Jon's 24 hr Endurance Bike Race in Grand Rapids

For last three years on Father's Day weekend, Jon has taken part in a 24 hour bicycle endurance race. While I questioned his sanity the first year, each time he rode, he did progressively better. This year, he rode 255 miles in just under 24 hours. Jon place in the top 10 for his age group and 65th overall out of over 350 cyclists! We are very proud of him.

Miss Natalie turns 5!

After surviving oral surgery 3 days before, Natalie got to celebrate her much-awaited 5th birthday!  Not knowing how she would be feeling after surgery, we decided to have a small, family party.  Natalie, still in her puppy mode, wanted a puppy themed party and that's what she got!  With puppy ears for everyone, we had a great time and Natalie really loved being a full fledged puppy-for-a-day.

Natalie's 1st Dance Recital

A couple of weeks after we arrived home with Jake was Natalie's first-ever dance recital.  She was SO excited, but I was afraid that once she got on stage she would be too excited to concentrate on dancing.  Oh, me of little faith!  She did wonderfully.  Dress rehearsal was a full run through right after waiting in line for pictures.  Natalie was bored waiting in line......she wanted to get up on stage!  Once up there, she was a natural.

The night of the recital, she got to put full make-up on - she loved that, too!  She got flowers, a balloon and a ballerina bear after her performance.  She looked so beautiful and grown up dancing on stage.  Mommy and daddy were so very proud of her.  Jake even enjoyed watching his brand new sister dance.  He would look at her and smile so big, as if to say "That's MY sister!"

 

I have Combined our Blogs

Since coming home, I have little or no time to update two blogs.  So I decided to combine both blogs on this one.  Wish I could change the address but I don't want to lose all my followers.

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Many, many things have happened since I last posted.  So I will try to update you and be brief at the same time.  LOL

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Jake has been going to a pediatrician who has been doing a very thorough workup on him.  We have found out that he had some medical issues that needed attention.  He has an undecended testicle, which the urologist believes was unformed.  So he will need to have a laproscopy to determine the treatment necessary.  He has tortocollis (which is weak neck muscles) and weak arm muscles that he is receiving OMT therapy for.  They do not feel as though this will be a lifelong issue.  And his head has some flattening, and the OMT will help with this as well.  But at least we know that he is very healthy.  He is eating us out of house and home!

Next, right after we got home with Jake, Natalie had her dance class recital.  She was so beautiful in her costume.  She had rehearsal Friday and the recital was Saturday night. After rehearsal, Jon asked her if she was scared up there on stage.  Natalie replied, "No, I love it!"  A Diva is born!

Natalie had Kindergarten Round-up while we were in Taiwan.  Grandma got to take her.  Natalie was so excited to see her new school and new friends.  She passed the testing with flying colors.  We knew she would. lol

Well, that's all I can think of right now.  I'll post pics as soon as I download them from the phone.

Jake is an Official US citizen!

We got Jake's Certificate of Citizenship in less than one month. Must be some sort of record.

One month ago, we were arriving home with our little blue bundle of Joy. We were exhausted and really missing Natalie. When we got off the plane, finished all the immigration and customs baloney, we walked through the doors and were greeted by Natalie running toward us. Good thing Jake was in a stroller or I might have dropped him rushing to hug Natalie. Well, not really. I never realized how much I could miss that little chatterbox till our trip to Taiwan. It was the first time that we had been apart for longer than a few hours.

Here are some pics from our trip. We had a wonderful time, but it was way too short and would have been perfect if Natalie had been there with us.

At a tea shop in Kaohsiung

Crossing the street can be scary!

Chillin' at the Delamonco in Taipei

Two hot dudes outside the Sogo

HI!

Do you think I'm cute?

Spending time with my Buds at the Novotel,
waiting for the bus to take me to the airport.
Flyin' Home!