Monday Funny from Ben

Last week Ben discovered the Target Store Back to School Flyer! We had several days of entertainment from him looking at this magazine! He mainly liked looking at a real doggie and cat that were in a 'real life' photo and a Pokemon character.
He loves books and magazines! We are so happy! We have two little boys who LOVE to read!!!
You can see that he is trying to talk. He says 'Doggie' after me and then he is working on saying 'Balloon'. He also says 'Ball'. He wasn't saying much for a while and now all the sudden, he understands so much and is starting say things! It's so fun!
I love this video! I have watched it a jillion times since last Thursday! Yesterday he turned 15 months!! Tomorrow we have his 15 month check up!

Photography by Jonathan

So the other day I was on the phone, and just like every other kid in the world, the second I get on the phone, Jonathan wants my attention. Whats the deal with that? Anyway, this particular time, it was important and I needed to really focus, I think it was financial related or something. Anyway he was relentless and finally I handed him my iPhone and shooed him away. When I got off the phone I went searching for him. He was in his room...the door closed...looked really guilty of something when I opened the door...I was scared! My first thought was, what did he buy? I have a lot of shopping apps on my phone and he always finds the 'upgrade your app button', thank goodness he doesn't know my password! :)
After some negotiating, I finally got it out of him that he was taking pictures! PICTURES! Of course your not in trouble! You are speaking my language now!

So I had to share some of my favorites. He took almost 300 pictures. All of them in his room- of blankets, pillows, decorations, cars, helicopters, the wall, pictures hanging on the wall...you name it! I just love it, it's like seeing the world through his eyes.

Self Portrait

He told me he threw the cars on the floor to see what they would do. But what I love is the curled up toe.

Messy room.

I love how his feet have to be in like every shot.

He had to get up on his chair to get this shot.

The only thing I have of my Barbies...the Barbie Ferrari and it's one of his favorties.

NASA Space Ship on a Fire Engine.

Tae Kwon Do

Something else big and new has happened over the last couple of weeks! Jonathan has started Tae Kwon Do! It was kind of funny how it started...One of his friends had been doing it and the mom had raved about this particular place and the results with her son. I told Michael and Jonathan about it and they both seemed really excited about it, the next thing I knew we were there for our "free trail class". And I was so delighted at how great Jonathan was at everything, especially on the first try! So we quickly joined! It is twice a week in the evenings, so Michael can come watch! Yay!! We have all loved it! Even little Ben, who desperately wants to join them!

What Michael and I (and Jonathan) love about the class...
*It teaches them discipline. You obey Master Valdez. You listen when he speaks, you don't talk. You pay attention and you do as he says.
*He teaches them to obey their parents and their teachers.
*He teaches them Stranger Danger.
*He teaches them Fire Safety. (Stop, drop and roll and they race to see who can crawl to safety fastest)
*He drills them on their phone number, address and parents names - in case they get lost.
*He teaches them kicks - side kicks, double kicks, round houses...
*He teaches them walks and crawls - monkey walks, duck walks, bear crawls, crab crawls..! :)
*He teaches them jumps - ninja jumps! :)

You get the idea! Its a lot of fun and a great work out! Everyone is happy! And J sleeps a little bit better on those nights!

Love the uniform!

Kicking with Master Valdez

Jumping - and Master Valdez is pretending to be an alligator and you don't want to fall off or he will get you!!!

Action! He is good at jumping!!!

Here is a video of them warming up at the beginning of class! I am very impressed with his form! BTW- Jonathan is the second kid from the right. (I think there is typically 15 kids in the class.)

Swim Lessons

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post and if you were wondering where we went this time, the answer is - the POOL! Both boys had swim lessons every morning for the past 2 weeks. It's been a lot of fun, but also quite exhausting! Our time slot was 9:00-9:40. So it was an ordeal to get them both up, dress them in bathing suits, feed them, sun-lotion them up, drive through construction and get down to the pool by 9! But we did it and didn't miss a single class and all 3 of us had a good time! (Not to mention, afterwards, drying them off, changing them into dry clothes and coming back home. I was worn out! I took a nap every day last week! I needed it!)

Jonathan was in the Preschool class. It is for ages 3-5. The basic description is: water adjustment and pool exploration with songs and games. In other words, not really teaching them how to swim, just getting them used to it! As I stated earlier this summer, my goal is to get him "adjusted" to the water! I was so happy that the lessons did exactly what they promised! He loved his swim lessons! He couldn't wait to go back! He talked about it non-stop. He was sad on the last day and wanted to know why it had to end! I couldn't be happier!

In fact, Jonathan was promoted to the next level class - Level 1. So we are considering trying to get him into the last session of the summer, starting next week, so he doesn't lose his momentum! Stay tuned.

Benjamin was in the "Mommy and Me" class. I took this class with Jonathan a couple of years ago, so I knew what to expect. It is basic things, like pool safety, teaching us how to get in and out with babies in our arms, how to dunk them, teaching them to float...but mainly singing songs and chatting with the other mom's! Ben could take it or leave it. He clung to me most of the time. The lifeguards that taught our class were determined to get him to smile, and it finally happened, but only once! They teased him that he had the best "What the Heck?" expression they had ever seen. I agree. He is really good at making that face! Ben spent most of the class pointing at birds, clouds or other random things and it cracked me up how many people would look around to see what he was pointing at!

I was lucky, because one of my good friends, Sarah was in the Mommy and Me class with me and her baby Lila, AND her other 2 kids were in the Preschool class with Jonathan. We go to church and the Day School together so, I think it helped all of us to have a friend along for the fun!

The Hurst Public Pool and Rec Center is where the lessons are held! It is a really neat pool area!

Jonathan, his class and his teacher on the first day!

The kids kick their feet while one of the kids is pulled through the water by one of the life guards and then they dunk them at the end! It kinda sounds bad, but watch the video attached and you will see!!

Playing Red Light, Green Light. Apparently it is dance time. Funny kids!

Brother is watching too!!

He was so excited to go down the big blue slide all by himself! He had been talking about it all week! I was so proud!!!

J is going up the water playground!

He can't get enough of the slides. He went up there to get in line for the orange slide!

It looks like they are both saying "MOM"! - You can see more slides behind them, J went on all of those too!!! Had a scare with Jonathan going under. I was watching him go down and then I noticed he was on his belly, instead of his bottom (Little dare devil!) And of course when he came out he went face first into the water...but he head just wasn't coming up. So I ran over right as a lifeguard was lifting him up out of the water. Jonathan coughed out some water and coughed for a little while. But then he recovered. It scared me pretty bad. - He later told me that he was trying to swim. He opened his eyes underwater and everything. We asked him what he saw and he said, "a lot of legs!" ha! And he asked if he could go back and try it again! :)

This is a video of Jonathan's swim class. He is a "Tall Giraffe", then he dunks and then you can see each of the class mates jump into the pool! It's good stuff!

Perdido Key, FL - The Trip

How many states do you have to cross to get from Texas to Florida??? The correct answer is 5, but somehow we did 7...

We set out Saturday morning with plans to drive to Jackson, MS to stay the night. We knew it was about a 12 hour drive and did not want to push ourselves to it all in one day, so I made reservations at a hotel there in Jackson.
So we went through....
Texas (1)
Louisiana (2)
Mississippi (3)
Everything was going as planned, but then we turned on the news...Tropical Storm Debby had developed in the Gulf. On Saturday evening, while we are siting in our hotel, only 5 hours away from our vacation destination, Michael and I were a bit panicked. The forecast projectors for the Tropical Storm were projecting her to land just about anywhere in FL, LA or TX. We couldn't ignore that Pensacola was one of the projected tracks. *Ugh*. They were also saying that the more she sat out in the Gulf, the stronger she was getting and she could turn into a Hurricane at some point. *Double Ugh*.
We decided to sleep on it and figure it out in the morning. When we woke up, it was pretty much the same situation. But now they had one of those poor weather men standing out on the beach getting pounded by rain and one of them was in Pensacola Beach. *Triple Ugh*. We knew it was not a good idea to travel towards the storm. For our kids sake, we need to figure something else out and momma didn't want to turn around and go home!!!! 
Over breakfast we studied the map and decided that Memphis, TN is only 2.5 hours north, we could be there by lunch. Let's go there and have some BBQ.
Tennessee (4) 
Lunch was a bust, the food wasn't that good. The boys fell apart. Momma and Daddy were weary. "What in the world are we doing" was a question that both of us said frequently. I decided we needed something fun to do, something to lift our spirits...I didn't find anything though. We just ended up driving around Memphis and getting really, really lost. Somehow we ended up on a bridge heading West and then we saw a sign...Welcome to Arkansas!
Arkansas (5)
We had a good laugh, mainly instead of crying. I continued to check the status of the storm, and it continued to stay put. We finally decided to go to Birmingham, AL. We didn't make it there though. By 6:00 pm we were ready to get out of the car. The kids were coming apart, 2 days in the car was taking its toll. So we stopped in Tupelo, MS. Elvis' birth place.
Monday morning when we woke up, Tropical Storm Debby had started to make a move toward the Eastern part of FL. There were no watches or warnings or even rain in Pensacola. We decided we had better head to FL or go home and no wanted the latter. So off we went to FL...
Alabama (6)
Florida (7)
Finally! We made it! Monday evening, around 5:00 pm we walked into the condo! We have never been so happy to be out of the car! Glad to be there, Glad no storms were there, Glad to start enjoying our vacation!
And thankfully, besides the surf being a little rough, there were no signs of a Tropical Storm!
Obviously, as you can tell from all the previous posts, we had a WONDERFUL time! Well worth our adventure to get there!


Heading home...
Originally we planned to stay the night half way home, but hadn't made reservations yet. We left Friday morning and as we drove away, Michael and I decided we were ready to sleep in our own beds that night. We were going to do our best to push through! We made it. It took 14.5 hours, from beginning to end. The boys cried the last hour or so. It was a miserable mess. But we made it and were glad.


Trip Savers...
We always love some good music, anytime, but especially on the road. With 4 full days in the car, it felt like with listened to EVERYTHING on my iPod, which is a lot! The funny thing is that we have this CD (that I downloaded to my iPod) from Anna Marie, that is 60 Years of Disney. I thought we had listened to the whole thing, but on the trip we found some songs we had never heard before.
The Spectrum Song, from a 1961 Disney cartoon called "The Wonderful World of Color", became the favorite song of the trip! Jonathan says, "Try that song again". And again, and again...but it was fun! Both boys would giggle every time and that of course made us giggle! I found the video on Youtube.

The Spectrum Song. (if you are prone to epileptic seizures, then please don't watch this!)

My iPad was a life saver! I had a couple of movies on there and when the boys started getting really restless, I turned it on! I figured out that I could wedge the iPad in between the 2 front seats and it worked perfectly for both boys to see!

Jonathan loves playing with his Leap Pad (kind of like an iPad for kids). But I didn't get any pictures of him. He was directly behind me, so I never turned all the way around.

 Ben liked his books from his aunts, Anna Marie and Amy!

Apparently, he thought his toes were tastier than the snacks I packed!

Aaaaaaa...all is quiet. Surprisingly, this didn't happen often...both asleep at the same time.  

I loved this. We were at the hotel free breakfast thing and I left the table for a minute to get napkins or something and I came back and Jonathan was feeding Ben yogurt. And Ben ate it. I think I have a new job for Jonathan!!! I love how much yogurt is on the spoon, gushing out of Ben's mouth. I had to change his clothes afterward, but it was such a good memory! Love these boys!!!

Hold on to Your Fork!

I heard a story and wanted to share. Perhaps you’ve heard it, or maybe it isn’t even true, but the meaning is sweet, nevertheless. You can read many different versions online, but this is my recap:

A woman who was nearing death, requested that she be buried with a fork in her hand. When asked why a fork, she went on to share that her favorite moment was when following a meal, she was reminded to ‘hold on to her fork’ which, of course, meant dessert was on its way.

She chose to be buried with a fork as a beautifully symbolic picture to those who would mourn her death that this world was not her home, but that the best was yet to come. Her view of eternity was so true … a place where even the best of this world would pale in comparison to what Heaven will offer.

I know it is easy to fear death or pain or hardship – especially when you just can’t seem to escape it – but please know that there is good to come for those who put their trust in God. Whatever your circumstance, whatever your current struggle, whatever your fear, know that not only is there hope of an eternal life with our Lord, but He also offers unexplainable peace, joy and comfort as we walk through trials here in this messy world.

Be encouraged and remember to hold on to your fork – the best is yet to come.

In Memory of my Dad. I miss him more than words can say.
Bill Ramage
9/11/51-7/4/08

Perdido Key, FL - Sunset Grille

I am not sure what Michael and I were more excited about; being at the beach or being able to eat fresh Seafood! We love good fresh Seafood! So we visited several of the local restaurants and we were not disappointed!

One of my favorite places was Sunset Grille. It was very casual, friendly staff and VERY yummy! They had a little play ground to the side for the kids and a breath taking view of the bay area!

Sunset at Sunset Grille

My guys and the restaurant behind them.

Boats at the Marina next door.

Jonathan on one of the Jet Ski. No worries, it was parked in the sand.

The boys in the tug boat!

Perdido Key, FL - The Blue Angels

I was so delighted to find out that the Blue Angels Home base is in Pensacola, FL. We found out that they practice every Tuesday and Wednesday morning and it is open to the public to come watch. There are 1,000 seat bleachers, first come, first serve. BUT, if you are anywhere near, you will probably see or hear them!

I have a soft spot for the Blue Angels, it was something my mom LOVED and I mean LOVED! Anytime I hear them mentioned, I think of her. I know she would have loved to be there with us. But as I watched one of the jets go straight up, so high that we couldn't see them anymore, I thought, no she's got the better seats!!  

We didn't get there in time to get into the bleachers, but we got onto the Air Force base and pulled over near a beach and were able to watch them. It was an INCREDIBLE SHOW!

A perk is that there is an Naval Aviation Museum next to the practice field and it is HANDS DOWN, COOLEST MUSEUM I HAVE EVER BEEN TO! There were 100's of planes, everywhere you looked. It was with out a doubt the highlight of the trip. I wish we could have stayed the whole day!

ANOTHER perk, is that we went on Wednesday and the pilots come into the Museum and sign autographs!!! It was so cool!!!

This was right on par with Jonathan right now, especially after his airplane themed birthday a couple months ago. He told me he wants to be a Blue Angel Pilot when he grows up, I told him I whole-heartedly approved!

"What was your favorite part?" Is my standard question when we do anything. Michael and Jonathan know the drill and are used to it, and I genuinely want to know! So I asked them and after they answered Jonathan said, "What was your favorite part, momma?" and before I could answer he said, "I know, your favorite thing was taking pictures!" Ha! How true! I realized after we got back that out of the 1,200 that I took, I took 400 there..in the 3 hours we were there! But taking photos makes me happy! So it was hard to narrow it down, but here are 32 of my favorites!


The Show:

The Museum:

Jonathan, inside a 1957 Blue Angel

Looking back at the Blue Angel's they let you sit in. Jonathan sat in the one to the far left.

I really liked this area...if you can tell.

Meeting LCDR Todd Royles, USN:

Todd Royles, #8

Jonathan getting his autograph!

The rest of the Museum:

My sweet pilots!

And of course, the engines.

More planes!

One of my hero's!

My boys looking at the Congressional Medal of Honor.