Get Caught Up

So we've been a little slow to get back into the swing of things here. We've been neglecting our blogosphere responsibilities. So please forgive us as we give you an extra-long blog packed full with delicious experiences, just like a stuffed pepper.

First off, the new semester is upon us. My classes are: Convex Methods/Robust Control, Random Processes, and Mechatronics. They're all 3 impressive sounding titles so feel free to be intimidated by my intellectual prowess. Be sure and comment on it the next time we see each other too.

Second amazing news is our Boston plans. I was offered an internship with Kiva Systems in Woburn, MA. I enthusiastically accepted! So we are busying ourselves with budget concerns and apartment shopping. Needless to say, it'll be expensive. But we're excited for our east coast adventure!

Third piece of Baillio-life trivia: Heroscape has come to overwhelm all of my senses. I can't get enough of it. I'm glad I finally have a hobby that interests me when I'm at home, and which can be enjoyed by my family and friends. I have in fact reverted into an 11-year-old boy who frequents the toy isles in Target and Walmart searching for that extra expansion pack. A little to my shame, I've "invested" a substantial amount of money into this hobby in the short 3 weeks since we returned from Christmas vacation. Oh well, it's an enjoyable (and endurable) pastime. My latest favorite characters are Utgar's Kyrie followers. They're pretty great, especially teamed up with Khosumet the Darklord. 'Nough said.

On to family matters.
Brooklyn is crawling now, and she morphed into an entirely different child. She is adorable still, and loves to get all over everything. The most wonderful part is her new-found independence. She can roam around and play on her own! That gives Celeste at least a little extra time to get things done during the day. Awesome. The most fun is when Celeste and I lay on the ground, Brooklyn rushes over to climb all over us, giggling all the way. It's great!


Lastly, we took our family picture yesterday. Family will get a copy asap. Brooklyn did wonderfully, and of course, looked super cute.

Crisis in the Mile-High City

Post Christmas and New Years with the Barrands was a blast as well. We passed the New Year in the middle of a battle royal in Heroscape (our new favorite game). Kisses, bubbly, and Sudema stone-gazing Captain America. Now that's a New Years Celebration!

With the Barrand clan, we had so much fun playing Heroscape, eating foods, taking the family picture and visiting Aquariums. It was a wonderful chance for Brooklyn to meet her cousins again. She loved hanging out with Sam and Jensen and watched them move around and play.

The most exciting part of our Barrand family plans was our coveted trip to Costa Rica. I say coveted because as I write it, I know you are filled with insane jealousy. And rightly so! Well covet no more because it fell through! "How did it fall through?" you ask. Because of carelessness. We showed up at the airport for the red-eye flight on the 2nd of January, and our flight left at 12:10 am on the 2nd of January. We missed our flight by almost a full day! What losers.

Our fantastic holiday plans were shattered. I watched all that Univision for nothing! In our depression the following day, we rose from the ashes and pulled a last-minute vacation out of the air. So we will spend a few days in Breckenridge, enjoying the freezing cold, the snow, the slopes, and more Heroscape. It's better than nothing! And the good news is, we can still use our Costa Rica tickets sometime in the next year. So maybe we'll try again for next December.

View all pics