire time. All of the waitresses had to stop by so they could “ooh and ahh” over our well behaved baby. We felt a little strange taking Maggie into an otherwise non-family style restaurant, but there were a couple other parties with strollers (Kinderwagon) so we weren’t the only ones with such a small child there.
After dinner, we hurried back to Lippstadt so we could get some groceries before the stores closed at 8PM. If we didn’t get any groceries by Saturday night, we would have to wait until Monday since none of the markets are open on Sunday’s. Silly German laws. Anyway, the shopping carts aren’t setup the same way as they are in America. The baby seats don’t fit in the front child seat area and they have to be placed in the main basket. Maggie didn’t mind, but I could only imagine what people were thinking as we walked by… “I didn’t know they sold BABIES in this store!!!”
On Sunday, we tried our luck with the German train system. We started the day off by walking the ~1 mile to the Lippstadt train station and purchased two round trip tickets to the neighboring city of Soest. Since the city of Soest was having a large festival (supposedly the largest inner city festival in all of Germany) we decided to leave the baby stroller at home and have Becki “Moby Wrap” the baby to herself for the entire day. Once Maggie was wrapped up, Becki put her coat on over the baby leaving only Maggie’s head exposed to the outside world. This commanded all sorts of strange looks from ever single passer-by.
The Soest festival was indeed huge. We suppressed our initial appetite with a HUGE salted pretzel that was big enough for Becki and me to share. The city was setup with lots and lots of carnival rides. However, German carnival rides are a lot larger and more extreme that those back home in America. Apparently personal liability suites aren’t a big problem in Europe. Some of the rides we saw over here would NEVER fly in America. There was a large swing ride that not only spun passengers around in their swings, but also shot them up at least 100 feet in the air while doing so. We both decided that Maggie should probably wait at least another year before trying this ride out.
Instead, we paid the €8 for all three of us to ride the giant Ferris Wheel in the center of town. The view from the top was pretty awesome… but also very brisk. This entire weekend has been very windy and the wind chill was rather bitter once the wheel reached the upper half of its circle.
After chilling ourselves on the wheel, we walked into the main beer tent. There was enough room for Becki, Maggie and I to get our own table upstairs. We ordered two large beers and the local special plate for lunch. The special plate was essentially two giant pieces of (mystery) meat, a healthy portion of sauerkraut, a slice of rye bread and little serving of mustard. After walking around the festival all day, neither one of us had any difficulty finishing our turkey / beef / pork / horse or whatever meat.
It drizzled on us a little bit while walking back to the train station (bahnhof), but Maggie was well covered up in Becki’s skiing jacket. Once we made it back to the apartment, both Becki and I about fell to the ground from exhaustion. Maggie, however, had (still has) different plans. Since she was sleeping during most of the excursion into Soest, therefore she is now well rested and wants to play with Mom or Dad.
Both Becki and I can’t wait until Grandma Sue comes next weekend!
Here is a picture of Becki and Maggie in front of our new apartment. If anybody feels like sending us a postcard in the next few weeks, please write to:
The Bayley’s
Borlinghauser Str. 33
59557 Lippstadt, NRW
Deutschland (Germany)
Happy (belated) Halloween!!
Pretty bad to miss posting for my very favorite holiday, eh? We're settling in at our new apartment in Lippstadt, Germany. They don't actually celebrate 'Halloween' here, so we just took pictures in the little costume I couldn't resist on our couch :)
Andy works during the day (of course), and I've been doing my new work from 'home' job a bit during the day, and some in the evenings. There's a mini-Meijer type store about a block away, so I usually make a trip for groceries each afternoon as well. We've got a fridge, but no freezer. This isn't quite as annoying as the fact that we have a clothes washer, but no dryer. Each day I try to do one load of laundry, so it has the rest of the day and night to dry on the drying rack before the new load the next day. Crazy!
Last weekend we just hung out around here. The neighbors downstairs (she's from Kentucky!) took us out to brunch and to a children's flea market on Sunday. Next weekend we're going out with some of Andy's co-workers on Friday, then maybe to a huge festival in Soest by train on Saturday or Sunday. Soest is a town or two away.
We'll keep you updated!
Maggie was having loads of fun at Grandma Judi and Grandpa Roger's place this past weekend. Grandma Judi hallowed out the largest pumpkin she could find and plopped her granddaughter down inside. Maggie had a blast, as the above picture clearly indicates. We are disappointed that we will likely be overseas for Halloween this year, but look forward to next year when Maggie will hopefully be a little more mobile.
The initial move date has been set for October 22nd of this year (2007). Andy, Becki and Maggie will all be temporarily relocating to Germany for two months. It’s not as much a relocation move as it is an extended vacation. The family will be back home in time for Christmas, but Thanksgiving will be put on hold this year. Although we are a little shaky with our European history, we’re pretty sure that the Germans didn’t have a large harvest feast with the Native Americans shortly after landing at Plymouth Rock. Andy’s mother and Nolan were talking about visiting us over the Thanksgiving week. It would be nice to have English speaking visitors. Andy might have to go back for a few weeks in January, but Maggie and Becki will be staying in Michigan after Christmas.
She's part of the inspiration for Margaret Suzanne's middle name, and I hope little Maggie can get a portion of her positive outlook and love of life.
To donate, please visit my page here.
This past weekend, we invited some friends from out of town up to the family cottage in Caseville MI for a weekend of good old R&R, Michigan style. Friends came up from as far as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida and even Texas. People started showing up at our home on Friday afternoon. We spent all evening catching up on events and eating some BBQ'd burgers and dogs. On Saturday, the group caravanned up to Caseville and spent the rest of the weekend lakeside.
The jet ski's were a popular hit, especially since the big boat is (yet again) down with a bad motor. One of Andy's co-workers was kind enough to loan him an inner tube that could be towed behind one of the jet skis. All of the men lined up to prove their "manliness" on this inflatable tube of death, then paid the price the following days with sore backs, arms and butts. Everyone agrees that it was still well worth the pain and suffering.
Maggie and her Daddy Friday night at home.
Saturday afternoon on the Beach in Caseville. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was BEAUTIFUL!
Sunday, July 22nd 2007:
Becki and I didn’t have any plans, so we decided to sleep in and lazily hang out around the house. In my normal fashion, I crankily laid in bed while Becki got up and shuffled around the house. Around 10AM Becki came into the bedroom and had a short conversation with me. It went something like this:
Becki: ”It’s time to get up.”
Andy: ”Go away, I’m sleeping…”
Becki: ”Come on, you really need to get up now.”
Andy: ”Leave me alone, I’ll get up when I’m ready.”
Becki: ”Well, I either pee’d myself, or my water just broke.”
Andy: ”I’m awake! I’m awake! I’m awake!”
Indeed, Becki’s water broke sometime around 10:00 AM. Soon afterwards, moderate contractions started to appear. Knowing that pre-labor can sometimes take days, Becki took a long hot shower while I cooked up some pancakes and sausage. After finishing breakfast, we noticed that Becki’s contractions were about 4 – 5 minutes apart and lasting at least 60 seconds. This is when I called the midwife and informed her of our situation. She told me to finish up breakfast, pack up the car, and then head over to the birthing center.
On the car ride to the birthing center (read: not hospital), Becki’s contractions were starting to get noticeably more intense. We arrived at 2:30PM where the midwife immediately got us comfortable and laid us down on the bed in the birthing room. By 3PM, the labor contractions were in full swing. It took us a few hours to find a good “routine” that helped us deal with the labor pains, especially in the new environment.
After laboring in pain on the bed for ~6 hours, we “thought” we were getting close to transformation (the pushing stage) since her dilation was at 9.5 cm (10 cm is fully dilated.) This is when we decided to give the hot tub a try. The tub was amazing. It took sooo much pressure away from Becki and her back. Unfortunately, it also slowed down the contractions. When she first got into the tub, contractions were about 3 – 4 minutes apart. After one hour in the tub, they had spaced out to 10 – 15 minutes. Another two hours in the tub, they were 20 – 30 minutes apart. The contractions were still VERY intense, but they weren’t as frequent anymore.
(Transitioning into) Monday, July 23rd 2007:
Becki tried to push during some of the contractions while in the tub, but they were no longer close enough. The midwife suggested that we use this temporary lapse in frequent contractions to “recharge” ourselves. Becki was actually able to get a few naps between some of the contractions.
Somewhere around midnight, we made the decision to go back onto the bed. Almost immediately, the contractions came back at a frequency of every 3 minutes or so. We did this for 3 hours, until I put Becki BACK into the tub. Sure enough, just as before, the tub had TOO GOOD of a relaxing effect and Becki’s contractions initially spaced out to 20 – 30 minutes. However, 4 hours in the tub later, the frequency finally picked itself back up to 4 – 5 minutes.
Becki tried a few pushes in the tub again, but the midwife suggested she get out and try to use the “birthing stool” aka: the metal frame of torturous death. Becki tried to push for an hour while sitting on the MFofTD, but little to no progress was being made. Since we had both been awake for almost 24 hours at this point, the midwife suggested we use the next few hours to try and sleep. This would hopefully “recharge” us enough to start the pushing process with more effect.
Sure, this might have sounded like a good idea, but the only thing comparable to sleeping with contractions ever 3 – 4 minutes is being NEXT to someone who is trying to sleep with contractions every 3 – 4 minutes. Needless to say, neither one of us got any sleep. The next 8… long… painful hours were spent coping with these contractions. Becki was told to try pushing whenever she felt the peak of a contraction, but according to Becki everything felt like one long continuous contraction. Shitty.
At 4PM, the midwife decided “it was time” and she was going to get this baby out of Becki, even if she had to reach in there and pull Maggie out by her ears. During the pushing phase, I noticed three main “stages” of positions that the baby was in:
Stage I: the baby’s head passes the pubic bone and is just barely visible
Stage II: the baby’s head crowns and the entire head is exposed
Stage III: the remainder of the baby (shoulders, torso, legs, etc…) is pushed out
Stage “I” was by far, the biggest hurdle for Becki to clear. It took Becki from 4PM until 6:30’ish to clear the pubic bone. There was some serious pushing that Becki had to do. On her right hand, there are some rather impressive bruises from squeezing the posts on the headboard ever so tightly. Once the baby's head had cleared the pubic bone, the midwives (there were two of them working with us by this point) were excited to show me the progress. I’m glad Becki couldn’t see this because my first reaction was: “That’s it? All that f$@#ing pushing and that’s only as far as this thing has come out?” Of course, I didn’t say this too Becki. My ‘softened’ statement was: “Wow, you are SOOO close! Just a few more pushes and we’re home free!” …which was 100% bullshit.
Stage “II” came shortly after Stage ”I” but Becki R-E-A-L-L-Y had to work for it. This is when Becki’s facial expressions transformed from that sweet and innocent wife of mine to something akin to “God of Hell Fire.” It still took almost an hour for the head to crown / clear, but this was a lot less (time wise) than it took to originally clear the pubic bone.
The crowning of the head is a pretty messed up thing to watch. I supposedly saw this once before while I watched my brother being born back in 1992… but I didn’t remember what the actual crowning looked like. Knowing what I know now, I intentionally erased that image from mind some 15 years ago (i.e. It’s not pleasant.) Anyway, the crowning is when the head has passed the “half-way” point and the rest of the head suddenly slides out. I use the word “half-way” loosely because the crowning point is not necessarily at the widest part of the head. Ya see, a babies head is very soft since the skull is still in a few smaller pieces. This causes the babies head to compress, a lot, so it can fit out of the birth canal.
Once the baby passed the crowning point, the head expanded to THREE TIMES its previous size! It almost looked like a balloon that immediately was filled with helium. I couldn’t believe something that huge came out of a hole that small. Another thing that freaked me out a little was the color. Since Maggie wasn’t breathing on her own yet (normal) her entire head was purple. I thought to myself: ”Great, my wife just gave birth to a giant smurf.”
Once the head was fully exposed, it was time to push the rest of the baby out (Stage III). After clearing Stage II, Becki was almost completely out of energy. I remember her asking the midwife: ”Will the rest of the body be that difficult to push out as well?” The midwife just smiled and told her to keep pushing. ONE PUSH later, the rest of the baby just slid right out. Narrow girl shoulders for the win!
My immediate reaction was: ”OMG, what is that multi-colored slime covered thing?” Then about one millisecond later, I realized it was my own flesh and blood. Another millisecond later, I busted out in tears as I welcomed my little girl to her new world.
It was 7:20 PM on Monday July 23rd of 2007.
At this point in most birth stories, people finish up with ”and they lived happily ever after.” However, such was not the case with us. The real excitement was just about to begin. With Maggie happily laying on Becki’s chest, it was time for the afterbirth. After one more final push, the placenta slid out like a greasy 20oz prime cut rib-eye steak. No big deal, everything looked great. At this point in the evening, the midwives told Becki: ”Everything is great, you just need to stop bleeding now… OK, stop bleeding… anytime now… stop the bleeding… you’re not stopping… really, you need to stop bleeding… this isn’t good Becki, you need to stop right now…”
Obviously Becki couldn’t do anything about the bleeding and the midwives were just trying to subconsciously persuade Becki to stop bleeding. I’m glad I only saw the upper half of the action because that was a bloody enough show for me. The next few things that happened were kind of a blur, but I do remember Becki handing me the baby and hearing the midwife say “…get ready to dial 9-1-1!”
One of the midwives tried to locate the cause of the bleeding by reaching completely inside Becki and pulling out CLUMPS of blood clots. That was a sight I could have gone my entire life without ever seeing. The blood was still POURING out of Becki though, and there was obviously a larger clot that was still inside her. The bleeding needed to be stopped or else Becki was going to be transferred to the Emergency Room at the closest hospital (~5 minutes away).
A little known “natural” method of slowing blood loss is to ingest Oxytocin. A good source of oxytocin is the placenta… and hey, whatever was good for the baby should be good enough for mama, right? So, in a final natural attempt to save my wife’s life, one of the midwives cut off a small piece of the placenta, gave it to Becki and said: “Chew on this… chew on this as your life depends on it!” Being the ultimate trooped she is, Becki chewed on her own babies placenta… for three seconds… at which point she gagged and spit the piece right back out.
It took everything I had to hold down lunch.
Finally, just seconds before the assistant was going to dial 9-1-1, the midwife pulled out a H-U-G-E blood clot approximately the size of a softball. Shortly after the blood clot was removed from the uterus, the blood faucet slowly started to stop bleeding but not after Becki lost over a QUART of blood in the process. Yes, a QUART. Not a pint, but a QUART. Four Cups!!! Everybody was a mess. It looked like the set of a B-rate horror movie from the 1970’s.
Becki and I took a few hours to regroup before we left for home. Since Becki had lost a large amount of blood, she wasn’t able to walk on her own power. The midwives offered us the room for the night (again) but we were REALLY tired of being at the birth center. We wanted to go home. I grabbed one of the rolling office chairs from behind the work desk and wheeled Becki out to the car while the assistant grabbed Maggie in her car carrier.
After a short stop at McDonalds to get Mamma a celebratory chocolate shake, we were home. It was 11:58 PM on Monday July 23rd 2007. Even after all the delays, confusion, and scares, we are still glad that we were able to have the birth “our” way: 100% natural.
We were now home. The entire healthy family, all three of us.
He's working out at my parents today. Helping by brother with some brake or wheel stuff, and (I think) putting the new torque converter on the Datsun to bring it back here tonight. I feel a Telegraph cruise coming on soon, I think... Sure do wish the weather would cooperate!
She will be walking to honor our friend Sue, who passed away in August, 2005 at the age of 36 of breast cancer.
Luminaria will be lit to honor cancer survivors and to remember those who have lost their battle with cancer. If you would like to purchase one in honor or in memory of a loved one, they may be purchased for a $10 or greater donation. Please let us know if your donation is going for a luminaria.
We would like to reach our $1000 goal by May 1st. By making a check payable to the American Cancer Society and returning it to us, together we can make a difference! If you can donate using your debit or credit card, please visit Becki's donation page here. There is no finish line until we find a cure! Relay is about being a community that takes up the fight.
Thank you in advance for your support! If you have any questions, or would like to be a part of this exciting event, please leave a comment and we'll respond promptly.
Andy might have his own say on it, but I honestly don't 'feel' all that different married then I did just living with the love of my life. I was just saying tonight, I still feel like a kid, I can hardly believe I'm married! But we definitely are. I'm still working through all my accounts to get my name change done, but the biggies are taken care of - I got my new drivers' license and social security card in the mail this week :) Becki Bayley is a very lucky - and happy - woman!
"Sorrow can take care of itself, but joy, to be fully appreciated, must be shared." - Mark Twain
Thanks to all of our friends and family for sharing in our joy!
Okay, so we're actually writing this slightly before the wedding, but here's the plan:
We're headed to the courthouse in Westland to meet up with our friend Jay Blanchard and another witness and have the judge marry us! Becki was able to get something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue, and now we're ready to go!!
After the ceremony, we'll be headed out for breakfast, then Jay is dropping us and our luggage off at the car rental place. By the time you're reading this, we're at least on our way to Miami, Florida, where our cruise sails Saturday afternoon!! (Can you tell I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!! -Becki)
We'll be on our seven day eastern Caribbean cruise/honeymoon until February 25, then stopping to visit Grandma Jessie (Tennessee) and heading home.
By February 27, life will be returning to what will come to be known as 'normal' for Mr. and Mrs. Bayley!
Thanks for reading, and we hope to get together with you soon!
Leave a comment, we can't wait to tell you all about it when we get back!
Laying in bed one night, Andy and Becki were making small talk about how each others days had gone.
Andy: "So, how was your evening out with the girls?"
Becki: “It was fun...”
Andy: “Did they ask you if we were married yet?”
Becki: “(sigh) yeah...”
Andy: “Have they figured any of our plans out yet?”
Becki: “Not that I know of.”
Andy: “Did your telling them of our upcoming cruise vacation tip any of them off?”
Becki: “I don’t think so.”
Andy: “Do you think THIS would give them any clues...”
(as Andy slides this onto Becki’s finger)
(Becki at 2 years old)
(Andy posing for his Kindergarten School picture)
In the spring of 1997, Becki Smith made the 10-hour trek north (FYI: Andy's personal record still stands at 6 hours and 20 minutes...) to visit her brother and finally met Andy Bayley.
It may seem obvious where the story goes from here, but it actually went nowhere for the time being. Andy and Becki exchanged a few e-mails but eventually lost touch.
Andy and Randy stayed in contact after graduation though. In 2003 they bought Subaru Impreza WRX's just a couple months apart.
Soon after that, Randy joined a fun off-topic web forum and invited Andy to join. Becki was already a member there. Shortly after Andy joined the website, he and Becki were reunited.
(Andy, Becki and Prem sitting down for Dinner at the Royal Oak Brewery)
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Becki's First Boat Ride...
Andy, Greg (Andy's Dad) and Becki took Andy and Greg's boat (a 32 foot Sunsation) from Caseville to East Tawas for lunch. The lake (Huron) was rough that day, but Becki loved every minute of her first boat ride. Unfortunately, more engine problems were revealed, so it was her last boat ride on that particular boat for quite a while.
Andy's first solo flight...
Andy started taking flying lessons in January of 2004. Six months (14 hours of flight time) and a couple thousand dollars later, he made his first solo flight. Andy said he loved the birds eye view of the world below.
Becki was now at about six months without a full-time permanent job (her last day had been January 2nd). Her lease at the apartment she lived in with Gloria and Audrey (her cats) was ready to renew... or expire September 1st.
Andy didn't seem to be doing much better with the house. Everything seemed to be falling apart at the seams. A loss of coolant caused the A/C compressor to seize, causing a power surge that knocked out the TV and computer monitor, which also froze up the condenser, causing the condensor to freeze up into a giant block of ice, which eventually thawed and fell onto the furnace heat exchanger, which cracked the exchanger in half.
Luckily, Andy and Becki had each other to fall back upon. Becki helped Andy organize the needed repairs to the house (many phone calls) while Andy opened his heart to Becki, Gloria and Audrey. Becki took over his third bedroom as her new PartyLite office, and added more than a little clutter to his (now their) three-bedroom ranch.
It was only a 25 mile move, but a huge step in the future they both knew they would be sharing.
Shortly after enjoying Thanksgiving dinners with their families, Becki and Andy hopped on a plane and flew across the Northern Atlantic for Germany. Andy’s company (BHTC) was sending him to their corporate headquarters for two weeks in the northern Germany town of Lippstadt. After getting the green light from his boss, Andy purchased a second ticket for Becki and the two of them traveled for their first time to Europe.
The challenge came in when they got there. Lippstadt is a beautiful city, but small. Andy's co-workers all spoke English, but Becki saw no one during the day who did. Once Andy got back to the hotel each night, she talked (English) non-stop!
During their weekend stay in Germany, Becki and Andy traveled to southern Germany and spent the weekend in the quaint Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After exploring the town of Garmish, the duo setout to locate their hotel for the night. This was not an easy task as their hotel room was nestled deep in the heart of the alps. In order to get to their room at the Foresthaus Grasek, they had to take a gondola ride up the side of a mountain. The gondola looked - and felt - like it had been installed for the 1936 olympics... and not improved or enhanced since! Once they reached their destination for the night however, their trouble was all worth it.
After spending the night in their Bavarian retreat, Andy and Becki took a drive into Austria to catch at better glimpse of "Zugspitze," the highest peak in Germany at 2964 meters (9724 ft). The weather in Austria was much nicer than the foggy valley they left behind in Germany.
2005 was Andy's fourth trip to the Miami boat show and Becki's first. They shared a hotel room with Greg and had a great time catching up with our (mostly) Canadian friends. Admittedly, Becki was more interested in socializing than in boats, but Greg and Andy enjoyed the boat show as usual. Miami in February for the boat show is a great way to break up the Michigan winter.
Saturday morning Stan and Inez called to say they were going for a drive and invited Becki and Andy along. They ended up all the way in Key West, Florida at the southernmost point of the continental U.S. It was a beautiful ride through the Keys.
Sunday night found Becki and Andy sunburnt (from the beach that morning) and very ready to go home. Unfortunately, their flight was cancelled! Luckily they said it was due to crew problems (instead of the weather) so they got a free nights stay at the Airport Marriot and flew out Monday morning.
For the long Easter weekend, Andy and Becki decided to head south to Myrtle Beach. While on their way down, they made a side stop at the Tail of the Dragon to meet up with a friend from the off topic web forum. The friend brought with him a few other fellow Honda S2000s for Andy to play with. Unfortunately, they didn't play very nice and Andy wore out the ring and pinion gears in his front differential. This caused a very loud and annoying "whine" for the rest of the trip.
This minor mechanical setback (the first of MANY more to come) didn't stop Andy and Becki from driving onwards to Myrtle Beach. The two were put up on the top floor of an ocean front hotel complete with their own private balcony. Saturday was spent lazily strolling along the beach, in no hurry to do anything.
In June of 2005, Becki and Andy, along with Becki's parents (Roger and Judi) and Randy, headed out to Las Vegas for the wedding of cousin Jake. While in Nevada, they all took a quick side trip to explore the Hoover Dam. On the last day of their vacation, Andy and Roger rented a 21 foot powerboat and took the rest of the family (Randy, Becki, Judi and Aunt Rheta) out for a day cruise on Lake Mead. This little boat excursion ensured that everyone would be fast asleep during their red-eye flight home that night.
July of 2005 brought the marriage of Denny and Terra. Denny is a friend of Andy's that lives in Windsor, Ontario. Becki was most impressed with the seemingly endless supply of Croatian pastry desserts that is said to be a tradition in this family. Too bad Denny was the last family member to get married, those desserts were G-O-O-D!
August of 2005 took Andy and Becki up to Mackinac Island for the marriage of their friends Jeremy and Renee. Andy was hoping to make the weekend a "camping trip" on his boat, but prolonged engine troubles prevented that from happening. Instead, Roger and Judi setup their motor home in St. Ignace and invited Andy and Becki to setup a tent on their site. This meant that Andy and Becki's trip to the island was only be a day trip, but they still had just as much fun.
As the summer was winding down, Becki and Andy found themselves invited to their fourth wedding of the year in September. Craig and Hannah were married in a beautiful outdoor garden in the town of Holly, Michigan. Afterwards, their reception was held at Canterbury Village in Lake Orion, Michigan. More great treats from another southeastern European family - the food and entertainment were both top notch!
In late June of 2005 Andy, Becki, Randy and their friend Matt all headed back down to the Tail of the Dragon for their web forum's second (now annual) Dragon "Meat" run. The event this year was much larger than the previous year with more than double the number of attendees. Andy and Becki were happy to finally put faces to many friends they had otherwise only known through messages posted online.
On the way down to the Dragon, Andy, Becki, Randy and Matt all stopped in to visit Randy and Becki’s grandmother Jesse in Rockwood, Tennessee. Jesse was excited to see us all and prepared a nice southern-style fried chicken lunch.
For his fourth (and Becki's second) year in a row, Andy returned to Kingston Ontario to visit with his and now Becki's Canadian friends. Sadly, Andy was not able to take his own boat up to Kingston as he had been planning all summer. However, their good friend Jeff picked up the slack and accommodated both Becki and Andy on his 36 foot Apache. Not only did Jeff offer up the ride, but also put up Becki and Andy in his own personal boathouse for Saturday night.
On their way home, Becki and Andy decided to make a side trip at Niagara Falls to take in the sights and grab a bite to eat. What a better way to cap off an exciting weekend with the one you love.
For Halloween of 2005, Natalie invited Andy and Becki to a party out in Royal Oak with her and some friends. Andy invited his German co-worker Wolfgang to join him and Becki. While down there, they ran into many of their friends and had a great time dancing and drinking (not necessarily in that order ;) ). Becki was dressed as Betty Page (1950's pin up girl); Andy's costume was designed after Jerry Only (bass player for the Misfits) and Wolfgang grabbed the first costume he could find off the dollar rack at Meijer... an Arab Sheik. Here are the three of them donning their Halloween costumes (sans Arabic headgear.)
Shortly after Thanksgiving, both Becki and Andy started to notice Gloria (the older of the two cats) losing weight at an alarming rate. They both also noticed her loss of appetite and her inability to get around on her own. After many trips to the vet and a feeding tube to help get her to eat again, Gloria finally gave up the fight and was euthanized in early December. The final diagnoses (never confirmed) was liver failure. Becki, Andy and Audrey miss her tremendously but are glad she's surely comfortable now.
For New Years Eve, Becki was able to score five free tickets to watch the Detroit Pistons play the Cleveland Cavaliers. The good news was that the home team won. The bad news was that Becki and Andy took a bus down to Cleveland to watch the game. No matter, Becki, Andy, Matt, Byron (friend of Andy’s) and Keith (another friend of Andy’s) all had a good time.
Becki was able to get these tickets through her new job at Quicken Loans that she had been working at since the beginning of August. Her new job has had plenty of perks by offering many free tickets to local sporting games, concerts and trade shows. A job that Becki loves doing AND free concert tickets… can things get any better???
After getting back from Cleveland, Becki and Andy quickly drove downtown (Detroit) to visit Andy’s oldest sister Alicia and the new town house her and boyfriend (of 18 years) had recently bought. While there, they also met Greg’s new girlfriend Ellen.
About an hour before midnight, Andy and Becki hurried up to Northville so they could welcome in the new year with Randy, his now fiancée Shannon and a few other friends.
