1st Birthday bash

We had a little get together this past weekend to celebrate Miss Kaitlyn's birthday.  And really to celebrate Eddy's and my ability to successfully keep her alive through her first year.  Okay, so it hasn't been that hard.  Chaotic at times is how I would describe life.  So this weekend was a celebration on all fronts.  Cheers to being one Kaitlyn Grace!  And cheers to the Bayer family moving into the next phase...toddler-hood!  Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, it's likely to be a wild ride.

Sadly, I didn't take too many photos of our surroundings.  Thanks Auntie Dana for taking these! We had the party at a cool little playground in town, Children's Wonderland.  It's kind of a fairy land theme,  complete with a teapot and tea cups to spin in, and also with an old classic firetruck for the kids to climb on as well (that Ryan pretty much lives at when we come here).  It worked out well for all the older kids that helped us celebrate, so they could enjoy themselves too.

Eddy's Auntie Shirley, Uncle Ed, Nonni & Nonno, and Uncle Joe and Auntie Judy -- thanks for making the drive to help us celebrate!

of course the birthday girl got some swinging in

just a few of the kiddos who helped us celebrate

yay for birthday cake!

mmmmmmmmm!

"you mean I get all these presents on my birthday?"

So what is this one year old up to lately?  This little lady is pretty much walking any chance she gets.  She falls a lot too, of course, but it doesn't seem to hold her back.  She loves to stack things, and put things in bags/boxes, etc, and then of course take them right back out again.  Her love for all animals (stuffed and real) continues to be very apparent, as she giggles and squeals at the sight of either.
She hasn't really started saying much...aside from "uh oh" when she purposefully throws food from her highchair, but she loves to repeat sounds like "shhhhhhh", or repeats actions like blowing on her food, and thinks it's hilarious.  But I really do think her official first word has been "tickletickletickle", which she says constantly and apparently we taught her to say when we tickle her.  It's quite cute.  Who needs "mama" or "dada" when you have a "tickle"?
She still doesn't really care much about food, or drinking milk, and it shows in her stats today at the doctor:
19 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile for weight)
30 inches (80th percentile for height).
We have been given the okay to feed her cake and ice cream for every meal (well, not really, but he did say to start putting butter on everything).
All in all, she's a happy and pretty calm kiddo.  Very tolerant of her older brother dominating the toy realm at our house.  And pretty easy to get a laugh out of her.  Can't wait to see what the next year will bring our way.  Love you little miss Kay Gray.
And I will leave you with this video of Kaitlyn's awesome dance moves.  She is truly a white girl.

a little mountain time

We spent 5 days last week up in Tahoe.  aka, Heaven.  Except for the kitchen remodel this trip, which made things a bit less relaxing.  What with trying to prevent a crawling baby from finding all the loose nails and splinters on the unfinished kitchen floor, and with having to cook on the camping stove outside and do all the dishes in the spare bedroom down the hall, but whatever.  We made the most of it!  The sun, beautiful view, fresh mountain air, and freezing cold lake water made up for it.

 Kaitlyn learning to walk on the Tahoe deck

stretching his legs after the long drive up

Nanny and Dzia Dzia getting Kaitlyn to do "so big" at the dinner table

Eddy and Dzia Dzia played golf one day, so Nanny and I took the kids for a bike ride down by the lake.  It was a short trip, but Ryan did great on his pedal bike, and Kaitlyn didn't make a peep.

When the guys got back from golfing, they drove into the driveway to find 2 friendly "neighbors" nosing around.  2 black bears, kinda smallish so I think they're teenagers, have gotten awfully comfortable in the neighborhood.  We actually saw them every day we were there, once my mom walked into the kitchen and found a huge bear face pressed against the window looking in at her!  Sadly, this was the best picture we could get of one of them.  The minute they knew you saw them, they were off and running.  I guess that's a good thing.

Ryan and Dzia Dzia trying to keep the windows safe from the bears

And of course we had our fair share of time at the lake.

The next day, the Bayer family of 4, went on a bike ride in South Lake Tahoe.  Our plan was to park at one end of the bike trail, ride about 2 miles to where we could picnic and then bribe Ryan with an ice cream cone before having to ride back.  Well, we got to the picnic spot, and Ryan didn't want to stop!  So our 4 mile ride turned into about 6 miles.  Ryan did SO well!  And of course there was ice cream.

picnic spot in Camp Richardson

mint chip heaven!

even Kaitlyn got in on the ice cream action

a biking family

Ryan did so well on this ride, pedaling himself along, and every downhill we came to I could hear "wooohooooo", so cute!

and this little lady enjoyed herself as well

 more shenanigans back at the cabin...

every kid loves Blongo balls!

 Eddy, Ryan and I took a walk down by the lake one morning, while Kaitlyn napped at the house with Nanny and Dzia Dzia to look after her.  We did our usual, throw rocks in the lake, and just enjoy the beauty around us.

Then we all headed to the beach...where the air temp just wasn't quite hot enough, and the water was just cold enough, so that none of us really got in the water.  Except Nanny who is a fish and will swim anywhere.

Our last day there, we decided to try for one more bike ride.  This time from Tahoe City along the Truckee River.  Again, Ryan was such a trooper.  With a rest stop along the river to hunt for crawdads and a few snacks, it gave us all enough energy to make it the whole 6 miles back to the car.

This was the unfinished kitchen we were dealing with (it'll look great once it's done!)

Since the fridge was temporarily in the living room, and when we left we had to leave it unplugged, Nanny decided we couldn't throw the remaining ice cream away.  So instead she let our kids have at it, as a post nap, pre car ride home snack.  I guess that's what Nannys are for.  They loved it!

Thanks for a great few days Nanny and Dzia Dzia!  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful place to get away to.  So many fun memories, and many more to come.