Santa Barbera County Fair

If you're wondering about the title of this blog, they misspelled it on the ferris wheel... it didn't make us very confident in the workmanship.





Wednesday night we went to the fair with the Moores. Fun was had by all the kids, and I think most of the adults, though it was kind of tiring, and I was really freezing by the end of the night. Emma and Elliot were adorable on this tractor/train ride, and were sitting right in the front car, making honking and choo-choo sounds the entire time, and saying, "Woah, tractor!" and stuff like that. They had a blast. Elliot also went on the swings, which ended up going a little faster than I thought. Oops. He started out smiling, then after a couple rounds, had somewhat of a disgusted expression on his face, and towards the end was crying a little bit. He must have gotten really dizzy because he was staring at the middle/hub thing the whole time, and didn't even look out despite my excited-mother-ly attempts to get his attention and cheer him on. I played a carnival game and won him a stuffed whale, which he loved right up until the time he threw it on the ground. We're not sure quite when that was, but it was lost forever. The one time I won a carnival game! Sheesh! (also one of Elliot's favorite words now). He loved the fair food - chili cheese fries and cotton candy. Oh, and right when we got there, we went to see the pigs. At first he loved them - loves Charlotte's Web (new version) - and then he heard some of them squeal really loud and got scared of them. From that point on, he was afraid to look at them and would cry and close his eyes and turn his face away when I tried to show him any animal besides rabbits and chickens. Even the pony rides, which his grandfather will attest he loved at the strawberry festival, he refused to go on after waiting 20 minutes in line. I even had to hold him the whole time we were in the petting zoo. Hopefully he will get over it by the time he sees the horses in Montana! We are leaving on Monday and so excited. On with the adventure! p.s... the last picture is the post-fair recovery picture. :)

El Quatro de Julio

We enjoyed spending the 4th of July with our fun church family. Here are the kids watching the fireworks. They were really enjoying them, and it was a joy to behold. Elliot, unfortunately, thought they were too loud and covered his ears and wanted us to hold him the whole time. I think he was already feeling sensitive, though, after falling off of Donna's huge concrete turtle and bashing up his face on it's head, plus taking more than a few tumbles over the threshold of their doorway. It was a rough night for him, but he handled it okay. Overall it was a really fun night. Go USA!

Eden

Our yard continues to become a more and more beautiful place. We enjoy it every day, and wonder why we ever leave our home. It's nothing short of miraculous how an empty, weedy patch of dirt can be transformed so quickly into a haven, a peaceful place teeming with life, a new living room, dining room, play area. The sunflowers are blooming a lot right now, so of course I had to take all our pictures standing in front of them. Some of them have started to fall over with the slightest wind now that they are so heavily flower laden. I have to check every day for any that may need to be tied to the fence for support. It's so lovely to always have a bouquet on the kitchen table, and one to bring to a friend's house. Same with the veggies. Although the lettuce needs to be re-planted, the zuchinni and yellow crook neck squash are going crazy, and soon we will have plenty of tomatoes, too. It's amazing how much food we are getting out of 50 square feet of veggie beds. Now I know why kids needed the summers off to help their parents harvest! I gather a big basket of stuff every three or four days! Right now I have pumpkins starting off for the fall, too. I can't wait to see those get big. One variety is called "Cinderella's Carriage". So cute. Anyway, as you can see, we are enjoying life very much...Elliot loves looking at the flowers, bees, worms, and spiders he finds in the garden. He has been spending every day in swim trunks (when he's not naked), and in and out of the wading pool. We could not ask for a better place to be raising and enjoying our son. Thank you, God, for this little piece of Eden.

Copy Dog

He does whatever Chewie does. This includes running around with the dog toys in his mouth and picking them up off the ground with his teeth, eating the dog food, and drinking out of the dog water bowl by putting his face in it. He's also recently decided that throwing dried up dog poop is just as fun as throwing rocks! Yay.

The Good Life

My very own little lounge lizard (as my mom used to say about me). Elliot only lounged long enough for me to take the picture, though. Then he got up and resumed his toddler duties of running around doing ten things in two minutes.

10 year reunion

Last Saturday, Erik and I went to my ten year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been ten years already! Our friends Annie and Beau met us at our hotel room, from which we had a great secret view (through shutters) of all the people checking into the hotel and arriving for the reunion. It was like being in high school all over again in some respects -- the giddy excitement, but without all the insecurity. We ended up having a blast, despite an awkward beginning. Erik was behaving very badly, going up to people and saying, "Oh my God, I haven't seen you in so long! Yeah, class of '97!", but everyone just thought he was hilarious (though I was a tad bit embarrassed). By the end of the night, all the little cliques had homogonized into one group of dancing friends, just having fun. Over all, it was a healing, and totally fun experience. I'm interested to see how changed people will be at the twenty year mark. Wow, by then we'll all be getting close to 40! Except me... I think I'll just stop aging now. :)