9-24-08

As you can see Lincoln loves to drive the golf cart. I don't know what we will do when we move out of the park and can't take him on golf cart rides to keep him occupied. We did find him a helmet, but we haven't taken him very far on the bike. We just stayed in the park, and it was a short ride. We are still figuring out how to keep his little helmet on his head!

The doctor appointment went good. The baby is growing as it should and the heart beat sounded great. We will get to see the little bugger at our next visit in October. It is a little different office than I am used to in Duluth. I was a bit spoiled because the office there was brand new. This office is right downtown and the building is a bit older, but it was a fun new experience.

The weather down here is still very warm, and from what I hear, not much different than up in MN. I still haven't received any fall pictures:( I am in need of a fall fix down here! Lincoln and I went out on an adventure today. We went to the Wells Fargo near downtown, and then, I admit, got a little lost trying to find the Whole Foods store. We ended up driving through a very nice part of town with some huge house. It was interesting, and luckily, I ended up coming out somewhere familiar to me! So slowly but surely we are learning our way. Miss you!

9-19-08

I hope everyone is enjoying our almost daily updates. Not much exciting is happening, however, so I know they might not be the most interesting thing to read! I have been feeling a little out of place down here because I don't have my drivers license. This may sound funny, but you can't it seems like you need a photo id for everything. I couldn't buy any clothes at Old Navy b/c I didn't have a photo id. We were talking about volunteering at the Red Cross for Hurricane Ike, but you can't with out a valid ID. I even need an id for my doctors appointment on Tuesday....not sure what I am going to do there. I suppose I can bring my passport and my marriage certificate since the the name on the passport is Rivers. You may be asking "Why can't you just use your MN ID?" Well, I can answer that. They make us surrender our id when you apply for a TX driver's license and all they give you in return in a piece of paper. What a mess:)

I am not sure if we will get an ultrasound on Tuesday or not. I will be in my 18th week, and they do one b/w 18-22 weeks. I am guessing I will have to wait, but I will let you know. It is hard to believe we are almost half way through the pregnancy. I don't think about it as much as I did with Lincoln. I am sure I will notice it more when I start to get a belly and the baby starts moving.

Lincoln loves to practice walking, but he hasn't ventured out on his own yet. He likes when you hold onto only one hand. He is trying hard and we think he will probably start walking on his own soon. He is trying to talk a lot too. I suppose what he says makes a lot of sense to him! He says "Mama", "Dadda", "cat", and something that sounds like "What's that". Too cute.

9-17-08

This is a picture of Justin's feet 3 days after being attacked by fire ants. It looked much worse, but is still pretty gross and we thought you might like to see what it looks like.

Lincoln added another injury to his list. He fell the other day and gave himself a black eye. It looks worse than it really is, but it has prolonged us taking him in for his one year pictures. Hopefully we can keep him out of mischief until we can get him in. Not much else has been happening. The weather has begun to cool off, so it is actually in the low 60's in the morning when we get up. It seems pretty cold after the 90 degree weather.

Well, we hope everyone is enjoying Fall. I sure miss that, it was my favorite time of year. Not sure if they have that down here, but apparently there is a park nearby with a lot of maple trees in it that is beautiful when it starts getting a little cooler. I will have to check that out in order to get my "fall fix". Feel free to email me some pictures of the pretty trees. I would love to see a bit of Minnesota.

9-14-08

Well, we saw nothing from Hurricane Ike. No wind or rain....only evacuees. It was hard to hear their stories. Some were lucky and were coming from farther down the coast around Corpus Christi, but many were from around Galveston and Houston and they don't have much to go back to.

On a lighter note, Lincoln has a new favorite past time....riding on the four wheeler! He only really sits on it while it is standing still since we can't find a helmet to fit him, but every once and a while Grandpa Terry takes him on a slow little ride around the park.

Lincoln also went to the nursery for the first time today at church. He loved it, so they said. He got to play with a lot of little kids and go on a ride in the Bye-Bye Buggy, which is a covered stroller thing that holds like 6 kids. What fun!

This evening we went to the El Marcado downtown and listened to some Mexican music and enjoyed some margaritas....well I enjoyed a virgin Bloody Mary......yum:) Lincoln is quite the little dancer, so I am sure we will go back again soon. He has also learned how to turn on the stereo in the living room so he can jive to that to.

Justin spent the night last night fixing up a bike for me. It is a older three speed bike named the "Free Spirit". He made some adjustments to his bike and then hooked on the bike trailer so we can go for a ride and pull Lincoln behind.....as soon as we find that helmet. Anyone know where they sell helmets for 1 yr olds?

Hope all is well and we miss you!

9-12-08

Not much new to report. We went to eat at Luby's last night....it is probably Lincoln's favorite place ever. He gets to eat tasty mac and cheese and watch all of the little kids run around. We need to find him some little guys (or gals) to play with. We will probably go to the pool later this afternoon and see who we can meet. There are an awful lot of people in the park and the pool is busier than we are used to, which means that I will have to wear a swimsuit in front of other people:( But Lincoln, however, is not shy about his belly!

I looks like we are just going to get a little rain tomorrow. So much for Hurricane Ike.....I hope I don't regret saying that. Well, tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode the The Vaupel Chronicles.

P.s. Sorry my face is so big in this picture.

9-11-08

Well the park is filling up today with Gulf Coast evacuees. The news crew was here this morning interviewing a family that is staying across the way from us. Seems like Ike is going to hit the shore some time late tonight or early tomorrow morning but we won't feel the affects until early Saturday. Looks like we will just get some high winds and rain. I am told that we may have to worry about the electricity going out and, of course, flooding. We stocked up on the essentials so I suppose we will just sit in the house and throw a hurricane party:)

Other than that, Justin has been spending his days working in the park and Lincoln and I have been enjoying the pool and we like to ride around in the golf cart. What a life! We have also ventured to Target and HEB (the Texas equivalent of CUB).

It is still super hot and a little muggy......so whoever tries to say "Oh the heat in Texas is different. It's dry heat" is lying. It may not be Minnesota humid, but it is humid!

9-10-08

Today Justin and I went and got our Texas licence. Very Exciting. We are preparing for Hurricane Ike. Apparently we are right in its path when it makes landfall so we could expect 70 MPH wind. Things in Texas are not built for weather like that so if it gets too windy, we will have to hang out in the office building at the front of the RV park.

We took Lincoln to the Zoo on Monday. He had a lot of fun. His favorite thing was probably the hippo exhibit. I would say it was mine too. He liked seeing all the animals, but it was very hot out so we have more to see next time.

The weather has been pretty hot and muggy. We have gotten a few rain showers the last few days and today is pretty cloudy. It is easier to spend time outside during the day, though, when the sun isn't beating down on you. It also makes it easier for Justin to help Terry with things around the park. They are getting things ready for the evacuees that will be heading our way in the next couple days.