Where to begin???

Hello, out there to all those who have not yet deleted me from your Google Reader accounts!!! It's been so long I'm not even sure where to begin playing catch-up. How about with a recap of our adventures during July/August?

Caleb and I were quite the traveling duo driving to Dallas then flying to California, Nevada and Utah. Before sharing the highlights from each of those trips, I must first say thank you to the person who made this whole trip possible: the inventor of the bungee cord! Because of you, bungee cord inventor person, I was able to single-handedly trek through six different airports with the following gear in tow: 1 pack-n-play, one gigantic 49.9 pound suitcase, 1 infant car seat, 1 jogging stroller, 1 diaper bag, 1 adorable 8 month-old. And it was all made possible by you, bungee cord inventor person!


OK, now on to the highlights...

CALIFORNIA
We had an awesome visit with friends from our Stanford days including Howard and Helen...

...Clarence...

...and the Dements who were SO hospitable...THANK YOU!!!


NEVADA

Next, it was on to Reno for the Ludlow family reunion where Caleb touched sand for the first time...

...was stroller buddies with his cousin Trystan...

...chilled on the beach at Tahoe with his cousin Ellie...

...used Uncle Dan as a substitute for daddy...

...and had his first taste of black licorice from Grandpa Ludlow!


UTAH

Highlights in UT included a visit with great-grandma Costley (here's our 4 generation photo)...

...being reunited with David for a few days (pictured here with Uncle Joey and cousin Luke, with a guest appearance by cousin Ryan)

...being mascot for the "red" team at the Lynch family reunion

...convincing cousin Donovan that he should be Caleb's body guard once he can hold his head up and control his limbs (he's 6 months younger, but longer and nearly as heavy as Caleb)

...getting "kissy sandwiches" from mommy and Aunt Ali.


DALLAS

We finished off our travels with a few days taking care of the Costley cousins in Dallas where Caleb was showered with attention (and given an infinite number of rides in the pink and purple Jeep)


If those travel details weren't sufficient, Caleb will enumerate our adventures in his own words in the following video clip:

Red, White, and Blue

The first week of July offered new experiences with the red, white, and blue...

RED:

the color of my face after running my first post-pregnancy 5K. Turns out July is NOT the best month to run a race in downtown Shreveport...who knew??? I ran with friends from our ward and we were quite the site with three adults pushing three kids in three strollers. I felt like Andre the Giant in Princess Bride: Evwybody MOVE!!!

Judd & Brooke, Me & Caleb, Amy & Rylan

WHITE:

The color of David's official 2nd year doctor's coat complete with personalized embroidery. When you're a first year, they don't waste money having your name embroidered on your coat since the mortality rate is so high. Now I guess he's worth the extra $2:)

BLUE:

The color of the berries we picked in the mid-day sun from Shuqualak Farms (pronounced "sugar lock").

I had never picked blueberries before and learned a couple valuable lessons after our first time:

1)a fancy holster on which to clip your bucket works better than orange twine wrapped around your waist (that's what we used when picking raspberries in the summer as kids). As the orchard owner said in reference to the holster, "That there'll turn you right inta a TWO handed picka!" And that it DID.

2)at mid-day in Louisiana in July it's near impossible to keep yourself from overheating while picking blueberries and 7 month old babies don't appreciate being dragged along for the adventure...until they get their first taste of a blueberry popsicle which makes everything better.

Our attempt to cool Caleb off (note the battery-operated fan attached to the stroller canopy...also note the great scarecrow in the background:)

On a more serious note, we have made friends with many people who are stationed at the air force base here and our appreciation for all those who sacrifice for our freedom has increased tremendously. Thank you for protecting our red, white, and blue!

If you can't take the heat...

...you shouldn't have moved to Louisiana! That's what I tell myself each day I hear the weather man tell me that the 7-day forecast consists of heat, more heat, and the worst possible heat with a high probability of heat stroke and 100% chance of increasing your electric bill by 200%. On the plus side: at least this summer I'm not pregnant:)

We took Caleb for his first dip in the pool and he was brimming with enthusiasm (you just have to know how to interpret his poker face:)

Then we found this awesome blow-up pool for the backyard and David got creative with our balloon pump.

I think the ability for boys to imagine anything can be a gun must be innate because I certainly didn't teach my boy how to lock and load.

A dry run with the pool (pun intended)

Then it was out in the heat.

not so sure

not so bad

ooo, so nice!

Other ways to beat the heat include bumping our morning jog up from 9am (when it's 95 degrees) to 7am (when it's a mere 90 degrees)

and having the Dallas cousins push you around their nicely air-conditioned house in a walker that suspends your feet several inches above the ground. Thanks, girls!

That's it for now, gotta go have a popsicle!

Keys to success

Caleb has developed an affinity for typing, most likely triggered by sitting on my lap while I work on the computer. Since his spontaneous lunging for the keys has increased in frequency, I took a trip to the Goodwill and bought him his very own keyboard and presented it to him only after compulsively wiping it down with countless alcohol wipes. It's his newest favorite toy.

The piano is a close second, but that's NOT from Goodwill so we're limiting his musical development at this point.

Mudbug Madness

Louisiana may be accused of many things (e.g. occupying some of the most natural-disaster-prone land in the U.S., operating under a set of laws unique to the state, promoting the culinary art of frying anything and everything). However if there is one thing Louisiana will never be accused of it's a lack of festivals. The most recent one was the Mudbug Madness Festival and boy was it mad...and HOT!

Caleb wasn't quite sure what to make of the mudbugs (a.k.a crawfish, or if you live in Nevada, crawdads)

He had his eyes on the prize: mommy's funnel cake. He's ready for solids, right?

Here's Caleb swapping spit (literally) with his friend Jaelynn who was also at the festival. He has a thing for older women.

Our little mudbug: Joe Cypress