Clay County Fair 2009

Here are a few highlights from the fair this year. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time!

Grandma Donna, Grandpa Larry, and Becky

long, busy weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend, but it was busy! We had several people over on Saturday to watch the UNI v Iowa ballgame. It was a riot. We had people yelling and screaming and just having fun. Sunday was more low key. We stayed home most of the day, but we were busy doing activities. Monday we headed to Adventureland again. This time Julie and Drake went with us. What fun! Drake has even less fear than Becky does. The kids were great and seemed to be having fun, even though they didn't want to ride together much. Everyone wanted to drive! After three days of playing hard and no naps, this is Becky after about 10 minutes in the car on the way home Monday!
She was out. And it was hilarious. I swear she had just been talking to me.

Omaha zoo

On my birthday, we went to the Omaha zoo for a day. Sarah and Emma and Vicky went with us. What a great day! Here are some of the highlights.

It was such a beautiful day, and the animals were very active. A pretty good birthday!

Friday afternoon project

Al and I decided to take the day off the put carpet down on our sunporch. Here is the work in progress.....
And here is our finished product! It looks very nice, and we are pretty proud of ourselves! Becky would have loved to help and was a little sad she couldn't, but I don't think we would have gotten it done in an afternoon with her helping. We had enough trouble ourselves!

Dance

Wednesday night was Becky's first night of dance. It sounded like she was having fun, even though I didn't watch her. I didn't want her to get distracted. She jumped, did a somersault, and rolled over in tumbling. She was jumping around in a circle for ballet. She said she had fun, so I hope she likes it!

Emma Jo is two!

Yesterday was Emma's birthday. What a fun party! Even though she looks grumpy in this picture, I think she liked her presents. She kept saying, "Mine. Mine." She didn't want anyone else to touch any of them.

Here is a picture of Emma and Becky. Becky was pretty tired, so she really didn't want to pose, but this is what I got anyway!

Hard to believe she is two!

Ashby Park

The other night when Al was working, I took Becky to Ashby Park. The fountains were turned off when we got there, but the worker turned them back on for her. She was the only one there. She had a blast!

After the wading pool closed, we stayed and played on the playground for a while. It was fun! Here she is with the castle she built which turned into a bonfire when another girl started playing with her. I just love their imagaination at this age!

Adventureland

We have gone to Adventureland twice this year. I was able to get discounted tiscounts through the state, so it was totally worth it! I didn't take my camera much the first time, but I went back to the car and managed to snap a couple pictures before it was time to leave. Becky's favorite ride was the Galleon! (or Chameleon, as she kept calling it.) She loved it! I think we rode it five times. She's a riot!

Getting ready to leave, but posing for a picture.


Second time around, I took my camera. I decided they would be fun pages to scrapbook. If I ever get caught up, I'm sure they will be!

feeding the ducks and fish

riding the fire truck

first ride on the Frog Hopper

having so much fun!

Wow! What a ride!

waiting in line to ride the Frog Hopper yet again

going for an airplane ride

Going for a ride with her duck. The first time we went, she played the duck game and got to pick up three ducks, and got three small ones. Not wanting another duck, we only let her pick one. This time she picked the large one! She thought she was pretty cool.

Another turn on the Frog Hopper

And then we were all about done. What a couple of fun days though. Becky truly has no fear. She can just ride and ride and ride again and again and again and again. She even likes to go on rides two, three, four times in a row. Can't wait until she's old enough to ride the roller coasters with us! We checked out the height limit on the Tornado. By next year, she just might be tall enough!

Al wanted me to take this picture of him looking like a midget!

All in all, a great day!

state fair parade 2009

Becky and I went to the State Fair Parade on Wednesday. We got there pretty late, but managed to squeeze in in a pretty good spot. There was quite a lot to see. We only lasted about an hour, probably half the parade. Here are a few highlights.

The last 20 minutes, Becky spent playing with the ants. She was letting them crawl all over her and "tickle" her. It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I tried. They were moving pretty fast!

I guess at least she's not afraid of them anymore!

smart girl

I made sugar cookies for a pregnant friend's birthday at work. She's been talking about them for a couple weeks, so I figured I would make them since she can't have a beer on her birthday. It's hard to know what to make in the summer. I ended up with tulips and butterflies. Figured that was okay for August. I have to say I don't ever recall having sugar cookies in August. Never even asked for them at my birthday. We always just had them when it was cold. Probably because that's when it wasn't too hot to have the oven on! Anyway. . . to my story and reason for blogging. In the car on the way home on Friday, I told Becky I thought I was going to make sugar cookies this weekend and asked her if she wanted to help me. She thought for a minute, and then she said, "No. You can make them yourself. I'll just eat them." Oh, she is a girl after her mom's heart. I started laughing so hard. I couldn't believe she came up with that all by herself. So . . . here are a few pics of Becky eating a sugar cookie before she headed up to bed. As you can see . . . she was very excited. She even was a little bummed she didn't get to help. I think by the time today rolled around, she had forgotten what she had told me. She sure enjoyed eating it anyway!

"sugar cookies!"

Yes. The rag is for her to wipe her fingers on so she doesn't get all covered in frosting. And she's the neat one . . . she asked for a rag so she could wipe her fingers. That's not to say she didn't lick them clean too!