The Dude

Okay, so is this kid cool or what? Joe won this super-bad chopper in a drawing before Magnus was even born, and I've been dying to pull it out and assemble it ever since. I figured a 1 1/2 year old should be able to learn to ride, so we finally dug out the bike and he's actually doing pretty well! He's definitely figured out how to twist the handle to go and stop, and I think the whole turning/steering thing is nearly within his grasp also. Clear the sidewalks! Vroom! Rappity Rap Rap Rap... VROOOOOOM!!

My Handy-Dandy Little Helper

Trash Compactor

Trash Hauler

I pulled the kitchen trash out of the can the other day, and set it on the floor only to find Magnus ready to help! It weighed about 1/3 as much as he does, but he picked it up anyway and was hauling it around the house in perfect macho fashion. =) Taking out the trash isn't designated to any certain person in our household - it's just not something that's a big deal. If it needs done, he or she (or should I say, him or me!) takes it out. Somehow both of my men are more than happy to take out the kitchen trash for me, but when it comes to the diaper pail, I usually look around and realize that I'm on my own. Coincidence? I think not. Joe has this really cool ability to hold his breath for a long time though, and I'm quickly - but not quickly enough - learning to do the same! Maybe I should just learn to empty the diaper pail in 10 seconds so I don't pass out from lack of oxygen! I usually run out of breath right at the most crucial time in pail-emptying, and I have to gasp a big gulp of air just at the WRONG moment. Just thinking about it makes me want to camp out in the Yankee Candle Co.

Riding with friends - what fun!

Tamela on E-Z and me on wild-child Xena.

Pastor Melvin taking his 2 1/2 y.o. niece Elaina (from Chicago) for a little ride on E-Z.

Well folks, I am happy to announce that God has answered my prayers and sent us some wonderful new friends - all the way from Idaho! They are the Assoc. Pastors at our church in Richmond that is a new church plant. We've only known them for about a month, but we've become great friends already and I can tell we're going to have loads of fun together. Hopefully they're ready for likes of us, because we've gone without close (nearby) friends for so long that we have to make up for several years of lost friend-time! Suddenly VA feels more like home, even though we still believe most eastern VA natives to be just friendly-looking snobs. (Please excuse my frankness, but it's totally true. We've lived here for 7 years and have come to know what the people are really like.) As you can imagine, we're thrilled beyond measure to have such wonderful friends in Melvin and Tamela Adams. As a bonus, they love horses and have been coming over to ride with us some, and graciously put up with our stubborn old equines. Anyway, I know I'm posting lots of horse pictures these days, but I'll try to get on a different subject soon. As a side note, we haven't been able to ride Jake lately since he's been quite lame the last 3 days. We think he sprained his back leg and it's got swelling from his ankle clear up to his hock area. I hope he gets better soon! He can hardly put any weight on it at all and limps around pitifully. Would anyone kindly come volunteer to kiss his owwy-boo boo?

And they're off!

My faithful horse whisperer has been at it again! Joe's been getting up every possible morning at dawn to ride his project pony Xena. He has accomplished another goal in her training by teaching her that she can (and WILL) canter with a rider when commanded to do so. They can now be seen cantering across the field (see proof above - please forgive lousy photo quality) at a nice steady lope. It's a great way for Joe to take advantage of Xena's need to drop a few pounds, and he's helping her diet plan along beautifully. I believe, technically, that Xena could now be called "green broke" since she walks, trots and canters under saddle. I'm not sure if the occasional bucking/rearing episodes fit into the "broke" part very well, but at least they're getting fewer and farther between... I think. Oh well - you gotta' get your "yeehaw's" somehow!

Maymont Park

We took my niece Erika to Maymont Park while she was here. It's a wonderful park in Richmond with wildlife habitats (for rehabbed animals) a little museum-type building with otters, owls, fish, etc. and several hundred acres of rolling hills and gigantic trees. The original "mansion" and barns are still on the property and can be toured. The gardens are beautiful, and the petting zoo is always a hit. My favorite thing is the black bears - they are so fun to watch. The one in the picture above kept digging around under the water until he found a stick to play with. He was so cute, I'm just sure he should belong in the petting zoo and not in that fenced in habitat. I would've petted him - wouldn't you?

Tea Party

While Erika was here over Labor Day weekend, she and Magnus had a lovely little tea party. Erika and I set it up (she even helped me wash the dishes) and then Magnus promptly found a seat and waited to be served. Erika was quite generous with the goldfish, and it was funny to see how she and Magnus each took tea. The first photo shows that they do things a bit differently. Magnus piled his goldfish into the cups that Erika had filled FULL of water (those little soggy fish swelled up to impressive sizes!) while Erika proceeded to pour her "tea" onto her plate. I guess their etiquette needs a bit of work.

The Flowers

I've been telling mom for a while now that I would post pictures of my flowers. They are finally here! The hummingbirds have enjoyed these flowers almost as much as we have.

Father and Son

After I looked at these pictures of Joe and Magnus for a while, I started thinking about their wonderful Father/Son relationship, and how it relates to being a child of our Heavenly Father. How dependent we are, how we need protection and someone to take our hand and help us walk through this troubled world, and how we can have such meaningful and wonderful conversations with the one we trust and adore most. Man; created in God's image - the apple of His eye. How amazingly wonderful it is to be accepted as a child of the Great Creator and King of the universe! Loved beyond measure; held closely to His heart. Hand in hand we walk and talk... If you've never let God be your Father, I suggest that you let Him take your hand! You'll never want to let go.

Sprinklers are fun! Well, most of the time...

Joe made Magnus his very own little sprinkler to help him beat the heat this summer. He loves it! It did squirt his eyes pretty good a couple times though, and I was glad to have caught that reaction on camera!

Family Vacation

At IRCHA - helicopters EVERYWHERE!

Steve & Sheryl Clemens - aka PaPa & Nana by the grandkids.

Magnus - 1 1/2 & Reagan - 2 1/2

We just got back from our little vacation yesterday morning at 8:30am. (After driving all night!) We made the 11 hr. drive - to and from Muncie, IN - during the wee hours for Magnus' sake. We did end up taking quite a few naps on our vacation because of it though! (Maybe sleeping isn't your idea of a vacation, but I happen to be rather fond of it myself, so it didn't rain on my parade at all.) Our reason for choosing Muncie for our vacation was two-fold. One reason was that IRCHA was being held at the AMA headquarters there. IRCHA is the biggest annual R/C helicopter event in the country (world?). There were around 800 pilots (Joe included) that registered for it, and many more spectators. We enjoyed watching the world's best R/C heli pilots do their thing - it was quite impressive! Joe spent much more time at the event than Magnus and I though, since Magnus would have to get his daily nap-time in, and then just wanted to play with all the toys at Steve and Sheryl's. Which brings me to our second reason for choosing Muncie. The Clemens' have always been good friends of ours (they've known Joe forever) and we've been wanting to visit them for a while. They also have 3 children around my age (the 2 boys live nearby - see blogs "Shawn & Melanie" and "Scott and Kristina") who each have 3 children of their own - all aged 4 and under. So, Magnus got to play with 6 of the grandchildren after church on Sunday, and we got to visit with some of our favorite people. They treated us like family, and we had such a great time visiting. We kept Scott and Kristina's little boy Reagan (2 1/2 years old, but just Magnus' size!) one day/night, so that was extra fun for Magnus. They had so much fun - Magnus followed Reagan everywhere, and Reagan followed me everywhere. Then Saturday we ate supper with Shawn and Melanie (and kids) and they joined us later on for the helicopter night-flying at IRCHA, where they put neon lights all over the heli's and fly them after dark - very cool! Plus the kids were all given glow-sticks which made it fun for them. Shawn and Melanie have 2 Mastiffs, and though I didn't get a picture of their big male named Xander, you can imagine what he looks like if you close your eyes and picture a dark brindle colored dog that weighs over 180 lbs and has a head the size of a pumpkin, paws the size of my fists... and a neck girth of over 30"! He was so sweet, and I fell pretty much head over heels. We told them to put us on their waiting list when it comes time to have puppies! (Probably next year sometime.) Anyway, we had such a wonderful time with everybody that when it came time to leave, we couldn't believe that we'd been there 5 days already! All we could say was, "Man, I wish we lived closer!" We will miss them - until next time!