Missing Dad

Roo spent a week in Germany at a trade show. We tried to stay busy without him.

We played on the rocks

We played with the dogs.

We missed him!

We met princesses

And stormtroopers

We played at the park

And braced ourselves for cold weather.

Princesses

California Trip #1 (of 3)

Our annual trip to the Hollywood Bowl for the John William's concert. This time it was sans children.

We saw JJ Abrams in the audience and Roo had the courage to ask for a picture. He was a nice guy.

We spent a day at Disneyland

The churro was Roo's favorite part of the day.

Getting completely soaked on Splash Mountain was Roo's least favorite part of the day. He vowed never to ride Splash Mountain again.

I thought getting soaked was fun.

Our friends introduced us to the best breakfast place ever! Yummy french toast!

This and That

Penny's hair is getting more awesome by the day.

Esmé as a chef

Penny half naked riding a tricycle with a dog.

Watching a summer storm

Snack time

A long car ride (one of many)

Esmé's first day of preschool

My Girls (and boy)

The Eastern Idaho State Fair

One Saturday we were feeling the call of the wild, so we drove 40 minutes to Blackfoot for the Eastern Idaho State Fair. A few blocks past what I imagine to be the world's largest and only potato museum, we found parking in some dude's front yard. He charged $5. We felt cheated when we saw his neighbor was only charging $4. Oh well, we unloaded the kids and the (one) stroller (big mistake to only bring seating for one child.) and headed off.

Then we found out you have to pay cash to enter the fair. Of the $12 we needed, we only had $8. Promise of an ATM sent us walking about a mile. The ATM was broken of course, so we begged like gypsies at the admission window and some generous Idahoan behind us spotted us the $4 we needed to get in.

Once inside, we enjoyed the splendors of the state fair, or at least the eastern half of the state.

Food stalls, of should I say "food" stalls, as far as the eye could see.
"There's more food here than in all of Africa," said Roo. He was not very tempted by any of it, though.
"How can you say no to fair food?" I asked.
Then Roo asked if I wanted "Steak on a Stick."
"No," was my reply.

We saw a fine collection of pelts from your favorite large rodent species. Skunk being among them.
We saw a lot of stuff ranging from semi-junky to severely junky for sale.
We saw this Bimbo's sign, which I felt captured the essence of the fair atmosphere.

Then we saw the animals. Lots of animals. Cows, sheep, rabbits, tiny horses, huge horses. By the time we'd seen them all, my throat had swollen up and my lungs were giving out. So we moved on. In fact, we moved on all the way home.

We spent about 30 minutes at the fair and had a good time. When our parking attendant dude saw we were already leaving he said, "You're already leaving?!" I offered no explanation beyond, "Yep." I figure he made $5 on our parking space and was able to fill it up again with another $5 patron in less than an hour. And considering we only had to pay $8 for our day at the fair, I'd say both he and we did pretty well.

What Happens when Penny Goes to the Carwash

This is during the Hot Foam Presoak:

Then sometime between the Touchless Wash and the Spot-Free Rinse:

Happens every time.