August dog days - not much to report

August came and went and the kids are growing and learning (hopefully).  Jillian is learning how to make a sourpus face.

 This is the "wha chu you talkin' 'bout" face

This is what she does when Notre Dame scores

This is what she does when she hears a song on the radio she likes

 

This is Jack asking if he has to put on pants when it rains.  He makes a good point by noting that the'll only get wet out there.

We told him that when it rains the earthworms come out of their holes and crawl around on the grass.  So, he's out there looking for some.

 
Jillian is getting taller, as evidenced by this photo which shows her car seat needs an adjustment.  Alhough she's only in the 10th percentile for height, the doc keeps forgetting that she came out of the oven three weeks early.  So, when you look at it that way, she's doing pretty well.

 When she's on her belly she can hold her head up and can roll over.

And she looks good in her skinny jeans

I think this is the mom's group Jacqui almost joined at the botanic garden

 

We don't have much more to report, but September's post will have more pics of Jillian growing, Jack with pants on, and some photos from the baptism.  Until then, we hope you like these pics and we look forward to sharing our view of life in the south.

 

Southern-fried in July

We welcomed the newest member of "The Tribe", Jillian Kay, on July 10th, about 3 weeks ahead of her due date.  She was a little peanut, weighing in at 6lbs, 9oz, compared to her brother who was a whopping 8lbs and change.

I participated in the birth, and offered my services to the surgical staff at Willow Creek Womens Hospital, suggesting I could make the first slice, or wrap things up, but they said they had it covered.  It was a much smoother process this time, compared to the emergency c that happened the last time.  Otherwise it was pretty much the same, though they said this time I could keep all of my clothes on under the surgery outfit.  Stripping down before putting on the surgery gear must be a Chicago thing.

 We don't have any great photos of the two kids together yet.  Jack's not really that interested in babies, and will only tollerate the occasional suggestion that he even look at Jillian, much less stand still near her.  He's helping a bit when it's something where he feels he can contribute - like tossing the diapers in the trash, or standing on a stool to pour water into her bath.  Small steps, I guess.

This photo below was a study in color comparison, and I suppose gives you an idea of her size.  We had a billirubin incident which caused Jillian to turn a bit yellow, but the doc said it was within the norms for kids her age.  She pooped, got some indirect sunlight, and was fine a few days later.

Prior to Jillian's birth, we celebrated the birth of the nation by lighting off some fireworks, and sparklers, in the driveway, in defiance of the county burn-ban.  The drought has really stressed the plant life, and from what I hear, the animals too.  No hay for feading cattle, no corn for feeding chickens.  This means we'll have some very expensive beef this winter.  Time to stock the freezer.

 The fireworks weren't too loud, didn't go very high, and were not very bright, but, were still good fun

 We've been doing alot of Superhero stuff lately.  This cape & mask has been a big hit.  I'm usually either Captain America (if I get to choose), and "Clacko" or "Synestro" if Jack chooses.  A new character "Jag-O" (I'm not kidding), has also emerged.  Not sure what his power is.

 Jillian just takes it all in while snacking, which has helped her finish the month around 8lbs.

 She's been getting some good sleep at night, though the feedings have not been the greatest.

We took a trip to the Tulsa acquarium and spent 99% of our time with the sharks, with one small diversion to the ray pool.

Sorry to say I don't have much more to offer in the way of photos for July.   We had to skip Buckin' in the Ozarks at the Springdale Rodeo, and the awesome Rodeo Parade due to it falling right around Jillian's birth. Sailboat racing is on hiatus for July/August, though we've had an incredible amount of wind.  Next month you may hear some stories about my new job.  I'm working with Penske Automotive Group's Fayetteville Autopark.  I'm a Honda specialist, but have also been trained in selling Acura, Toyota, Fiat and Chevy vehicles.  A million stories there, but I don't think I'll be sharing much on this site.  Look soon for my new YouTube site, where I'll be posting some video walk-arounds of the 2012 and 2013 Honda models.  Until then, we hope you liked the photos, and we'll share more next month with our View Of Life In The South.

June in Arkansas

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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. 

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.

May and the Redneck Riviera Roadshow

Jacqui had a week of vacation to use or lose, so we headed to the sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, AL, a.k.a., the Redneck Riviera, to kick back.  We had a great time, and definitely would go back.  The landscape is dominated by these condo hi-rise developments that run all the way east along the gulf coast to Florida. Despite the perfect weather (mid-80,'s and sunny with warm water temps and puffy, puffy huhwhite clouds), the crowds apparently stay away until Memorial Day weekend, which is still a week away.

We'd start every morning on the beach and enjoy a snack and relaxation beverage.  Jack got to shovel sand into pails and his dump truck, make sand castles with his mom, and got to fly a kite for the first time.  Kites are more work than either of us is interested in at this age, but he was really excited to see how it got up in the air, and how it stayed up there. 

Each day, as we got closer to lunchtime, we'd head up to one of the pools, where Jack would practice his Superman dive.  Like his mom, he's very interested in the Super Heroes.  He recently had an argument with one of his school buddies, Will, about which Super is "best" and "more red", Superman or Spiderman.  He has a Green Lantern hero mask/glasses he likes to wear when he asks you to try to "fight" him.  He's a head-butt and windmill / haymaker kind of fighter at this stage.  And for some reason, he drools when he "fights" and says his opponent's name (You) is "Clacko" or "Ricky".  The drool is more effective than his other weapons.

We had the beach mostly to ourselves every day.  Jack dug for oil, apparently unaware that this area was devastated just a few years ago by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  No evidence of that now, but we did speak with some people who had been hired to walk the beach, turn over the sand and seaweed here and there, and look for oil blobs and damage to plant and sea life.  They said it had been a quite a while since they'd seen any, but they're still getting paid to look, so they keep cashing the checks and walking the beach.

Jack is still a novice when it comes to dealing with ocean waves.  We told him what his "Pa" always said when we were kids - "don't ever turn your back on the Sea, or she'll likely knock you off your feet".  He was in the Navy, but doesn't really talk like that.  Jack seemed to understand these instructions, but was getting more and more daring, running into the surf, and laughing like a nut, until he got hit by one wave a bit too big to handle.  We were standing right there, so he only swallowed a few mouthfulls of seawater before we got to him.  He came up stunned and coughing, and then kept saying "Why is it...why is it...why is it"? When the sobbing stopped, he finally asked, "Why is it so salty and up my nose?  As they say, lessons learned are best learned the hard way. New nickname "Cousteau".

Each day after our 3 1/2 hour  naps, we did something different.  One day it was trains.  Jack got to climb on this one, and check out the caboose, engine and a box car - no hobos though.  They did have a warehouse jam-packed with working model trains, set up like a little village.  There was a guy there, acting as conductor, and he let Jack work some of the controls.  Afterward, we rode on a miniature railroad, which he seemed to enjoy.  New nickname - Chooch.

 Another day we tried miniature golf at Pirate Island.  Jack doesn't have much patience for this game (see link to video here), and his hockey stick grip and stance isn't helping much.  The place is set up like a Disney theme park, complete with a dungeon and pirate skeletons in dark caves.  He's always had a problem with skeletons, and after seeing one all chained up in the dungeon, he was pretty much done with this place. New nickname "Happy Gilmore".

We took a ferry ride to Dauphin Island, but due to ferry timing and pregnancy eating schedules, we didn't even bother to off-load.  Just turned around a rode it right back to the mainland.  No matter, Jack got to see an oil rig, tug boats, and what he believed to be a secret weapon ray gun which blows up race car engines.  It was actually one of those coin operated telescopes, mounted on the ferry rail, but it looked like something he saw on the Pixar movie Cars II.

 When in Alabama you gots to feed the gators.  So - we did (click to see link here). 

There's a chain link fence wrapping the walkway through this swamp.  They give you a plastic cup with milk bone dog treats to toss to the gators.

 For added fun, they toss a dead otter to the bigger ones (they told us it was a beaver, but that's not a beaver tail) . See the link to the video here (beaver ).

The drive between Fayetteville, AR and Gulf Shores, AL is about 12 hours, so, on the way down we stopped in Jackson, MS, and stayed at the historic(?) King Edward Hotel which is now a Hilton.  We ate dinner that night at a local restaurant called Mayflower Cafe, that was featured in the movie - The Help, which takes place in Jackson. Interesting note about the restaurant - they make you walk outside to use the restroom. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that the entrance for the restroom is outside, and a short way down the sidewalk. We weren't sure why there was an armed guard at the door when we walked in. Turns out, he's there to accompany you to the restroom.  Sorry, no photos, but Jacqui can attest to this, having made use of his service.  The food was good, I do declare.  I think I had a Cajun flounder stuffed with crawfish.

We broke up the trip on the way home with a stop overnight in historic Vicksburg, MS.  Historic for the south because of the civil war battles, and historic for us, because Jack rolled out of bed in the middle of the night, where I promptly stepped on him in the dark.  We drove around Vicksburg a bit to get a feel for it (very hilly, very southern, more decay than I expected).  The big draw was the civil war memorial park and cemetery, but Jack wasn't acting like the best representative from the North, so we passed on the tour. 

There is a route between Gulf Shores that is mostly interstate highway, and avoids all of Louisiana and most of Mississippi, but adds a few hours to the trip. After taking the rural route once, I believe we'll be taking the long way next time. The direct route takes you through some very rural parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  There is an up-side.  We now have a new memory yardstick by which we can measure every filthy thing or place we come across in the future - we ask each other if it's as dirty as a backwoods-Louisiana-gas-station-bathroom.

That's about it for now.  Next month we'll probably cover the annual Fort Smith Rodeo, a possible camping trip for Fathers Day (just me & the boy), racing the J24 on Beaver Lake (we're still number one in the standings), Jack's "siblings class", the baby name game (narrowed down to 50), and a pregnancy status update with three weeks to go (due July 19th).   Until then, we hope you liked the photos and our View Of Life In The South.

April in Arkansas

April brought us some unseasonably warm weather.  The Easter egg hunters didn't seem to mind.  In the photo above, Jack's pre-school class (he's in the center with blue bucket and check shirt) gets their instructions on how to hunt.  You can click on this VIDEO, and at one point, you can see him pick up a shovel full of sand to pour into his basket like it's a sand pail. There may have also been a dog turd, a stick, and a few stones in there. A pretty good haul.

We took a walk through the new Crystal Bridges Museum's trail system.  You can see part of the museum in the background.   There was an installation of civil war uniforms, and I took the moment to tell Jack his "team" wore blue uniforms and was called The Union Army, and the other team was called The Confederate Army.  I'm sure someone in the crowd muttered something about damn yankees.

There is some artwork along the trail.  Here you see Jack with a big bronze hog.  Yes, he has to go to the bathroom, and no, he would not go when we were inside the museum.                                           

Spring rains are here.  Bring out the rain boots and fireman coat.  He keeps asking for a fireman hat.  When he wears this to school, they give him a red plastic hat to wear, otherwise he refuses to remove the coat.  The spring storms also signal the start of tornado season.  We've already had two watches for systems within 35 miles of us.  You may recall from an earlier post, that you get a "Watch" when doppler radar notices conditions capable of producing tornados (that usually gives you about 35 minutes to prepare).  Then, if one is actually spotted on the ground, you get a "Warning" to seek shelter immediately.  We were looking up at the sky, and you could actually see them forming and breaking up, and forming and breaking up again.  So, we decided with them forming right on top of us like that, we would have very little notice, if any, of an upgrade to "Warning".  We'd be the ones calling in the warning when it ripped the roof off.  So, we sat on the floor of the walk-in closet for the next 20 minutes. 

The Fayetteville Farmer's market has started up, and there is quite a bit of fruit and veg for this early in the year.  One old farmer we talked with said it was the earliest he'd had strawberries in 20 years of growing.  Here, Jacqui is modeling  Birkenstock footwear and a third trimester belly (only 3 months to go).

There are usually three of four "bands" playing.  These kids are one of our favorites.  As you can see from the sign, they call themselves Farmer and The Markets. They have a Youtube chanel you can check out, or you canmsee some links to their videos here:
All I Want Is You
Little Lion Man
Chicago

This is the look Jack gives you when you mention that the Sox are at the bottom of the AL East with only 10 wins.

We took a short hike up in Bella Vista (about 40 min from us), and here Jack is saying he JUST wants to put his foot in the creek.  Just a little bit.  This turns into both shoes off, and me, with both shoes on, in water half-way up my shins.  He also likes throwing stones into the water and watching leaves and sticks float down the creek.  No sign of snakes.

I did see this one on one of the bike trails the other day, and stopped to take a photo with my phone.  It's one of the most common ones in our area, and is not poisonous.  It's called a North American Racer (link to Arkansas snakes ).  There were a couple of UofA girls that also stopped, and one of them, apparently a good country girl, said she'd like to grab it by the tail and swing it around her head like Annie Oakley.  I said, "I'll give you 5 bucks if you let me post that on YouTube".  She didn't take me up on it. 

I have a related story that also illustrates this difference between city people and country people.  We went on a hike last weekend, and at the trail head, we said hello to a girl and a guy who were putting their kayaks into the stream.  It's very scenic, and the trail runs along the top of a bluff about 20 feet above the stream.  The trail was just a tight single track, and despite it only being spring, the vegetation was already encroaching on both sides of the trial.  It was thick, and buggy and there was that sweet smell of honeysuckle hanging in the air.  Jack was stopping every 10 feet to pick up a stone to throw in the water, so with all of that, I knew it wouldn't be long before we decided to turn around and go back.  Just then, we heard the girl call to us from the stream below.  She said, "Hey, can you see that snake?"  We grabbed Jack by the hair, and turned to go back.  She said, "not up there, it's on the other side".  We looked over to see her buddy jump out of his kayak, and belly flop into the water to catch the snake with his hand.  He grabbed it in the middle, and flung it up on the opposite shore and started splashing water at it as he retreated to his boat.  That's "country" for ya'.

We may have more stories for you next month, as we head to Gulf Shores Alabama, a.k.a. The Redneck Riviera, for a few days of fun on the beach.  Until then, we hope you enjoyed the pics and our View Of Life In The South.