Wordless Wednesday

Happy Mother's Day

A tribute to the best mother in the whole wide world!

Love, Maggie Sue (with some help from Dad, but only a little bit.)

Thanks for a very happy Easter!

Once the drama with the bunny was over, Maggie was able to go on and enjoy her Easter weekend. Saturday we went to Grandma's, where Maggie did her very first egg 'hunt,' and got a fabulous bonnet. Hopefully Grandma got some good pictures of Maggie in her dress and bonnet, because although she wore the same dress the next day, we only took pictures outside with her jacket covering her dress! 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!!

Hoppy Easter?

Well, the day started out well enough. Maggie and I got up and had breakfast. When it was time to start relaxing and play, I talked her into taking a bath instead. Once she was clean and dressed, I snuck in a quick shower for myself. After stashing her pretty pink dress in the diaper bag and getting the stroller into the trunk again, we hit the road.

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!!

Mr. (and Mrs.) Bayley go to Washington

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.

Maggie Goes Sledding

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!"

"I'm good to go Daddy, HIT IT!"

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"Too slow Dad, pick up the pace a little!"

"Woot-woot! We're cookin' now!"

"Uh oh, I'm not so sure about this anymore..."

"...I'm ready for my hot chocolate now."

Seasons' Greetings

Happy Holidays!

Wordless Wednesday - Holiday Oreos

Have you seen the new holiday Oreos with the red filling (they taste the same as regular Oreos)? Let's just say Maggie is a fan.

Maggie Reading

Here's an awesome video Becki's mom got while Maggie was hanging out at her 'Mimi and Papa's' house last week.

Our Little Witch

Last year we didn't really get to 'celebrate' Halloween in Germany, so this was Maggie's first REAL Halloween. She loved it! We went out to my parents' neighborhood and walked door to door to probably 20 or 30 houses with her. Maggie insisted on walking on her own. When we tried to pick her up, she immediately squirmed to get down!

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.

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!