Indiana State Fair - 2008 Edition

We've succeeded in attending the Indiana State Fair, again, furthering another of our family's attempts at maintaining yearly traditions. We took a break a couple of years back, due to the unbearable heat that summer and Laura's near-term pregnancy woes with Kian, but have made the trek out to the fair 2 years in a row, now. Nana P was supposed to come up and join us again, this year, but a last-minute injury put her on the sidelines this time...hopefully she heals up soon, though! We all definitely missed her, as she's the more adventurous fair food eater out of us all, getting us to eat fried Pepsi, and fried Snickers last year. But, we did pretty well without her, yet still stayed reasonably true to our dietary limitations and goals we set for ourselves heading into this year's trip. We got a decent set of pictures from the first part of our day; however, shortly after lunch, the battery in our camera died, and we failed to bring a back-up. So, here's a pictorial of the first part of our day at the fair on Saturday.

The boys eagerly await our arrival at the fairgrounds (Kian came equipped with his own fair animals, but this would be the closest he'd come all day to actually touching anything larger than a rabbit...more on that in a bit.)

We get to the Riley Fun Park, and the boys get suited up for their simulated Day on the Farm. Gathering up feed corn that'll be used to fatten up the livestock a little later in our simulated day!

Kian gathering, and showing off, the eggs he collected at the chicken coop.

The boys drop off their feed corn to the hungry, and appreciative, livestock.

Next, they were off to pick out some gloves, a shovel, and a crop vegetable to plant, and then harvest.

Jackson takes a short break in the path to flash a big farmer's grin for Daddy.

Next, the boys loaded up their tractors, and took their harvested goods to market!

Jackson shows off the fruits of his labor (which, in true American fashion, was promptly blown on a little bottle of milk...they don't teach these kids the value of saving these days!)

After we left the farm day simulation, and were headed over to a food tent to eat lunch, my infamous eagle eyes (see the blog post from May where I describe a trip to Toys 'R' Us) spotted a $20 bill on the ground, which was quickly swooped up and pocketed! But, only after a self-congratulatory picture was snapped...

And, then, as if this day weren't already overflowing with tons of awesome, we saw Rupert Bonham - of Survivor fame - grubbing at the ribeye steak sandwich tent with his family. Both his family and ours got up from our respective tables at the same time, so I capitalized on the coincident departures to ask for a family photo with the Hoosier Survivor. His wife was gracious enough to snap this picture for us! They were all very sweet about it.

Next, we got over to the milking pavillion where, at noon, they opened up a cow pen to allow kids to file through and take turns milking a cow. Jack was so excited about this, and did quite well with it. I think it helped that he had some practice, on a fake cow that milked water, during the simulated farm day. Kian, however, FREAKED OUT when I tried to put him down to try his hand at milking. When I abandoned the milking attempt, he continued to cower into my shoulder after I picked him up and tried to get him to pat the cow's hind leg. This would continue throughout the rest of the day whenever we tried to get him to touch an animal, except in the rabbit barn, where he tried to get several rabbits to bite him by sticking his finger in their cages. He'd literally say, "You bite me, bunny? You wanna bite my finger?" Anyway, here are the milking pictures, along with a couple of shots of the boys playing on the real-life tractors just outside the milking area. Shortly thereafter, our battery died, so this will end the photographic section of our tour.

The rest of the day was filled with a tractor-pulled shuttle ride across the park, seeing a bengal tiger performance, watching some harness horse racing, partaking in plenty of fair food treats, cavorting through all the live animal pavillions, and some serious overexposure to the sun's rays (particularly on my behalf). It was another fantastic day at the state fair - an experience we're thankful we're able to spend together each year!

(K)

Please Pardon the Interruption in Our Normal Programming to Bring You This Short Cuteness Break...

We now return to your regularly-scheduled blogging...

(K)

Swedish Invasion!

Just before their return to Sweden, our friends Jason and Gunmari brought their twin girls, Hillevi and Solveig over to the house for a farewell visit. They'd come over for dinner earlier in their return to the States, but we didn't get any good pictures during that visit. This time, a few good pics were snapped, but none of Jason and Gunmari - so, our apologies for that! Laura and I are tentatively planning to visit them in a couple of years, but hopefully they'll be on this side of the pond at least one more time before then, and we'll be able to take some better pictures of the twins' mom and dad. Until then, this series will have to suffice...

Jackson trying to get the girls' attention

Kyle and the girls

Laura and Hillevi

Jackson pleading for the attention of the young Swede

Kyle and Solveig

(K)

Narcolepsy

The story at the heart of this post requires a bit of background...

Last night, as we're playing in the yard after dinner, I get a call from my good friend Troy. He was on his way home to Houston, after attending our friend Jim's wedding Saturday evening, and his flight was delayed 4 hours. Since we live 10 minutes from the airport, he called to see if I wanted to hang out for a bit during his delay. I went to pick him up, and on my way over, the speedometer on my car suddenly got stuck at 100 MPH - a speed I, in no way, got anywhere near to while driving. It fluctuated oddly, never dropping below 80 MPH as I drove to the airport and back. So, this morning, I called the dealership from which we bought it, and scheduled a drop-off for this evening at 6:30PM.

Since that added a little wrinkle to our evening's plans, Laura and I decided that, since it was a carpool day, we'd pick up the boys from daycare, stop off somewhere to get a quick dinner that we could eat in the car, then retrieve my car from home and drive it out to the dealership. The (unfortunately) most convenient stop between daycare and home for an in-car meal is a McDonald's, so that's where we went.

The boys ordered their standard, chicken nuggets, and Laura doled out their meals accordingly, as I went back inside to have them correct my order (typical). As we're on our way home, Laura looks in the rear-view mirror and asks me, "Is Kian falling asleep?"

I turn around and affirm that he was dozing off. I quickly yelled at him, "KIAN! Daddy's going to eat those nuggets if you don't wake up." He shot up, and said, "NO DADDY!" as he swatted his hand at me. He proceeded to take half-hearted bites from the nugget he'd started eating, all the while, drifting off to sleep as he chewed. We repeated the yelling/swatting bit a couple of times, until he finally gave up the ghost and passed out. His nugget tumbled down into his lap, and I grabbed the remaining nuggets and their container from the ledge of car seat between his legs. Jack and I divided up the 3 remaining nuggets - 2 for Jack, 1 for me - as we continued on the drive home.

After dropping off the car for service, we're driving down Rockville Road when, from the corner of my eye, I notice Kian stirring. I turn to look, as Laura checks in the rear-view, and see him rubbing his nose as he starts to awaken. He then starts mumbling something to all of us, grabs the leg of his shorts, and bends over to try to eat his shorts! He makes several futile, slumber-hobbled attempts at eating his shorts, then whines in frustration. At that point, his hands brush across the crumpled napkin next to the nugget in his lap, so he grips the napkin and starts biting into it! Laura and I start to laugh, try to wake him by calling his name, but fail. Then, he roots around in his lap, again, makes contact with the nugget there, then grabs it and shoves it into his mouth. He sits there, quite content, and still fairly unconscious, shaking his head side-to-side and mumbling something through the muzzle of fried chicken stuff being slowly ground down in his maw.

It was seriously like the 20-30 minutes that transpired during his nap never even happened, and he just subconsciously picked right back up where he left off - yelling at me for snatching his food, and trying to cram as much of it down his gullet as he could before I swiped it from him. Too funny...

(K)

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Tonight we were out playing, doing a little yard work and allowed the boys to stay up past their normal bedtime of 8pm. It's very rare that they are allowed to stay up late, but every now and again we allow them to live on the edge. Tonight was reason enough that we should allow this to happen more often. It was starting to get dark when we decided to wrap up outside when I noticed the first lightning bug. I ran over, caught it and let the boys play with it. It's sad to say that this was their first experience with a lightning bug (to my knowledge). We've only ever talked about them before. Since we were out front and it was a bit lighter, we decided to move around back, forgo the new 915pm bedtime and let them live it up. (Who am I kidding, they were in the best moods and I didn't want to be the one to cause their worlds to crash in just by mentioning it was time for bed.) Unfortunately we weren't able to find anymore fireflies, but decided to meet up in our dreams to find some. That's Jackson's latest saying at bedtime...."I'll see you in my dreams Mommy." Oh, how he knows how to melt my heart. Just as we were looking around, we noticed the stars starting to appear. Again, another thing they boys just don't get to enjoy all that often. We found one here and there and then they really started to appear. Over to the side we noticed a really bright one with a faint one next to it. The faint one was flickering. Jackson nonchalantly said, "I think that's Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We decided to sing the song a few times to see if that helped light up more stars. What do you know? As time went on, more and more appeared. It was so exciting to have them cuddle up with us and enjoy something new. I can only wish this will be as fond of a memory for them as it will be for myself and Kyle.

Kyle told us that he thought the brightest star we saw was a planet. However, Jackson told us that is where Jesus lives. And if you go through there, space is on the other side. We've decided to allow our children to develop their own sense of religion, and listening to Jackson rationalize his thoughts pertaining to his belief is interesting and always entertaining. He was one unique relationship with Jesus, let me tell you. After all, he does know Jesus' phone number. It's 2911 if you'd like to call. And if you do, tell Hain Brain hello for Jackson, as he's having a hard time getting him to answer.

until next time...lc

Weekend Full of Visits

One of my favorite aspects of summer is visiting with anyone and everyone. It seems as though we are, in general, more likely to get around to see others or have family and friends over. This past weekend was no different. Saturday started off with our normal routine: dry cleaners, Sam's Club, Meijer, house cleaning, laundry....normal routine things. On Saturday evening, Dad and Tammy came over for dinner. What a great visit. It's been quite some time since they were able to hang out for a visit, but none-the-less, we crammed in as much conversation and play time as possible. The boys absolutely adore the two of them which is so awesome to see. It also helps that they aren't afraid to get down and dirty with them. (Not literally, just figuratively.) Here are a few shots of the fun we had.

One day we'll get a better picture.

It wouldn't be the best visit ever if "horsey rides" weren't given!

Sunday morning we arose bright and early and headed down to Dubois County. We stopped by my mother's house and visited for a short while. After we headed over to a gathering my high school friends had. Nicole and Steve so graciously hosted the gang. Their house is absolutely beautiful. I believe in total there were around 16 adults and 8 kids. Not as many as last year, however it was great to see everyone. We did take a few shots of the kids as well as the "kids" from high school. We left our camera in the car, but were promised to get a few pictures sent along from those that did bring theirs along.

After our departure from the country, we headed up to Bloomington and had dinner with Sara and Daniel. It's always nice to see others on their home turf. We don't take enough time to get down and see them, so stopping by on our way home was a nice treat. We've decided to make a more concerted effort to get away to visit though. Once we were, we let the boys loose in the sprinkler for some good old fashion fun. Kylie, the neighbor girl / Jackson's girlfriend came over to join in on the fun.


Up this week: visit with Jason and Gunmarie (and girls) prior to their return to Sweden. We have a neighborhood cookout on Saturday and currently nothing on Sunday. I'm sure we'll find someone to visit with.



until next time...lc

Weekend Visit

Kyle, Ryan and Sara took out some time to visit with their Grandma Dessie this past Saturday. Meanwhile, Melissa, Ethan and Dylan headed over for dinner and an evening full of play time. After filling up on Papa Murphy's pizza and some mixed fruit, we headed outside. We took the longest possible route to the park and then proceeded to make them burn up as much energy as possible. Here are a few photos of our journey...

Jackson & Ethan

Kian kept sitting in the stroller waiting for us to leave. He was so exhausted despite taking a 3 hour nap prior to their arrival.
Dylan
Ethan
Jackson

Upon arrival home, we bathed the boys and settled into bed. We allowed Jackson and Ethan to watch a movie. Once the boys were asleep, we decided to let Ethan and Dylan sleep over. They were all thrilled on Sunday morning when they woke up and realized they had an unintended sleep-over. Play time resumed at full force until they departed later that morning. We love to have them over and wish we could do so more often.

until next time...lc

Manners, please

Last night at dinner Kian was jabbering away as usual. If you've been around him recently, you know the boy can talk. (I have no idea where he gets that from!) After the third attempt at getting our attention, I realized he was saying, "Thank you cook Dad. Thank you cook Mom." For quite a while now, we've always thanked the person that cooked dinner. Jackson started this a couple of years ago and it's something that stuck. But Kian just melted my heart saying this completely unsolicited. What a sweet little boy. Perhaps he was making up for being a handful prior to dinner.

I'm a big stickler for manners. I always joked with Kyle that the first words out of our children's mouths would be PLEASE and THANK YOU. I was a little disappointed when DADA came out first, but at least they were in the top 10. Not too shabby.

We are so proud that our boys have the manners they do. Granted, they slip from time to time, but for the most part they are very courteous children. Kyle and I always love to hear other adults compliment them on their manners. It makes us feel as though we're heading them in the right direction.

Team Daddy Storms the Park at Norma(vo)ndy

This morning, Kian woke us around 6AM, much to our chagrin - particularly Laura's, as she'd planned to sleep in a bit and let me handle the boys first thing. As usual, Kian would accept no substitutes to mommy's arms, so we both got out of bed. After a morning breakfast, I could see that Laura was really worn down, and needed to get back to sleep for a bit. After we'd eaten, I proposed to the boys that we, "go check out a new park and play, maybe even take a walk and explore some woods and trails."

Surprisingly, this was a well-received suggestion, so Team Daddy packed up some gear, some water and some snacks, and we headed over to Avon-Washington Township Community Park. The playground was recently overhauled, and I knew they had some decent trails we could walk, should the boys exhaust themselves on the new equipment. Turned out, we had no need to explore the trail system, as we blew through 2 hours invading and conquering the nice-sized playground area. Here are some pictures documenting our morning adventure...

We love the smell of recycled-tire mulch in the morning!

Our fearless commandos begin their assault by scaling the formidable rock wall barracading the grounds from outsiders!

SUCCESS! First obstacle cleared, Captain!

We will take no prisoners, and we will leave no jungle-gym unscathed!

Corporal Jackson, preparing his ascent to the command center. We wished him luck as he penetrated the enemy's enclave...

Crucial to any successful invasion is the commandeering of the enemy's livestock and pack animals. Our forces quickly gained the upper-hand with these hearty creatures.

Field Seargent Kian rejoicing over his mastery of the ever-elusive and powerful Cement Tortoise. Well done, soldier!

Sabotaging our foes' defense grid. This will prove to be a key maneuver in aiding our progress through their bunker!

The Field Seargent's lone weakness: being mesmerized by shiny circles. Advance, Seargent, before the enemy recuperates! THAT'S AN ORDER!

Corporal Jackson, proceeding with the mission statement, and overtaking a vital air command vehicle. Excellent work!

"OK, Captain...I'll make my descent down the orange evacuation tube, to ensure I neutralize any of the enemy's escapees!"

"FS Kian to Corp. Jackson, do you read, over? Rendezvous at the escape tube, I need back-up!"

"COPY THAT, SARGE! At the escape tube in T-minus 2 minutes."

"2 minutes, 15 seconds...DAMMIT, where is the Corporal!?!?!?"

"Rendezvous complete, Captain! I was side-tracked by a biological need! We're making our way down the evac tube, ASAP!"

"Ah ha...I LOVE it when a plan comes together!"

"These evac tubes do little for my complexion..."

"Jackson! I need you to shimmy yer narrow behind up this rope thing-a-majig and give me a report on our progress from the top of this apparatus. Survey the damage to-date, and let me know of any remaining hot spots!"

"Yes sir! Survey outpost scaled, the enemy is in full retreat!"

"By Jove, he's right...the front is finally quiet...maybe TOO quiet."

MISSION COMPLETE! The bridge is ours!

"Well done, men, well done. Time for a well-earned bit of field R&R. Fruit snacks and water for everyone! HUZZAH!!!"

Celebratory swinging and gravity-defiance commences in the wake of Team Daddy's complete and utter victory. Savor it boys, for wins this sweet come all-too-rarely.

That's right...we do, in fact, rule.

(K)

Not to Flog The Horse, But...

Laura's covered a lot of what we were going through with Jackson being away for a couple of days, but I wanted to just add a couple of quick thoughts.

First, this was not our first time away from Jackson for this amount of time - he'd spent a couple of consecutive days with Papaw and Nana Hop when we were in the hospital for Kian's birth. That was tough, but knowing he was pretty much just a phone call and a bit of a car ride away was comforting. Further, Tammy was awesome about bringing him up to visit, so it wasn't like he was away-away. Also, being the family traveller, I've spent a bunch (and, too much, probably) of time away from all of the family, but that also didn't have the impact this had on me.

Second, it sometimes feels a bit melodramatic to have gotten this worked up over him spending a few days with his Nana P, and the rest of his Jasper-based family. And, I don't want to give the impression that we'll never allow this to happen again - it's good for all of us for the boys to get used to being away and spending time forging their own personal relationships with our extended families; mom and dad just need to adjust to the reality. But, at the end of the day, who WOULDN'T want to maximize their time with these two amazing little people? I mean, they've taught me more about life in the nearly 5 years we've had them both in our lives than I learned in the previous 27 years of my own life. I feel like I truly enjoy each and every day that I'm alive now because I get to look forward to their hugs and kisses and words of love and actions of annoyance. The perspectives they bring to us about all the minutiae of life - the details that go unnoticed to the adult eye - allow our minds to engage in a healthy exercise of reverting back to the time when experience wasn't filtered through a sieve of jade. And, I've come to crave that every day. I need their insights, or else I feel my mind start to wither and harden with re-directed focus on the boring bullshit routine of the "adult world."

Anyway, Laura put it best in an email to me yesterday. She wrote, "What a great kid he is. I can't wait to see what life has in store for him next. He always keeps us entertained. I think that's what I enjoy the most about him. Let the journey continue..."

Let it continue, indeed...for both of these awesome little dudes.

(K)

He's Baaaaack!

We received a call yesterday morning on our drive in to work that Jackson was home sick and wanted to come home. Evidently he woke up a few times and said, "I love you Nana, but I really want my Mommy and Daddy." How sweet! So after dropping Kyle off, I headed down to meet them. I was able to get him to day care just before lunch. Man, he sure missed his friends and Michelle. He loved on her for a good while when we arrived and then dished out some luvin' for all of his friends. He kept saying he had a great time with Nana, but that he missed us and was happy to be home. On our drive home last night he said, "Mom, are you happy we are a family again?" Oh, how he knows how to melt our hearts.

Collectively, I think Kyle and I received about two hundred hugs and kisses from Jackson. I guess it takes being apart for a few days to remind you how special your children are to you. I missed him terribly and am so relieved and excited to have him back home. I know the time he spent with my mom will be forever "bemembered" by the two of them and we are very thankful for that. They both seemed to have enjoyed each other and overall had a great time. What a great experience for the two of them. From fishing to the library adventure and swimming to their blanket making, they seemed to have packed quite the punch into the 3 days they spent together. I'll have to get him to tell me a story or two to share with you on here. I'm sure we'll all enjoy them.

until next time...lc

"Are you going to cry?"

Unfortunately that's what I heard as Jackson was on his way out the door today. Rewind a bit...My mom came up for a visit this weekend. While eating breakfast Kian was clowning around like normal and making request after request. About that time I turned to Mom and asked if she wanted to take him home with her. She said that she wouldn't mind taking Jackson, but she would never get anything accomplished with Kian around. Thankfully Mom's on vacation this week. She was due to travel to Detroit with Katy for the week, but Jacob was sent as a replacement, leaving Mom with the week off. She agreed to take to Jackson back to Jasper with her until Thursday. Now if Katy makes it to the top 16, Mom is going to drive to Detroit to watch her finish up and at that time drop Jackson off in Indy. If not, we're going to meet her in Bloomington on Thursday.

Jackson, Mom and I ran a few errands around Indy this morning before the headed out. During a leg of our journey, Jackson said, "I'll be a little sad to not be with you Mommy, but I will have fun. Don't worry. It's OK if you cry. Are you going to cry just a little or a lot." I just about lost it right there. Of course, Kyle and I cried when he left, "just a little." We both know he's in good hands, but not having him around is a bummer. He's a great kid and we can't wait for him to come home. I just got a call that they've arrived safe and sound in Jasper. That was shortly followed by, "Where Jack at?" We know it will be hard on us, but poor Kian. They are together nearly 24/7. He's going to be lost without him.

Have a great time, Bubby and Nana!!!

until next time...lc

Oh, By the Way...

Laura reminded me this morning that there are a bunch more pictures from our day at the arch that were downloaded from our video camera. Our still camera's batteries died about 15 minutes after we got to the Arch Park.

Those pictures are in a different folder on our home computer, which is why I forgot them. I'll try to make an amended vacation post later this week.

(K)