The Yolo County Fair!

The corn dogs are how much?

What is it about fairs in the summertime? I swear the temperature raises ten degrees as soon as you step through the gate. The Yolo County Fair was no exception. It was hot. It's just a couple miles away from us here in Woodland, so the kids and I ventured out last week. This was their first fair experience. Finn was awe-struck. It was fun to see him freak out over every little thing.










"We've got a winner! Tell him what he's won Johnny." This young man has won a flimsy inflatable baseball bat that's awkward to hold and is bound to lose his interest within 4 minutes. Well worth the $5.00


I thought this was funny....this little tri-tip sandwich shop..

...was parked right next door to these guys

...I wonder if they were nervous.

Selah at 12:00pm


Selah at 1:00pm


We made it about an hour before we melted and came home. I know I'm making fun of it a bit, but I love fairs. It was a fun day. We're hitting the State Fair real soon and I can't wait!

We have arrived!...........

I cannot believe the day has finally come. That's right everybody.....we are HOME OWNERS! Wooooo Hooooooo! I could not be more excited about this. We found the house on our second day of looking and promptly put an offer down. There is so much more involved in this process than I thought. After a few offers and counteroffers, the appraisal and the property inspection, countless emails, more papers to sign than I care to see ever again and almost 50 days of escrow....IT IS OURS!

As I was driving to the house for the first time yesterday as the rightful owner (alone, Nate was working and Granny Peg had the kids) I found myself in a funny moment. I was sort of nervously excited and no one was there to talk to. I broke out in the giggles. When I was few miles away from the house I started frantically searching the radio for the perfect song to accompany this momentous occation - a Jerry McGuire moment if you will - only I couldn't find Tom Petty's "Free Falling" on any of the Sacramento stations. (man, that would've been perfect) It ended up being a Nervana song. Sacramento loves their grunge. Oh well.

So, this is a BIG first! Our first home! It's in a pocket of Sacaramento that I know and like, it's a quarter acre, right on the American River, more square footage than we were even looking for, a sizable yard and tons of potential.

I took the kids over there today and they had a good time running around the empty house.


I had to go over there to water the lawn - the previous owners let it go a bit as they were leaving. :-( My mom assures me it will come back. Just beyond that corner is a river walk that goes for days along the river. We are so stoked about that!


Grapes already a'growin in the yard! (that's Gordan, a dog-friend of the family.)




We can't wait to move in, but the first order of business is removal of the popcorn ceiling. Anybody want to join us on Saturday for an exciting day of scraping? It'll be fun! BYOM. (bring your own mask.)



More pics to come.

We've been busy......

July went by fast for us. We went on lots of little trips and big trips - trying to squeeze in all the summer vacation we could before Nate's school started. He's been working since mid June but the kids started school last week. So far, so good! He's loving it.

Here's a little taste of our recent trip to the midwest....

Ya know, in hindsight, the red-eye flight wasn't as grand an idea as I thought. Our adventurous family of four hopped on a plane to Columbus OH and mustered through a sleepless night. Upon landing, Nate and I each took a separate rental car (me with the kids) and promptly drove in opposite directions for 3+ hours. Nate went to Pittsburgh for the wedding of his good friend "Cookies" , and I visited my big sis Jennifer, hubbie and 4 kids in Louisville KY for a fun week of water parks and late night sister-catch-up.

Hey look at that! I got all the kids in one shot.....and look how thrilled they are!



Cousin share a hug...


cousins share puppets...


cousins share a stroller...


cousins share a bedroom...


cousins share the cooking...


cousins share a rhinoceros (and the same affinity for making funny faces for a photo op)...


Cousins share a kiss...


Little Grace and Selah were so cute together. Grace is only about 6 months older, so it was fun to see the next step of development in her. Both these girls were the loudest kids of the house with their booming little baby yells.






Finn followed Michael, Aidan and Luke around everywhere. He had a couple of break-through moments in becoming more adventurous too. He jumped on Luke's bike with training wheels like it was no big deal, and rode it very well, and pretty fast. I got some great falls on video.


After watching Selah attack the water park with a vengeance, Finn finally fell in love with water, at least the water park section of the Louisville Zoo. Once he discovered that it was actually fun, especially in 100 degree weather, he decided to horde one of the squirty things.




And then the kids and I headed back to Columbus OH for the wedding of Nate's brother Dominic and the beautiful and charming Sarah. What a fun time! We had the Nuptial Classic Tennis Tournament the morning of the wedding.....I think it was the 5th 1st Annual. It's also a tradition that some of the guys dress dorky for the tourney. Papa Tom and Uncle Pat were good sports.


Nate and I won! I really faked my way through tennis this time! Pay extra attention to Nate's outfit. That's my man!


The wedding was beautiful and went so smoothly. We were pretty involved.....Nate was a groomsman, I was a reader and Finn was the ring-bearer. He did such a good job! I had my hands pretty full during the wedding, so I never stopped to take a good photo of Finn decked out in his cute tuxedo. Finn walked down the aisle with an adorable little flower girl. They were so precious. Selah was loud during the wedding. She's just in that stage. She yells and squirms- there was no getting around it. Sorry Dominic and Sarah. Hopefully you were so entranced in your love that you didn't notice.

Here's great grandma Alice with the kiddos - Selah trying her darndest to....do something.





Congratulations Dominic and Sarah!