A little of this, a little of that....

Backwoods Fest...

We took advantage of this beautiful fall day today and went to the Backwoods Fest. It's always the 3rd weekend of September. I've been wanting to go for several years now, but we're always busy (two years ago we were in Maui and last year we were in the Outer Banks).

If you've never been to the Backwoods Fest, you should really go. It's a craft show out in the woods. It's like you're hiking while looking at handmade goods.

 

The food area is really fun too... they're in these rusty shacks with rusty handpainted signs. Plus, they have big pots (cauldrons?) cooking over an open fire.

Little Miss had a great time- so many people to watch. However, for the first time ever, she had a massive blow-out. One that required a wardrobe change and a discussion between Jim and I about whether or not to just throw out the garments. We think we've been giving her too many pears. We've also been giving her pear juice (we let her drink one ounce of juice mixed with one ounce of water per day). We had to pull her stroller off the beaten path a little and change her in her stroller. It took both of us, but we did it! 

We tried to take our picture...

...in honor of our anniversary today. Two years ago today we were standing with our toes in the sand and getting married!

And then we also tried to take a family picture...

Finley wanted no part of it. 

Thanks for a great time, Backwoods Fest. We'll see you next year!

Well, burst my bubble...er, balloon...

I was so excited to head to the Grove City 'Balloons & Tunes' Hot Air Balloon Festival at Beulah Park this evening. To my dismay, due to windy conditions, the hot air balloons weren't even there. :( 

The gal taking the money at the parking lot told us the balloons weren't there, but we still decided to head in anyway. We were only out $5 for parking and we'd come all the way down to Grove City (a little bit of a trek from northern Westerville!).

There were food concessions (I got to have a yummy slice of Flyer's Pizza!) and also a few random vendors. There was also quite a few bouncey things for kids. Plus, quite a few kites being flown. 

The only hot air balloon we saw this evening...

I was SOOO bummed the balloons weren't there. I wanted to take photos SOOO bad (don't you just sometimes just itch to go out and take pictures!?).

It was fairly windy. They were saying for hot air balloon to be tethered, it has to be nice weather, with no chance of rain, with little to no breeze. If there is a breeze, it can't be more than 10mph, but aorund 5mph is favorable. The winds tonight were getting up to 18mph, so they didn't feel it was safe. Jim and I were talking and we were wondering how often the balloons actually get to be tethered and launched with such limited conditions in which it's safe for them. Hot Air Balloon Festivals are probably about as tricky as having a Rainbow Festival. The conditions have to be juuuuuust right.

Trying to get a picture with the wind blowing...

We found a good spot to put out our blanket, so we just sat there for awhile, taking in the nice evening weather and cool breeze. 

Finley LOVED it! There were tons of people and kids to watch, plus she loves to be outside.

Finley is very curious about grass these days. She loves nature!

It started getting cool, so we changed her into her pajamas (we knew she'd fall asleep on the way home) and gave her a bottle.

It was such a shame the balloons didn't launch, because the sky would've made for great photos.

Happy Birthday Henry! (and weekend update)

Another busy weekend!

I took Finley to her second Music Class on Friday. She really likes it. She still likes to stand for the entire class. Every other baby is sitting on their mommy's laps but Finley! 

We had another Picnic-In-The-Park on Friday evening. I packed a cooler and we had a picnic dinner at Sharon Woods Metro Park. While the picnic dinner was fantastic, the park however was not. I thought we were going to get caught in the middle of a drug deal the entire time. The parkgoers there were sketchy to say the least. I don't think we'll be going back there anytime soon.

We planned on getting all of our shrubs and flowers this weekend so we could finish our landscaping project, but we were too busy and it was just too hot. Hopefully we'll finish everything one evening this week.

Saturday was Henry's 2nd birthday party!

Leslie did a great job on his 'Toy Story' party!

Finley was busy in her own little social circle...

Happy 2nd Birthday Henry!

After the birthday party, we went to the Westerville Music & Arts Festival. It was a nice arts festival and the music was pretty good. The only problem was it was so darn hot. The festival was at Heritage Park and Everal Barn.

We took a couple of breaks in the shade. Finley was very interested in the pine tree. I think she wanted to taste-test it.

We were going to try to get out early Sunday to go shopping for our shrubs and flowers, but we all ended up sleeping in. We spent the rest of Sunday morning being lazy until we had to get ready to go to Nan & Pap's house for Debbie's birthday party. Happy Birthday Debbie!

We were going to go visit Mom and Granny today, but it's just too hot, so we're staying in where it's cool!

Pumpkin Show...

Jim and I went to the Pumpkin Show last night! It was a busy evening. Jim got home around 4:50pm and we were in the car by 5:00pm. With traffic and then trying to find a parking spot, we finally got out of the car at 6:45pm! I drove because I knew about the parking situation and Jim hates the pressure of trying to find a parking spot that isn't a driveway or next to a yellow curb (this is why I drive when we go to German Village). I found a spot and parallel parked. I got the car in on the FIRST try. There was a lady out on her porch by where we parked and she told me she's been watching that parking spot all night. She said five cars had tried to pull in there, but couldn't do it and drove away. Wow... I. Am. A. Parralel. Parking. Badass.

Since we parked so far away, I knew we weren't able to go back to the car for the lawn chairs, so Jim was a trooper and carried two lawn chairs through the crowd. I didn't want to imagine standing all that time to wait and then watch the parade.

We made our way through the crowd to see the King Pumpkin!

We quickly got dinner (Jim got a Reuben and I got a slice of pizza) and then set up our lawn chairs. It was about 7:15pm and the Parade of Bands started at 8:00pm. Once we had to chairs set up, I went and got two slices of pumpkin pie and one slice of pumpkin roll for us! I made up my mind to splurge on one piece of pumpkin pie (with whipped cream).  I even passed on having any french fries so I could donate those carbs to my pumpkin pie. To my surprise, my blood sugar was fine! (Hmmm... now I wonder if TWO pieces of pie would have been OK?....)

By the time the parade actually wrapped around to where we were, it was about 8:30pm.

There were a ton of high school bands! Baby T either loved or hated the bands, because when the drums would go by, he/she would move around!

A now a side commentary about high school bands: OK, when I was in high school, our band director had strict rules we had to follow. By the looks of the high school bands last night, I think band directors these days have had their powers stripped away. I saw girls with messy hair (a lot had those messy buns with the pony tails pulled halfway through). When I was in band, our hair had to be in a french braid. I saw a girl that didn't even have a uniform on. I saw a guy with a full fledged goatee and another guy with a mustache and a skinny beard. Since when can high school guys have facial hair? We also saw two males (two different bands) in the flag corps. Times sure have changed.

Anyway, the parade was soooooo long. There were a couple of huge gaps- I'm talking about 10-15 minutes before the parade started back up again. It was really disorganized. The OSU band was the last band and they finally marched through at 10:35pm! I only got one decent picture.... I took other pics of the OSU band, but they were all blurry (I had the camera on the wrong setting. Boo, hiss!)....

By this time, we were really really cold. Despite the extra layers we wore, the blanket I brought, and even gloves, we were still freezing! We walked the long way back to car and headed home. We didn't make it home until midnight, but I still thought it was a fun time.

Fairfield County Fair...

Today was a beautiful (slightly chilly) fall day to spend at the FAIR! I went down this morning to Mom & Granny's and then we headed to the fairgrounds.

Normally, the focus of going to the fair is the fair food, but I had to limit myself on what I was eating. I did great and spaced out my fair food. My blood sugar was well below the limit all day, so I felt proud of myself for eating fair food in moderation!

I only got three pics from the fair today...

A fun fact about Mom... she vowed to quit smoking when she got back from Vegas (a week ago today) and she's pretty much done it. She's weened herself off and is officially out of cigarettes. She is using an e-cigarette to help and it's working! (an e-cigarette is an electronic cigarette that still 'smokes' (vapor) and has a rechargeable cartridge with different levels of nicotene to help the weening process). The bad news is that is still has some nicotene, but the good news is it doesn't have tar. Keep it up Mom!

A fun fact about Granny... she recently was recognized at her Volunteer Luncheon for making the 2,000 hours of volunteering at the hospital. She's been volunteering for about eight years now and reached 2,000 hours.  Way to go Granny!

No, I'm not trying to show off my belly, the wind was blowing!

(as you can tell, there wasn't anyone around to take a picture of the three of us!).

Fall fun...

Jim and I went to the Harvest Fest today at the Doran Farm. Jim's family and the Doran family have been friends ever since Jim can remember. Jim started working at the Doran Farm when he was 15 or so, and worked there throughout college.The Dorans are like a second family to Jim, since he's known them so long.

We got three pumpkins at the Doran Farm. A big one, a medium one and a baby one (I wanted to get a pumpkin family).

Here I am holding the pumpkin baby...

Oh, and I'm also holding (carrying) Baby T! I'm 27 weeks/6 days along here. Wow...I. Look. Huge.

Here's Jim holding the big daddy pumpkin....

After the Doran Farm, we went to Lynd's Fruit Farm just so I could get some homegrown Honey Crisp apples. Jim got some Empire and Golden Delicious apples.

We were originally going to run some other errands after our fall festivities, but I was tired. So we came home and I took a nap while Jim watched football.

Overall, a good day today.

Ohio State Fair...

Jim and I went to the Ohio State Fair Friday evening. Jim hadn't been to the fair since he was a freshmen in high school, and I hadn't been to the fair in about thirteen years. I worked at the Ohio State Fair when I was in younger in Granny & Pa's french fry trailer. Working the fair (for almost two weeks straight, in hot sweaty weather and hot grease) is a much different experience than just walking enjoying the fair.

The weather was perfect on Friday- it was around 80 degrees. Also, the traffic coming down 71 was almost non-existent (to my surprise) and we even got a parking spot near the entrance gate. Great weather, check. Easy traffic and parking, check check.

Friday was Ohio Lotto Day at the fair. If you brought a non-winning lottery ticket, you could get into the fair for $4.00. I'd bought two $1 scratch-off tickets earlier on Friday. I won $2 from one of the tickets, so I got one more ticket and then got $1 back. This was probably the only time I wanted NON-WINNING scratch-off tickets! So, we ended up getting into the fair for $9! Great deal since it's normally $10 per adult. 

We started off the fair on the Sky Ride. It was after we rode the Sky Ride I THEN saw the warning sign that advised expectant mothers NOT to ride the Sky Ride. Oops... we figured it was just for really really pregnant women where the safety bar would push against their bellies. I'm already giving up bacon and Jersey Mike's Club Subs, so riding the Sky Ride was my freebie.

NBC4 was filming their 5pm news from the fair. Here's Colleen Marshall...

Here's Colleen with Cabot Rea. Ellie Merritt and Jym Ganahl were also in the gazebo, but weren't broadcasting at this time. I thought this picture was funny... they weren't on the air at this particular moment, but Cabot is eating something and then Colleen was asking someone something... with her pointing, it looks like she's saying "what is this guy doing?!"

We didn't overdo it on the fair food... we shared a gyro from the Taste of Ohio Cafe. We walked along and then got french fries, loaded up with salt and vinegar, of course. If my Pa was still alive today, he'd have a fit over how much you could get out of selling french fries now. This is a small and it was $3.50! When we used to sell french fries at the fairs, our small was only $1.00!

I call this next series "Creative Food Marketing". I guess it's all about the gimmicks.

I love how it says "Sloppypockets AND MORE". What else could there be?!

The chocolate covered bacon was all the rage... we saw it and then kept on a walkin'....

 

If it's not deep fried, or not on a stick, then this place wasn't selling it...

 

And just when you thought you were getting a Corn Dog, oh no my friend... it's a Pronto Pup... (by the way, the 'N' is upside down. Lisa, don't show this to your Dad!).

 

"As featured on the Food Network Unwrapped..." Lemonade? Really?

Jim decided to be daring...

He's standing in line to get Deep Fried Buckeyes. This place also sold Deep Fried Oreos, Smores, Twinkies, Pop Tarts, Snickers and Peanut Butter & Jelly. Here's what Jim's $5 bought him...

I tasted one of the Buckeyes and it was sugar overload. Jim ate the other 4 3/4 of them. I was sure he was going to have a belly ache, but he didn't.

Some of the booths just weren't that creative with their marketing... see photo below.

Here's other random shots from the fair. I felt like taking pictures, so there's a lot of them.

 

I'm glad my due date didn't coincide with the fair...

Hang in there, I have more pictures!

I hate this picture of me, but Jim gets mad when I delete every single picture he takes of me.

 

Some of the landscaping had borders of little peppers...

Once it was dusk, we walked back around again just so I could take another round of pictures...

Thanks for a good time Ohio State Fair! See you next year (maybe).

 

Lancaster Art Walk...

Jim and I headed down to Lancaster yesterday evening for the Sweat Walk... er, I mean the Art Walk. During the Lancaster Festival, they always have an Art Walk in downtown Lancaster on that Friday evening. Most of the downtown businesses are open to display local collections of art and also serve snacks and refreshments. I had never been to it before, but decided it would be something fun to do. Except it was 130 degrees yesterday. Despite the heat, it was fun. 

 

Jim and I met up with Mom and Granny, Sara and Baby Troy (almost seven weeks old now), Nikki and Darrick, Faith and Hope.

Here's me with my big sweaty puffy face. I would've deleted it, but I think it's a good picture of Mom...

I ran into a couple of girls I went to high school with, and even some old friends- Terry and Trish Nettles...

Bethany had her 'B's Bakery' table set up selling her cookies and treats...

And then little man perked up...

A little blurry, but still so cute...

A fun time, but the best part of the entire evening was the air-conditioning in the car on the way home.

Circle S Farms...

Jen and I made our fifth annual trip to Circle S Farms last Sunday.  We've always enjoyed going, but we may end up finding another pumpkin farm next year... with a pumpkin, it was $11 to get in! ($8 if you didn't want a pumpkin) That's crazy!  Jen, Drew, Claire and I enjoyed the beautiful (but hot!) fall day- complete with photo ops, a hayride, picking our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, and two words that may justify the $11 admission price: PUMPKIN DONUTS.  Plus, they have apple cider there that's so darn good (I get two cups every year).  Here are the pictures from our outing...

 

And now, without further adieu...

It's that time of year again... time for Deep Fried Dill Pickles...

I took part of a tradition that I've been participating in for thirty-four years...I went to the Fairfield County Fair!  Some years I'm not able to make it down to Lancaster during the week of the fair, but I was able to go down on Saturday, October 11th (the last day of the fair).  I parked at the mall and took the shuttle bus over to the fairgrounds.  Mom, Granny, Bud, Deb and Chad all met me and we walked around and enjoyed the fair festivities- which mainly include fair food, especially deep fried fair food, hence the....

We met up with Michelle, Rick, Olivia, Averie and Sara...

Averie's really grown since the last time I've seen her.  She LOVES Mom and loves to yell "AUNT KAAYTEE!".  She is so funny.  Michelle got the girls a bag of cotton candy that had four colors in the bag.  Averie was yelling "PINK AND YELLOW!  PINK AND YELLOW!"  These two pictures of her crack me up.  I love that she's just so into the cotton candy...


While walking around, Granny hopped on one of the tractor displays.  I tried to get Mom to lay down in front of it on the ground like Granny was running over her, but Mom wouldn't (she said she would pee her pants.  And I believe her).

My good friend Terry Nettles was working at the Sheriff's tent and I was able to catch up with him for a bit.  It was so good to see him- it's been awhile since I've seen him.  I met Terry back in 1992! while I was on the Replenishment Team at Sears.  We've had some funny, funny, FUNNY times together.

 

While the Ohio State Fair may have the Butter Cow, the Fairfield County Fair had a gourd that looked like a swan...

 

Mom ran into her friend Jan and here they are striking a pose.  I think Jan is trying to put the moves on Brutus though.  Geesh- get a room, Jan.

The leaves were starting to turn and it was such a beautiful day.  Here are other shots from the fair...