Pigtails!

Summer Begins!

I don't know about you, but I love summer! Life seems to slow down a little in Florida in the summer (maybe because it's too hot for the tourists so the traffic/visitors decrease - I know the snowbirds all leave!) and it's so nice. I'm definitely enjoying it so far - we've been trying to take advantage of morning/late evening park time, getting to the beach a couple of times so far, blowing bubbles, using the kiddie pool, and just relaxing lots. I think one of Tyndell's other favorite things to do right now is be chased around the house. Karma and Zen get into that game too. I guess we are just keeping it simple for the summer. Here are a few recent cute ones....

Here Comes Bailey!

Our dear friends, Kaitlyn and Drew (see Rhonehouses blog link at the right), are expecting their little boy, Bailey, to arrive this coming August, and we threw them a baby shower last weekend at our house. Kaitlyn is one of the other staff engineers at Jeff's office, so we've been getting to know them ever since they started working together and we are so excited to meet Bailey very soon. It was so fun to put this together for Kaitlyn and Drew because I wanted to make it "green-themed," i.e. as eco-friendly as possible, b/c Kaitlyn is very passionate about the environment, like Jeff and I (she is cool like that). We had plates and forks made from grass, not petroleum; grass-fed beef burgers and organic chicken dogs; organic dips, chips, fruit salad, macaroni and cheese, and carrot cupcakes (found a great and slightly different yummy recipe at http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2010/04/carrot-cake-cupcakes-unforgettably.html if you are interested - I just replaced all the ingredients with organic versions); and encouraged no or little wrapping paper for gifts. I think it was a great and relaxing time had by all (even Madelyn found some time to chill in T-dogg's chair!)! The funny thing is that Kaitlyn and Drew are now the proud owners of 3 Bumbos! Thank goodness for gift receipts...Anyway, Bailey - we cannot wait to meet you! Congratulations Kaitlyn and Drew!

New Favorite Activity

Tyndell picked Elmo or "Apple" out during a Babies 'R' Us visit this past weekend. And now she really likes putting him in the stroller. She even shares the pootie with him....ah, love....

California Vacation - Monterey, San Francisco, and St. Helena!

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So here is just a taste of our recent California vacation - we had the best time ever! It was definitely one of the best trips I've ever been on - so many beautiful things to see, so many yummy foods and drinks (read: WINE) to discover, and needless to say, I think we took more pictures and video on this trip than we ever have before. Even though these pictures are a bit backwards - we essentially started the trip in Monterey, then drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, and then drove north to wine country, where we stayed in St. Helena. These pictures just show some of my favorites so far although I haven't even had time to go through them all in detail. And I can't help but mention how definitely eco-friendly forward this area of the country is - we were so impressed with how recycling, composting, and using seasonal foods were incorporated into every place we visited. I think you could find local organic juices in any random convenience store and Walgreens as well. Super impressive. Monterey was amazing and it was so cool to walk around and see everything from palm trees to sea otters and sea lions laying on rocks - and it was just the cutest little community on a gorgeous bay. Driving up the coast was one of my favorite things we did b/c you really got to see so many different landscapes - farm, mountains, beach, cliffs, wetlands - all within the same little area. We can't say enough great things about San Francisco either - it definitely met all our expectations of being fun, beautiful, and interesting. We walked everywhere and saw little parks and gardens, we went to a Giants game at their amazing stadium on the Bay, we took a very cheesy but very fun tour using "Go Cars," where we got to see the Grateful Dead house and the Painted Ladies Houses, visited Alcatraz, people watched at Fisherman's Wharf and saw the sea lions at Pier 39. On our way to wine country, we stopped by Muir Woods and saw the most beautiful trees and forest ever, and even visited the Charles Schutz museum! We did tastings at several big wineries and a few small wineries to get the whole experience - we visited Ledson in Sonoma; Robert Mondavi, Coppola, and Peju in Rutherford; and Domaine Chandon in Yountville. After that I believe I have been super spoiled and the ole Yellow Tail didn't taste quite as good when we got home...maybe it needed to open up more haha (just a little wine tasting humor). Anyway - it's good to be home too - we missed Tyndell like nuts the whole time and I need to definitely thank my parents for house sitting, dog sitting, and child caring while we were gone. We really needed a break and they made it possible to leave and actually relax. This was the first vacation that Jeff and I had taken by ourselves in over 3 years and I have to say that it was worth the wait!

One last note - regarding Jeff's favorite new hobby (visiting all the obscure sites from his Roadside America application on his iphone - remember my barefoot mailman statue post?), we knocked off about 20 while we were out there and I will have to do an entirely separate post on them. Many of you will appreciate the extreme strangeness of some of things we saw! Read: goblins attacking children, dinosaurs in Spanish Town, and a geyser with goats!