It's a ... GIRL!!!

THE day had finally come - we would finally find out the sex of our little bun. Countless friends and family had asked us "will you find out the sex of the baby?" April's answer was always the same, "Yes! I NEED to know so I can be ready!" So, with that it was decided, October 26 was a day that can be filed in the "most memorable moments in our lives" category.

Weeks earlier we had asked both our Mom's to be present at the ultrasound. The four of us were greeted by our ultrasound tech who took us on our journey through my uterus. The ultrasound seemed to last forever. Measurement upon organ was observed and our bun was observed to be as healthy as possible. Finally, the ultrasound tech asked if we were interested in finding out the sex of the baby. I knew this was a formality as there was no other reason to have such an audience at this particular ultrasound other than to have Mommy, Daddy and Grandmas present at first notice of "it's a boy" or "it's a girl".

Background story: the night we found out we were expecting, and before the home pregnancy test was confirmed by our doctor, Brandon had a dream about his first child. The dream was two-fold and one part was that he had a little girl. April thought that though endearing, it was a strange dream to have so soon after finding out such life changing news. April believed that whether the test was proved to be true or false, Brandon was ready to be a Daddy.

Up to this point April thought she was carrying a boy so much so that it took a few seconds to comprehend the ultrasound tech informing us that we were going to have a little girl! Both Grandma's (especially Grandma Helen), Daddy and Mommy were elated at such good news of the day - we had a healthy baby girl!

Our favorite ultrasound picture is below. Princess Walker was so excited to make her debut that she gave us what looks like the beginning of a cartwheel! If she's like her Mommy she may be practicing her yoga :)

Our Nation's Capital - Washington D.C.

Our last weekend of travels brought us to Washington, D.C. Brandon had never been and it had been many years since April's last visit so we wanted to be sure to make this one of our four stops. Although we were looking forward to this trip there was no denying the fatigue we were experiencing from three straight weekends of red eye flights across the country. Nevertheless we were looking forward to the last weekend of our "honeymonth".

We visited a number of landmarks and monuments. Among them was Ford's Theater, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and The National Mall, Reflection Pool, Lincoln Monument and White House. April's favorite part of the Smithsonian was the National Gem Collection. It was amazing to read about the history of the gems and brilliance of the stones.

We decided during our flight that this trip would be "relaxing" in that we wouldn't push ourselves to accommodate a busy itinerary. Instead, we leisurely strolled through the city, taking in the sites we would have otherwise overlooked hurrying from one destination to the next.

As life takes hold of us we are fortunate to have memories of our travels to remind us of the places we'd like to take our children when they are old enough to appreciate the history of our country. Though we were wary of traveling across the country (again) we thoroughly enjoyed our trip and finally felt the first of Fall! The weather was cool and crisp with a little bit of rain - a vast difference from the heat wave we are experiencing well into Fall here in Southern California!

We almost didn't feel like we were away from home! We met up with Deanna and watched Sunday football in Columbia Heights. We caught rain without an umbrella while waiting for the Circulator (read: city "bus"). Luckily, we weren't too far from our warm cozy hotel room.

Thank you for sharing in our journey with us!

Puerto Riiiicoooo!

Stars aligned and miraculously, April was able to take an extra day off of work. With four day weekend (vs. 3-days) we quickly called our friends in Puerto Rico to see if they would be up for last minute visitors. Quickly, our originally planned Chicago trip turned into a tropical vacation! We took a red-eye out Wednesday evening and very quickly discovered that our travel luck thus far had come to an end. Our flight was delayed almost 4 hours. Not only did we have to change our connecting flight at JFK, we almost didn't make it! We finally made it (albeit, a couple hours late) to Puerto Rico on Thursday afternoon to visit the Brennan family.

Though we slept almost the entire flight from Long Beach to JFK we were still a little jet-lagged. We caught up with Jess about island life since their move earlier this year. We decided to wait for Mike to get off of work and took the opportunity to take a little nap. That evening we visited Old San Juan (popular docking location for cruises of the Carribbean) and enjoyed really yummy Tapas. We also learned that the service isn't the same as the States but the food definitely made up for it!

The next day we got a little bit of a late start thanks to the time change. When we finally got on our way Jess brought us to Espana- a nearby bakery. There were so many desserts to choose from, we decided to try a melange! Baby Walker was over the moon. Our favorite was the quesito- we took a dozen home!

When we finished stuffing ourselves with sugary delights we walked to the beach. It was a little cloudy out but the weather was perfect. We enjoyed a nice beach afternoon without worrying about heat exhaustion. We spent most of the time searching for sand dollars. We left with 5 or 6!

Brandon also entertained himself for about a half an hour after finding a coconut. Mommy hopes Baby Walker has her Daddy's sense of imagination. Brandon was convinced he would be able to crack the coconut. He kept saying, "I can hear the juice!".

That evening Mike and Jess took us to Ceviche House. We ordered family style and the food was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed good conversation which complimented our meal well.

The morning of our last full day we woke up to a delicious breakfast cooked by Mike and Jess. When breakfast was over we headed to Pinones- a beach area in Puerto Rico frequented mostly by natives. It was beautiful! We enjoyed the water and sun along with a couple rounds of Catch Phrase!

We consider ourselves so fortunate to have been able to visit our friends in Puerto Rico. Not only did we enjoy beautiful beaches and amazing food but we also enjoyed spending time with great friends. There isn't any other way to experience Puerto Rico than with natives- we are so glad we got the "real life" experience vs. the touristy resort version!

Baby Walker visits Auntie L

Our second weekend was a much easier traveling experience. We flew out Friday afternoon ALL the way to Las Vegas. The flight was SO long (a whole 45 minutes) we didn't get to finish our drinks! This weekend we were visiting our good friend, Lindsey who is attending Graduate School to become a Physician Assistant. We definitely wanted to visit before she began her rotations and didn't want to put it off so long we ended up not being able to fly.

The first evening we went to M Resort's buffet which was AMAZING. Not only did they have a wide variety of high-quality fare (warm crab legs!) they also had unlimited beer and wine. The desserts were also incredible- between the three of us we probably tried all of them. Although April wasn't able to enjoy the alcohol she definitely had her share of crab legs.

The rest of the weekend was peaceful and relaxing. We walked around the new City Center and had the BEST gelato. Though we gambled a little we only lost a couple dollars- we're not high rollers yet!

We saw a movie that evening at a really cool family-friendly casino. The next (and last day of our visit) we lounged at the pool, had subs for lunch and watched Sunday football until it was time to get ready for our flight. A nice relaxing weekend visiting our good friend was just what we needed after our strenuous trip to New York.

Our Month of Travels - first stop, the Big Apple!

The first week of October wrapped up a month of traveling. Although we were experiencing slight fatigue by our fourth weekend out of town, we enjoyed all four weekends visiting old friends and new places.

WEEKEND #1 - September 9 - 13th - NEW YORK

Our first weekend out of town was to New York. Our red-eye flight left Long Beach airport Thursday evening. Our flight arrived to JFK at 5 a.m. and we hoped that an early check in would be possible considering our lack of sleep on the flight. Luckily, we were able to check in upon arrival and given our extreme fatigue at this point, we were ecstatic. We slept for a couple of hours before we left to Battery Park (a short walk from our hotel) for our Statue of Liberty tour.

During our Statue of Liberty tour we were able to take a tour of the pedestal. It was really exciting to see inside of the statue and next time we definitely will walk to the crown. The views of Manhattan were amazing! We also walked around the Financial District (Brandon's favorite) and got a glimpse of Wall Street and the NYSE.

The first evening we ate near Greenwich Village at an Italian restaurant called Piola by recommendation of Yelp. We ordered pasta (spaghetti pasta with a marinara sauce and chunks of mozzarella cheese), pizza and a salad. We stopped at Max Brenner on the way back to the Metro for dessert and picked up a chocolate and marshmallow "pizza". Needless to say it was delicious.


The second day we took a 3-hour bike tour of Central Park. This is definitely a landmark we would love to see in the Winter! We did the 7-mile bike loop around the entire park. The hills were tiring (for a three-month pregnant April) but it is definitely the easiest way to see the entire park! Some of our favorite spots were the Fountain, The Lawn and Jackie O Resevoir (just to name a few!).

Our Central Park tour was followed by a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a MSUT visit and we (mostly April) can't wait to go back. Brandon's favorite part of the museum was the American Wing. April really enjoyed the VanGogh's and Monet's but really.. the entire museum is spectacular! It's just too bad that our feet hurt so bad we cut the tour a little short (only 2.5 hours).

The rest of the second day was spent wandering Manhattan. We walked down Park Avenue, passed The Russian Tea Room, Carnegie Hall, had dinner near Times Square (which was Brandon's LEAST favorite part of New York) or as he calls it, "a tacky version of Las Vegas". It was a VERY eventful and tiring day but at least Baby Walker got plenty of exercise.

Our third and last full day of our trip was overcast and drizzly. We attended Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral which was absolutely amazing (another must-do). We walked around Rockefeller Plaza (directy across the street) and did a little shopping (H&M) up 5th Avenue. We had brunch at Norma's located inside Le Parker Meridien. We decided to cut the day a little short and got back to our hotel around 5pm to rest. Brandon spent the rest of that evening watching football and we grabbed dinner at a nearby sports bar. By this point Baby Walker was begging for rest..and so was Mommy!

Our fourth day in the city was also the day we flew home. We had the morning and early afternoon to do last-minute sightseeing and the Brooklyn Bridge was the last on our list. We packed up all of our things and headed to the bridge. Walking the bridge is a LOT longer than we had anticipated. We walked about half way. Next time we definitely want to walk to Brooklyn (and Metro back to Manhattan).

The trip was definitely a whirlwind and went by quickly. We are already looking forward to our next trip and can't wait until the little Walkers are old enough to enjoy the culture of New York. For more pictures you can check them out on April's facebook page.