Vanderburgh County 4H Fair

The Vanderburgh County 4H Fair has special memories for me. As I have mentioned before, I was in 4H for ten years and worked as a summer staffer for two years. Vanderburgh county is where it all happened! This is what we worked for! Now granted, we might have started most of our projects just a week before the fair started, but it was all worth it once you stepped foot into the fair. The excitement, joy, and anticipation to see how you did with your projects is a memory I hope I never lose. Working for 4H was one of, if not, my favorite jobs I have ever had! Pure joy and positive attitudes! (Something I miss a little bit!) Growing up, we were at the fair every day basically from open to close. We haven't been able to come the last two years so I jumped at the bit to come this year. To the point that I had just finished my first three days of school with kiddos and my son's birthday party was the very next day. (Did I mention it is a two hour drive to get here?) It was worth it!!! I enjoyed the best fair food (walking tacos and ice cream), looked at some awesome projects, checked out some animals, hung out with my family, and saw some familar faces!

Owen was ready for the fair after Mama talking about it so much! :)

Owen must be pretty special to Pops, he shared some of his delicious ice cream with him!!!

All of you that know me, knew I couldn't pass up this photo-op!


Owen checking out the kissing llama in the petting zoo tent.

You are not seeing things, that IS Owen's name hanging up with the projects. My former 4H leader, better known as my second Mom, made this for Owen's room. She got 3rd place on her awesome work!!!

Uncle Jim came along with us and checked out the race car with Owen.

It was very entertaining watching Jim trying to get out of the race car. He lost his shoes and everything! :)

Have you ever seen a lawn mower with a grill on the back of it?!!

I think Owen was enjoying the fair, he got comfortable as you can see!

Owen had the best time running with Uncle Jim!

We left the fair a little earlier than in the past because of Owen's party the next day. So, we did miss out on the main event at the fair...the demolition derby! All in all, we had a great time! I hope that two years don't go by before we get back!

Hot Rods Baseball Game

We headed to Bowling Green on Friday night to go to the Hot Rods baseball game with our good friends, the Watson's.

Owen 'chillaxin' on the way to Bowling Green.

Morgan was able to get two free tickets for the upper deck through her work. She graciously gave Gabe her ticket so he could sit with her husband, Eric, and we could sit on the grass with the boys. Not long after we got there, Eli started off down the hill and she decided to let him try it out. He was very successful crawling down and back up the hill and decided to do it many more times.

Eli was pretty proud of himself, as he should be!

After watching Eli a few times, Owen decided to try it out for himself and enjoyed it too!

The weather was nice, the boys were entertaining, and it was fun to talk to a great friend! I don't know that we really watched the game at all. :) I can tell you that the Hot Rods won!!! The evening was topped off with some awesome fireworks after the game!

Louisville Zoo

Owen fought sleep most of the way to the zoo. His feet were too much fun!

Getting ready to check out the zoo!

The orangutan cracked us up! He was very entertaining and wanted to check out everyone's bags, standing up to see what was inside.

Doesn't it just make you want to go curl up with him and take a nap?

Watch Out!!! Live animal!

My little animal decided to pose for a picture.

Owen comparing the size of his hands to a gorilla's hands.

Silly boys!

The monkey's

Crazy little monkey

Sally the camel had....(Are you singing yet?)

We didn't get to see any elephants, so we decided to let Owen take a seat on this one.

So Gabe reads this sign that said something to the effect of check out the rhino's manure. So, Gabe being Gabe, starts turning the crank only to start laughing hysterically when water shoots all over me from from the rhino's behind. As you can tell, Owen thought this was pretty amusing as well.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but the Rhino was actually running. Gabe and I were amazed because we had never seen one move before, let alone run.

The rhinos were cracking us up standing back to back.

Owen and Dada taking the rhino for a ride.

All tuckered out after a fun day at the zoo!

Shopping Adventure

After hanging out at my parents house for a few days, my Mom was nice enough to bring me back home today. But, like always, it wasn't just a task - it was an awesome adventure! We called Jill on our way and she decided to meet up with us and ride to Bowling Green to have some lunch and do a little shopping.

Two car seats in Mom's car was fun! I was in heaven sitting between the boys, but as you can see we had a great opportunity to do some bonding with our tight fit.

Our first stop was at Heartstrings in Bowling Green. If you haven't been, I definitely recommend it! It is a cute little boutique shop that has everything polka-dotted and monogrammed that you can imagine, along with anything and everything cute! Mom found some super cute stuff for her desk! Then we hopped back in the car and headed to Mariah's for lunch. This is another awesome spot special to Bowling Green. The boys had a great time. Mason thought it was awesome that he could hear his echo so he tried it a few times and Owen loved banging his sippy cup on the table. I let him do this way too long because I forget that there are actually people around that don't think every little thing Owen does is adorable like his Mama does. Haha. Mom, Jill, and I shared a galaxy pie for dessert. This is my absolute favorite dessert of all-time I believe! YUM!!! After lunch, we headed to Essex. This is a random store that buys items other stores don't sell for a heck of a deal! We racked up with a LOT of goodies which was fun to figure out how to fit it all into the Vue. The last stop for the day was TJMaxx- where you always find something! I ended up with three Christmas gifts! I am pretty pumped I have gotten a start!

Jill with the boys on the way to my house. Her picture is WAY cuter than mine with the boys.

After a great day of shopping! (Just a little note that this was not all of the stuff that we found. There were also bags on the floor boards as well as on my lap.) I think you call that success!

I love days with Mom and Jill! There is never a dull moment with us! We talk about anything and everything, but even more than that we laugh non-stop. We usually all end up sore from laughing by the end of our visits. I wish we could have even more than we do. I don't know what I would do without them, they mean the absolute world to me! Love you Mom and Jill!

Burdette Park

On Tuesday, Jill and Mason came to hang out with us at Mom and Dad's. We hung out at the house and watched the boys play together. Of course, they obsessed over the same toy which totally cracks us up. Then we headed out to lunch and decided to go to the pool after that. We picked the perfect day to go to Burdette Park. The weather was really nice and the huge baby pool was practically empty.

Jill and I with the boys.
Owen made huge leaps and bounds from the last time I took him to the pool. He splashed around in the pool! As he got even more comfortable, he even stood on his own leaned up against the ledge and walked around a little bit.

Mason splashing around. He was so much fun to watch in the water. He even ran in the pool!

Owen showing off his turtle with his wild hair.

The boys!

Mason also liked to throw all of the squirter toys over his shoulder. As soon as Jill or Mom would put a toy on the ledge, it was over his shoulder! Owen was just wondering how or if he could grab a toy before it was gone again. =)

Owen trying to put his sunglasses on.

Warrick County 4-H Fair

On Sunday, Gabe and I went to Evansville to watch the final game of the World Cup at an Irish Pub (Ri Ra) in Evansville. After the game, we went to my parent's house where we all oohed and aahed over Owen and watched him play. Then Gabe hit the road to go home and I stayed to hang out with my parents for a few days. It was an awesome time, as it always is, with my parents and we did a lot of fun things! (Even though we wouldn't have to do anything in order to have a good time!) Monday night we went to the Warrick County 4-H Fair. I was in 4-H for ten years and then worked on summer staff for 2 summers after that. Needless to say, I love 4-H! And fairs are awesome! We had a great time and I just wanted to show some pictures of what we saw while we were there.

When Owen is in 4-H, Dada will want him to take this project. Dada loves to recycle and be green!

My favorite projects at this fair, with no surprise, were the piggy banks for the piggy bank pageant. Here are a couple of pictures of the creative piggy banks.

Owen saw most of the animals at the fair. To my surprise, he wasn't so sure about them. I think the fact that he was very sleepy had a little bit to do with it.

The pigs tried to eat his stroller wheels. So if you take your kiddos to a fair, watch out!

The duck was the only animal he reached out for.