Category: Videos

Family, Holidays, Videos

Fourth of July

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No trip to the lake this year, but who needs the lake when there is a perfectly good swimming pool just down the road?

We took it easy this year and decided to hang out at Duke and Ya-ya’s new house with the pool in the back yard. It is certainly easier than packing for the weekend at the lake, and with two little ones, it’s really the most logical choice.

Last year, we couldn’t keep Reed out of the water. He was fearless…literally. This year, he has developed a good, healthy fear of the water, but he swung 180 degrees the other way and would not go near it. That is, until Reed spent an afternoon at the pool with Miss Kate Pike.

You see, Kate has been taking swimming lessons and she knew how to jump into the pool to her dad. Reed saw this and refused to be upstaged by a girl, so he wanted to get his swim trunks on and jump into the pool to dad as well. Ever since that weekend, Reed has been just as fearless as he was last year… pushing his boundaries in the water. First he was falling into my arms from the side of the pool, then he began jumping at me, so I moved back. Most recently, he has added a running start to his jumps and getting several feet out into the water.

Ali likes her time in the pool as well. She is usually grinning from ear-to-ear while Mommy holds her. She will kick a little, but she really just likes to be a part of the action.

Family, Holidays, Travel, Videos

Memorial Day Weekend

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We spent the weekend in Leakey, Texas with 2 other families that have kids. In a cozy 3 bed/2 bath hill country house, we set in for a 3-day weekend with 6 adults and 5 kids under 3yrs old. This may as well have been traveling daycare.

We had what you would expect from a weekend with kids involved: some sleepless nights, toddler meltdowns and scheduling events around nap time. However, we did have a great place on the river to relax and get wet, as well as plenty of good food to cook and grill.

Below: Reed and Kate set out to find some deer that were all over the property. At first, Kate calls the deer on the phone, and then she and Reed set out. Among the notable finds: deer poop.

Alison, Events, Videos

Alison’s Baptism

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When we got the notice that our Pastor, Rev. Ryan Barnett, was going to transfer to another church at the beginning of the summer, we jumped on the schedule to baptize Alison before he left. You see, Ryan has been a meaningful friend and Pastor to us, and we didn’t want to let him slip away without doing us the honor of baptizing Ali. Ryan also knows the Alison that our daughter was named for, so it was symbolic for us to have Ryan bring our Alison into the church where we first met her namesake.

The other meaningful element was to have Papa Roy (Rev. Roy Wold) assist in the baptism, just like he did with Reed. It means so much to have him as part of the family, that we want him to be a part of all these events as long as he is around. He is about 96 now and we are blessed every year that he is still with us.

The ceremony went well. Julie had Ali dressed in long white gown that she had purchased months ago. We hope to keep it and pass it on to future girls in the family. Reed behaved himself pretty well through the service and even gave the crowd some laughs when he patted Ali’s head gently and when he kept trying the put the lip gloss on me that he insisted on holding.

Check out the pics and video below.

-RB

Family, Videos

Snow Day!!

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It snowed here yesterday, just enough to cover the ground and shut down the city. Northerners laugh at us when this happens, but they take it for granted that their city can maintain the roadways in icy conditions to keep them safe enough to drive on (ie: salt and street sweepers and snow plows). Our southern cities don’t invest in that expensive equipment in order to dust it off every few years. Instead, we shut down the cities and make all the Yankees green with envy when we stay home and get to play. 🙂

-RB

Reed, Videos

Reed LOVES the Zoo now

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We both took the day off last Friday to get a few things done, but to also take Reed out early for a trip to the Zoo. We have seen him take a big interest in animals recently, and even start to make the sounds, even if he can’t tell us what it is… like “meow” for cat, even though he has never even TRIED to say “cat”… and “hop” for rabbit. Those are just a few examples.

It was time to take him back to the zoo, where previously he was only a mild spectator in his stroller, and gave the animals only a passing glance. This time was much different. He was engaged and excited to see real, live animals, and so many varieties.

Our first real stop was the grizzly bear. He was out and about, and almost posing for those that were there to see. Reed latched onto the sight and could not get enough. We spent a good amount of time there taking pictures since the bear was such a willing participant. However, when we pushed Reed to leave, he wouldn’t have it… he through a little fit that we were moving on from Mr. Bear. We got him over to the next exhibit and slowly caught-on… there was much more to see! We set him down for this one, and after only a few minutes he was bored with it and asked, “More?”

It was an awesome day for a zoo visit. There were 25% of the people that were normally there, and there were NO schools visiting. That meant that letting Reed walk beside us on his own was stress-free and easy as a walk in the park. I HIGHLY recommend this timing for anyone interested in the Zoo.

I’d have to say that Reed’s favorite for the day was the fish in the Hippo aquarium. He could get right up to the glass and felt the need to talk to them all when they swam by. I got some great video footage that I have included below.

Great day trip and the timing and weather couldn’t have been better. We will never have just the three of us again, so times like these are getting more and more special as we look forward to Alison joining us.

-RB

ps: There were a few poopage stories that MUST be told… The hippo seemed to be pooping full hay bails, and the rhino’s stench hit us INSTANTLY, even though we were 50+ feet away (we had to grab Reed and run from it)!!