Dancing With The Stars - Season 9

OK...I admit it. I cannot believe I am even saying this, but I am just not that excited about Dancing with the Stars Season 9. I am not even planning on watching the first two nights if you can believe that. (No...I still do not have TIVO either).

Honestly though, I felt the same way when they announced the Season 8 cast and it turned out to be one of the best seasons yet! Unfortunately, I am not seeing Donny Osmond getting me all that excited this year, but stranger things have happened I guess.

Quickly, here is a run down of the Season 9 cast with little side notes along the way.

1. Aaron Carter with Karina Smirnoff - He is this season's boy band ringer. Just like Drew Lachey and Lance Bass, he will be really good and should make it far. You cannot be in a boy band and not be able to dance a even a little can you?

2. Natalie Coughlin with Alec Mazo - I saw her swim in person at the NCAA Championships back in 1998 I think it was. She broke every NCAA record out there and of course went on to Olympic fame. No one will know who she is so she might suffer the Monica Seles fate and be one of the first to go. She is pretty though, but not a big enough name and will not experience the athlete gaga votes that all athletes seems to get (except Monica...maybe tennis is not a big enough sport or she was just awful...for my sake, I hope it is the second).

3. Mark Dacascos and Lacey Schwimmer - I have no idea who he is so he will only last about 3 or 4 weeks. One advantage for him is Lacey. I think a lot of people really like her outside the box style to the show.

4. Tom DeLay and Cheryl Burke - I can only guess that Cheryl is too busy to do a whole season this year. Good for Tom DeLay though. I think that is great! I cannot wait to see how he does. He will be the Jerry Springer of this year.

5. Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts - I am not sure what to think of her - she might be Lil Kim after all. Jonathan Roberts always is paired with the worst dancers (Belinda Carlyle, Marie Osmond)so I am not holding out high hopes.

6. Ashley Hamilton and Edyta Śliwińska - He is hot...She is hot. They will definitely be the best looking couple out there. If he can dance even a little, he should do OK...and the less clothes he wears the better. Andrew says the same for Edyta too.

7. Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas - They will win. How can you vote against Sabrina the Teenage Witch? Plus she is hot now that she has lost all her baby weight.

8. Kathy Ireland and Tony Dovolani - Why does Tony always get the 50 something dancers? I am sure they will do well. Kathy is so pretty.

9. Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova - I bet Michael Irvin will wear the best outfits of anyone (female dancers included)this season. I hope he is good. He will add a lot of charisma to the show. Why did he get paired with the rookie to the show. I am sure he will invite her back to the White House.

10. Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough - Supermodels never do well, although people for some reason like Derek. He totally annoys me. I hope they are the first to go!

11. Chuck Liddell and Anna Trebunskaya - I cannot imagine that he would be any good at all.

12. Debi Mazar and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Who else was thrilled to see that Maks and Karina broke up? Woo Hoo! I am sure the Entourage crowd will vote for her though.

13. Mýa and Dmitry Chaplin - who cares.

14. Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel - I think she will go far. Why I am not sure? I hope they get Ozzie for a musical guest though.

15. Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson - He will go very far unless his Vegas contract allows him to only do a certain number of shows. Unfortuantely, that means annoying Marie will be everywhere as she continues to milk Dancing with the Stars for all it is worth.

16. Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower - I am hoping he is like Ty Murray was last year with Chelsie. You have no idea who he is, but he captures your heart, shocks you some weeks both good and bad with his dancing ability and sticks around for a while. Chelsie is so cute.

So there you have it...I think Melissa Joan Hart will win for sure. Donny Osmond and Aaron Carter will go far. After that, it is a crap shoot. Someone will surprise us for sure ... I guess I will have to watch to find out who that person is. Sucked in once again.

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

Reagan Goes To Dance Class

Reagan had her first day of dance class yesterday. Here she is in the ballet portion of the class. She loved it and cannot wait to go back. In the meantime, there will be plenty of practice before the next class. She did not get her Aunt Lynne's dancing ability. That is for sure.

One funny story though...they asked her what kind of pet she would like to have and she responded a pig! If I have to get her a pig for her birthday....

We are headed to South Bend this weekend to see friends and family. Grandpa Chris and Aunt Alison are coming to the game to meet us so that will be fun. We are also going back to where Reagan was baptaized as Mike and April Kinninger are baptizing their son Jake this weekend at the Log Cabin Chapel.

Here are a few more photos from Reagan's dance class.

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

Here is Reagan at the beginning of class...I was a little worried.

Then...the ballet portion

State Fair and Renaissance Festival

Fairy Godmother Jen came to visit this weekend which was a lot of fun. We watched a lot of football on Saturday (including the awesome Irish win). Sunday we went to the Minnesota State Fair. The Fair is always the same and this year there were so many people there. We did try some new foods this year. Here is a complete list of the foods we had this year.

Strawberry milkshake from the dairy barn, Cheese Curds, Bananas (reagan had those), apple cider popsicles, pancake on a stick, cherrios (Reagan again), Peach glazed roasted pig cheeks, Pot roast sundae, Sweet Martha's Cookie's and milk and I am sure a few more things that I am not remembering.

The sad part was that we were not even full when we left so we came home and made guacamole and went to Chipotle. How crazy is that?

Monday we went to the Renaissance Festival. That is always one of my favorite things to do, but I think I was the only one that enjoyed it. We did continue the tradition of different things to eat as I had Beef Stew in a Bread Bowl and Deep Fried Smores (which were pretty good).

Summer is pretty much over now and school starts here tomorrow. Reagan is not old enough to go to school yet, but three of her daycare friends start kindergarten tomorrow. Reagan does start dance lessons next week.

Here are some photos of our weekend endeavors.

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

Reagan on the big slide...this year we let her slide by herself!

Reagan eating her pancake on a stick.

Reagan after devouring Sweet Martha's Cookies

The Renaissance Festival...riding an elephant

I'm back!

After taking a few weeks off...we are back in the blogosphere again. It has been a busy time with some major milestones taking place in young Reagan's life.

1. We are fully potty trained! Took only a week once she decided she was ready to do it and once she decided, it was all the way. She is even finished wearing pull-ups at night. Nice.

2. Reagan's daycare was closed the last two weeks of August so she went to Spokane to stay with Lisa's mom and dad. She had a great time and at one point called to tell me that she was going to live with Grandma and Grandpa and not come home...that was until I got there to pick her up and then she did not leave my side. It was a nice trip for all of us. Reagan loves being with her grandparents (I am sure because they spoil her so much)!

3. Andrew has lost 60 pounds. You will not even recognize him. He is playing hockey again this winter and is an assistant captain. He also worked the PGA Championship when it was here in August. He was a media assistant and basically spent the last two rounds walking inside the ropes with Tiger. He also set up a lot of interviews and had a great time. My dad and I went out there on Friday so I was able to see Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia and my dad saw Tiger. It was a fun time.

Andrew at the PGA Championships with the Wanamaker Trophy. He is the skinny one on the left.

4. We have a big fall planned with 2 trips to South Bend (Sept. 18 and Oct. 16) and a trip to San Antonio (Oct. 30) all for Notre Dame football games. Lisa has to go to Florida Nov. 8-12 for a work conference and then we are headed to Spokane for Thanksgiving. Lisa also has some major events coming up for work and Andrew is waiting to hear if he got a new job at work - so things are busy like always.

5. Reagan is also starting dance lessons in two weeks - tap and ballet. She is excited about the ballet. Not sure about the tap dancing. She also wants to start playing soccer, but she is too young to play in a league. Next year. She also has her mandatory school assessment test in two weeks making sure she is on the right track to start kindergarten. She doesn't go for 2 years yet so I am not sure what they are really looking for, but the state makes you do it.

That is about all with us...and of course Dancing With The Stars is starting soon. I will give my full report of the upcoming season in a soon to be published blog (teaser...not so excited about the cast.).

Here are some photos of the pumpkin from the last couple of months.

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

Reagan...3 going on 20...

Nick Universe

We had a busy weekend as Friday we went to see the Lynx play, Saturday we went to the club and out to eat and Sunday we had to pick up a few things and threw in a spur of the moment trip to Nick Universe at the Mall of America before playing tennis later that night.

Gotta "go, go, go,"

Reagan's mom

Reagan and Langston

Here are some cute photos of Reagan and Langston's last play date. These two love to play with each other. As soon as they see each other, they run to give each other hugs and have just a great time together.

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

Fourth of July

We headed to Wisconsin for the traditional fourth of July celebration at the Kinningers lake house in Wisconsin. Because of a Lynx game Thursday night, we did not leave until Friday morning, but we made good time and were there by 12:30 p.m. It was a pretty typical weekend of just laying by the water or being in the boat. We did make a stop at Five Guys and Fries on Saturday, as well as trip to Walmart to pick up more diapers (so the answer is no...she is not potty trained yet). That night we headed out on the boat to see the Fireworks, which Reagan loved all the pink ones. Sunday, after celebrating Breakfast at Wimbledon with a great men's match, Reagan made one last boat ride and then we returned home. We did stop and see Great Grandma and Aunt Julie on the way, so that was fun for Reagan. In fact, when we got home, she started crying because she thought she was going to Great Grandma's house. We will have to make a trip there in the near future.

Her daycare was closed today so it was "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" for me. We were setting up the tennis court for the Aquatennial Tournament so she got to ride the train to the castles and go out to eat lunch so she was pretty excited about that.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

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