Monica and Reagan Go to Nebraska

We just returned from a fantastic trip to see family in Nebraska. We were able to spend lots of time with both the Voss clan and the Sperlings, who conveniently live only a half mile apart. We even made it down to Kansas to see my grandmas and attend my cousin's wedding. Sara Voss spoiled us by taking us to the Zoo and serving Valentinos Pizza for dinner. Sara's new puppy, Zoro, let Reagan chase him around nonstop for 3 days. My mom spent a lot of time playing in the backyard with Reagan and Charlize (Reagan's cousin). The three of them played in the sandbox, in the kiddie pool, and in the grass. My mom taught Reagan to smell flowers and Charlize taught him to say some new words. Praise God for beautiful weather, a miracle for Nebraska in late July. I was even able to see my sister, Tonya, who is 6 months pregnant. It was exciting to put my hand on Tonya's stomach and feel the baby kicking. Thanks for cooperating baby Jolly. We miss you all so much. It was hard to leave this time for some reason.

Couch Potato

Reagan loves to watch videos. His favorites are Winnie the Pooh and Little Einsteins. We're trying to teach him not to touch the TV or remotes, but the DVD remote was missing the other day again. I eventually found it stuffed inside the VCR. Nice.

Blueberries

A few weeks ago, my friend Kim invited us to pick blueberries with her. We drove to a blueberry farm where we were all able to pick beautiful, plump blueberries. And we only paid $1.50 a pound. So Mark now puts blueberries in his oatmeal and yogurt. And I'm going to make blueberry pancakes for Mark for Father's Day.

My Da-Doo

Happe Faders Day, Da-Doo.

I wuv yoo. -Reagan

PS. Mama helpd me wif dis.

She thenks yor grate too.

Summer Fun

My friend Dana has planned a fun activity for every Wednesday this summer. So each week a group of moms gets together to take our kids somewhere in Houston to enjoy the town. Last week we went to Nottingham Spray Park. The sun was out (as always), so we plastered on the sunblock and set our children loose. Reagan just stood by my side for about 10 minutes watching the bigger kids running around in the water. Then, he just waded on in and joined the chaos. I can't wait to see what is on schedule for next Wednesday.

Bike Ride to Remember

I went for a bike-ride with Reagan at Brazos Bend State Park this weekend. We have seen alligators there in the past, so I was hoping to see some sunning themselves on the bank of the island in the lake. To my surprise, they were not being laying 30 yards away, but just feet from the bike path. I stopped several times to take pictures and didn't even need to zoom in on the toothy lizards. I rode up on a 6 foot animal, and just before I got to him, he stood up, walked right across the path in front of me and slid into the mossy pond. It took a little while for me heart to slow down after that.

Do you see the monster?

Duathlon Dismount

Mark placed 2nd in a recent duathlon. At the end of his 48 mile cycle, I caught his bicycle dismount on video. He's coasting in for the last few meters with both legs on one side of the bike until he comes to the dismount spot where he can jump off and start running. And you'll see that by the time he comes rolling in that he already has his feet out of the shoes. I wish I could have recorded him as he continued to run towards transition where he shelved his bike, put on his running shoes and took off for the final 5 mile run.

He's Walking!

What does it take to motivate a child to walk? Well for Reagan, it was a neighbor kid who was watering his lawn with a hose. Reagan and Mark were in the driveway about a month ago when Reagan saw the spraying water. So he took about 20 steps across the driveway and walked onto the grass where our neighbor was. We hadn't seen Reagan take any steps unless we were pushing him back and forth between us, and even with the forced walking, we had only seen 2 or 3 steps at a time. So we were shocked to see him walking across different, uneven surfaces. But Reagan enjoyed his new skill only for that day and then returned to exclusive crawling for a week. The day before my parents came to visit, he turned on the steps again and walked with Grandma and Grandpa through the airport to welcome them to Houston.

Sorry that the video is sideways. I tried without success to correct it. Enjoy.