A Fun Weekend

We headed up to Mackinac last weekend and went camping with my parents. It was a little brisk out (some, like me, would say cold, but others, like Andy, wouldn't agree...), but we had a great time anyway. I insisted on getting the old-time photo on the island. One we had taken somewhere with my parents and my brother and I still hangs in my parents house :) For your viewing pleasure:

Day trip to Put-In-Bay

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.

I Love Macaroni! (Wordless Wednesday)

Walk softly and carry a big stick

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!"

Happy Birthday Maggie

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!

San Francisco Visit

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?"

July 4th weekend out on the boat!

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!

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All of the boats lined up at Pepper Joe's in St. Clair Michigan.

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Maggie and Mom enjoying the sun and fresh air... even though I'm pretty sure Maggie was asleep in this picture.

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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 Comes Trouble!!

Maggie started walking last weekend! We think her first motivating factor was trying to stay off of Jeremy's grass, but once she tried it there, she apparently decided she likes it! Here's some video of her walking in the cottage.

Greenfield Village!

Last weekend our friend Prem visited. While he was here, we used some passes we had and headed to Greenfield Village for their Motor Muster weekend. It was a huge outdoor car show, with cars from the 1930s to the 1970s. The boys loved it (of course) but I'm still looking forward to seeing the real 'village' at the holidays again. ;)

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.

June Already?!?

Wow! This year is FLYING BY!! As much as I feel like I should be in touch with everyone, since I'm at home all day, nearly every day, it's impossible! I'm at home because I'm still working 30 hours a week. Luckily Maggie is a very good tempered girl who does an amazing job of entertaining herself. She starts out playing in the living room (which is baby-proofed) and when she gets bored with that, she makes her way down to the only room with the door open - mommy's office. I can usually take a break then to nurse her and play for a few minutes while relocating her to the living room again to start the whole cycle over...

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!

Wordless Wednesday

Maggie and her Uncle Nolan in their matching shirts :)

Maggie's Dedication

Just over a week ago, we had a dedication (also called a naming ceremony) for Maggie at the Universalist Unitarian church we attend. It was a beautiful ceremony. Maggie wore the christening gown Maggie's Mimi Judi made for Becki me 35 years ago. Becki's younger brother also wore it when he was baptized. Here are a couple pictures Maggie's Grandpa Greg took. We had little matching necklaces on that Mimi got us when Maggie was first born. Here's a picture during the ceremony.

Whirled Peas!

Maggie's Playhouse

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!

Healthy Baby :)

Well, Maggie is coming up on nine months this week (Wednesday, to be exact). We have had our nine-month doctor visit, and she's still growing. Hahahaha... At the visit, her weight was 19 lbs, 8 oz (around the 50th percentile), and her length is 29 inches (around the 90th percentile). Her noggin circumfrence is off the charts. If you're picking out new outfits to get Maggie, don't bother with the matching hat - it won't fit. :D Maggie is also on track with all of the 'developmental milestones' they ask about. She's been crawling on all fours since her eight-month birthday (army crawling way before that), and starting pulling herself to standing and walking around while holding the furniture or walls around the same time. She really surprised me one time by climbing onto a box to reach what was on my craft counter - uh-oh! We're so proud and happy watching our baby develop into a little person. :)

Seven Things...

Yes, we are still around ;) The Rudstrom's have challenged us to post seven random facts about The Bayleys...here goes!

1. We first met in the spring of 1997 - seven years before we started dating.
2. Becki is almost three years older than Andy (two years, 364 days, actually).
3. Andy misses hanging out with his friends in Minnesota.
4. We live within a half mile of Andy's high school.
5. Becki's mom's cousin's son is Milo Ventimiglia.
6. When Andy was ten years old, he knocked on the front door of a house on his paper route because he liked the little girl that lived there. The girl's mom invited him in and they all had hot chocolate together. The little girl was Judy Greer.
7. Becki's cousin's son is in high school with (and good friends with) Andy's younger brother.

Maggie the Musician

Maggie and her daddy can now practice using one of the same guitars!

She's Standing on her own!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

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.

Looking back on 2007

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.

Rhineland Germany, not Wisconsin!

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!