The Many Faces of Luke Morgan

Since we last left off, many events have happened. Tornadoes ripped through what daddy calls, "The best state in the USA", a.k.a. Kansas. We took a long road trip to Minneapolis, and back to FL within 96hours. Last weekend we took a long boat ride near Salt Springs, FL. Daddy's 1st Father's Day was just a couple weeks ago and we try to do everything that you can imagine in between those events which a 9 week old guy can manage to do.

As each day passes people continue to tell mommy that I am looking more and more like daddy. I'm not sure if it is daddy's boyish good looks or my newly acquired southern charm, but either way, I like the attention. Mommy, Aunt Angie, Baron and I went to mommy's old stomping ground in Deltona, FL. We went to see mommy's friend Julie and my friend Aiden. Aiden is cool! He can walk and play and do neat things. I cannot walk, crawl or play much. Aiden is my mentor. I hope I can walk as good as he does some day.

G'ma and G'pa Schleif got a really big van a few weeks ago and cousin Baron and his mommy and daddy, uncle robbie and all of us got in it early one Sunday morning and went for a really long ride. We went to Minneapolis to pay our respects to my Great Grandma Schleif who passed away on June 6th. I got to meet many different cousins and uncles and other family members who speak funny talk Minnesoootan. I like it. Luuuuuuke. LOL! We did manage to get a bunch of pictures of everyone smiling while the sun shined.

Man does uncle ben drive crazy. Baron and I didn't know what was going on during our trip so we just decided to sleep. Mommy and Aunt Angie said we did really well, but we didn't know what that meant, so we just smile back:) We ended at a cooler climate in Minnesota where the air was cool and the mosquitoes were the size of black birds. Daddy says this is near God's country(IOWA).

On our way through God's country(IOWA) we managed to find Uncle Evan cooped up in a hotel in Cedar Rapids, who knew! Uncle Evan was nice, he held me high and I could see everything. We tried to visit Aunt Rachel near the heart of God's country(IOWA), but daddy said God's country(IOWA) was flooded and we had to take an alternate route as the ark wasn't built in a day. Little did we know that just a few days later Evan's hotel would be flooded and when Evan returned to KS he would be dodging tornadoes.

I am fascinated by the twirly thing that makes music above my crib. Mommy calls it a 'mobile'. All I know is that it makes nice music and the animals are pretty cool to look at. I am still intrigued by other twirly things called ceiling fans. Can you believe that there were three of them in one room at Janet's house on Lake Kerr!!! I was busy watching those three for hours. Before that, we took an extra long boat ride on Lake Kerr on Janet's pontooner boat. It was really nice and if it weren't for those limey drinks daddy had, he wouldn't have gotten so sunburnt. I wanted to jump in the water as all the other kids were doing, but where there's water, there's a gator, daddy says. Mommy said I couldn't get in because I haven't had my shots yet. I'm not sure what these "shots" are, but I get to find out on Tuesday July 1st! They sound interesting.

Daddy tells me of things called turkey hunting and duck hunting. He makes weird sounds while talking about them. He sounds funny, but it makes me giggle and smile a lot. Someday, I hope daddy can explain himself a bit better otherwise he's just a plain silly-goose. Sometimes, in the evenings when it cools down, mommy straps me in a harness thing and we take the dogs out to the field near our house. Mommy throws these white and black things and man do zoi and holly really want to get them. They must be flavored like baby formula because man they sure like to catch them things.

Daddy is traveling a lot now with the change in his job, so last week when he came home late on Friday I suprised him with a very big smile. I wanted to let him know I still remember who he is. This made daddy smile a lot.

Daddy and mommy say that during crazy times we must take crazy measures.

My eyes hurt.

Happy 4th of July!

LMR

A baptism and a whole lot more!

Sorry all, it has been way too long between photo updates, but finally the laminate flooring is all installed, the yard is mowed and trimmed, Luke is sleeping, all the relatives are gone, dogs are aired, my hair is buzzed off, oil hit $134/barrel, the heat is swealtering and summer rains have started here in Jacksonville. The last few weeks have been very busy with Luke and Baron's Baptism, G'ma and 'pa Raulie visiting from Nebraska and the Casey/Mullen crew from Minneapolis were here as well.

While daddy was a away saving the world from RV foreclosure and disarray Mommy and G'ma/pa Raulie all visited Jacksonville and Vilano Beach one day as well as visited historic St. Augustine, FL where they toured the old Spanish Fort and later that day did get to meet back up with daddy to have a nice dinner at the Conch House on the FL Intercoastal Waterway. This was the very first time that LeeAnn and Larry a.k.a. G'ma 'pa Rualie have seen their first grandson in person since he was born. Luke was then just 4weeks old.

Planning with laser tight accuracy Jenn and Angie hosted Luke and Baron's Baptism at our house following the Baptismal service at CrossRoad's Church on April 25th. It was a typical Sunday morning and all was going to plan, even Jenn was on time, wow!!, yet Mr. Luke decided that instead of being his usual calm and gently-reserved church-going infant he would get up in front of all the world and cry out until daddy finally whisked him away and out-the-door where nature commanded his silence; and all was quiet and calm again. Well Grandma Raulie suggests it was all "the devil" being pulled out of him by the pastor, as did Bobby Boucher's momma in 'The Waterboy'. We're not sure what happened, devil or not, but he was uncharacteristic of himself for the longest 15minutes of our lives. We'd post the video, but I can't imagine it would be that interesting to watch a screaming baby for 15minutes. Maybe a trend has started and for every 30 days of calm there will be 15minutes of storm. If I think back in comparison to my devilish childhood (so i was told) we'll take this as a blessing.

The day prior to his baptism. We took Luke and G'ma 'pa Raulie to Silver Springs, Fl to visit this historic site and tour the spring on glass bottom boats and see all the native reptilians and mammals in Florida. It was a very warm day, but Luke was a trooper and so were all of us, though chilled beverages helped average out the extreme heat. We saw many different bird species, bears, monkeys and the highlight of the park was of course the many monsterous gators ranging from inches all the way up to 14 feet long.

Well, the trip to Silver Springs was fun. We had been nearby the site before during some RV shows, but never have visited the park. It was well worth the trip. Luke, like his father seems to never slow down. Luke and mommy are always doing something exciting or going somewhere to visit a friend or family. As uncle Sco always states "man you just need to slow down ", but i'm not sure we know how we do that. We only know one way, the Raulie way, but there are times when the hustle and bustle catch up with a guy and you just have to give in, 1/2 dressed with your new best friend.

Well, these won't be the last of our adventurers this summer. There's lots to come like a first plane ride to Kansas City to see his Great Grandparents and Great Aunts/Uncles. We look forward to that as well since Evan and Rachel will also get to see Luke for the first time. Unofficially this will be Luke's first FL gator hunting season come August 15th though he can't quite attend the hunt yet so says mommy, but he looks forward to seeing our friends Chris and Gwen Vangerpen and to start archery lessons from Gerp while he is here.

Well, like Luke, daddy's day has caught up with him finally. Time to dream of .77cent fuel and a legitamite Presidential candidate.

Goodnight,

Zach & Jenn