Heading Out To The Open!

Andrew and I leave bright and early tomorrow for the US Open. I am really excited as this should be my first chance to see Roger Federer (left) and Robby Ginepri (right) play in person. They both play second match on tomorrow so we are going to need to hustle once we land so I can see them. We also get to see Marat Safin and Carlos Moya tomorrow, as well as Eric Butorac so that should be a good time. My conference then begins on Saturday so I am not sure how much tennis I will get in after that although I have tickets for Saturday afternoon, Sunday and Monday night.

Reagan is having a good time in Spokane and being totally spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. They have bought her a whole new wardrobe since she has been there. Reagan loves to shop so I am sure that she is having a great time. She went to a baseball game last night and played with her cousins the day before. Today, she was going to ride the "horses" at the park downtown. Hopefully grandma and grandpa's experience will be better than mine was on Saturday when we took her off the merry-go-round (the horses) at the State Fair as she suffered a major meltdown.

Andrew lost his hockey championship last night 4-2. He did score the second goal so all was not lost.

Gotta "go, go, go,"

Reagan's mom

p.s. - T-Paw to the White House? We should find out soon. Fingers crossed!

Dancing With The Stars - Season 7

I forgot the big announcement was happening today - the new Dancing With The Stars Season 7 cast. Honestly, I am extremely disappointed in who they got to participate on the show, but Maks is back so that makes up for some of the disappointment. Here is the story from People.com and I am sure I will break it down before the show starts on September 22. My first impression though is Susan Lucci and Misty May-Treanor will do well.

Season Seven Cast of Dancing With The Stars Announced

The season seven Dancing with the Stars cast was officially announced Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America, and after much Internet speculation on who would be joining the show, there are plenty of surprises.

The diverse lineup includes soap star Susan Lucci, recent Beijing Olympics gold medal winner Misty May-Treanor, Kim Kardashian and former ‘N Sync star Lance Bass. The cast also boasts the oldest-ever competitor with actress Cloris Leachman, 82, and the youngest-ever competitor with Hannah Montana actor Cody Linley, 18.

Dancing producer Conrad Green tells PEOPLE that he’s anticipating this season to be one of the show’s best yet. He says, “tons of people might be contenders right down to the last week. That’s what people want – lots of competition and unpredictable things happening.”What’s sure to also spice up the competition is the return of pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who took last season off. Also, three new dancers will join the show, including Corky Ballas (father of season six champ Mark Ballas), Lacey Schwimmer of 2007’s So You Think You Can Dance, and U.S. Amateur 10 Dance Champion Inna Brayer.

Dancing, which is nominated for eight primetime Emmys this year, kicks off its seventh season on Monday, September 22, on ABC.

“We thought we’d focus on good characters and lots of things could happen. It’s a show that makes itself in some ways,” says Green, adding this bit of advice to fans: “Sit back and get ready for the ride.” –Monica Rizzo and Liza Hamm

Here’s the rundown of celebrity contestants and their professional dance partners ready to mambo for the mirror-ball trophy:
• Toni Braxton, singer, 40, and season one DWTS champ Alec Mazo
• Lance Bass, singer, 29, and Lacey Schwimmer
• Ted McGinley, actor, 50, and Inna Brayer
• Cloris Leachman, actress, 82, and Corky Ballas
• Warren Sapp, former NFL star, 35, and Kym Johnson
• Rocco DiSpirito, chef, 41, and Karina Smirnoff
• Kim Kardashian, TV personality, 27, and reigning DWTS champ Mark Ballas
• Maurice Greene, Olympic gold medalist track and field star, 34, and two-time DWTS champ Cheryl Burke
• Misty May-Treanor, Olympic gold medalist beach volleyball player, 31, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
• Susan Lucci, Emmy-award winning soap opera actress, 61, and Tony Dovolani
• Jeffrey Ross, 42, comedian, and Edyta Sliwinska
• Cody Linley, 18, actor, and two-time DWTS champ Julianne Hough
• Brooke Burke, 36, TV personality, and Derek Hough

The Great Minnesota Get-Together 2008

It has been a busy week for the Mushett family. We picked up Reagan on Thursday after a week with Great Grandma. She had a wonderful time and didn't cry once. I think she was sad to actually come home. While in Wisconsin, Reagan went on a lot of nature walks, went to the Waterpark, swan in the lake and fed a cow. Great grandma said she was a good, good girl. I am sure Great grandma was ready for a break though as Reagan just goes and goes.

Grandpa Rick arrived on Wednesday so Reagan was excited about that, as was her mom. He was a huge help around our house and then Saturday we went to the State Fair with 300,000 of our closest friends. It was packed, but we had a good time. We were pretty tame on the food this year as we had Big Fat Bacon (not very good - verry fatty), corn on the cob (twice), apple cider pops, apples, grapes on a stick, pigs in a blanket on a stick, tater tots on a stick (not very good), a chocolate milkshake and Sweet Martha's Cookies. Reagan did go down the big slide with both Grandpa and daddy and went on the "horses" with Mommy. It was beautiful weather as it was only 75 that day.

Grandpa Rick and Reagan left on the airplane for Spokane on Sunday. She will be with my parents until September 4 when I arrive in Spokane - 10 days away from mom and dad. She didn't seem too bothered by it when she left as she stood at the security gate and yelled "bye mommy" and waved. Last night when I talked to her she was running to the windows to see the deer outside. I guess I should be happy that she is so independent, but it makes me sad too. I want her to need her mommy!

In some other news...Andrew's dad found out that he will have valve-replacement in his heart sometime in early October. Before that though, he will have to have another stint put into his legs to ensure proper blood flow there - another surgery. We also found out that my friend Jennifer looks to have lymphoma. She will find out more details today, but how much can one person go through - first a heart transplant and now this. Please keep both of them in your prayers during this difficult time.

Some better news...Andrew's hockey team won its first playoff game last night 8-3 and will play for the summer league championship on Wednesday night.

Andrew and I are leaving for the US Open on Friday morning. I am pretty excited about that. Jen, Mike and April will be meeting us there. It will be a great time and hopefully this time Robby Ginepri will still be in the draw.

Gotta "go, go, go"
Reagan's mom

2008 Section Champions

We are the champions!!!! We won our tennis tournament over the weekend and now get to play at the National tournament October 30-November 3 in Tucson. I am pretty excited as I know that it will be my only chance to ever make it. Way to go team!

Good thing it is a team game, because I did absolutely nothing to advance the team to the next round as I lost both of my matches. On the positive side, I made everything much more exciting from a marketing point of view showing that League tennis is a realy fun. So actually... I was doing my job - kind of. Both of my losses put our team down 0-2 in the best of five match and I felt about as bad an anyone could feel, especially since I had only lost one match all year up until that point. The team ended up winning both matches 3-2, and then won the championship match (which I did not play due to my inability to even hit one ball in the court) 3-2 as well. It was a fun weekend and very exciting.

Sadly...Reagan went to great grandma's for the week on Saturday and is not missing her mom and dad one bit. Last night we called to check in on her and she told me she was "too busy watching Strawberry (Shortcake) to talk to me." I guess I should start getting used to that. She has gone to the water park and swimming in the lake and today she had a play date with some friends. It is nice to know she is just like her mom in that respect - always going!

My dad arrives tomorrow and then we go to pick her up on Thursday night. Saturday we are headed to the Great Minnesota Get-Together which always produces some great photos of Reagan. Then she leaves on Sunday with my dad and is gone another two weeks. She will be quite the world traveler when she is finished.

Andrew and I have spent our first two night without Reagan watching the Olympics and going to the gym. We are a really exciting couple. :)

Gotta "go, go, go,"

Reagan's mom

The Wiggles

Andrew and Reagan went to The Wiggles last Thursday and had a good time. It was the first concert Reagan had ever attended so she was a little freaked out at first. I guess she did not let go of her death grip on Andrew until about 45 minutes into the show, but once she figured out it was alright, she was dancing and going crazy. Thank you once again Dan for giving her the chance to go.

Not too much news from the weekend. We went to the Irish Fair in Saturday night and saw the The Wild Colonial Bhoys and Flogging Molly. I really liked the first band. Andrew and Reagan were way into the punk Irish sound of Flogging Molly. It was a beautiful night and a ton of people were there. Other than that, it was mostly errands.

Andrew is taking Reagan to Wisconsin this weekend as she is going to stay with Great Grandma for almost a week. I hope she is ready for it. I have to stay home and play in my Section tennis tournament. We have a really good chance to win so we will see....

Gotta "go, go, go,"
Reagan's mom

Good news, bad news!

It has been a while since Reagan (ha!) updated her site. Unfortunately, there has been a lot going on in the past week or so and some of it not so good. Here is a quick update.

First, Andrew's dad had to go back to the hospital. He had another aneurism in his leg and so this time they had to put a stint in it. He is home, but he is not allowed to drive, fly or leave the house and has to have his leg elevated at all times. He is really bored (daytime TV is not all it is cracked up to be I am guessing and you can only read so many books). I think he realized how serious all of this is and so he is finally taking it easy (which is hard for him). With the bacterial infection in his heart, the doctors just cannot be too careful. He is continuing on his IV for the next couple of weeks and then they will make a decision about the next steps in the middle of August.

Then, Keith's (my sister's husband) grandmother passed away on Sunday at the age of 86. Today is the funeral and I know it is going to be very hard on him and his mom. We are thinking of them during the trying time.


On the other hand, there are some things to smile about. My tennis team won the Twin Cities Area Championships over the weekend and is one tournament away from qualifying for the National Championship in November. We finished the weekend 5-0 and really played well against some very tough competition. I personally was 3-1 on the weekend. After a shaky start, I was paired with a different partner and we played great together - although Ann carried much of the load as I played less than Wimbledon-quality tennis. In fact, I was pretty awful, but I guess it was good enough to win. Our next tournament is August 16-17 so we will see what happens.

Andrew's hockey team finished second in its division and qualified for the playoffs. He plays on a team with a bunch of goons as they have almost 40 more penalty minutes than any other team - nice. Anyway...his playoffs start next week as well.


Reagan is great. She is just getting so big each day. Last week, she told Andrew and I to "cool our jets!" I tried not to laugh, but it was pretty funny. I am still not sure where that came from. She is still doing great at preschool and tomorrow, she is going with Daddy to see the Wiggles (thanks Dan for winning the tickets!). It will be her first concert and she is pretty excited about it. Here are some funny photos of her!

I will update again after the Wiggles as I am sure that Reagan will have taken some great photos of the concert!

Happy Birthday Holly! I miss you so much!

Gotta "go, go, go,"
Reagan's mom