Good Sit!

It's been a while since we updated things, and yes, I know we failed to post much from our trip to Austin. Let me just say that it went very smoothly, and the kids did great in the airplanes. I might still get a picture or two from the trip up on the blog this weekend, but I actually didn't snap that many pictures, so I have to see if I have a good one to choose from.    We are back at home in Phoenix now, and the kids are making several advancements:   1) They have pretty good head/neck control, and can now sit up in chairs, kiddie jumper exersaucer things, and their non-baby-seat strollers;  2) We think they have both started the teething process, based on their fussiness level and exorbitant drool production, though we haven't seen or felt any teeth coming through the gums yet;  3) They are becoming excellent swimmers.  Well, not swimmers actually, but pool visitors as we bring them in there for about 5-10 minutes each evening, and they float on their backs (with head support from mom & dad and of course extremely careful supervision), "swim" on their fronts (we hold them under the armpits with their heads out of the water, but their lower torso and legs in the water, and they kick as we pull them through the water), and even take a quick dunk completely under (which doesn't bring on crying nearly as often as I though it would; also babies have a breath-holding reflex so they don't try to breathe when they are underwater).   It's been a fun week. 

To celebrate their new found abilities, we've been setting up some of the great gifts we got back at the baby shower which are only now becoming relevant, such as high chairs and swim toys.  We set up two chairs at our table yesterday, and the kids seem to love them:


What fun!  Have a great weekend y'all.

Hup Holland!

The gang's all ready for today's world cup semifinal. We'll be rooting for Holland to beat Uruguay and make it to Sunday's final game against either Germany or Spain. We aren't sure where we'll be watching today's game, but we'll probably find a nice sports bar here in Austin to root for the Oranje.

greetings from austin

We are in Austin for a week visiting friends.   More info later, but here's a quick pic from this morning's hotel room:

Cute Baby Close-Ups

I know you were all happy to finally see a new post yesterday, but some of you might secretly have been let down by the lack of cute baby close-up pictures.  Well, to satisfy that craving, here are a couple shots from the campground:

Father's Day Fun!

As many of you know, this past Sunday was fathers day in the U.S. (and select foreign countries). It was my very first fathers day as a dad, and I had a most excellent time. I was up early (but not too early) to play with the kids when they first awoke. They are always happy then, with big smiles to greet the day and their parents who come to get them. They had some breakfast and played a bit, and then we called/skyped our dads (the new granddads) to wish them a happy day. Jaime & the kids got me just what I'd been hoping for: a new double burner griddle for the stove, so I got to work mixing up buttermilk pancake batter and making the lightest fluffiest pancakes I've had in quite some time (for those of you who are curious, I found the recipe online by googling "light fluffy buttermilk pancake recipe" and it didn't disappoint). After brunch we watched the world cup soccer game of the moment, which I think was the Brazil-Ivory Coast match, and then we packed up the car and the kids and headed out for our first family camping adventure, up to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.

We stayed in a tent-only campground (manzanita) and set up our new family tent for the first time.  Here you can see the tent with the fly rolled half way up.  Everyone is sleeping in this picture, though it might be hard to see.  Jaime is napping inside the tent, and the kids are napping in their carseats. Later on when people were feeling more rested, we all moved inside the tent for some playtime. You can see just how big this thing is inside: we fit a queen sized inflatable mattress and both their sleeping pads (actually, they are changing table pads doing double duty) with plenty of space on the sides of all that for our bags, cooler, and to walk around. It's tall enough that I can stand upright along the centerline, without having to bend over. When the kids get bigger and want a little privacy from their parents, there is a wall/curtain which divides the space into two rooms, each big enough for a queen size mattress. Camping in comfort it was, and will continue to be :-)

Go USA!

Only two hours to gametime, USA vs. (soon to defeat) England in the World Cup, and we are all anxiously awaiting the start of the game. In the meantime, we are watching (tape delayed) Argentina run ragged through the Nigerian defense.

Actually, we'll be watching the US vs. England game tape delayed as well, as Jaime has to work this morning and we couldn't watch the game without her. So in the meantime, we are off to the Zoo! Hopefully we'll get some fun pictures from that too.

Uncle Ted's Birthday

Some of the pictures were posted sort of wonkily. The one of Uncle Ted on his birthday holding Baby Sam is especially cute. Here it is.