Aunt Kick-en

Aunt Kick-en (Kristen) came to visit for a day while she was in town with family and Mikey LOVED it! (Probably almost as much as mama :) Of course she did offer him candy in the first few minutes together--always a sure way to win his heart. But he never stopped showing off for her and asked for her when he woke up from his nap. Thanks for visiting Aunt Kick'en! We love you!

When Mikey wants attention and is trying to be silly he starts to eat his feet. He laughs uncontrollably at himself. He used this tactic throughout most of Kristen's stay.

And the fun continues!

The weather was so beautiful Christmas week that on Friday we decided to go to Busch Gardens for just a few hours to see some animals. And good thing we did it all last week because now it is COLD! I know, most of you are up to your necks in snow so we don't have much to complain about, but we hit record lows this week! And when you're thermostat is set to "cold," that first night when it hits 20, the heat doesn't kick on and it gets cold! We've had to dig around and find all the warm things we have which only includes like two pairs of sweats for Mikey so he's had to be very clean in them. (I do find watching the news a little funny as they talk about the weather and all these warnings about the wind chill factor making it so cold and worrying about people. I mean it's cold and they have crops to worry about, but it's not like anyone's going to die from this kind of cold! They get quite dramtic about it and it's funny.)

Look! A zebra pulling a sleigh!

Swimming after Christmas

Well we actually tried to go swimming on Christmas day. It was a gorgeous day and since there is often no one working at the clubhouse we thought it would still be open for those with keys. After getting Mikey all excited about it, we got there and it was closed. But luckily the weather held up for the rest of the week so we went the next day and he loved it.
There were these little girls swimming when we got there and they wouldn't leave Mikey alone! (See the kids starting to swarm in the first picture?) Honestly, we thought they were a little annoying after awhile, but they were throwing him his ball and he loves little girls (I know, should I start worrying now?) so he loved it.
It was actually a little chilly because there was a slight wind, but Mikey seemed to love it as much as ever!

In fact, after drying off, he wanted to go back in! So he and daddy did for a bit while mama warmed up in the sun on the patio chairs. :)

Christmas morning!

Mikey doesn't always have the sweet bedhead hair going on that he did Christmas morning. It was the best I'd ever seen it. He does, on the other hand, sleep with more and more stuffed animals every night and in the morning hands you each one to hold before you can pick him up. It can end up being quite an armful.
The stocking

Mikey was very good at opening presents and almost always had his cute little tongue sticking out while doing it.

I just had to display again, the awesomeness of his hair.

The problem came after a few presents were opened when he started running off to play with them. It ended up taking awhile to open them all. In fact, we finally just left 3 or 4 for later. The next day he found them and promptly wanted to open them.

Calling Grandma and Grandpa Bastian to thank them for his cool phone

He loves books so those were great presents

The tongue again

After awhile he started becoming more and more interested in the camera so finally I let him take some pictures. Not too bad for 20 months!

Before.

(Note that we counted our presents and in that pile there were about 6 or 7 for us combined, the rest were all for Mikey. Spoiled kid! :) Thanks to everyone who sent him gifts, he had a wonderful time opening them and we had a wonderful time watching.)



After.

Sending presents

We tried to send the most wonderful present to Mimi and Bampa....

But they just didn't all fit. Maybe next year.

Should we be concerned?

Yes, that is the corner of our house just outside the back door. One of the few drawbacks to having warm, snow-free winters is that yard work must still be done. So after mowing and edging our yard the other day, Lance happened upon this little fella. Actually, he wasn't all that little. Lance says he's not poisonous or anything, but he made us a little nervous. We suspect that he might be living in our bushes on the side of our house that were disturbed with the yard work. Hopefully he decides to take up residence in someone elses bushes.

The Mexican Beach

Okay, this is the last of our posts of the Mexico trip because I know I've put up a lot of pictures--there were just so many great ones! The beach was one of our favorites things we did. We ended up going three times because we loved it so much. The weather was great and the waves the perfect size. Mikey didn't love the water most of the time, but he sure had fun in the sand.

Mikey and the Beach

That is one of my favorite pictures. Mikey just loved the beach and ran up and down it all day looking for rocks and looking at birds.

Bampa in heaven walking around with his two favorite grandkids ;) (no offense to the rest)

Mikey and daddy loving the sun


Mikey and daddy checking out those waves



Bampa and Mikey pondering the amazing rocks Mikey had found

Bampa and Mikey just chillin' in the shade together and taking in the beach

Lance, Kate and Mikey pondering the water

Mikey loving the sand

The birds flying all around...

The result.

Yes, that is bird poop on his back. It was so funny! The first day at the beach, just as we were packing up, Lance said, "I think a bird just pooped." At the same moment, I glanced up at Mikey to find the bird had hit him square in the back. Perfect shot.

More Mikey and Kate

Fun at the beach!

Mikey loves to hold hands with people, but especially loves holding hands with little people like himself so he loved it when Kate would hold his hand.
Mikey and Kate going for a drive outside the grocery store (that's Bampa in the back putting money in the machine--Grandpas are the best :) Though Mikey looks terrified, he was actually loving this.
At the top of the Safari. How cute is that picture!

A Mexican Safari

So my parents had heard about this little Safari ride that they thought we should try. We got there at the end of the day and were excited to be there. After being the only ones on our tram for awhile though, and it looking like they were closing up, we were starting to wonder how fun it would be. (Well, I was, at least). Finally we got started and saw some pretty cool animals including a giraffe VERY up close (see below). I mean I think he wanted to make out with us or something. So the animals were very neat inspite of the fact that we couldn't understand the spanish tour guide mumbling over the microphone. But it was when we got to the very top that the real fun began....

So here we are waiting on our tram for something to happen.


Here's the giraffe looking for some action. Or maybe he wanted to hitch a ride out with us? I don't know, but he was like climbing in the tram. It was pretty funny.

So then we get to the end and they tell us we can get out and walk along a path to see more animals or hike to the top of the mountain to look over the view. We decided to walk the path which ended up taking us up the mountain. At the top no one was telling us about what was going on, but we saw horses and a zip line. So after wandering about a bit we realized they were for us! And better yet, each thing only cost $1!

So we all suited up for the zip line. I know, you're thinking should a pregnant lady really be doing that? Well first of all, look at how it was like 5 feet off the ground. And second, Lance and Herb did it first and only after their confirmation that it was pretty low key, did us women proceed. Plus, at $18 a ride for the Park City zip, how can you pass up $1!

Heather and I also took a ride around the circle with the kids. Again, I know, the pregnant woman riding a horse.... Well, we figured if it was calm enough for Mikey, it was okay for me. And by the way, Mikey loved it!

Here we are on "the path" to see the other animals. It was actually kind of sad because they were in small cages and the monkeys were all tethered to a line. But Mikey still loved them.
Mikey talking to a monkey
At the top with Mimi and Bampa!

All in all, it was a great Safari!

Coloring

Mimi had some surprises for the grandkids when we arrived, one of which was a coloring book and big crayons. One of Mikey's favorite things to do is to color so it was perfect. Now, normally he prefers using pens to "color" (which often end up on the couch--he wonders why we take away the sharpies!). But he LOVED the present from Mimi and spent much time using them. Well one morning I came upon him here on the dining room floor just coloring away on his belly and it was too cute!