It's June in Arkansas, and the heat has arrived with temps in the high 90's just about all month long. The final week we hit 100 for 7 days. The high temps resulted in cancelling of just about every outdoor plan we had, including our annual Father's Day camping trip (we are currently 0 for 3 on that). The LPGA is in town, and I've had to skip that. Sailing was cancelled as well (we finished the spring series of races in first place for total points). We still managed to have some fun around the house though.
We were going to wear cowboy hats and these moustaches to the Siloam Springs rodeo, but it was around 100 degrees at sunset, and after I saw how hot the bleachers were at the Fort Smith rodeo, I figured it'd be too hot in Springdale for him, so he wore his around the house, and skipped the rodeo. Besides, he looked more like an Italian lumberjack than a cowboy.
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| Jackopio Blonduchi |
I ended up going to the rodeo by myself, but decided against the 'stache and hat. As they say, it don't take much to spot a goat in a flock of sheep. One of the rodeo events they have is called the "calf scramble". If you have a kid aged between 3 and 12, you have them climb over this fence into the arena, where they all line up, and get ready to run to the other end. At the other end is a pen with about 10 animals with ribbons on their tails. The goal is to get a ribbon off a tail. There is a good amount of chaos when the two groups meet, and most of the younger kids get trampled, either by another kid, or by a calf. City boys like Jack are still a few years away from being able to handle this. He'd have as much trouble with climbing the fence as with the stampede.
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| Lining up for the calf scramble at the Siloam Springs rodeo |
One of Jack's favorite weekly activities is Library Day. Mostly because on the way out, he gets to pick a giant cookie from the cafe in the lobby. He also picks a few books, I pick a few for him, and he tries to contain his energy while listening to the librarians during "story time". He's been getting alot of use from his straw cowboy hat that I got for him at the rodeo. He gets alot of comments on it, and I've seen people cross a room to say "Howdy" to him.
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| Cowboy Jack at the library |
With the new baby just a few weeks away, Jacqui has gone into full nest-building-mode. The new baby's room is pink & brown and is set up for the new arrival. If there's a theme in Jack's room, I'd say it's nautical, which made me recall that I had these carved wooden figures that my mom saved from when I was a kid. We'll see how long they last with this new generation. Jack is impressed most by the pirate who lost a leg to a battle with a shark. One of the captains lost a leg to a whale. Before seing the results of this mayhem, he viewed sharks and whales as gentle animals, but now has a healthy respect for keeping some distance from them, lest he too lose a limb.
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| Two pirates and two sea captains |
We are about 4 weeks from Jacqui's due date of July 26th. Her Dr. has scheduled a c-section for one week prior to this "due date", and has called it her "delivery date" - July 19th at 12 pm. We did get a surprise in the last week of June, when her Dr. told her she's 2cm dialated and 60% effaced. The Doc said she might start labor at any time. As she had an emergency c-section last time, they want to avoid the risks associated with natural labor this time, so we've been instructed to head to the hospital at the first sign of "real" contractions.
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| four weeks till due date (and already 2cm dialated) |
We've completed the list of baby names, and want to thank all of you for your assistance with suggestions. Many of you really took heed our instruction that all names would be considered, and specifically that "
Outrageous ideas are appreciated" and "Quantity of ideas is more important,
at this stage, than “quality”" , given the number of truly outrageous ideas you submitted (see list below).
I think we've narrowed it down to a handful, and will update the blog, once we've seen the baby, and decided on what best fits her.
It's still too early to say whether Jack is fully on-board with all of this. I think he's leaning toward not supporting the idea. We have been trying to manufacture some positive feelings in him, and took him last week to purchase a gift for his new sister. He reluctantly agreed, and picked out a few things for "our new girl". Still not saying "my sister", but it's a step in the right direction.
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| Jack with Spiderman |
Still lots of talk about super heroes and the Justice League. Favorites are: Spiderman, Superman, Batman (only if he's in his black car), Green Lantern, Captain America and Akaman (that's Aquaman).
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| Cowboy Jack watches the Justice League videos |
Toward the end of June, Jack had some type of virus, or maybe some heat sickness, and was running a fever for a couple of days. We were thinking it might be tonsilitis, so I made an appointment. He seemed a bit better on day 3, but I kept him home from pre-school, and took
this video before we went to see the Dr. He also started the month of June with a virus, and puked right in the middle of his "siblings class" at the hospital.
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| Cowboy Jack was sick and will go to the Dr. today |
That's about all for now. Next month you'll probably be seeing some new baby photos, stories about Buckin' in the Ozarks at the Springdale Rodeo, photos of the awesome Rodeo Parade and of course, Fourth of July fireworks. The county just instituted a burn-ban, and last-minute ban on fireworks due to the lack of rain, but we'll manage something. Until then we hope you've enjoyed our View Of Life In The South.
