Gram and Bapa come for a visit!

On their way to see the Chris Callicott family in Japan, Gram and Bapa stopped by the Little Flachman house. We had a great time! We went to the beach and then to the Spot (yum!) on Friday. Saturday we went to the bayou and went skiing, wakeboarding, and swimming. Then Sunday at church was Logan's baby dedication (since Daddy could actually go to church).

Beach day - Friday, June 27
After getting kicked off of one beach (apparently, now you have to pay $8 to park on a public beach, anyone else confused by this?), we finally went to another one. Logan had a blast splashing in the waves with Gram and eating sand. Of course, he didn't like it so much when a wave knocked him over and he hit his head. Bapa said, "I told you so." At which point Shane rejoined, "Wow, I thought I was the only one who talked to my wife like that. Now I know where Karen gets her common sense!" Whatever, boys, you'd miss us if we were gone!


Then we went to the Spot, which apparently was the place to be on Friday. But we did get some awesome burgers, stellar waffle fries, and legendary onion rings. Logan also got to drink some of Daddy's Mountain Dew (oh well), and Gram's water. Yup, he's got a few drinking buddies already.


When we got home, Daddy fired up the "hot tub" (the "hot tub" Grandma and Grandpops gave us when we got married). Logan splashed around and had a great time (little did he know, he was also being rinsed off of all the sand and salt water).


Bayou day - Saturday, June 28
Early Saturday morning (Shane wanted to leave the house at 8:00 - we left at 8:06...and I heard about it ALL day long!), we went out to the bayou to do some watersports. Karen started off the day by skiing - I got up on the first try! Pretty darn fun! But now my arms are tired. Bapa tried to do some skiing, but twisted his ankle the second time he tried to get up. Nuts! Being the trooper that he is though, he did try some wakeboarding later, and actually got up for a few seconds. One more time out on the boat, and he'll be jumping the wake, I'm sure.

Once Logan decided to wake up, we went for a swim at the shell beach. He had a great time motorboating with Daddy, splashing with Bapa, and floating around with Gram.



Church day - Sunday, June 29
On Sunday, all of us went to church for Logan's baby dedication. As Pastor Brett said, Logan is definitely a church baby. Brett said he's seen other people hold Logan more than Shane or me. And it's totally true! At VBS this past week, as soon as we walked in the door, a fifth or third grade girl was holding Logan. Grandma Micki and Grandpa Tony have to get their loving in, and Miss Ferne just loves to hold him.

But now, we have committed to the Christian nuture of Logan... I pray that we're worthy of that commitment! It's going to be tough work, but I guess anything that is worth having is hard work (marriage, kids, degrees, etc).

The rest of the day, we just loafed around the house. Gram got to feed Logan some new food (green beans), which he loved. Have you noticed how when you feed babies, you automatically open your own mouth?

Logan also found another drinking buddy. Bapa is the bestest! Of course, Bapa wouldn't drink the rest of the water after it had baby drool in it. Wonder why!
And Daddy pushed Logan around the house in his little toy fire truck (at least that's what I think it is). Either way, he had a great time, and slept well last night!

We are also doggie-sitting Sam while Gram and Bapa are in Japan. Three dogs, what fun! Right now, all three dogs are panting because they've been outside, playing hard. All of them have wet ears. Think Zoe is really enjoying Sam...someone who she actually stands a chance against! But anyway, here's a picture of Gram with all of the puppies.

Daddy makes a good jungle gym

Today, we were all playing on the floor in Logan's room. ALL of us - Shane, Karen, Logan, Bug, and Zoe. Well, okay, playing might not be the right word for it. Shane, Bug, and Zoe were all napping; Logan was trying to figure out how to crawl (he got his knees under him, scooted forward, and then splat, on the belly, but he's getting there!); and I was just making sure that sleeping dogs could remain lying.

Of course, allowing sleeping dads to lie is a completely different story. Logan decided that Daddy was a tremendous jungle gym, so started pulling himself up on Shane's shoulder, grabbing Shane's hair and ear, and just having a great time at Daddy's expense.

My puppies are the bestest!

Logan has been enjoying his puppies. Zoe is ever the patient one. She lets Logan grab and pull on her, and just rolls over when she gets sick of it. In fact, one day, Logan put her paw in his mouth. Hilarious.

Bug is the janitor of the crew. He LOVES to lick Logan after he's eaten. Yum! Bananas! Applesauce! Joy! Logan finds the Bug-bath great fun. He's started to hold out his sticky little hands for licking. Then he squeals in appreciation.

Daddy's favorites

Shane came home from work on his first Father's Day to me sleeping on the couch (I only made it that far back to bed) and Logan "talking" to himself in his crib. So he got Logan up, brought him out to the couch where we all just "communed" (yeah, we're a bunch o' hippies...and we use cloth diapers too!). Shane got the camera out and took our picture. He said, "Look! My little family!" I think we're his favorites. He's a sweetie...and a good daddy too! Logan gets SO excited to see him - he flaps his arms, kicks, and grins whenever he sees Daddy.



Logan has a tooth ready to come in at any minute, so he's been a little more cranky recently, not his usual happy and laughing self.


Oh, and note to any one who wants to try this: DO NOT go to the vet with TWO dogs over 40 lbs, and a baby in a carrier. It is rather hard to keep track of everyone (including yourself!), and to keep them all from stalking the vet's cat. Plus, you'll probably forget to close the back hatch on your CR-V, and the vet tech will ask you if you would like her to close it for you. However, it is survivable, but just barely.

Some fun pictures from this week

Thought y'all would enjoy some cute pictures from this week. It's been a crazy week, since Shane had all of 1 day of weekend, which he spent rewiring some lights at William's house. Happily for me, he took Logan with him, and I was able to take a nap and get some cleaning done. Unhappily for Shane, Logan cried for two hours which is apparently distracting when you're tracing wires.

But anyway enjoy these picts!


Logan in his cute bear hat from China.


It may look like a cave painting, but really these are just our circus dogs.


Puppies make good pillows! Zoe and Logan


Daddy and Logan reading - of course, Logan is multitasking, reading his own book while Daddy reads to him.


Note to self: do not let Daddy put me in my walker.

Split pants

Gram and Bapa got Logan some nice "year of the boar" split pants before they left China. Well, they are now just the right size, and just the right thickness for wearing. We took one picture wit the diaper on (for modesty), then the other is in the Chinese style - diaperless. As Shane held Logan he said, "he'd better not have to pee!" I have to say though, I like diapers...

Zoe's first day at the beach

Yesterday, we took Zoe down to the beach for the first time. She was a little tentative at first, but once she saw Bug run out into the surf, she was all about the water! Of course, she hasn't quite figured out that salt water does nothing to quench your thirst. That is probably why the dogs drank a waterbottle full of water when they got in the car.

Logan had a great time too. He loves to "splash, splash" in the water. He had a great time at the beach. Of course, after taking a bath and getting ready for bed, he was not a happy camper. We had a little cry-fest last night. Great fun for all of us...except Bug, he checked himself into his pillow when the going got tough (I was just a little jealous). But after Logan finally went to sleep, we got some good Lego Indiana Jones playing in.

Risque dog

Zoe is quite the little girl. She thinks that it is important to get familiar with men's undergarments. I would like her to be a little older before she learned this, but apparently, Shane's boxers are too good to pass up.

Food, glorious food!

We're trying to feed Logan some solids (like maybe 1/8 cup of something each night). It's a ton of fun for him...he gets to be "Sticky Boy" (a new Marvel superhero - he'll be double superhero'd - Wolverine and Sticky-boy) and get a tongue bath from both dogs. Super duper! The problem is, his new Elmo chair is really low to the ground, so the dogs are constantly there...the high chair is right at Bug nose level, so there is no escaping his giraffe-like tongue.



Logan enjoys feeding himself with the spoon, which usually means grabbing it out of your hands, putting it in his mouth upsidedown and sucking on it. Apparently, he's ahead of the curve when it comes to lollipops.



Shane had the ingenious plan to feed Logan with his finger. Thank goodness there are no teeth up there (plus, the little toothless grins are sweet). This plan seems to work, especially with thick stuff like sweet potato. Don't know how well this would work with applesauce - Shane would be the new "Sticky Boy" or in this case "Sticky Man".

Cute Logan

He's a cutie patootie, this Logan-boy. Think we'll keep him!

San Bernard River Trip

Last Friday (May 30) we went to the San Bernard River, about 40 miles from the house. This is pretty close to the Lake Jackson/Freeport area. We even took Bug with us! It was nice to be in a place that was wider than Dickinson Bayou.

Here are some pictures of our time there on the water. Logan had fun "motorboating" with Daddy in the water, then had a nice long nap on the floor of the boat. I had a blast wakeboarding...but you won't see any pictures of that (Shane would say because I can't stay up long enough...BUT that's because I try to get some air off the wake or try to do a 180).