Santa Monica Beach Trip

The other day we went over to the Santa Monica Pier to walk around and see (not go into) the water. We hadn't been to Santa Monica for a few years, so it was cool to drive through there again. Plenty of kooky people around, though, as you might expect for a Tuesday morning. One group of people were hanging around their car for about 2 hours listening to music, skateboarding, getting in and out of the car, and continually changing their clothes. They were at their car when we got there and just leaving for the pier when we were leaving. It was quite strange. Don't these people have jobs or responsibilities! Oh, wait...we were there too. :)
We walked on the pier, had sandwiches together at some picnic tables, and took a few pictures. The first one is from the pier looking north toward Pacific Palisades. It was a pretty sunny day with a light breeze, probably 75 degrees or so. Not bad for February.

Turtles Galore!

This afternoon Dylan and I went for a long walk around the Cal Tech campus. How beautiful. We even discovered a turtle colony (with about 20 sunbathing turtles within arms reach) at the edge of a lovely stream that runs through part of the campus. I went into the bookstore and asked if this was unusual to see so many turtles and the girl replied, "there are hundreds of them especially when it is sunny out!" I found a rock to perch myself onto and Dylan and I just stared (well, to be honest, Dylan played with his stroller belt strap most of the time) at the pond and watched the turtles swim and sunbathe on the rocks for about 20 minutes in the sun. Perfect. I'm sure we'll be returning to that same spot together again soon. I can't wait until Dylan actually discovers them as actual animals and get excited when he sees them. I'm sure it will be a favorite spot as he grows older and more aware.
I also scheduled two interviews for early next week and called about daycare to a bunch of places. I don't know how we'll ever find a daycare with openings and shorter than 9 months of a wait-list. Finding daycare has turned into a nightmare. We attended an information session last night at All Saints Children's Center amongst about 50-60 other parents for about an hour, then signed up for an observation session in March, at which point we can then obtain an application to get onto the wait-list for December admission. Ack! Lots of hoops to jump through and we don't even know if we'll get a spot in a classroom for him. And after calling around to about 6-7 other daycare centers around town, I found the same story.
Which lead me to the conclusion that finding Dylan daycare is going to be much harder than finding myself a job, not the other way around like I initially thought.

Cousin Andrew

Dylan has been getting to know his cousin Andrew a little better on this trip. Here's a couple pictures of them playing with Grandpa Butch, plus Andrew's parents (first picture).

Sears Portraits

Laura, Julie, and I took the kiddos to Sears a few days before our move. Here are a few pictures we got.
Group hug! (or maybe just a balance glitch)
From left: Dylan, Katie, and Nick
In honor of Dylan's beloved bathtime (he now loves taking a bath with a rubber duckie, splashing with glee until both of us are covered in water)
Collective shot with moms and babies (from left: Briana & Dylan, Laura & Nick, Julie & Katie)

To say the least, I miss my dear friends so much. I don't know where I would have been these past few months of new-mommyhood without them. Thanks girls!

California Dreamin'

We're in California now, as I (Ryan) made the trip out on Tuesday a few days after Briana did. Our furniture got loaded on the truck in St. Louis on Monday and I caught a flight the next day. Yesterday we drove up to Lompoc to hang out until the furniture or cars get delivered in LA. The weather was fantastic, as was the picture taking. I stoppped at Refugio State Beach, a favorite surf spot of Briana's dad, to get a few good ones at sundown (shown). For me the contrast is surreal: Two days ago I was in St. Louis, where it was cold and gray - very much winter. Now I'm here wearing short sleves. Dylan wore shorts for the first time yesterday! Yesterday was almost an all-Mexican food eating day. Here is Dylan taking a bath in our kitchen sink.

Moving Day

We haven't updated in a long time, what with moving and my (Ryan) defense. Sadly, Briana is already gone to California where she is getting the house set up there with Dylan and other family. I'm here getting the house ready for the movers who are coming tomorrow, then I'm on a plane Tuesday. Everything is packed and I'm pretty much hanging out waiting. I've got about 15 hours of Arrested Development episodes helping me pass the time. Thank God for laptops with DVD drives!
We've had a very busy few weeks since our last post, and we hope to better update the blog soon. Especially since some friends from St. Louis aren't going to be seeing us in a long while...more to come.