Aurora 3 Months Old!

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Adventures Never End...

What a crazy year it has been - the Lord continues to bless, Amen! Most of you know that quite a bit has happened in our lives - and may have to change the name of our blog title to include Aurora Joy somehow. For those that don't know, Erica went into labor June 26, 2011 and we ended up with a beautiful baby girl - Aurora Joy - 8 lbs. 10 oz. - 20.5 in. She was born on June 28 at 6:10 am via Cesarian section.

Aurora Joy Zolnierek - 9 weeks

Since then we have been busy adjusting to the challenges of parenthood. We have finally gotten to the point where we decided to take a little trip with Aurora as a trial to our big road trip to Michigan in October. We left on September 5 for Crescent City, CA, which is supposed to be a 6.5 hour drive. We found out that with a 2 month old, it takes 9 hours with all the feeding and changing stops that need to take place. It was a good experience nonetheless.

Elk herd on beach enroute to Crescent City, CA

On September 6, we visited Ocean World, the local aquarium. It was a ten dollar tour, and we had a seal and sea lion show at the end which was very entertaining. I highly recommend going for a visit if you are ever in the area. Afterward, we stopped at the Battery Point Lighthouse for the tour and pictures. We are almost finished visiting all the lighthouses on the Northern California Coast. The rest of our trip was mostly scenic drives through the Redwoods National and State Parks - which were beautiful. We stayed overnight in Fort Bragg, CA on September 7/8, and finally got back home on September 8.

A shark eating Aurora @ Ocean World

Battery Point Lighthouse

Erica and a Giant Redwood

On September 7, Erica and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary. Because we were still on our trip, we ended up celebrating on September 9. Grandma and Grandpa Kendall were overjoyed to watch Aurora for the 22 hours that we were in Pacifica, CA enjoying our Anniversary celebration. We stayed at the Best Western Lighthouse Inn, which is where we have stayed the past two years. We had a delicious BBQ meal at Gorilla BBQ, which has been featured on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" - excellent food!

Today, on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11/01 we decided to provide a little positive to a day that is remembered negatively. Aurora was dedicated at Central Baptist Church, along with Colin Seth Thomas (Debbie and Andy's new baby). Pastor Stephen had us come to the front, said a few words, and then prayed for the babies. We had a reception after service as a thanks to all the help and support we have received from our church family.

Baby Dedication - Family Picture

Baby Dedication - Debbie, Andy, and Colin Thomas & Erica, Matt, and Aurora Zolnierek

That's about all that is happening in Alameda - looking forward to posting during our road trip to Michigan.

The Adventures Continue...

Hello Everyone,

It has been ALMOST a year since our last post, and needless to say, but we have been busy! I wanted to get everyone as up-to-date as possible so in order to continue the adventures we plan to have. A sum up of the past 8 months is:

1) Arrived in Alameda, CA, and Matt started work at the Coast Guard Personnel Services Center Surge Staffing Branch on July 19, 2010. He was thrown from the fire into the frying pan as he was dealing mainly with the personnel logistics side of the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. To date, he has helped to provide approximately 3000 members to the response efforts.

2) Erica and Matt celebrated their 1 year anniversary on 9/7/10. We headed to Pacifica and stayed the Best Western Lighthouse Inn, of which we stayed during our honeymoon.

3) In October, we headed to Texas to celebrate the marriage of our friends Jeremy and Borianna Yandell. It was a quick trip (less than 24 hours), and we were quite tired when we returned. But we were excited, not only for our newlywed friends, but also for the pregnancy test that turned out positive! June 24!

4) Matt took some leave from work Veteran's Day and we drove up to Ft. Bragg, CA in Mendocino County and had a lovely time together checking out some more of Northern California. Some of the sites we saw included the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Glass Beach, and Point Cabrillo and Point Arena lighthouses. We stayed at the North Cliff Hotel, which had great amenities and views of the Pacific Ocean.

*Glass Beach

5) Thanksgiving was spent in Michigan with Matt's parents. Erica spent time with her mother-in-law at the Grand Rapids Art Museum looking at the on-tour Princess Diana collection and Matt fixed his four-wheeler so that dad could get the mail easier. It was great seeing all the family (Zolnierek's and Gregory's) while we were there.

6) Christmas was a busy season as Erica and Matt were part of the Christmas musical at church, as well as spending all the time with Erica's family. We spent Christmas Day in Sacramento with the Abshire's and December 26 in Alameda with the Kendall's. Again, it is always great to spend time with family!

7) This month we were able to get away for Valentine's Day. We took a little road trip to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We stayed at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia which had a fabulous V-Day filet mignon dinner! We spent the rest of our trip looking at the largest trees in the world.

Currently, we are in week 23 of the pregnancy (over halfway)! Erica's baby bump continues to get more pronounced as time goes by and we are gearing up for the third trimester. We don't have any idea what gender the baby is going to be - it will be a surprise for all!