Water Fountain Fun

Today our play group went across the bay to the Eastern Shore Center - a big outdoor mall. In the center of it is this great fountain that kids can play in and they have table all around with umbrellas so the adults can relax in the shade while your kiddies have fun. This was Maggie's first chance to wear her new swimsuit from Grandmother and Aunt Peggy, and I also splurged and picked up some water shoes for her since I figured this might be something we do more than once. :-)

I really didn't expect much from Maggie. . . I figured the water would scare her but she really did well and had fun just walking around the fountain. She never got IN the water much but she did get wet. . . mostly unintentionally. But she had fun and after lunch went back for some more. Several more experienced families had brought water toys - buckets, balls and cups - which quickly became communal toys for all the kids to play with and generally everyone did quite well. Maggie liked this particular bucket quite a lot and carried it around for about half an hour. :-)
She also enjoyed washing her hands in this bucket. This is definately a fun way to beat the Gulf Coast heat!

Practice makes Perfect

Maggie is improving in her walking skills. Over the weekend she got up to 5 or 6 steps, and then 10 steps on Sunday. Click here to see a video.

First Steps!

Maggie took her very first unassisted steps Wednesday. . . while she was in the church nursery! Ben assured me that didn't count since neither of us saw it. However, yesterday she made her Mommy and Daddy very happy by showing off her new skills. She's not doing much yet - just 2 steps at a time. Click here to see the video.

Highly Recommended. . . .

Those of you who know us probably know we are big fans of Veggietales. So imagine my great delight when Ben came home from National Sales Meeting with a copy of Phil Vischer's autobiography, Me, Myself and Bob. An easy read, this book would be great for not only Veggie fans everywhere, but for anyone who has ever experienced the loss of a dream or ministry and wondered "Why?" "What now?"

The first third of this book is very entertaining as Vischer describes his childhood, and how he started down the path of Veggidom. The middle of the book tells of the rise and fall of Big Idea, Inc, home of Bob and Larry, but it's the end - where Phil tells "What We Have Learned" that really got me. The lessons God taught Vischer applied so well to my life as I struggle to figure out what I'm suppose to be "doing" for God when the most important thing is really that we just BE with God. If God hasn't told me what I'm suppose to be "doing" for Him, than all I need to focus on is being with him! What a relief!

Anything for a laugh

Wednesday night was crazy hat night at our chior rehearsal. . . so I took the craziest hat I had - a genuine Wisconsin Cheesehead! The next day when i was going to put it away, Maggie started laughing and so I started playing with it and found I could make her laugh and laugh by throwing it on and off my head! By the time we filmed it, she had already done it 3 times that day so the reaction isn't quite as big in this video, but you'll get the idea. :-)

Look Ma! No hands!

Maggie started working on standing up without holding onto anything last weekend. Today she did it for the second time. For some reason this works best in the bath tub. . . we had to keep her hands busy so she wouldn't grab hold of the side of the tub. So she is clapping in this shot.

Ahoy!

Yesterday we had the chance to do something that we've been wanting to do since we moved to the coast. . . visit the USS Alabama! Ben carried Maggie on his back while we explored all over the ship.

We got to see how the men lived on the ship - I was especially surprised to learn they had a Soda Fountain (called Gedunk Stand) on board. . . ice cream every day!!! I decided if I had to serve on a Battleship that would definately be the job for me! We also got to go inside the turret of one of the 16" guns (those really big ones). The turret extends all the way to the lowest deck of the ship and inside they house the projectiles and powder and and it was very neat to see how it worked, although i can tell you for sure I wouldn't want that duty while those guns were pounding away every 30 seconds. There are nine of those on the ship and they can shoot a 2700 pound shell 21 miles. Wow!

Here you see Ben (and Maggie) trying out a 40 mm gun. Ben also got to visit a WWII Submarine which he said "made the decks in the battleship seem spacious!" All in all, we had a very fun day in the cool spring weather!