Miami Saturday

Today Jeff suggested we spend the day down in Miami and go to the Parrot Jungle Island, which we've always said we wanted to do but never have - so we did! Not only was it on his Roadside America application as a fun place to visit, but there was another obscure attraction nearby at Bayside park, so we got to mark off two places in one day! Jungle Island was a little zoo focused on birds and we saw some other cool animals - like a LIGER for example (horrible that I didn't get a picture of it but there just wasn't a close enough view), and then there is a petting zoo, an Everglades walkway, snakes, and some hilarious shows. Afterwards, we went to Bayside to walk around the shops, look at Biscayne Bay, and found the Mother of Miami statue and some cool driftwood to take pictures beside. Such a fun random family day together.

Also - some of you may notice the first time blog appearance of Boots - the monkey from Dora the Explorer. I got it for her when she had a sick day this week to make her feel happy b/c they have been watching Dora at school a lot and I think it might be her next obsession. Don't get worried though, folks - Elmo is still awesome in our household, but Boots and Dora are getting up there too. Fantastico!

Oshogatsu - Morakami New Year

In case you weren't aware, 2011 is the year of the Rabbit! The other weekend, we went to one of favorite spots in Delray - Morakami to celebrate the Japanese New Year called Oshogatsu. We got to walk around the gardens and they had a progressional origami folding of the rabbit at different stations, and then at the end, there was a kids area with bounce houses, food, and drummers. Tyndell even found a craft table where some nice ladies helped her make a rabbit hat, as you can see. Happy Rabbit Year!

Christmas 2010

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Just now going through some Christmas pictures and posting some from us visiting the Delray 100-foot Christmas Tree and Christmas morning. We had a pretty quiet holiday - time with my brother coming down and just having dinners and relaxing....the best kind of holidays - totally chill. Christmas 2010 will also be the time we mark when Tyndell decided that she doesn't like diapers anymore (i.e. she keeps taking her pants off all the time! God help us!) but doesn't also quite like the potty yet (i.e. she will pee on the floor! Again, God help us!). So...there shall be more on that in the coming months I'm sure. Tyndell got so many fantastic presents and I'm sure we'll be having a blast with them all in the next bit. I did get a few pics of her trying out her new playhouse and tricycle on Christmas morning. She also really likes her new books, her stir fry playset, her magnetic dress up dolls, her dolls in general, more Elmos, and her DVD player (though we have to totally regulate when she uses it otherwise I think it could get out of control hehe). I also have to give Jeff major props on creativity for presents this year b/c he found presents for me that all had a "give back" concept attached to them. He got me some new TOMS shoes (the ones with fuzzy lining yesssss), wine that benefits water projects, and some undies that benefit Haiti projects. Totally cool. You'll see Jeff jamming out on his new yuke too....and I'm pretty sure he's already mastered it. Nice job! Anyway - fantastic Christmas.

Happy 2nd Birthday Tyndell!

Happy SECOND birthday to Tyndell Eve! This past weekend, we had a little picnic party for sweet Tyndell to celebrate with some of our close friends and their kids and some family at a cool park on the beach - with Elmo theme in tow! It's a beautiful park that my parents introduced us to and we thought it would make a nice place to hang out for her birthday too. We just played on the playground, ate some pizza and snacks and cake, and then opened some awesome gifts. My Aunt Anthe and Uncle Paul came down from NC to celebrate as well which was so amazing to see them. AND I have to give major major props to my Mom for conceptualizing and executing the most wonderful and beautiful Elmo cupcakes anyone has ever seen. The icing was very very red, as you can see from Tyndell's lips. We were so afraid that it was going to stain every kid there! We are secretly hoping Tyndell is more into white muppets or polar bears next year as opposed to red monsters/animals haha. She absolutely loved them and in fact, refused to eat pizza until after the birthday song so she could have a cupcake first. Anyway - it was a wonderful way to celebrate and we feel so loved and thankful to have such amazing people in our lives to love on our sweet girl. Thanks everyone!!!!

Second Annual Baker-Ahrens SeaWorld Holiday Weekend

Again - only had a few iphone photos to share of our Second Annual Baker and Ahrens Family SeaWorld Holiday Weekend which occurs the first weekend of December but they are some cute ones. I wish I had gotten one of myself and Keri-Ann though! The girls - Tyndell, Reilly Sue, and Regan had a fantastic time enjoying the animals and kiddie rides. I think we can all agree that our favorite part is the North Pole/Santa exhibit with the hot chocolate! Photo/Video project to be oncoming....

Ahrens' Thanksgiving Visit

So....bad news....our camera magically bit the dust! So all the fun things that have been happeninig lately with the holidays, we haven't been able to capture as well as usual. But luckily between the iphone and some cute pics sent by Dad A, I can share some fun moments from Mom and Dad A's recent visit over Thanksgiving. I took a day off from work and the Moms and I got to have a girly shopping day which was super fun (see matching Mom shoes!) and we took the Ahrens' to Morakami which is always lovely. We also got to do lots of coloring while they were here - one of Tyndell's favorite things to do right now is to trace her hands and feet so Grandad definitely helped out with the full body version as you can see! Also - since Tyndell's birthday is coming up and they wouldn't be here for the party, we had our own little mini-birthday party with a cake and some presents on their last night. Great visit and fun had by all! Unfortunately, I didn't get any Turkey Day specific photos but I'm sure you all know what that involved....eating, eating, and eating....yum! I love Thanksgiving!