Future Rockstar...?

Futre rockstar - I think not, this baby can rock now! Today McKenzie and I went out to the game room to see what Matt was up to and found he was playing Rockband on the XBox. McKenzie looked around for something to play with and Matt hooked her up with the drum sticks and off she went banging away at the drums. We'll have to see if her Great Aunt Renee would be willing to give her some lessons since she one played the drums in the school band : )

Here's a picture of Matt and McKenzie grooving - they are auditioning for a lead singer and a bass player if anyone is interested in joining the band.

Beach Get Away!

For Memorial Day weekend we headed out the Pacific Beach on the Washington Coast where Matt's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob have a fantastic beach house. We were joined by Aunt Nancy, Uncle Bob and Matt's sisters Jennifer, her husband Christopher and Annie. We always love going to the beach because it is so relaxing and somehow the air out there just seems fresher.

This was McKenzie's second trip to Pacific Beach, the first was last August for the Betcher family reunion when she was only two months old. Here's a couple of my favorite pictures from that trip.

This girl has more funny faces than anyone I've ever met!

The weather was great all weekend. Saturday we had amazing sunshine and then the rest of the time it was nice enough to walk on the beach and stroll into town to check out the shops. McKenzie really enjoyed the walks on the beach because there was lots of dogs for her to look at and wave to. She did okay walking in the sand but did try to eat the sand so we had to watch her closely. Here's a picture of us down on the beach from this trip.


Our camera had some issues on the ride down to the beach so it didn't react to the sun very well - probably a Washington camera issue : ) We're now debating whether to try to get this one fixed or to get a new one. It sort of is weird to be considering fixing it since we did buy it the day we got JonesZ and he just turned four. But we really like it and we know how to use it. We agreed that some resolution has to be reached before McKenzie's birthday.

Zaremba Look-alike Meter

Check out this cool tool that I just saw on our friend Kelli's blog... finally some proof that McKenzie might look like me : ) Everyone always says she looks just like Matt but this little internet thingie says she looks 17% more like me!!! Maybe I'm starting to look like Matt... hmmmm....

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Printable family tree - Geneology

Water Bug...

McKenzie started swimming lessons this past Friday and she loved it! We're taking parent / toddler lessons at the Northshore Pool in Bothell. It's a really nice indoor pool right in downtown Bothell. We have taken her there to open swim before but I really like the organized lessons because they help me figure out how to get her doing more in the water. The class is really small - there is only one other little boy who is almost three in the class with us so we got lots of personal attention.

The class involves lots of songs, movement and splashing around - what more could a baby ask for? McKenzie gets a little wild in the water and screams with delight... I did catch the lifegaurd glancing our way often to make sure that all that noise was a good thing. I was really amazed that by the end of the class that McKenzie would let me put her mouth under water while she blew bubbles.

Having her love the water is very important to us because we love the water and have lots of plans for family outings involving water this summer. Grandma and Grandpa Zaremba have opened their pool for the summer and Grandma and Grandpa Couchee have put the boat in the lake so we have lots of options!

We didn't get any pictures of McKenzie at her swimming lessons because Matt wasn't feeling great on Friday so just McKenzie and I went. Here's our bathing beauty modeling her swimsuit in her pool in the backyard.

Playing Hookey!

There is nothing better than doing fun things on weekdays and thinking (briefly) about what we'd be doing if we were at work. On Thursday instead of working Matt and I took McKenzie on her first official hike. It was a beautiful day in the Northwest on Thursday, just a light drizzle to keep us refreshed as we hiked up to Wallace Falls.


My sister has this great baby backpack that McKenzie loves to just hang out in and Matt got the pleasure of carrying 20 some odd pounds of extra weight up to the falls. McKenzie loved seeing all the different plants and the river but her favorite thing was the five dogs she saw. She can say 'dog' so she shouted at all of them and did her famous two handed wave. The dogs were all very impressed.


We made it up to the lower falls shelter and then we had some lunch and decided we were getting a little wet to go any further so we packed up and headed back down. McKenzie zonked out after about five minutes and slept the entire way to the car.

Back in Babys Arms

The Bahamas are beautiful but there's no place like home! Matt and I are back from our fantastic vacation to the Atlantis resort. We had a wonderful time but we were very happy to be home and to see McKenzie.

Our trip could not have been better - we packed as much as possible into the week. We took the red eye out so we arrived before lunch on Monday, unfortunately our luggage wasn't in such a hurry to get there. Being seasoned travelers, we had our swimsuits in the carry-ons which made it easy to transition to a poolside lunch. Then we headed in to check out our room and were reunited with our luggage just before dinner. Each night we were there we got gifts from Matt's work delivered to our room - just 'small trinkets' like fleece robes, luggage, matching Hawaiian shirts, beach towels and a GPS system. We were also treated to an excursion on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday we went on a catamaran and snorkeling trip. During our trip we also cruised by the island from the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island. Here's a picture of Matt getting ready to go snorkeling - for some reason they made us wear these silly flotation devices that you might use on a plane 'in the event of a water landing'....

On Wednesday we went swimming with the dolphins. We also got to hug, kiss and dance with the dolphins. The real highlight though was the dolphin foot push. We floated on our stomachs in the water and the dolphins came up and pushed on our feet and launched us up to an upright position and pushed us across a huge pond. Dolphins can swim up to 25 miles per hour so it was quite a ride!

The final excursion was a spa treatment - Matt got a seaweed wrap and I got a body wrap but had hot oil and milk before I was wrapped up. We both then got massages and it was amazing how relaxed we were - we decided next time rather than the pool on the day we arrive somewhere we're heading straight to the spa!

When we weren't out on excursions, we had some great group dinners and entertainment and met some really nice people from different Verizon offices. We also explored the Atlantis resort - it's so huge we didn't even make it all over the resort. We did spend some time in the lazy river which is a mile long inner tube float complete with conveyor belts, rapids and water slides. You could make all the way around without ever leaving your tube. We also got brave and went on the inner tube ride that takes you through an aquarium filled with sharks. It wasn't as dramatic as I imagined the sharks were not really interested in looking at us.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and gave us some much needed rest and relaxation!! McKenzie had a great week at Kacey's and was as happy to see us as we were to see her!

Matt and me at the farewell dinner with some of the entertainers.

Bye-Bye Beardie...

On Sunday Matt and I are leaving on a trip to Atlantis resort in the Bahamas for his work. He qualified for the trip by being a top producer in his region. We'll be gone the whole week and McKenzie will be spending the entire week with Kacey and her family. This is our first trip together away from McKenzie and we'll miss her terribly but we know she would not be one of those placid babies who just cuddles up and takes a nap on the plane. We are really looking forward to some fun in the sun and sleeping in past 6:30 which is when our little alarm baby wakes each day.

Matt has been growing a beard since before Thanksgiving - the guys at his work decided to stop shaving during November and for some reason Matt never started shaving again until now. He decided that he didn't want to keep the beard forever so rather than get a tan in the Bahamas and have a weird tan line he would shave it off before the trip. So last night we took some pictures of the beloved beard before it met the razor and then it unfortunately turned into a Hulk Hogan mustache rather than leaving completely. For those who can't remember what that looks like check it out. That too will be leaving before we depart for the Bahamas but Matt is already talking of the return of the beard...


He's what the beard looked like - I will try to capture the Hulk Hogan Mustache before it's gone!

Swinging With the Cousins!

Matt and I are very lucky to have my sister Kacey watch McKenzie for us during the week days. In exchange McKenzie keeps Kacey's kids Nathan and Kayla entertained. There is no end to Nathan's funny stories about things McKenzie has done each day and Kayla enjoys having someone to serve pretend food to. Here's a picture of the kids last summer at Grandma and Grandpa C's house.


A few weekends ago Kacey and her husband Eric built a swing set in their backyard and McKenzie even got her own swing! All three kids have really been enjoying the swings - it's a great activity they can all do at once.



We have also enjoyed taking family trips to the local parks to test out the swings - McKenzie enjoys them all - here's a picture from January which was McKenzie's first official swinging adventure to North Creek Park - site of the legendary 'dog in the peat bog' story....

Matt and McKenzie at the park both sporting their Cougar gear!

Take me out to the ballgame!

Monday night Matt and I took McKenzie to her first Mariners game! She did great at the game and was so happy to be riding around in the backpack looking at people. Matt carried her the entire time which made me very happy. We only stayed until the fourth inning but considering she is usually asleep in bed around the time the game started she did great.

There weren't many fans at the game and we never actually went to our seats. We just kept walking around watching the game from different points around the stadium. We went into the kids team store and bought McKenzie a very cute little Mariners' outfit - mostly for the little hat it came with. Too bad it didn't quite fit once we got it out of the packaging... it sat up on McKenzie's head like a little top hat.

Matt and I had Dixie's BBQ and decided we didn't need to meet the man - McKenzie was happy to shake a bag of potatoes chips around up in the backpack since she ate dinner at home. It was a great night for a game and I bet we'll make it down for a few more this season.

More showers!!

I've already gotten feedback that I was off on my baby shower count (which I love so I can use old pictures in this blog) - McKenzie has actually attended four baby showers not two as I said in my last post. She attended Kelli Blubaum's shower for Cole this summer when she was only two months old. At that shower she was lucky enough to meet some of the Alpha Phi sisters and their babies. She couldn't even sit up on her own at that shower - it's amazing how time has flown since then. Here she is with Andrea's son MJ and Beth Ann's daughter Ellie. Both Ellie and MJ are about three months older than McKenzie so they were waving and sitting up.


The other shower we went to was for Desirae Ballard and her son Jack. McKenzie was three months old at that shower so still not sitting but she definitely did get passed around for some love by the guests. Here's a picture of her that day and then also a more recent picture of her and Jack who is four months younger than her.



McKenzie is wearing a onesie that Desirae and Chris gave her - one of our favorites. It says, "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" and that is very true of my baby : )

Here's McKenzie and Jack - Jack was not really certain about McKenzie - he's used to much smaller babies and she is used to larger kids so she was a little more assertive than he likes his women... guess he'll have to get used to that.

Is it my birthday yet....?

McKenzie loves baby showers - she has been to two showers now and has loved them both. I honestly think she thinks it's her birthday party. She loves to put on a show of being cute which gets the attention of all the ladies attending and then she goes in for the presents.

The first shower she went to was for my friend Gina, who is due in May, and was actually at our house in April. She went down for her nap right as the first guests started arriving and woke up when the party was in full swing. The second shower was this weekend for her Aunt Jennifer who is due in June. She behaved very well at both showers and is looking forward to another shower for Aunt Jennifer in a couple of weeks.

Here's McKenzie playing with Kate who came to Gina's baby shower - McKenzie was very happy to wake up from a nap and find a friend to play with! Kate is four months younger than McKenzie.

Another young guest at Gina's shower, this is Carrie's youngest daughter Halle... look how McKenzie just wants to love the baby... oh wait is there a loose binky in with that baby?

Here's McKenzie at Aunt Jennifer's shower, I'm sure that Aunt Jennifer needed help opening her gifts... I guess McKenzie is just practicing up for her first birthday : ) I guess as a baby what's not to love about lots of smiling people, good treats and all the wrapping paper you can get your hands on!

Grandpa Z's 60th Birthday, Garage Sales, and Growing Up!!!

Today was Grandpa Zaremba's (or 'G-Pa' as he'd like to be called) 60th birthday! The whole Zaremba family went to dinner to celebrate. We went to a family favorite, Nana Carmella's in Monroe, at the old Monroe Golf Course. It's got a great atmosphere and even better food - huge portions of great Italian cooking. This was McKenzie's first visit and she enjoyed herself very much - she ate bread sticks and played peek-a-boo with another baby at the next table. Here's the family at dinner and McKenzie with a huge bread stick.



This morning McKenzie joined me for her first ever Mill Creek Garage sale. The residents of Mill Creek are only allowed to have garage sales twice a year - the first weekend in May and the first weekend in October - so it's quite the event around here. I try to go every year if I can - so far I've gotten some great deals. Today we were joined by Kristy and a friend from wine club, Melissa who is 8 months pregnant. McKenzie and I were on a hunt for plastic yard toys and we did good! We got a small slide for $3 and then a bonus item of a Sit-n-Spin for $4. Where else can you get a morning of entertainment for $7? McKenzie has been enjoying the new toy! Anything that plays music is a huge hit with her.


Growing up!!! When we got back from the garage sale we were playing upstairs and McKenzie was standing up not holding onto anything as she's been doing lately when she actually put out her foot and took a step and then fell down. Then she did it again - just one step. Matt heard me cheering about it and came upstairs in time to see her get up again and take 4 steps before sitting down. Since then she's been walking around going further and further distances before sitting down! What a great day to start walking - Grandpa's Birthday! She started crawling on Ground Hogs day so it took three months from crawling to walking.