What a busy weekend we had! Auntie B and Auntie Mimi flew in from Denver on Thursday evening. The boys had a picnic with them and Grammy at Riemen Gardens in Ames on Friday. The night, we took off for Marcus to attend the 75th Marcus Fair. There are several things I love about that little fair. The admission is FREE....you can't say that about much anymore. Basically, the only thing you pay for is your food and ride tickets. All the entertainment, from the tractor pull to the hypnotist to the horse show to the parade is FREE! It was also wonderful to know that I could give my kids (and myself) a little roaming room. Seriously, everyone knows everyone. If someone tried to steal my kid, someone else would say "Hey, that kid doesn't belong to you." The boys were so excited that they could actually run ahead of me without me yelling for them to hold my hand or stay close. We took in some animals and of course, Grammy sprung for lots of ride tickets. Great Auntie Mary let the boys have their first "camping" experience by letting us sleep in her camper in her backyard. They loved it!
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| They would always give a "thumbs up" to the operator when they were ready to go. |
On Sunday we went out to Uncle Cody and Aunt Jen's house on the farm. We had a birthday party for the 4 kiddos. Emma and Jonathan's birthdays are in August and the boys' are in October. Unfortunately, no one is going to be able to make it to the other ones birthday parties and the aunts weren't sure if they could come back again this year. So, we had a celebration. There was grilling, presents, cake, and cousins playing. Uncle Cody topped it off by taking the boys out in the tractor to rake hay.
After 3 fun filled days, the Marcus Fair came to an end for another year. The boys were so tired, they could hardly put one foot in front of the other, but they would never admit their exhaustion. They slept for 13 hours straight!! Monday morning, we popped up bright and early and all headed out to the Iowa State Fair. The boys received strict instruction that they would need to ride in strollers because this was a GIANT fair. I think they may still have been a little exhausted from the weekend and liked being pushed because there wasn't much fuss about stroller riding :) They each lined an arm with tattoos from the Varied Industries Building, ate lots of good food, did Little Hands on the Farm, saw animals, rode the sky glide, sat on tractors, and ate some more (gotta have the warm chocolate chip cookies!).
After all of that, we took the aunties to the airport and said our goodbyes. You would think we would be "faired" out after all of the that, but when we put them to bed, they asked if we could go to the fair again tomorrow. They were pretty disappointed when I told them it was a school day and we would have to wait a whole year before it was fair time again. We have had such a fun summer and can hardly believe it's coming to an end. We are hoping for a few more pool days in the next couple of weeks. It's starting to get dark earlier at night and the evenings are beginning to feel cool. Sure signs that fall is on its way. In 2 short weeks, we'll be in IA City for the much anticipated surgery and then we'll know for sure, that summer is over.
