WI State Fair

It's that time of year again.  Time for the Wisconsin State Fair.  For the past three years now we've been making the trip to the fair with our parents (it's always nice to have the adults outnumber the kids at a place with so many people).  As usual, the kids had a great time, and this year Myles wasn't as obsessed with animal poop as he was last year! Ha! 

Two rides down the pig slide for $1.
The silliest slide but they always love it.

We of course ate our way through the fair.  There's no other way.  Always on my list is a cob of corn dunked in butter (just thinking about it is making my mouth water...) and a corn dog.  Yes, culinary excellence right there.  I love a corn dog at a festival. 

Nora and Myles were looking forward to the big slide since they found out we were going to the fair again. Nora was pretty sure she'd be tall enough this year to go alone.  She was barely tall enough but she ended up chickening out and went down with Grandma. Myles went with Dan and even Greta had her inaugural ride!

The best part about the fair for Nora and Myles this year had to have been the "Power Jump". 

Have you seen it before? It's a ride where you get buckled into a harness and lifted up above a trampoline so you can jump really high and even do flips if you want.  

Waiting his turn

My prediction was that Nora would love it but I wasn't as confident about Myles.  I thought he could go either way - either love it or be a little nervous about going that high (I mean they were waaay above our heads.)

Strapped in and ready to jump!

Turns out he LOVED it! He did a few summer saults and everything.

And look who we happened to run into! 

Karen's family and Dave's family! 

Luke, Caroline, Evan, Myles, Ben, Claire, Greta & Nora

We finished the day with our traditional Sky Glide ride from one end of the fair grounds back to the beginning. 

Myles with mom and dad - Nora went with Gram.
Greta goes with Grandma and Grandpa with the strollers to meet us at
the end.

It was such a hot day. We were done with the fair by 1:00 and headed back to Dale and Mary Ann's to cool off and take a break in the air conditioning for a while.  After a couple of hours we headed to the club to take a dip in the pool and dinner on the patio.  A perfect end to a great day.

The following morning we walked down to the train park before lunch.

We weren't prepared with swimming suits for the fountains there.... 

but swimming suits at splash pads are kind of overrated, right?

There's just something about being soaking wet in your clothes that screams childhood and summer.

We're making memories.

On the walk home Nora asked if we could stop in by Gramma Gramma's to say hi. Can't say no to that!  After a quick change we walked over.  

Greta wanted NOTHING to do with Gramma Gramma this time.  She usually
is really good with her but she didn't even want to sit for the picture.
This is better than no picture though, right?

This is a weekend that we ALL enjoy every year and this year was no exception. 

Catching Crayfish

Dan had a work event downtown on Friday so I packed the kids up Thursday afternoon and took them to Gram's for a couple of nights. We were already planning on heading up for the weekend for our annual trip to the Wisconsin State Fair so we just extended our time there.

Our Thursday started out like many of our summer days do, with a morning hunt for real cicadas. I'm completely grossed out by them but the kids aren't so I try to put on a brave face. Who am I to dampen their excitement when they find one that hasn't crawled out of its shell yet?

Myles proudly holding his critter box, a birthday
present from Uncle Greg, filled with six cicadas
and two caterpillars.

Checking out the stash.

Friday morning we met my Uncle Greg for breakfast. So nice to see him again.  It had been a long time. Right before bedtime the kids and I will often share 2-3 of our favorite things from the day.  Chocolate chip pancakes with Uncle Greg topped both of their lists Friday.  Warms my heart.

In the afternoon we headed to the river by the park to go crayfish hunting.  Warning -- I took along my DSLR so this post is picture overload! 

Monkey see, Monkey do.
She crawled all the way to the top! Meanwhile Gram was under her
making sure she didn't fall and giving her heart palpitations. 

I was so happy I snapped quite a few great pictures of this boy.  Looking back through the past few months of pictures I have I noticed I didn't have many of him that he wasn't making a face, not looking, or blurry! 

He was a little nervous to get all the way to
the top but kept trying and eventually made it! 

Forever striking a pose, usually with that
shoulder. 

Finally after some climbing it was time to head into the river.

Greta didn't get into looking for crayfish but she did enjoy collecting rocks.

And watching them make a big splash.

The first, and smallest, catch of day went to Nora.

Myles caught the "granddaddy of them all" as
he called it.

Proud of his haul.

Setting them free.

It was a really hot and humid day -- perfect for crayfish hunting. We finished the day with dinner, ice cream and an early bedtime. Everyone was happily exhausted.