Florida Fun

The Regan family just got back from a great week and a half in Naples, Florida, where we stayed with my mom and dad at their condo.  We had a great time - it's a beautiful place to be, and the weather was near perfect (high in the upper 70s/lower 80s) most of the time we were there, so we couldn't complain!   We went swimming, bike riding, boating and even went to the Collier County Fair, which was a trip - no pun intended.  Emily seemed to enjoy the whole vacation, and we loved being able to take her outdoors without a hundred layers of clothing.   The experience with Emily was very different this year - last year she was just starting to roll over, so we basically watched her roll around or sit in her bouncy seat, then toted her everywhere.  This year?  Different story!  The active 17-month-old toddler that she is, she hit the pool and the beach with us (you should see her back dive), went to a Gymboree class, danced at Tommy Bahama's restaurant:

...marveled at the pigs, cows and sheep at the County Fair:

...and spent seemingly endless hours playing hide and seek with us, her new favorite thing to do.   She was also really great on the airplane.  We had fears of three hours holed up with a climbing, crabby toddler on the plane, but she was a trooper, even while fighting a bad cold on the way there.

During our trip, we met up with Pat's cousin Andy, a professor at a relatively new college called Ave Maria University.  The college is part of a very interesting concept - a brand new Catholic community called Ave Maria, built around a massive, beautiful cathedral and the college. which started with 50 students and now, we're told, has around 600.   Take a look at the cathedral - it's gigantic! 

Andy and his family live in the community, which is still really new - they're just now building a gas station and the grocery store isn't yet open - about an hour east of Naples.  It was really nice to meet them, and I know Pat had a nice time reconnecting with his cousin whom he hadn't seen in quite some time.  When your mom comes from a huge family, as Pat's does, and you have nearly 50 first cousins, you'd think it'd be hard to keep up, but their family does an impressive job of keeping in touch.  Here's a photo of all of us:

We can't thank my mom and dad enough for having us for the fifth year in a row.  And a big thanks to my aunt and uncle for taking us out on their boat. So much fun!

We're not ready for this

Kelley and I finally baby-proofed several of the cabinet drawers in our kitchen last night, including the area where we store some bottles of alcohol. This is significant for two reasons:

1. I had been blowing it off for way too long.

2. Because we don't want this story to happen again ...

(I did not witness this, and unfortunately there's no photo, but this is the way Kelley described it to me)

Kelley is sitting on our couch while Emily wanders into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Kelley hears clanging of glass and pots and pans. Too tired to inspect what's going on, Kelley waits on the couch. A few seconds later, a smiling Emily stumbles into living room holding an unopened bottle of rum in one hand and a giant shot glass that has not seen the light of day since the '90s in the other.

If she's already figured out that shot glasses go with bottles of alcohol, then we're in trouble. I'm hoping it was beginner's luck.

An update from the Regans

We haven't updated our blog in quite a while (ahem, a couple months!) so we figured it was time.  In all seriousness, lots has been going on in our household, and we've probably talked about updating our blog at least once a week for the past few weeks and then we haven't done it.  So now we're finally taking the plunge once again.  

So what's been happening with the Regans?  Well, most of you probably know that I'm pregnant, so that's big news in our household.  I'm due on July 4 and am finally starting to feel like myself after months of feeling sick, awful and completely exhausted 24/7.  We're obviously excited and are looking forward to the ultrasound at the end of February.  And I'm enjoying being able to eat food without feeling ill, and being able to stay up past 9:30 p.m.!  It's the little things.

Christmas and my birthday were wonderful - we saw both families (Regans on Christmas Eve, McKeons on Christmas Day) and being the only grandchild, Emily of course got lots of fun X-mas gifts.  She's still a little young to know what was going on, but we had fun watching her. Johnny was in town from Tennessee,  Sean and Amy were in town from L.A., and we all got to spend quality time together, which was great.   We did miss Carrie, but knew she was having a great time touring South America.  Here's a photo of Emily on Christmas morning, riding her new "horsey:"

Although she looks a little mortified in this photo, she really was excited about her horse!

And here's a photo of the women in the McKeon family at my mom and dad's - looking festive, or slightly goofy, whatever your pick:

Emily's doing great.  She's growing like a weed (I'm sure I've said that before on here - she just continues to be REALLY tall), and now exploring everything she can, including drawers, doors, toilets, and all sorts of things that incite us to say "NO" every time she touches them.  Poor thing - lately she must think that's the only word we know.  Luckily she hasn't figured out how to say it back to us!  And as we discovered the other day, when we found her nearly running down the hall of our condo building without our knowledge, she can also open the front door by herself.  We've learned to lock it - thank goodness she hasn't figured our lock out yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long at the rate she's going.  She seems to be more active and curious each day, which is fun to watch, but tiring at times! 

She's fighting her first cold right now, too, which is a bummer - Pat's sick too and I think I may be getting the same plague that they have.  I'm trying to will it away. 

Lastly, we thought the below photo was cute.  Emily is wanting to "wear" any clothes that we do, and she apparently wanted to wear my mom's pajama top.  So my mom put it on her and she was very happy to be wearing it, as you can see!  She's also been doing this sort of silly giant smile for the camera now, every time we try to take her photo.  We think it's pretty hilarious. 

So there's the update.  We've vowed to update this much more frequently, and will post more photos - and hopefully video - very soon. 

No Tricks, Lots of Treats

We got lots of great candy on Halloween thanks to Emily and her kitty costume. We took her to the Libertyville library to show her off to my mom's co-workers, then went trick-or-treating at a few nearby homes. Emily had no interest in the candy. She only wanted to walk into people's houses when they opened the door.

 

Good Old Rocky Top

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - We road-tripped it to Knoxville last weekend to visit my brother Johnny and his girlfriend Natalie. My parents also made the trip, and we all had a great time. It was especially fun to see Emily and her Uncle Johnny get to know each other, since they'd only met once before.

We tailgated all afternoon Saturday and went to the Tennessee-Alabama game, but the Vols lost -- again. That's three Tennessee games for Kelley and I, and we have yet to see the Vols win. 

We had fun tailgating nonetheless, alongside many Tennessee and 'Bama fans - a huge, historic rivalry. It was Emily's first tailgate and she seemed to enjoy it - nothing like starting 'em early - although we can't wait to take her to Iowa when she's a little older for some real tailgating. 

The group

Emily and her Grandpa

 

Emily and Natalie

One of the tailgaters we were with happened to be from Atlanta, and asked us if tailgating is much different in the Big Ten than the SEC.  I have to say it's similar although everything we've experienced at Tennessee just seems larger and more intense than what we've seen at Iowa. The stadium, for one, is gigantic - like Kinnick Stadium with another level on top of it. It makes for a pretty awesome football experience.  This was the view from our seats:

***

The woman who parked our car before the tailgate promised she would give us a spot where we could get out before kickoff, so my mom and Emily could go back to the hotel while we went to the game. Unfortunately, the parking woman lied and boxed in our car, then disappeared. It created a chaotic scenario that ended with Johnny borrowing his friend's truck so my mom and Emily could go back to the hotel. Johnny took his out frustration by throwing one of Emily's dirty diapers at a second-floor window of the house on the lot.  Nice.

***

There's really no way to go to a game in Knoxville and not memorize every note and word of "Rocky Top." You'll know all the silly lyrics and have it running through your head constantly by the time you leave campus.  You can even buy a CD with various versions of the song (hip-hop, original bluegrass, extended mix, etc). Kelley and I were trying to keep track of how many times we heard it on Saturday. Hearing it over the Walgreen's PA system, blasting from the back of some guy's truck, on the radio and several times during the game, our count reached 14 before we lost track.  If you've never heard the "club mix" of the song, you're in for a treat.  Here's a sample. 

***

There was a lot to like about the return drive, the Smoky Mountains, the changing leaves, a toddler who looked like this for most of the 9-hour ride home...

And this...

It's sad when cheap gas is so exciting that it moved Kelley enough to take a photo. 

 

***

 

What made the drive back slightly disturbing and hilarious was listening to all the Sunday religious radio in Kentucky. For about an hour we just flipped from one fiery preacher to the next. 

One guy was making sure everyone knew that when they stepped into the voting booth, God would be there too, so make sure to not disappoint Him by voting for someone who supports abortion. He then spent the next 15 minutes talking about how the country has gone downhill since women have been given more equal opportunities, and that this is not in line with the Bible's teachings about the proper role for women (his words, not mine). 

It was appalling, although in the end we weren't sure whether he wanted us to vote for Obama even though he supports abortion rights, or McCain even though he has a woman on the ticket. I guess we big city folk are just too slow to understand his backwoods Kentucky logic.

Coming soon: Highlights of Emily's first trick-or-treating experience

Fall and Family

This past weekend, my brother Sean and his wife Amy were in town, which was lots of fun.  They live in Los Angeles so we don't get to see them more than about 2-3 times a year, so it was nice to be with them, if only for a few days. We spent some time at my parents' lake house in Wisconsin, and the summer-like weather made it possible to go on one final boat ride for the season.  I didn't love the warmer weather (I'm ready for those 60-degree fall temps!) but it was great to be up at the lake again.

 

For those of you who don't know, my brother is a media arts teacher in the Los Angeles public schools, in one of probably the worst areas in the city, riddled with gangs and crime. Several years back, he decided he wanted to do something with the sport he loved and played in high school and college, so he decided to start a lacrosse team at the school where he teaches, Manual Arts High School.   Now for those who don't know, finding a lacrosse team at high schools in this part of L.A. is hard to do.  And at a school with no budget, and kids with absolutely no knowledge of the sport, it has been an uphill battle for Sean - but he's done really well in spite of the challenges.  In fact, coaching lacrosse and helping the kids at Manual Arts inspired him to start a foundation called LAX in L.A. (LAX is short for lacrosse) several years ago, to teach lacrosse to underprivileged high school kids throughout L.A., to give them some structure when many of them don't have it at home, and to make a needed difference in some of these kid's lives.  The program has expanded to neighboring schools, and has garnered lots of attention in the area.  Two great articles about his organization are here and here.

Sean's wife Amy is a photographer, with her own business, Amy Brassette Photography.   She takes gorgeous photos, and was able to take several of Emily during the weekend:

We're a little biased but we think the photos are pretty great.   If you live in L.A. or know people there who might need a photographer, give Amy a call.  She also took this photo of our family, capturing one of the rare times when we're all together:

...and Iowa won their game last weekend, so all was good.  Hooray, fall.

Emily updates

We've successfully broken Emily of the bad habit of screaming herself to sleep. It was our own fault because we taught her pretty early on that if she fussed for a while, we would go check on her. We cut ourselves off of this bad habit, and now Emily is putting herself to sleep with minimal fuss.

Emily loves to grab any cord plugged into an outlet because she knows doing so gets our attention. We tell her no, and she smiles, thinking it's a game. She grabs, we say no, she smiles. Grab, no, smile. Grab, no, smile. Over and over and over. This would go on forever, or maybe even until the Cubs win the World Series, if we didn't eventually distract her with something else. 

Kelley gave Emily some broccoli and cauliflower for the first time today. She liked it. By she, I mean Emily. Kelley still won't touch the stuff.