State Fair, Concerts, and BFF's...what gets better than that?

Well, I will first apologize for basically not blogging the month of August. Let's just say things have been busy and I can't believe a month has past and I am not even caught up with stuff from July...so I am just not going to think about all of that and just let you know about my fun week I had last week.

First of all- It has been State Fair time which is always exciting no matter what but I will say that this year I set a record (for me) for number of visits within one fair timeframe. But don't worry- I didn't set a record for amount of fair food eaten (but haven't seemed to step on the scale to find out), but probably did spend a record amount of money at the fair/events this year. Soooo...my first visit started out with Jamie and me and the kids. We had concert tickets that night so our entry was "free" so we decided to make the most of it and eat both lunch and dinner there. The kids saw baby cows and pigs, giant boars and the biggest mules I have ever seen. Got to eat my first corn dog and elephant ear and all were happy. We headed home in between and Jamie probably got a nap, but I decided to go for a root canal. And this is totally off base, but I seriously love the guy who does my root canals (sad to say I have had 3 in the last year)...but he is awesome. No problems, hardly sore, very nice.

ANYWAYS, that night Jamie picked me up and we headed back to the fair for a concert (and some potato curly fries of course). It was Mercy Me and Jeremy Camp which are two of my favorite Christian Bands. The concert was AWESOME. Seriously the best concert I have ever been to. Amazing songs sung and words spoken and God just fed my much hungry heart that night. I really needed that. No pics that night, but of course we looked awesome! ha!

Then Thursday one of my highschool bff's flew in from Texas for the weekend. It was soooo amazing to see her. I hadn't seen her in years and hadn't hung out for multiple days in a row since highschool. She is the same girl I knew back then and it was amazing to get together and really catch up. But I will say this...she got put on some serious Technology detox for weekend. I picked her up and on the way to grab some lunch I told her the bad news;

Me: Melanie, I just want to let you know that I don't have cable...

Melanie: What??? (in sheer total disbelief) You are joking right? Do you have like one of those like box things too? hahaha...

Me: Ummm....yeah because my tv is from college.

Melanie: Huh??? Wow, I seriously didn't know people like you existed out there. I saw those commercials reminding you to "get your converter box before its too late" and I was like- Who doesn't have cable? pleeeease!

Me: Yeeeah...and um Melanie...I have some other bad news....I have dial up internet.

Melanie: Oh My Goodness!!! Where are you taking me???

Seriously the conversation was really close to that...it was actually pretty funny (and I am sure scary for Mel...wondering why I haven't caught up with the 21st century)

But once the shock wore off we had a great time and I even took her to Zumba (latin/hip-hop dance aerobics) that night and had a blast! The next day we went downtown to the soup kitchen to volunteer, got hit on by some firemen at the grocery, and then headed to the spa. Soon after that Stephanie (another highschool bff) showed up and the party was ready to begin. You can read her blog for more fun pics and details...but here it is in fast forward.

We got all dolled up and ready to head out to a Kelly Clarkson concert (yes, back at the State Fair)My bff from college showed up and we quickly snapped a pic before heading out to pick up two more! Here we all are at the concert...after we had eaten our share of fair food that is...(wow, that makes 3 meals now). The concert was REALLY good. Kelly's voice is amazing. I really wasn't that big of fan before, but I would have to say she won me over.

The next morning...before dawn, I quietly snuck out of the house to meet Tim and the kids at the Fair for the anual hot air balloon race. It has been a tradition and I didn't want to miss it. For some reason, Mel and Steph didn't want to wake up before the sun!

proof I was there before dawn Luca and Lilly thought it was pretty exciting, it is so much fun to watch there reactions.

The united van was new this year which was fun It went up practically right over us!

And here they all are off on the race! And of course after they were out of sight I stuck around just long enough to eat some fair food breakfast- haha! When I got back home the girls were still sleeping and didn't even know I was gone!

Another bff (my little sis) showed up mid morning and got to hang with us the rest of the weekend. We hit the pool, downtown circle center, st.elmos (bc I had a gift certificate I won at a golf outing -woot!woot!), and a movie (with a celebrity movie reviewer). Good times had by all...wished all the girls could have made it.

And just to end my story, I did go to the State Fair one more time! Last day was yesterday and Tim and the kids and I headed over to grab my infamous carml apple watch a little demoliton derby. It was actually the first derby for all of us, wasn't sure exactly what the point was when it first started but it was suprisingly entertaining (although very loud). We even finished off the fair by watching fireworks from the back of Tim's truck before we pulled away. 2009 State Fair was very memorable this year, not sure next year can top it...but I can always try! :)

A New Park = A New Adventure

So we checked out a new park a few weeks ago. It was actually called a "childrens garden" vs. a park, and it was a nice change of pace. It was more of an architectural landscape wonderland and the slide you see below was the only piece of "playground equipment" that was there and as you can see it was built into the rock which was pretty cool.

I wasn't sure what the kids would think at first but you put 2 kids in a new place that has rocks, sand, trails, tunnels, "a little town" and it equals nothing but adventure full of treasure fights an robberies...

These tunnels were their favorite part. There was a series of them all on a trail and once they realized that you could climb on top too it was quite fun. At one point they were playing with two other kids that were also on top of a tunnel and they were acting like they were on different pirate ships (and yes of course there were cannons and guns being shot back and forth).
There was alot of running and hiding and chasing (which equals tired children)

And then the other side of the park were all these little storefronts which made for great imagination games.

In this senario, Lucas was hiding in the coffee shop from the cop (the other boy...I forget his name) because he and Lilly had stole money from the bank. Lilly on the other hand had already been caught...

and was in jail.

It was a fun evening and brought a little more imagination and fun that your typical playground. We will definitely be going back...and next time I will take a book to entertain myself while the children, I mean pirates, pillage and plunder.