Update

Our blog's in need of a major update.

The weekend before last we decided to go to Trails West in downtown St. Joe. I haven't gone in a good four years and Nick had never been before. I was less than thrilled with the new "buy a $5 button to get in" policy but figured we'd spend at least $10 in some other way had we done something else over the weekend, so it proved to be a good investment. On Friday night we listened in on the Robben Ford concert, a rhythm & blues guitarist with full band. The weather was awesome and the music enjoyable (though the volume was WAY too loud). The next night was the "biggie" of the festival as Kellie Pickler was the main event. Nick and I couldn't care less about country music but our guilty pleasure is American Idol so we wanted to see her for that sake. Knowing ahead of time how loud the main stage concert was the day before, we came prepared with earplugs for both Nick, I, and Luke. It took some work to figure out how to get them to stay in Luke's ears. It was definitely a photo opp... shame on me for not having the camera! I didn't know how country St. Joe really was until that Saturday evening concert; it seemed all the cowboys from around the Midland Empire came out of the woodwork for the event. I haven't seen so many cowboy hats, boots, and Wrangler jeans in a long time. We showed up well over an hour early for the concert and couldn't find a space to "park" our lawn chairs any closer than a couple blocks back. The opener for the concert was a young gal named Ashton Shepherd who was cute as a button but when the opening song (literally) talked about beer and dogs, I knew we were in for a long night. ;) We left before Kellie Pickler finished to avoid all the major traffic jams that would ensue soon after. She wasn't half-bad, though we couldn't help but laugh because it seemed all she knew to say was "Are we havin' a good time?" and "I love you, too!". Then again, as glamorous as her professional life is, her personal life is quite the pits (dad in jail, grandmother who raised her died a few years back, mother's estranged, and recent boyfriend dumped her and married someone else). As flashy as her life is it's almost to be pitied as it seems (from the outside looking in) to be rather empty when it comes to relationships.

On Wednesday we hit another baby milestone- Luke's two month doctor appointment. I didn't know whether to look forward to it or dread it as Nick and I have spent quite some time researching vaccinations and choose to go a little bit different of a route with Luke than is standard (I'd been fair-warned that I most likely would encounter some strong resistance from the doctor). I was pleasantly surprised when I came in with our consent form and vaccination preferences and had them observed respectfully. Luke had two immunizations (one orally & one in a shot) and did great. He's been slightly irritable over the last few days, which is very understandable, but I'm happy to report he's healthy and hasn't come down with a low grade fever like they said he most likely would. I was very eager to see how much Luke weighed and measured in at. He was 13lbs. 3oz. and 26" putting him in the 85th percentile in weight and the 95th in length. Only a wee little guy, and already getting "good grades". ;)

Nick documented some of Luke's firsts last evening, completing our first full video tape of footage since our little man's arrival. Afterwards, we rewound the tape and watched everything from back in June. It blows my mind how much he's changed over such a short course of time. I can't get over it, but I'm so glad we have good video footage of all his changes. It will be good to look over again in time.

This past weekend we went up to KC to visit Nick's parents. They both had just gotten back from a fishing trip with Julie's parents to Alaska. Together they caught over 800lbs of raw fish (quite a bit less once cleaned and gutted) and had it vacuum sealed and brought back to midwest, so we were in for some good eating over the weekend (salmon, halibut, and white bass!!!). Nick's mom was eager to show us a present they got for Luke on their trip- a gray onesie with a puffin on it (complete with puffin tracks on the rear). The front fittingly said, "STUD PUFFIN". Gotta love the play on words! Nick and I become obsessed with a game over the weekend that his parents introduced us to called Ticket to Ride. I don't know that it's that common in the states. Though we played the US version, the original version is a big hit in Germany. Each round takes about an hour or more and I think we played, all in all, seven or eight games over the course of the weekend. We both love games but sometimes have a challenge finding one we both like because Nick's hugely analytical whereas I like games that are purely up to chance so it worked well in both our favor.

Well, must run. Today's the errand day where banking and grocery shopping and cleaning are in order. I'm looking forward to this evening, as I'm hosting a Pampered Chef party at our place. Will post later!