A night at the fair

The Ohio State Fair is every summer and Jason and I used to go annually....until we had kids. Our whole purpose for going was mostly to eat junk food, so once the kids came along and it would have involved a stroller, diapers, etc. we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Now, my mom and step-dad take the kids every year so we still don't go. But this year, my mom invited me to go one evening after she got off of work. Aside from the fact that my mom is fun to hang out with, we also have very similar tastes in food (minus my disdain for olives and stinky cheese and her texture issues with fruit). That being said, I had someone to share fair food with, which equaled ability to try more things.

Our first stop was sweet potato fries. Then we walked around to look at the chintzy memorabilia stuff people try to sell and spent a good deal of time looking at the contest submissions in the art building. We worked up an appetite after that so decided to try some deep fried bacon and cheddar mashed potatoes with ranch dressing. My mom didn't care for them too much, but I liked them. Next we went to see the butter cow and then a horse competition. Not sure how the judging took place where the horses were concerned, but the horses we liked didn't win, so we moved on.

The day they brought the kids to the fair the afternoon was cut short due to rain, so my mom had some extra ride tickets and suggested we put them to use. We then became the oldest people in line for the roller coaster. I'm typically okay with roller coasters, however; this roller coaster literally folded up into a truck like a Transformer so I was a little concerned about its safety. But we survived and went next to the ferris wheel. It was much better and we had a great view of downtown Columbus.

After the rides we went to the LaSalle building to look at our favorite exhibits: decorated Christmas trees and baked goods. We thought these were two of the best cakes this year. I'm always amazed by what can be made with fondant.

On the way out we passed some cute baby animals and then got our last snack....hot mini donuts covered in cinnamon-sugar. It was a fun and yummy night!

93!

On August 1st my step-grandma, Alberta, turned 93. You'd never know by looking at her that she was so many years young....no hearing aid, no cane, no walker, living independently. She has outlived two husbands and her only child. And she still talks a blue streak. My aunt and uncle had her come stay with them for a week and we all got together at their house to celebrate the occasion with a cookout. When we got there my aunt brought out three pillowcase dresses she had made for the little girls. Jordis loves hers!

We all brought food for dinner, so I decided to make the cake. I went to my neighbor Lisa's house for some special lessons on bakery-style buttercream. It was a long process to make and apply, but I was happy with the end result. It was an almond sour cream cake with almond buttercream and fondant accents.

Alberta loved the cake and we had a fun visit.

Tooth Two

Xander has had a bottom tooth loose for so long that the adult tooth was growing in behind it. The day before camp started I tried to convince him to let us pull it so it didn't fall out at camp and get lost, but he refused. Can you guess what happened on the FIRST day of camp? Yep, he lost it. Literally.

He was devastated that he wouldn't receive anything from the tooth fairy since he didn't have amy physical evidence to leave her, so we suggested that he leave her a note to explain the situation. He's not one to do any more handwriting than necessary, so he got right to the point.

Luckily, our tooth fairy is a sucker for cute little kids and misspelled souvenirs and Xander was pleased with the dollar bill that was left for him.

Weekend in Michigan

A few weeks ago we took a 4-day weekend to go see our friends in Michigan. Last July when we went to visit we stayed at Joe and Jen's house, but they just had their first baby and we brought the kids, so this time we spent three nights in a king room at a brand new Hampton. There was a golf center a few blocks from our hotel so one day we took the kids to play their first game of mini-golf. Jordis got a hole-in-one on the second hole. It was really hot and humid that day, but we had a fun time.

We also did a lot of eating. Joe and Jen have some friends who own a little cafe, and we had a great lunch there. I had a turkey sandwich that was made on cranberry bread with a homemade cranberry orange mayonnaise. It came with some wonderful homemade coleslaw. I went in there not very hungry and ended up eating my whole sandwich, coleslaw, Jason's coleslaw and a dill pickle or two. They also make homemade desserts and sent the kids home with some brownies. We also ate at Strawberry Fields which is a place Joe and Jen took us to for breakfast last year. I had some really good hasbrowns with bacon, peppers, onions and cheese, along with some strawberry soup. Great combination, huh?

One day, Joe took Jason and Xander out in their boat on Lake St. Clair, while Jen and I took Jordis shopping for a little girl time. She was so excited to sit next to the baby in the car. She gave him his pacifier if it fell out of his mouth, and she entertained him with his toys. We went to an outdoor mall and I bought Jordis an ice cream cone at the Nestle store.

I also let her pick out a special treat from the gourmet dog bakery to bring back home for Bubba. She thought he'd like a s'more.

Back at Joe and Jen's house the rest of us became chopped liver as Jordis spent the evening tending to the baby. She was all up in his business at diaper change, helped give him a bath, held him, fed him, and gave him a thumbs up when he seemed happy in his swing. She thought we should bring home one of these baby things for our house, until I told her the play room would turn into the office if that happened. She wasn't so sure after that.

On our last day we went swimming in the amazing heated hotel pool and then took the kids back to the outdoor mall for dinner at Max & Erma's. It was the nicest Max & Erma's we've ever been to, which is surprising since their corporate offices are here in Columbus. The kids were excited about their take-home cups and I gave them some coins for the fountain. It was a nice end to a great weekend.

Swimming lessons

Xander is going to camp for three weeks and will get to go swimming every day, so we decided to sign Jordis up for some swimming lessons. Neither of our kids have had any instruction before, so we had no idea what to expect. We've never even been to the pool here. It was a beautiful morning and Jordis was all smiles sitting on the ledge waiting for class to start.

Then they called her name and she wanted NOTHING to do with it. Jason was quick to grab her before she got too far, but she made a valiant effort to try and drag him out to the parking lot. Unsuccessful, she put her head down as all the other children went around the circle introducing themselves. After the teacher pretended to be interested in her Tinkerbell beach towel Jordis reluctantly went with her as the last child to enter the pool. She still had the scowl on her face for the first 10 minutes or so into class.

She did some more pondering after they moved to deeper water, but eventually participated in some leg kicking and jumping off the side of the pool.

She was excited after she high-fived the teacher and was allowed to exit the pool.

And then of course our Daddy's Girl ran to her favorite guy. She doesn't like him best, he just had her towel. That's what I tell myself. :-)

July 4th

To celebrate Independence Day this year we went back to Tennessee for a long weekend. Jason's brother had four days off but the Army would only let him travel so far, so we decided to go to them instead. We took turns having girls day and guys day. My sister-in-law and I spent a really fun day together....clothes shopping, lunch, winery tour/tasting, more shopping and coffee.

The guys spent a day fishing. I have no idea why or how they had matching shirts.

The kids went fishing, too.

We all went out for a very hot and muggy evening of beautiful fireworks over the Cumberland River.

See the little faces in those windows? That's the jail. I guess if there's such a thing as having a prime cell, these people have it.

We dressed up the kids

There were lots of afternoons in the water with popsicles.

And in Tennessee it's legal to buy and set off your own fireworks, so we had our own fireworks show two nights in a row. Jason and Jeremy tried to pretend they bought the fireworks for the kids, but in the end we all knew that when they said kids they were referring to themselves. The pink smoke was for the little girls, though.

Of course on the way home we had to stop in Newport, Kentucky to eat dinner at Pompilio's. Yum, Italian!

Parental Celebrations

So I'm a little behind with my posts for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Yes, I realize it's now mid-July, but I figured better late than not at all.

For a long time now I've been wanting to go to the paint-your-own pottery store to make a family birthday plate. I thought it would be a neat tradition for the birthday person at our house to get to use it on their special day. My mom's group went there for an outing but I knew I'd never have time to complete one, so I ended up making this plate....

I love it, but it doesn't fulfill the purpose I needed, so for Mother's Day my mom and I went to a different pottery store to each make something. We had lots of fun painting as we drank big fountain Coke's and ate Arby's. No one at my house likes Arby's so sometimes it's my special treat to eat when I'm with my mom. My mom made a plate to match her kitchen and I made my birthday plate. It took me 6 long hours, but I'm happy with the result. It takes a lot of coats to get that paint dark.

The kids made each of their grandmas a decoupaged vase and we went to Jason's parents for a cookout. Jason and the kids also made me breakfast in bed. I forgot to take pictures of all that. I remembered to take pictures of these though.....

For Father's Day the kids painted some canisters and we made all the grandpas some cinnamon-sugar popcorn.

We went to dinner for gyros with my step-dad and mom and then Jason's parents, his sister and boyfriend and my dad and step-mom came for a cookout. Jason treated himself to some private fishing time and the kids and I made him a few gifts.

Not sure where we're going to put the stepping stone, but I made sure it was LSU colors.