County Fair 7/18/08

We headed over to the county fair last Friday night to see the animals. Hope was talking about horses the whole time. We showed her cows/calves, chickens, bunnies, hamsters and other rodents, pigs, sheep, llamas...TONS of animals, but she couldn't stop talking about the horses.

We got to the fair and had a yummy hot beef sandwich. While we were sitting there we saw Great-Grandma Heutmaker which was fun. We usually expect to run into her while we're there since she lives a block away, but we just never know. Hope was pretty happy to see her. They watched the juggling show for a bit before we decided to head off on a mission in search of animals.

Great-Grandma "Hoot," Grandson, & Great-Granddaughter


Checking Out the Chickens (click to enlarge this one for a fun expression)

There was a guinea pig being brushed on the table they were watching here.

Horses...FINALLY!



We stopped by one particular horse and Hope thought it was a riot when he was biting hay out of his feed bag on the door. She also is practicing her sign language in this video.

On our way back from the horses, we ran into cousin Mitchell and Uncle Rick. They were on their way to the tractor pull. Here is proud Daddy/Uncle Ron with two of his favorite children in the whole world.

Hope and Daddy shared an ice cream cone just before we headed to the car.

Hope smelling the flowers on our walk back. I love the vibrant colors here. You can see just how beautiful an evening we had.

Dragon Boat Festival

On July 12th, we went to the Dragon Boat Festival at Lake Phalen. We enjoyed the park, saw some of the rowing teams practicing, and had the chance to meet some of our MN Red Thread (web group) families. It was a beautiful day and a fun cultural event for all of us. I would imagine in the next few years Hope will be more interested in participating in the activities and watching the races, but for now, we had a great time with our friends and Grandma and Grandpa.

Let's go. I think we have everything. - The way we had that stroller packed we probably could have camped overnight. :)

Off the Path - Hope and Grandpa wanted to get closer to the water to catch a glimpse of the practicing teams.

Proud Grandma & Grandpa

One of Hope's favorite outdoor activities...collecting sticks.

On our way up to meet the Red Thread group, we took a quick detour to see the dragon head. Here you can see the eyes are white. During the opening "Awakening of the Dragon" dance/performance/ceremony, the eyes were painted red to signify the beginning of the festivities. At the end, they were painted white again to rest for another year.

See the boats, Mama?

Dancers

MN Red Thread Group - We had a big group meet for this event. There were even more who arrived after our group photo op. It was so wonderful to put faces to familiar names from our on-line correspondence. There are some fantastic people in this group...so gracious with support, ideas, and friendship. We all were very excited too, because two families from our group received referrals with the last batch so we all got to oogle over the pictures. YEA!...more babies coming home.

Impromptu Ring-Around-the-Rosie (travelmates Hope, Olivia, & new friend Lily)



Snack Time - We stopped for a quick snack while we waited for Daddy to join us from work.

We finished our morning by trying some of the food delicacies there before strolling through some of the vendor area. This was one of the ladies displaying her work. Isn't it remarkable?

Hammin' It Up After Lunch

And so ends our 2008 Dragon Boat Festival Experience. Bye Mr. Dragon. See ya' next year.

Ahhh...

Well, here I sit...ON VACATION!!! Can you believe it?! I can't! I was starting to really be bothered by how fast this summer is flying by. Our weekends are all full until I go back to work at the end of August. I didn't think we were going to be able to make a vacation happen this summer. But it worked out, and here we are. It feels so good to be away from home for a few days. We all needed to get away. There always seems to be a project (or two, or three) waiting for our attention when we're home. The rest of this week is going to be a very welcome change of pace.

So, I thought since I have a little time tonight that I might update our site a bit. It seems that I always have some catching up to do. I mostly want to just add photos. Hopefully over the next couple of days, between relaxing, swimming, fishing, playing, geocaching, and enjoying general vacation type stuff, I'll be able to add some photos from the past month and share some memories.

I'll start now with some updates about our 4th of July. Here are a couple of pictures from that morning. Hope has developed a morning routine. Almost every morning after breakfast, she takes some time in her room to read. She pulls every book off her shelf, flips through the pages, and tells herself the stories. Some she knows, some she makes up, and some she just looks at, but she is reading nonetheless. It is so cute to spy on her. Most of the time she wants to be alone and if she catches me looking in on her she'll give me the business, pointer finger and everything. "Go o'wer woom, Mama!" But, once in a while she'll take my hand and say, "Mama, come on. Sit here. This one is for you, Mama." Then I get to read, too. Isn't that cute?












The evening of the 4th, we met our good friends Cheryl, Chris, and Steven for some carnival time. We kept trying to get Hope on the rides, but she'd make it around once and they'd stop the ride so she could get off. She just wasn't interested this time.



















Each time Hope got off we got her tickets back (nice, huh?). So the boys took a spin on the "Tilt-A-Whirl."

Dinner Time with Our Friends - Thanks for a great night, guys! Though we don't see you often enough, it seems that when we're together no time has passed. You are wonderful friends and we are thankful for the fun times we are blessed to share.



We have some friends we know from church who celebrate the 4th every year with a BIG BANG! Though there are fireworks involved, there was no pun intended. :)

Making Her Entrance

Hope got to try tubing down hill on the slip-n-slide. I was nervous about that, but she had a great time. She also had her first jumping castle experience. I was able to climb in alone with her at first so she could warm up to the idea, but once she understood how the whole thing worked she had a great time. I was so happy when she decided it was OK to be in there. I'd had about enough of the bouncing around myself. Fresh air and solid ground couldn't come soon enough for me. Hope has been jumping since that night. She practices several times a day and she's even starting to get some air under those feet now.


(The other little girl in the video is Hope's friend Hope B. :) They have lots of fun together!)

Also that weekend we met some more of our friends at our favorite park for a picnic and play. Hope adores looking up to Lauren (who is our God-daughter by the way...we are SO lucky!). It was HOT HOT HOT that afternoon, so the girls played for a bit after our picnic, but it wasn't long before we were huddled in the shade drinking our water. Here are some of my favorite shots from that day.



I think they sorta like each other. ;)

So, we had a great holiday weekend! That was the start of our July. Hopefully I'll be able to update with a few more things soon.

Night All...

Swimming & Friends

This post is mostly about the pictures. But, then again, aren't they all. :)

First I thought I'd post some cute shots of Hope enjoying her pool. Uncle Mark and Aunt Andria gave her this a year ago in June when we were first home from China. She loved it then and she loves it now. (July 1)

"Mama, I'm ready Mama."

It was fun to lay down and splash Mama, too.



"I'm getting my hair wet Mama."

~ Spinning! ~

On July 2, we met our friends Betsy, Elizabeth, and Anna at Teddy Bear Park. Anna and Hope came home from Guangxi together so their family will always have a special place in our hearts. It was a fun morning and we're so happy we were able to spend some time together. I pretty sure the girls had a good time, too!























































I love this picture. Hope wasn't crazy about the bear and wanted to get down. She just wasn't sure how to make that happen.

This one is for Grandpa. :)