Backyard Campfire

With the evenings staying a little warmer we've been hanging out in the backyard more often. The other night we started up a little fire in the firepit and warmed our toes up a bit and had some fun watching the flames!

 
 

More dancing

Working out

We headed down to the beach for a nice walk, but anytime we go to the city beach Braedyn wants to go work out. He's really starting to learn some of the exercises. I guess that's what you get when everytime you head over there everyone wants to help you with your exercises...

 
 
 

Bears

At the benefit concert there was this bear that came out for a little while. Braedyn saw him and immediately headed over to him and then didn't leave his side until he was getting into the car. He followed the bear all the way out to the parking lot holding his hand and then stood there waving good bye until the car was out of sight.

 

Santa Barbara Tea Fire Benefit Concert

On Sunday there was a small local music festival that was a benefit concert for some people who got hurt in the recent Tea Fire in Montecito. We headed out after church and caught a majority of the show. Braedyn loved all the music & dancing, and there was even a display of fire engines and a rescue helicoptor! We ran into a lot of people we knew from town and church and also ran into a friend from work, Ben and his girlfriend. Ben plays with Braedyn so much every time he sees him that Braedyn just loves him and talks about him forever afterwards.

 
 
 

Going for a ride

Michael and dad (Grandpa Davis).

 

First Day of School

Monday, March 9, 2009 - Braedyn is off to his first day of school. That's right he started pre-school and loved his first day. We had noticed how much he loved the gym day care and the church nursery because of all the other kids. So we thought that he would really enjoy school 2 days a week for a half day. Well, it would be a little nice if he would at least act like he was going to miss mom and dad a tiny bit, but we got no sympathy on the first day. The rabbit, iguana, hampster, other kids, large outdoor playground, and a ton of other things were immediately much more interesting than saying bye to daddy. Oh well.

 

Hobbs Visit

Our friends from Colorado, Mike and Kelly were out in CA the previous week to visit some family and take Kai and Kale (their sons) to Disneyland. They were driving up the coast to Monterrey and were able to work in a stop off in Carpinteria to visit with us, see our town and grab a bite to eat. It was great to see them again, it's been awhile as they now live in New York state and will be moving to the Boston area soon, (you can't get much further than that without moving to the Philippines!).

 
 

Birthday?

Ok, last birthday post until next year, I promise! We had one more present we got for Braedyn that we had been holding onto since Christmas. We wanted to wait until we got home so we had it hiding in a closet. Of course Braedyn found it on quite a few occassions and typically referred to it as Daddy's. He doesn't quite understand that presents might be for him quite yet. So when we told him we had one more present for him he was excited, but when he came around the corner and saw this, he just couldn't believe it was for him.




We sometime wonder if this was a good gift to give him as he REALLY likes it and plays it all the time!

Heading Home

Well we've actually been home for over a week now, but I'm finally just getting through all the posts about the trip. We had a blast on our trip to the Philippines and really enjoyed all the time we got to spend with family. The best part is that now we can visualize all the things that we hear them talking about. We had some great experiences there and look forward to our next trip back (I had to say that for my mom). Braedyn had so much fun playing with all the neighborhood kids and just hanging out with his Grandma and Grandpa as well as his cousins Stevii, Davis and Jaron and Aunt Michelle and Uncle Baldy 1 and Uncle Baldy 2! What a great experience for him, and I'm sure it won't be the last passport stamp he gets in his child passport.

Antonio's Fine Dining

On our final day in the Philippines we took a short day trip up to Tagaytay City which is near the top of the rim of a large volcano. We were planning on some sight seeing as well as a trip to a renowned restaurant there. We got there about lunch time so decided to go eat right away and then that took longer then expected so we had to skip the sightseeing except for what we could see out the window of the car. However, the restaurant was well worth it. The place is called Antonio's Fine Dining and it lives up to the name! After driving down a curving road through some local neighborhoods and some great views we came to a large closed gate. As we pulled up the guards opened it for us and we were ushered in. This restaurant is in a large house like setting with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating in a lush garden area. It was rated one of the top 10 restaurants in all of Asia, and it certainly was good. The place wasn't too busy and so after being seated we were told the specials of the day by none other than Antonio himself. Braedyn seemed to like him so we had to get a picture of him with the chef. We started off our meal with an appetizer of roasted bone marrow which was also worthy of a picture. All in all it was a great meal and well worth the drive and the time and comes highly recommended.

More parties

If it seems like you've been reading about Braedyn's birthday for about 2 months that is probably true. With Mema and Papa's trip out to CA awhile back we started off the birthday parties, then some at Grandma and Grandpa's house and now some with Aunt Michelle and her family for both Braedyn and Michael. This time we headed to Bubba Gump restaurant in Manila for the party with the whole family and some friends.

Gymnastics

We all got to go to Jaron's gymnastics meet on Saturday, there was a lot going on there with schools from all over Asia coming to compete. As it was at Stevii, Davis and Jaron's school we also got to take a tour of the school (International School Manila), play on the playground and eat in the cafeteria. Braedyn even got to hang out with the gymnastics girls parade for a while!

Grandpa Time

Braedyn had a lot of fun with Grandpa Snort. Grandpa has a lot of tools and this is one of Braedyn's favorite things. We even got to go check out his new shop that he has in a warehouse nearby where he does some woodworking when he is not out mountain biking.

Kids

In Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood there are a lot of kids and they all seem to be out playing in the neighborhood all the time. Braedyn had a lot of fun hanging out with his new friends and playing with them, many were his same age. He would typically wake up and the first thing he would ask is if he could go outside and play with Daniel.

Photography

Braedyn has had a real interest in the camera lately so we've been indulging him by showing him how to use it and letting him take a few shots of his own. He has a little different artistic take on portrait photography than most other photographers, but maybe his new approach will catch on in the mainstream someday. Here are a few of his recent stills...

School

Now that we are back home Braedyn will be starting pre-school at a local school in Carpinteria. But while we were in the Philippines he got to go experience Grandma's classroom for a little while. The class sang happy birthday to him and another girl and then Grandma had set up a desk for him with his name on it. It didn't take too long for him to be ready to do his own thing and that started causing a little too much distraction to the other kids so we went out for an early recess.