Okay, this parenting thing takes some time!?!
Okay blaming Bailey because I don’t keep the blog updated is lame I know. So I’ll try to do better from now on…
Time sure if flying by though and we can’t believe how fast Bailey is growing up, she is almost 18 months old! She is constantly running around and is great at copying and learning more words every day. She has started “school” where Bryn works and goes every Tuesday for a couple hours and loves being in a learning environment with other kids. Grandma & Grandpa Gus/Gena usually take her but my mom (Grandma Rhonda) came to visit Easter week and was able to go along and see Bailey in action… she had a great time.
Thinking what all is new in our lives since the last blog is pretty difficult so I’ll just ramble off some thoughts… We had a great family vacation on Bryn’s side of the family the first week of December and went down to Mexico. It was us, Bryn’s parents and her brother Derek’s family. We went to a small surfing/fishing village called Sayulita which is north of Puerto Vallarta about 45 minutes and rented a big house just off the beach for all of us. I don’t remember the last time we took a vacation and stayed in one place the entire time so it was great!
Family in Sayulita Mexico
On our deck
Sailfish we caught!
Four of us went fishing on a cloudy day and were a little disappointed that we couldn’t go out far searching for mahi mahi, but we got one lucky bite and reeled in a 170 pound sailfish! Derek was the lucky one manning the reel as it bit so he caught us dinner. It was almost 10 feet long and quite a few locals came to take pictures as our fishermen said it was the biggest fish they caught. We landed it just offshore a few miles away from our village and the best part… we ate it ceviches style as one of the fisherman went to get a bowl, soy sauce, jalapenos, onions and limes and we ate it as they cleaned it! Wow it was good…
Bailey not liking Santa so much!?!
Christmas came and of course that means Bailey getting to visit Santa for pictures… needless to say, she didn’t like him very much!?! LOL She calmed down afterwards and still likes seeing pictures of Santa saying “ho-ho-ho”, but I doubt she wants to meet him again any time soon!
We had our Christmas at Pete & Linda Dahl’s house which seems to be the norm lately as they are a good central meeting place for our families, and I don’t complain as the food is great! We always have a good time and were glad to see Annika & Lee make it up from Miami.
Bailey sledding for 1st time
We finally made it up to family friends Gail & Mary Troxell’s house in Waterville which is up high in the plains with lots of snow. They had an open invite for us to visit but it never worked out until now, so thank you! Bailey got to do her first sledding and after the initial “what the heck is this”, she loved it! Thankfully Grandpa Gus wanted to take turns pulling her! Plus we got to do some snowmobiling as he owns three of them and we were able to go pretty far with great views just from their place.
Bailey & the Walrus
We took Bailey to the zoo for the first time that she actually knew what the animals were. She had a great time except got a little scared when she thought the huge Walrus swam right up to her along the window… Bailey’s eyes got bigger and bigger and finally when his body was totally covering Bailey’s, she clung to mom! LOL
3-1 victory for the USA Hockey!
Being so close to Vancouver BC, Gus and I drove up for the USA Hockey game during the Olympics and watched a decisive 3-1 victory over Switzerland. How often can you be within an easy drive to the Olympics, so it was great to take part and cheer U-S-A!!
Nicaragua with Don Pepin and Jaime Garcia
Bryn was such a wonderful wife and let me do a crazy boys trip down to Nicaragua. I coordinated a trip with the owner of Tatuaje Cigars’ Pete Johnson and we got a VIP style trip provided at Don Pepin Garcia’s factory and fields in Esteli, Nicaragua. The experience went beyond my expectations as the Garcia family treated us like family and we had such a great time! Since I traveled that far, I also visited Granada, Ometepe Island and San Juan del Sur on my own but would’ve had much more fun with Bryn along.
Bryn & Bailey in Tulips
Grandma Rhonda came to visit the week leading up to Easter and Bailey had a great time playing with the grandma she doesn’t get to see that often! We did a trip up to Mt. Vernon to see the tulip fields and had a good time seeing all the colors and playing.
Bailey checking out the tulips
Grandma Rhonda & Bailey
Bailey getting baptized on Easter
Since Grandma Rhonda was coming to visit, we decided what better time to have Bailey’s baptism, than on Easter when we have a family visitor! It was a great day with just a few close family members at church, followed by lunch at Gus & Gena’s. Bailey was a little too scared to go to the pastor, so mom got a little wet as well!
Some other fun things we recently did was go to the Puyallup Spring Fair where Bailey got to see lots of animals and rides. The only ride she went on though was the big slide with dad… it was fun! Bryn and Bailey went up to cousin Quincy’s birthday party but I was a little too sick to go. The party was at their local kids gym where Bailey had such a blast running around, jumping and going down big gym padding slides! And last but not least, I did another stupid guy thing and went to see Conan O’Brien on tour. Since he can’t be on TV any more, he is doing a nationwide tour and since I have always like Conan, I went to get my fix. It was a great show as Dave Matthews was the surprise guest and sang a song to go along with the happy birthday song to Conan.
Bailey trying to wham the things that pop up!
Bailey & Dad going down the big slide
Saying hi to the mini horse
Me & Conan O'Brien
Pictures from Aug – Oct 2009
Here is a slideshow from late Aug – Halloween 2009!
I guess we’re not the best bloggers!?!
Well I guess we’re not the best bloggers as you can see the date of the last post! Sorry… I guess having a 1 year old can get busy and then things like a blog can easily get pushed back…
Since it’s been so long since we updated the blog, it’s way too hard to pick out pictures to share… there’s just too many! So instead of having all the pictures to go along with a nice story, I will just attach a slideshow in another post.
We had a great vacation to Minnesota at the end of August so Bailey could meet the rest of her family that she hasn’t met yet… including great grandma Burge. The time always goes by so fast but we had such a great time with good weather and got to see so many people! We were able to spend the first night with my college friend John and had a great time since my two good buddies both have a couple girls and Bailey had fun meeting some new friends. The next day my mom had the Susan B Komen 3-day walk celebration at the state capitol building grounds which was a great day of inspiration! My uncle on my mom’s side Ron & Carol, aunts Roz and Pat were there which was good to see them! We then stayed at my brother Brent and Dave’s place for a couple nights with my mom visiting and had a fun time with them. And wouldn’t you know, they only live 10 minutes away from the Mall of America… so guess where Bryn and I went one day??? We then ventured a few hours away and stayed at a cabin on a lake for a couple nights and had fun swimming and making smores at night! Then off to my dad’s where he hosted a great bbq where all the Minnesota family were able to come and hang out! It was great seeing some family who I haven’t seen in awhile including the Wagner and Brey clan… It was so good for everyone to meet Bailey and we had such a great time and was happy that great grandma Burge got some good visiting time!
Mom's family at Susan B Komen celebration
At Grandpa Lyle's with Great Grandma Burge
Bailey Mt Ninja!
Once home, we took advantage of some great weather in September and did a hike up in the mountains by Mt. Rainier with the Beards and Gus. Bailey was just starting to stand up and learning her balance and she just so happened to stand up for one of the first times up high on a cliff!
Vikings fan...
And for some reason I feel compelled to post this picture of Bailey… she’s definitely a Vikings fan as one of her only words is “FOOTBALL!” Bryn isn’t so happy that Bailey can say football and not mama. I wonder how that happened!?!
October was a fun and busy month as Bailey turned the big 1 on October 28th! Time sure does fly… wow! We stayed up at Bryn’s brother Derek & Nat’s house for their annual “Gus”toberfest party. It was a fun day/evening and then we were able to go to some pumpkin patches the next day and got some good pictures of Bailey and some big pumpkins. On the day of her birthday, Bryn’s company actually had a planned pumpkin patch field trip so grandma Gena was able to bring Bailey to that while I met them there. We had a good dinner at Gus/Gena’s and Bailey had some good cupcake for her birthday dessert! On Halloween, we hosted a birthday/Halloween party and had some family and friends come over. We had a great time but the house sure was busy with lots of kids excited on Halloween!
Mt Vernon Pumpkin Patch
Ladybug Bailey
We are all doing great… Bailey started to walk a couple weeks before her birthday and is now walking full time. She is still falling down lots, but she has so much energy and will to always get right back up and keep going! She definitely has a ton of energy and will not sit still and we are so fortunate that she is such a happy and good little girl! She is always smiling and laughing…
We have a family trip planned to Mexico with Bryn’s family after Thanksgiving and are looking forward to some fun in the sun! We haven’t decided on Christmas plans as of yet as flights are pretty expensive to MN right now but hope to get back there soon as Bailey is growing so fast!
Jackson Browne @ Chateau Ste Michelle
We are enjoying a great night of music and wine at the Jackson Browne concert at Chateau Ste Michelle winery with Gus & Gena.
Wow, the Summer is flying by!
Well, I’m (Bryn) finally getting around to posting an entry…I’ve been talking about it for at least a month. We’ve had a fun and eventful summer so far with lots more fun yet to come.
Stairs twins & Bailey
Bailey had a fun evening with her friend’s Savannah and Brandon (Dana and Cory’s twins) at their house for a bbq with Bryn’s college friends. The twins are almost 3 months older than Bailey.
1st Father's Day!
Ryan got to enjoy his first Father’s Day with Bailey delivering him the newspaper in bed and then mom making him a good breakfast once Bailey went down for her morning nap. We then ventured to the Dahl’s in Seattle (Bryn’s aunt and uncle) for a big Gustafson family get together.
Bailey had lots of fun with her cousins, Meadow and Quincy.
Cousins Meadow & Quincy
Lake Okanagan in Canada
Over 4th of July, we took a pretty long road trip to the Okanagan region of Canada. We met up with Derek, Nat, Meadow, and Quincy at a State Park on the Washington border and then hit up a few wineries before heading up to Apex Mountain to stay at a hostile for a couple of nights. We had a great time getting away for the weekend but felt a little un-patriotic celebrating the 4th in Canada!
Playing at local Lake Tapps
We’ve definitely had some record heat this July and have needed lots of breaks away from our HOT house. We’ve had the hottest temp EVER on record this last week with our town reaching 106 degrees and our house temperature peaking one night at 96 degrees, with no A/C!!! Bailey has had tons of fun enjoying the outdoors. Here we are at the lake park right by our house.
Lake Tapps
Bailey's workout!?1
Swimming pool in backyard
Bailey has also been loving her mini pool in our backyard. I think it’s big enough for both of my arms and that’s about it. She loves splashing around and cooling off before bed.
Standing up
We’re in for it now!!! Bailey is trying to pull herself to stand on just about anything she can get her hands on!!! She has been doing a really funny commando crawl for about a month and just started a real crawl this past week…exactly at 9 months.
Getting into trouble...
She’s also in the stage of trying to get into everything as you can see…
Pt Defiance in Tacoma
We took a day trip to Point Defiance park in Tacoma a couple of weekends ago…again, to escape our hot house and get by the water where it’s cooler.
Pt Defiance in Tacoma
Food Pucker face
We haven’t agreed on whether she got this face from me or Ryan…I don’t think it’s me!!! She seems to start with the pouty lips and quickly moves right into the Bitter Beer Face!!! It’s quite entertaining!!!
Bitter Beer Face!
That’s all for now. I’d love to say we’ll post updates more often but in all reality once every month or two is probably more realistic for us!
Aloha for now!
Space Needle Finally!?!
Wow, it’s been a little while since our last post! Sorry but having a baby can make the time fly by! The month of May went by really fast and I can’t believe we’re well into June already!
Bryn's first Mother's Day in Bellingham
Bryn had her first official Mother’s Day and spent the weekend in Bellingham with family staying at Grandma Bea’s… Gena’s mom. We love visiting family up in Bellingham as the San Juan Islands are right off the bay with the great view from their house… it always makes for a relaxing weekend. Gena and Sally were up visiting during the weekend as well and we were blessed with great weather and took a nice long walk along the water after hitting up the Bellingham Farmers Market. But laying in bed that night, I realized the only picture we have of Bryn and Bailey on their first Mother’s Day… you can’t even see Bailey!?! She is in the stroller of course as you can see to the side, but what kind of father doesn’t get a real picture of them together??? Sorry Bryn.
Bailey playing with cousin Meadow
We also visited with Bryn’s brother Derek, Natalie and the kids on the drive up to Bellingham. As you can see, Bailey got some play time with cousin Meadow and we all enjoyed the visit ending with a bonfire into the evening before we had to head to Bellingham.
Bailey's first food besides rice cereal... carrots!
Bailey is growing up pretty fast… over 7 months old already! She has been eating real food (besides rice cereal) now and she really enjoyed her first carrots! We have been buying organic fruits/veggies and also blending up our own avocado and bananas so far. We are looking forward to blending our own veggies shortly and Papa Gus is ready to try new foods as well. She isn’t crawling yet as some people have asked, but is rolling around and sitting up pretty good now but is definitely a big ”talker.” For some reason she is really getting the “D” sound down pat, as in dada. I haven’t been practicing with her… 
Top of Space Needle with Grandma Rhonda Burge
Bryn and her good college friends pretended to be back in college again during Memorial Weekend and took off to Dallas and stayed with Ally. It was the same 6 girls that vacationed in Hawaii when Bryn and I met, so it’s good they all have stayed good friends. They lounged poolside and left all cares and worries back home… So, Grandma Rhonda Burge took advantage and came out to visit and had all kinds of Bailey time. Since Bryn never offers to take me to the Space Needle, I had to be the tourist with grandma and Bailey and took advantage of the great weather and had a great time. We happened to go during the Folk Life Festival which has tons of music and festivities so it was an adventure with so many people around, but we had a great time. The picture is from the top of the needle looking northwest.
Tacoma waterfront
Rhonda stayed for over a week and enjoyed babysitting Bailey during the work week. We had plenty of fun time and enjoyed a nice walk along the Tacoma waterfront and lunch afterwards. The picture of Bailey and Bryn is from our lunch stop at C.I. Shenanigans and the view is from our table.
We are looking forward to our friend Craig’s visit this upcoming weekend as it’s been awhile since we have seen him. Bryn has the week leading up to the 4th of July off of work so I’m sure we will find something fun to do and the rest of the Summer calendar is filling up. We also just booked our trip to Minnesota for the last week of August and are looking forward to seeing everyone again and letting Bailey meet more of her family!
We will try to update the blog more often… Take care and Aloha!
Ryan
A little late, but Bailey’s first spoon food!
Mom was really excited to get Bailey started on spoon food so April 17th was her first try! She did such a great job and is a natural so hopefully it will go just as smooth as we venture into real food… veggies etc. The baby’s first food is generally rice cereal which is made with milk and she loved it. She even did a great job holding onto the spoon herself!
Here are a few pics…
Bailey's first bite... April 17th!
Bailey's first spoon food
I'm loving this mom!
I loved it!
Easter
It was decided awhile ago that we would spend Easter at Bryn’s brother Derek & Natalie’s house up in Mount Vernon which is an hour and half drive away. We were going to pick up Gus and Gena and since we were heading up early, we decided to try a new church in Sumner on Saturday evening at 5pm. I was a little worried that since Bailey’s schedule is still a little off from our Florida trip that an evening service wouldn’t work so well, but 5pm should be okay, right? But 15 minutes after service started Bailey was getting a little restless so we were going to pull her out of her car seat… but mom could smell the pooh in the air!?! Since I had the end of the pew I took her out to change her and I was in for a treat! Bailey taught mom and dad a lesson that we should always check her diaper bag for an extra change of pants, wipes, diapers etc as she made dad proud and poohed a ton… enough to go through her clothes! And wow, we didn’t have any other pants, only 3 wipes and it was my first time changing a baby in the men’s bathroom!?! Needless to say, we ended up leaving service a little early… 
Bailey just had a good laugh.
Easter at Derek & Natalie's
We had a good breakfast at Gus & Gena’s which was nice and got up to Derek & Nat’s around 12:30pm on Sunday. Gus’s side of the family came over which included Great G’ma & G’pa Gustafson, Pete & Linda Dahl, Anders & Cristine Dahl, Fred & Debbie Gustafson & family and Nat’s family Marla & John. We had a nice relaxing day of catching up and good conversation inside as the weather wasn’t so nice outside. The food was good as always and we even got a few pictures with Bailey in her cute outfit as you can see. Bailey loved seeing her cousins Meadow & Quincy and we all had a great time!
Bailey happy with Dad on Easter
Bailey on Easter
Happy Bailey again...
Close up of Bailey laughing
Our Florida Pictures…
Sorry there are a lot, but here are our Florida pictures!
Wonderful Florida
Wow, what a busy couple of weeks! We got back from our Florida trip on Monday evening and had such a great time, but it’s never fun coming back to work the next day and a not so clean house from scrambling to pack for a 5-month old!?! And of course even after talking about it multiple times, even on the drive to the airport, we left the base of Bailey’s car seat IN OUR VEHICLE as Gus drove off. For those of you not “in the know”, the base is the part that is connected to the car via a seat belt and then Bailey’s actual seat just clicks into the base. So needless to say, without the base her car seat is worthless. I immediately reached for my cell phone to call Gus as he couldn’t have been more than a mile away, but that wouldn’t help as he doesn’t have a cell phone! Oh well, we called Bryn’s cousin Annika in Miami to research where we could buy a new base close to the airport which proved to be the best solution… thanks Target.
The flight itself was long with a stop in Houston, but we couldn’t have asked for a more well behaved baby as Bailey did so great. She was happy for the entire trip with just a couple small cry outs which only lasted a few seconds. We got into Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night at 7:30pm and I was off to Target for the carseat base while Bryn and Bailey wandered the airport. We finally were on the road to Annika and Lee’s for a 10pm arrival at their Coconut Grove house and they were nice enough to get us some cuban food which consisted of a good spiced chicken and rice & beans which hit the spot.
With Annika & Lee Grever at Bill Baggs State Park
Since Sunday was the only full day with the Grever’s, I wanted to hit up some well known cigar factories in Little Havana and watch how they hand roll the cigars. But after looking online, I quickly realized all of the good spots were closed on Sunday… I should’ve known!?! So we were all off to Key Biscayne and Bill Baggs State Park at the tip of Biscayne. Some clouds were in along with some wind, but we had a great afternoon of walking the paths along the water and got some beach time and some football throwing with Lee… just what the Dr ordered! With good timing on our part, we hit up the beach cafe for some good cuban seafood dishes. I say luckily because not more than 10 minutes into our stop the heavens opened up with a quick downpoor and the locals scattered off the beaches into the cafe. Bryn and I both shared a couple good seafood dishes that had some great spice, rice and sweet plantains. A couple cervezas happened to show up on the table too…
Bryn and Bailey under the palm tree at Matheson Park
Monday came and both Annika and Lee somehow had to work… what, on vacation??? Okay, okay, it was the Burge vacation and someone had to face reality. So Bryn and I ventured off to Matheson Hammock Park in southern Coral Gables and since Bailey just finally fell asleep for her first nap, we decided to drive around the neighborhoods and give her some sleep time. We drove past the Biltmore Hotel which was an amazing building with great architecture. The homes in the area were all just quaint or luxurious with tropical landscaping… very nice areas. We drove past the U of Miami but like a lot of universities, you can’t see much by driving past, you have to walk around. So we didn’t see much but got a glimpse of the location at least. We then made it to the beach park which is actually a man-made atol pool at the very end of the road and marina. It was a perfect day, not so hot and no clouds and we relaxed under the palms trees while Bailey played in her new tent.
Cigar roller at El Credito Cigar Factory in Little Havana
Lee planned on taking a half day and we ended up meeting him at home around 2pm and we were off to grab a quick cuban sandwich lunch and coffee to bring back home. Lee and I then made the quick drive to Little Havana (Calle Ocho) to hit up the cigar factories that I couldn’t wait to visit while Bryn and Bailey stayed back for naps. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me as we visited El Credito Cigar Factory which is the maker of the well known La Gloria cigars. There are about 8 tables in their “factory” where expert cigar rollers hand roll each cigar the company makes. After looking through the retail section where they sell the cigars, we walked into their “factory” to watch them make cigars. Lee and I were the only visitors watching at this point and it was very interested to watch. I only wish I could speak Spanish!?! Luckily Lee is pretty fluent as both Lee and Annika worked in the Peace Corps in the Domincan Republic. So I asked Lee to spark up a conversation with the closest guy to us thinking he looked the nicest of the bunch. He looked to be in his late 60′s and didn’t even look up to Lee as he started asking questions, but a few questions later he opened up to Lee and really told us all about how to make the cigars and his life story of living in Cuba and moving to the USA in 1998. He has been rolling cigars for over 50 years and pulled out his wallet to show us 2 ID cards stamped with the Cuban government seal which were his permits to roll cigars. He started rolling cigars in the factories of Cuba at age 17 and he still had his very first ID card on him with his younger picture. It was amazing history to hear and see! Lee asked how he came to America expecting some amazing story of bravery and escape, but he said he came to the US on vacation in 1998 and simply stayed!
We had a great time hanging out with Annika and Lee and enjoyed some quality time making meals at their house and catching up with stories but it was time for us to head off to Key West! Tuesday morning we headed back into Little Havana for some cuban coffee at the famous Verseille and we were off heading south. We stopped off at the Islamorada Fish Co for a great lunch and a great view. That is the picture of Bryn in the post below… We got into Key West at 4:30pm and went right to our hotel which was The Southernmost on the Beach hotel. They recently completed a new section of their hotel which we had a reserved room but when I was checking in, I was able to upgrade us to a beachfront room which was amazing! The picture of me in the post below is off our deck overlooking the ocean. Rooms in Key West are not cheap but this was well worth a mini-vacation for some much needed relaxation. With Bailey being so tired, we ended up just walking down the major street in town and grabbed some good pizza (per Lee’s recommendation) and relaxed on our deck eating pizza, sipping wine and eating our great key lime pie while Bailey slept.
Relaxing morning on the deck of our hotel room in Key West.
The next morning we woke up to a perfect sunrise and Bailey had the perfect breakfast outside on our deck of the hotel room. Our deck is only feet from the ocean and we could stare off to Cuba which is only 90 miles away! What a relaxing morning it was. We were able to get a good breakfast of our own at the hotel’s beach cafe and then made a beach and pool day. What a day it was! It was Bailey’s first time in the ocean and a pool! She was pretty tired by the time we went into the ocean so I don’t think she enjoyed it as much as mom and dad did though… The waves were coming in pretty fast so that might have had something to do with it as well.
Bryn & Bailey in our hotel pool in Key West
When we were getting hungry, we simply packed up our beach stuff and moved over to our hotel pool which was directly next door which was great! It wasn’t normal pool food, it came directly from the beach cafe that the hotel owns which served great seafood and other dishes. The best was the seared ahi salad which we ordered 2 days in a row. Bailey loved the pool as you can see to the right and was the most popular person around as a few people had to come say hi…
Key West Sunset
We walked down Duval St again and headed over to the Marina for dinner and sunset. We enjoyed some more good seafood at Alonzo’s Oyster Bar and then off to the Ocean Key Resort Sunset Pier to watch the sun go down. This was a relaxing place to watch the beautiful Key West sunset with good live music playing in the background. What a great first day in Key West this was as we got plenty of relaxation, sun, play time and sightseeing.
Bailey waking up in her tent all happy!
One of the funny parts of our entire trip was how Bailey would wake up each morning! We ordered the KidCo Peapod from Amazon before we left for the trip which was a simple pop-up tent which could be used outdoors or indoors for bed. We would pop up the tent on our hotel room floor and would lay her inside without zipping the door closed. But by the time morning came around and she would starting “talking”, we would look down and she would be in a totally different position from which we layed her down. The picture to the right was one of the funnier poses we saw her in as she rotated sideways with her head by the door entrance and her arm was up under her head just like an adult would look. She had a funny smile and would just keep posing without moving her arm. She was always in such a happy, talking mood in the mornings which made for some good family time! We didn’t get a picture unfortunately, but the funniest morning pose from Bailey was at Curt & Alicia’s place where half of her body and legs were laying outside the tent with her back and head inside… From now on, we will be zipping the door shut for her safety!
Southernmost Point in continental USA
Of course we had to take the obligatory tourist picture a couple blocks from our hotel which is the Southernmost Point in the continental USA. 90 miles to Cuba!
Bailey loved our hotel bed in Key West...
Bailey just loved our hotel bed in Key West! She got her longest nap as we just closed the shades and she got to sleep in our bed. You could tell she loved the soft pillows!
We had such a great time in Key West eating plenty of good seafood, getting lots of pool/beach time in the sun and seeing the sights. We would highly recommend Key West to anyone but wow, talk about traveling corner to corner of the country!
The group on Hollywood Beach
Friday we headed back to mainland Florida to head to Curt and Alica Wagner’s house, my cousin. We got to their house early evening and was tired from the day’s drive, so we just stayed at their house for dinner and caught up with stories. The next day our good friend Matt Boutros drove down from Jacksonville and we all met at Hollywood Beach to hang out for the day. The Grever’s met us as well which was a good chance for them to get to know the Wagner’s as they are “neighbors”… The guys got some good football throwing time while the ladies relaxed and Bailey got some more ocean fun time which was great! She had some more laughs in the ocean as she wasn’t as tired as she was in Key West. This night was the start of the Final Four so when 6pm came around, we all packed up and headed into a good mexican restaurant right off the beach to watch some basketball and eat some good grub!
Bailey loving Boutros!
Even with the burly beard, Boutros is great with kids and they are drawn to him. This was Bailey’s first chance at meeting Boutros and they had a great time all day. This shot was taken in the mexican restaurant…
South Beach lunch with Curt & Alicia
Sunday was a day of hangin out with Curt and Alicia. We started off with a nice walk to the local Starbucks with Bailey in her stroller. We then headed for South Beach as Bryn has never been but wow, was it crowded! We enjoyed some good lunch on Lincoln Rd Mall which is a nice walking street of shops and restaurants. As the picture shows, Curt & Alicia got some good baby practice time for when their own time comes… when will that be??? Then it was off to head into the main South Beach area where all the Ocean Dr restaurants and hotels are… but wow, WAY TOO CROWDED! We couldn’t even find a parking spot to get out and walk around so we resorted to just driving through. Oh well, at least Bryn got to see the area. We thought about heading to Curt & Alicia’s friend’s restaurant called Michy’s, but with Bailey we needed to be back home for her 7:30pm or so bedtime. Their friend Michelle Bernstein has received rave reviews of her cooking which would’ve been fun to go see and eat at her restaurant, but we ended up using one of her recipes to make a good chimmi churri sauce to go along with our skirt steak and a good pasta salad that Alicia made. It was another good night of conversation and relaxation.
The next day we were off for home… Bailey didn’t do so well on the return flight as I’m sure the entire week of a crazy schedule got to her and the pressure to the ears. The final stretch to Seattle was a little rough on Bailey, but it could’ve been worse.
Thanks to the Grevers and Wagners for hosting us, we had a great time… We are looking forward to the next time we see each other!
