New Experiences

Today was a day of "firsts" for Magnus. We were able to come on a trip with Joe (I guess you could say we went to work with him for a few days!) to Wilmington, NC, and though the pictures pretty much tell the story, I'll fill in a few more details. Magnus' first trip to the beach pretty much just scared him to death. The roar of the waves, the water that chased us around and tried to eat our feet, and the sun-bathers. Yes, very scary indeed. So, we brought him back to the hotel room and introduced him to the pool instead. He thought that was pretty awful at first too, but there were some other little children there that made it look soooo fun that he started splashing around and soon was enjoying himself completely. This evening we chowed on some great food followed by a heavenly waffle cone, but the highlight of Magnus' day was *brace yourself* his trip to Wal-Mart. It was the first time he's been able to "run the aisles", and the toy section was especially enjoyed. I have to admit, it was a much nicer Wal-Mart than what Richmond could hope to offer, but still... I'll take the sun and sand any day!

Hubby's Heli

Here's the belated video that I kept waiting on for that "Scorcher Weekend" post. They finally posted it on the internet, so I'm including it now for your viewing pleasure. Joe laments the fact that he was flying his Raptor 90 that wasn't broke in/tuned in yet, so it wasn't keeping up with his performance needs like his other ones (that were in desperate need of repair) would have. I still think he did an awesome job though... how about you?? The guy that you hear talking in the background evidently didn't know Joe's name, because he kept referring to him as "cowboy". =)

Munchin' Munchkin

Joe and I were enjoying some corn on the cob one day recently, and I decided to leave a couple "rows" on my ear for Magnus to try. We obviously didn't leave the poor, neglected child enough though, because he chomped it down in no time and wanted more! Oops! Sorry Magnus... guess you have to be quick around your food-crazy mommy.

Promise in the Sky

A little storm shower just passed over and it left behind this beautiful rainbow. I ran out on the front porch and took this picture, which only shows half of it, unfortunately for you. I really don't see how people can have enough faith to believe in a "big bang" creation theory and evolution. It's quite obvious to me that I serve a wonderfully creative and powerful God. He amazes me daily.

Scorching Weekend Outing

Helping Daddy

Mommy's Hearthrob

Here are some belated pictures from our trip (2 hrs away) to Maryland 2 weekends ago. We left that Friday morning for a helicopter fun-fly event. It was rather miserable weather at 100 degrees with high humidity. Being in the shade was very little relief, and even the occasional breeze was hot. Magnus and I sat in the Excursion every so often to cool down in the A/C. Joe just kept flying and tweaking his heli's as if weather was of no consideration. (How do guys do that??) We stayed all day Friday and Saturday, and you can see by the hotel picture up there that Magnus was a huge help (that's a screwdriver in his hand) with fixing Joe's heli. He also enjoyed pulling out all the Kleenex's in the bathroom - you know how they have the box mounted under the cabinet - and when I told him "no-no", he did something really funny. He stopped, thought about it for a second, then watched my face while he carefully pulled another one out, slowly lifted it to his face and blew his nose in it. (He's very good at blowing his nose, by the way.) He tossed it onto the growing Kleenex mountain at his feet, then repeated the sequence. Pull, look at mommy, blow nose, drop. I realized, once again, that I don't give my "wittle baby" nearly enough credit... the kid is too smart!

Anyway, sorry this post is late in coming - I was waiting around for a video of Joe's flying to be posted on the internet, and it looks like they're not going to upload it. The video I took with our camera would be too big to include on here, and it didn't turn out anyway since I got "sidetracked" running after Magnus and was wildly taping footage of sky, ground and everything in between. =) On the bright side, that heat wave we had all that week has settled down to gorgeous and perfectly acceptable 80 degree weather now. We are loving it! Joe is at the R/C field flying his heli's right at this moment... I think we shall go join him.

PBR Night

I don't know what's wrong with Richmond (although I have some ideas) but they just don't have rodeos around here. Well, Joe is the pilot for Glade Knight who owns Slate River Ranch (we have visited both ranches - one in VA and one in TX), and Glade decided that he wanted Richmond to have a rodeo every year. So, he and Greg Potter hosted the PBR bull-riding again this year. I'm really glad they have the resources to do this, because it is SOOO much fun! Magnus loved it too, and would yell and point every time a bull came out the shoot to toss a cowboy around. We saved over $30 in tickets too, which was another highlight - when we were walking up to the coliseum's ticket counter, this man stopped us and said, "do you have tickets yet?" and then he gave us some free ones - courtesy of Channel 8. They said that somebody won them, but never showed up to claim them. We, on the other hand, were more than happy to oblige. It was a fabulous night of family fun, spoiled only by our 11pm stop into Wal-Mart for a few groceries. The lines were unlike any I had ever seen (aside from a major holiday), and we said, "Never again." Other than that, it was a pretty perfect family date. I would NEVER want any of my loved ones to get on one of those raging bulls, but I sure am glad that there are guys out there that do have the desire for such adventure and fame, because it sure is fun to watch!

Goodbye, sqeaky buddy.

Well, I was sad to find my little buddy Chancellor sleeping forever. I'll miss the way he always used to greet me with his sqeaks and squeals. Joe was away on a trip, so I dug a hole under the pretty trees and buried him myself. It wasn't very fun. I've never had to deal with a dead pet before. That was always something that Dad did for me - now I know why he used to say it ruined his whole day. I know Joe had to deal with all his pets growing up though, since his dad was gone so much. He even killed his pet rooster one time because he knew the family needed some meat. But then the old bird was so tough that they couldn't even eat it and had to throw it out! I think I would've had trouble eating "my" bird anyway. Joe's talked before of maybe someday getting some beef cattle, but do I think I could eat my very own Bessie? Yeah, no... I don't. I'll eat somebody else's cow, thank you.

We're not in Kansas, Toto

Our airline ticket was bought in vain. Magnus and I had big plans to fly to Kansas for my family reunion (on my mom's side) last Thursday, but, it just didn't work out. If you knew my family, you'd be disappointed that you didn't get to see them too! =) They are so fun. Plus, I was going to spend two fun-filled days with Lori and her kids. Magnus wasn't feeling good though, and had been running a fever for more than a day, and when the night came that we had to get up (at 3am) to head to the airport, I decided if his fever hadn't stopped raging by 3, then we'd just stay home. (Joe was gone on a trip, and wasn't going with us.) I'm very conscientious about "contaminating" other people too (and no, I don't think Jesus would go to church with a cold), so I didn't want to take that chance either. I did notice that Magnus was cutting some whopper teeth back there though, so I thought that was all it was at first, but when I kept getting up with a screaming baby all night and then had to make the decision as to whether we went or not... and then I kept having all these visions of me trying to find a place out there that took our insurance if he had to go to the doctor, blah, blah, blah. But, wouldn't you know it, the next day he was a different child (after his fever did finally break) and he was much better. Of course I was bummed that we didn't go, but I was also relieved that he was better. I guess in the end it was a good thing that we didn't go though, because we would've spread more than love, peace and happiness out there. Saturday night I started running a fever too, and have been feeling pretty wiped out since. I've heard there's a fever virus going around, so I guess that explains it. Now my family won't feel so bad that they didn't get to see us. ;)

Family Day at the Field

Joe sure can rock a heli!

Helping Daddy put the wings on the Cub.

Magnus loves anything that flies!

My first day flying solo!

Monday was a day of perfect weather, so we hurried through our mowing chores and got to the R/C flying field around 5pm. We stayed until 9pm, that point where darkness and mosquitoes usually gang up to pounce on us like a woman attacks a clearance rack. We had a super-fun day, and Joe told me it was time to leave the buddy-box behind and take the "real" radio for myself! (The buddy-box is a controller that's got a cord plugged into the "master" radio that Joe uses. If I get disoriented, Joe flips a switch and instantly takes control using his radio.) That black speck in front of me was the little helicopter (T-rex 450) that I was flying. I went through about 10 batteries and DIDN'T EVEN CRASH!! (I'll pause here for your claps, cheers and bravos.........) Of course, though I can fly one around, you really haven't lived until you've watched Joe fly a helicopter (or airplane, for that matter). He always amazes me, and is our hometown R/C hero - the envy of the local flying fields, for sure! His dedicated practice on the simulator really shows. Magnus likes to watch Joe fly too, and even claps for him when he lands safely on the ground. We are his biggest fans!

Xena's summer diet: Plan B

Last time the "hoof-man" was here giving pedicures, he kindly informed Xena that she was entirely too fat and simply MUST lose some weight. I finally convinced her that she'd never fit into that summer bathing suit if she didn't take heed. (Believe me, when I say this horse was fat... I mean you could hardly see her legs!! The girl simply sniffs food and blows up like a puffer-fish.) She was also getting more and more lethargic and not moving around well, so we knew we had to do something fast. First we just severely limited her grazing time. She was only allowed 3 or 4 hours of grazing every morning. I felt so bad for her though, being penned up while the other horses got to go party all night, and I also wasn't really feelin' the whole deal of getting up at 5 am every day just to let an "overly nourished" pony get a few hours of feeding time. (I always have weird dreams if I get up early and try to go back to sleep for a little bit.) So, we went to diet Plan B. I ordered her this handy little device called a grazing muzzle. I've seen days when I should have been wearing one myself! I'm thinking, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, for starters... Xena isn't at all impressed with her Darth Vader mask, but it gets the job done and she's dropping weight like a soon-to-be-bride! I can nearly feel her ribs again! (No joke.. I couldn't poke my fingers deep enough into her sides to find them a month ago.) The muzzle has this quarter-sized hole in the bottom where all the grass has to come through before she can eat! Poor girl... is this cruel or what?!