Breakthrough!

Josiah has had a developmental breakthrough this last week!

Here are some of the new things he can do now . . .

-lift his head up 90 degrees on his tummy (see video above)

-laugh out loud (we knew before he was laughing at mom and dad "on the inside")

-grab, grab, grab- he always has pieces of blonde hair in his fists

-roll over (offically this time!)

-squeal when he gets excited

-play with toys (Larry the Lion is his favorite)

-put everything he can grab in his mouth

Thare She Blows

This morning a typhoon (hurricane) has made its way towards Hong Kong. The government forces the city to shut down so we are enjoying the day together. It's exciting, especially being from Cali where these things don't happen. I plan to go for a run when it hits, it'll be great. For now I'm thrilled to see Josiah and Christine during the day. Here's a pic of its path. The x is HK.

AGHS Goes Gold!

Stephanie Brown who Jason and I went to High School with just won gold in Beijing! Here is the link to the article
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field

Jet Lag

Josiah and I flew back to the US together on Saturday. It was a very long 15 hours, but Josiah was his normal happy self most of the way. We had a happy reunion with Daddy and are enjoying the beautiful green mountains, our own beds, and catching up with friends. CA is 15 hours behind HK, so Josiah has his day and nights flipped. After hours of nursing, rocking, lullabys we finally gave up and got out the video camera around 12:30 am last night to capture our bright eyed baby.

Twister Aftermath

In May a devastating tornado swept through the town of Parkersburg, Iowa taking six lives and wiping out a third of the town. Just a few months earlier my brother and his wife put an offer on a house in Parkersburg, but backed out after the inspection (providence?) My family drove to Parkersburg to see what damage the twister did. It was eerie to see one strip of the city bare of trees with only hollowed out basement remains. We were driving around trying to find the public high school until we realize it was gone completely! There was over 6 million dollars in damage and it was estimated that the tornado was 1 1/2 mies wide at the biggest part- crazy! These pictures don't really do justice, but give some idea.


This used to be an established, tree lined neighborhood


A pile of rubble on the outskirts of town

If you build it they will come

We took a road trip from Hudson, IA to Spring Grove, MN making a detour at Dyersville, Iowa- home of the movie site Field of Dreams. It was fun to see the famous field with a corn outfield. We ran the bases, "disappeared" into the corn and bought overpriced souvenirs. Interesting facts- the baseball field was built in only three days.

Is this heaven? No it's Iowa!

Josiah and I are having a great time visiting family in small town Iowa. My brother and his family live in Hudson, IA and I have many Aunts, Uncles, and cousins in surronding towns. We are enjoying the tall corn, thunder storms, and plenty of good food and laughter. Yesterday we visited the Hansen Dairy Farm. . . we feel very far from Hong Kong!

I miss you daddy!

Look at all the moo moos Naana!

We had to keep our hair out of the creamery, even baldy covered up!

Cousin Olivia is a beautiful ballerina

My brother's house, complete with two kidos in a red wagon

Family time is fun time!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

August 2nd was a new chapter in Paine family history. My brother Michael got married to Jen Devlin (now Paine). It was a great day of celebration and a wonderful way to end the summer. Some of the highlights were the vows to read to each other. The best I've ever heard. Seeing my brother swinging those big hips of his on his first dance with Jen. I goofed on the toast to the new bride and groom by telling Jen I'm so excited she is going to be my brother!? Whoops, Oh well she felt the love anyway. It was also great to see so many old friends I hadn't seen in years and be together with family.