County Fair junkies

 We have gone to county fairs the last two weekends. I like fairs, don't get me wrong, but I am starting to feel a little silly about going twice. We went to the Marion County Fair on Thursday of last week (July 10) then on Saturday of the following week (July 19) we went to the Linn County Fair. The Linn County Fair seemed to be better attended (although we did go on different days of the week, so it's a little harder to really compare) and there were more ride options for the littler kids.  I entered two jams, my snickerdoodles and some garlic in the Marion County Fair. 

Funny thing... Nana was raving about my strawberry jam and was sure it would win first place. I also entered my cherry jam. The cherry jam ended up taking third and the strawberry jam didn't place at all! The snickerdoodles won third prize in the drop cookies lot, and ironically, the garlic, which I threw in at the last minute (because I harvested my garlic from my community garden and realized I had 125 heads of garlic to choose from), took first prize and best of class. This is entirely due to the fact that there were only about 10 entries total in the vegetables class, and I was the only garlic entry. It made me laugh. I went by the entries multiple times throughout the day just because I thought it was so funny how the judging turned out completely differently than I expected. Anyway, entering stuff in the fair is fun. I'll try again next year. The only bummer is that the judges didn't write any feedback about my entries, so I'm not sure what I should have done differently for the jams (the snickerdoodles I am assuming is more a personal preference, since there are lots of different kinds of cookies in "drop cookies"... mine won out over the other snickerdoodle entry - not that it actually matters at all - but it is fun). I looked online for guidelines for how to display the garlic and found a pretty in-depth explanation from some place in Wisconsin, so maybe there is something similar for jams. The fair people said their guidelines were in their entry information, but I found it to be a little vague. They also said I couldn't watch the judging, but I'm sure it would have been informative. Maybe next year I can finagle my way in to observe the judging. 

Actually, next year, it would be fun to have Isaac enter some things in the fair. There are categories for art, and even Lego sculptures! 

This is probably over-the-top boring for people who don't enter things in county fairs, so without further ado, I'll just go on to pictures of the kids. 

 Sonia's first ride! She got scared halfway through so the guy let her off early.

These are from the Linn County Fair.

 There was a little mister the little mister could walk under to cool off.

Ah, I'm ready for it to be summer again.

a fair day

Last Saturday, we went to the Benton County Fair. It was free to get in because Papa and Nana both work for the same place, and all their employees and families got in free! Great fun was had by all. Isaac particularly liked looking at all the animals.

He also had fun just spending some time with Boompa, Nana, and Uncle Mikey.

He even got a balloon and went on several rides. He found a new girlfriend who turned out to be the daughter of one of Mama's high school classmates. :)

The fair is so fun, but very tiring. Even little party boys can't stay up that late.

Port Out, Starboard Home

I think it would be fun to make the title of each blog post in the month of August something that is in the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" - which is my favorite movie of all time. So, here we go.

That said, let's recap what Isaac has been up to. I think my last post was Wednesday evening, because Grandpa and Uncle Mikey had not come back from Alaska yet. On Thursday, you guessed it, they came back. They stopped by to say hi to me for about two minutes over at class, then Grandpa said, "We'd better get going [to go see Isaac, of course]." They brought some reserves up for Isaac to eat and were on their way. Luckily, Grandma took some pictures so I could live vicariously through them.

On Friday, life was good. Isaac slept a little in his cradleboard (actually for a few hours) although we didn't tie him in there as well as he could have been. We just tied it around his waist so he couldn't wiggle out, but he was pretty tired.

Later that afternoon, Papa went up to Seattle for our friends Greg and Michele's wedding. We decided against all of us going because it was going to be a very long trip for Isaac, and I decided it would be much better anxiety-wise if I just stayed with Isaac, being the food source. So, we walked over to American Dream Pizza and met up with some old friends who were passing through town. Isaac was sleeping the first hour, but when he woke up, he was so good and patient, and just looked at everyone. We were the last ones to leave because I really had no special reason to go home and hang out quasi-alone. As we left, Isaac got a little fussy, and I ended up feeding him in the OSU Federal Credit Union parking lot. He of course relieved himself, so I found a grassy spot right outside Kappa Delta to change him. Not their lawn, exactly, but just on the other side of the sidewalk, although not directly in front of their house. Grass is a very useful place to change a baby.

We went to bed. This was our first night alone with just the two of us since the second night after Isaac was born, and that one wasn't really alone much because there were all the nurses right there. However, everything went smoothly. Papa had given me a bunch of tricks to try out if Isaac got fussy, and I have to say that they all worked. I am so glad Papa took care of Isaac a lot over the last few weeks because he is more sensitive to Isaac's cues and was able to give me some explicit instruction in reading them. As a result, I think I am doing a little better at it now.

The next morning, we woke up and played. Isaac took a bath, then a little nap in his sling. He woke up, ate again, and got dressed, then Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Mikey and his friends showed up. We all went over to the Benton County Fair.

Here is Isaac with his posse.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't say I've ever seen a cooler baby. It's really all about the shades though. It was actually pretty hot outside. I would say he was a hot baby, but that just doesn't sound right. Here he is joining the shades club with Grandma and Grandpa.

We ate way too much food, looked at all the exhibits, got very warm and maybe a little cranky, and might have accidentally exposed the food to innocent bystanders as a result of Mama's lack of blanket expertise. Isaac pooped, and then we changed his diaper and started the cycle again until we ran out of diapers. I thought I had put one more in the bag but I guess I miscalculated.

As always, he was a very sweet boy and just observant of everything when awake. This tired him out several times so he took some naps. Around 8 pm, we went home to get ready for bed.

Papa didn't get home until after midnight, and we were both already asleep.

Today we were very very tired, and I finally figured out the answers to the first of my three finals that I still have to finish. The final product is in the works and I am very glad to be starting a week tomorrow in which I do not have to go to school. Hopefully I will finish this final up before going to bed and then I will only have two left!

When Isaac woke up from a nap around 5, I fed him, changed his diaper, and we went over to Borders because it was pretty hot outside, although it was overcast. I looked at this book which tells you how to make fancy bread in your oven. I am going to try it, although I am not planning to buy the book because Borders is right across the street, and I may need to use that money to buy a pizza stone instead if I really want to make the bread. Isaac read the book with me, reaching out and touching the pages with his hands. We went and looked at a picture book of the ocean too. Then, Isaac started loudly sucking on the Baby Bjorn carrier so we went back home. However, since he didn't act hungry once home, we played some more. I sat him up on the couch and gave him various textiles to explore. He grabbed at a knit hat. He picked up the burp cloth and wiped his face. I clapped and said "Good job!" and he looked up at me and smiled that beautiful toothless open-mouthed smile. Finally, he played with my skirt until he got tired, then wrapped him up, nursed him, and put him back in the sling.

I am really enjoying how he is starting to use his hands and feet to explore his near environment. At the fair on Saturday he was also trying to grab at the flowers on my shirt. Finally, tonight when he was going to bed, I saw him join his hands at midline. He is just a little man. Well, I had better finish my final so I can send it off and go sleep so the little man and I can play again tomorrow!