County Fairs.

We're pretty biased when it comes to fairs. As far as these hillbillies are concerned, the best fair is in Henry County, Ohio. Really. We had the biggest barns, best animals, longest parades, a queen and princess of just about everything you could think of including the royal Tomato-Head-Queen (I called her Tomato Head, really it's just Tomato Queen. You can tell I was never queen of anything.). There is a big circle midway for lots of walking and cane cracking (I think the walking sticks have been outlawed?). And, the grandstand announcer would say absolutely anything you asked to be announced...like calling people to the hog barn. Troy's friends used to do their school shopping at the fair grandstand for concert tshirts! This fair still has the best milkshake stand ever and so many good food wagon choices that your head would spin...Fay's Taco Wagon and the Texas Tenderloin barn. mmmhhmm. My mouth waters.

The kids got to spend some summer time with Gramma Gayla and Grampa Steve. And, luckily for them it was over fair week and with all of their cousins. Unfortunately for mom and dad, Gramma Gayla has a weakness for nearly any of her grandchildrens' requests. We think she used up all of her "no"s with her own children. I'm not sure how many attempts it took but somehow Nate and Tessa won the coveted goldfish. Mom and Dad were secretly hoping they would D-I-E in Ohio, but we weren't so lucky. So, we have welcomed two goldfish to our family. Nate named his Skipper. Tessa named hers Marble. Gramma Gayla generously got them fish bowls with stones and fish food. We are now learning responsibility around here. Dad and I are pretty sure the lesson in death is near.

The following pictures are courtesy of Gramma Gayla.

Rainy day and they go to the germ infested, sexual predator haven known as Chuck E Cheese. All the kids pooled their tickets and got bunch of candy.

Playing dress up L to R: Nate is the spiderman/statue of liberty, Keaton in the middle back, Haley with rainbow mask, Cole with football hat in front, and Tessa with the fake teeth.Cole and Nate hanging out with big Cousin Keaton and doing some cool skateboard tricks. Where is the safety gear, Gramma?

Tessa driving truck at the HCF.

Nate and Cole

Miss T seeing how she measures up.

Back for more with Cousin Christian.

Nate, Christian and Tessa.

Aunt Kelly and Cousin Christian on the Merry Go Round.

This kids with a bunch of fair loot.

Tess and Marble.

Nate and Skipper

Fair food! Yay! Look! A elephant ear, fries, milkshakes...all my favorite!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

While I was trying to catch up on vacation pictures our beloved Daddy had a birthday pass! The kids and I surprised him with a tandem kayak! He wasn't really surprised as in a fit in the days before the big day Nate decided to blurt out that we were getting him a kayak. Nevertheless, he was happy. Nate and Tessa picked out the color and I forked over the cash. I felt pretty cool driving around town with a big ole orange kayak strapped to my van. Very hippy and granola and outdoors-man-like. I decided to run some extra errands that day! He's made some trips down the river with some buddies and a few with Nate as co-captain.

The kids sitting in the kayak in the yard waiting for Troy to come home.

That's them actively rowing as Troy pulls in the driveway.

Nate and Troy launching in the river.

Sun & Fun

We spent the remaining 10 days of our glorious vacation at the lake. We sure did go through a lot of sunscreen, Roarin' Water Capri Suns and Coors Light. We drank beers and got brown and fat. Well, we all didn't drink beer. And, we all didn't get fat. But, we all did get brown. I might have been the only one that did all three. I have come to some wisdom in my 29+6 years of youth. Cancer is not cool but brown fat is more attractive that white fat. I digress. We packed in a bunch of water sports too. Nate did an awesome job at wake boarding and managed to drink only half the lake leaving some behind for his sister to zip sled. Tessa was brave enough to stand up on the zip sled this go round and ranked herself pretty high in the coolness category!

Nate wake boarding

Look at that little man go

Miss T zip sledding...apparently it's the 1960s way to learn how to ski...

Can you tell she's getting the hang of it? She's singing. Pry her favorite song, Dynamite.

"I put my hands up in the air sometimes sayin' hey oh, you've got to let go..."

Tubing in the Surf Sausage.

Nate covered and docked his boat for the night. Seriously. This kid may write some of his letters and numbers backwards on occasion and may not enjoy reading too much but he doesn't lack for creativity.

Nate and Troy having some fun out on the sand bar.

A serious ski picture.This picture sums up our vacation. Loads of fun. Enough to make you just fall to the floor in exhaustion. It's a crying shame that in this family we have to work to earn vacation.

Sleeping Bear

Not sure sure if the bears were sleeping while the we were in town! We spent a gorgeous day at the Sleeping Bear Dunes while on our trek up north. It's amazing such a beautiful place is in the state of Michigan. We made a wise decision and took the car tour through the park first and got out several different look outs to enjoy the scenery. A few of the look outs were several hundred feet tumbles of sand to the beautiful aqua waters of Lake Michigan. While it was incredibly beautiful my usually relaxed demeanor quickly went in to Momma Bear mode as my children were "enjoying the scenery." Yikes! The signs and pamphlets all say to stay on the paths and not to go down the steep hills of sand for the risk of a slide and warns against a very difficult climb back up. I give my kids the rules. We get out of the car. And, nevertheless, there are the majority of the other visitors breaking the rules. So, Nate decides it would be fun to run and slide in the sand. Aahhh. I was a nervous wreck. Had I not been busy death clutching the both of them I for surely would have eaten my fingers off. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got in the car and admitted that I had a hard time enjoying that little jaunt.

Glen Lake

Dunes. You are told not to go off the beaten path as it may take years for the vegetation to regrow.

Clutching my babies at one of the look outs.

Troy wrangled Tessa on to his shoulders and made it a little easier to breathe.

This is Michigan people!

Hiking up to one of the look outs.

Nate. Off the beaten path. Sorry mother earth.

After the car tour we went to the dune climb. Good lord. The sand was HOT and luckily for us we had already seen the final "view" so we didn't feel inclined to trek the whole 2.5 miles.

It's so deceiving as once you think you are almost to the top you find there is just more and more sand!

Family self photo.

My munchkins about 1/2 mile up the climb.

And more vacation...

Nate with his pirate eye. Enjoying a beverage and snack on the hotel patio.

Yep, those are my kids "playing Keno" at the bar. No, really, we were working on number recognition!

Playing at the park

On the climbing wall at the boat basin park.

One of the nice boats we talked about making it's way into the harbor at dusk.