Abby’s Birthday

Abby turned one on the fifteenth. Both Tara and I are in shock! We just brought her home from the hospital and now are little baby is one.

Ever since Emma’s 2nd birthday, we’ve used a polka-dot themed door display for birthdays. She loved it and Tara and I enjoyed watching her play with them. The little dots just proved too much for her to resist.

That night, we had a small family dinner at Acapulco Restaurant in Stillwater with family. Her big party is this weekend. She got a few presents and got to spend a little time with her great grandma. It’s a great family place and now that Adam works there, it works well with the family.

Jake is helping Abby with her new toy.

Jacob had a little homework to do and Uncle Adam got him some bottle caps for his collection if he finished it. He’s been doing great in school and we’re happy with the progress. He’s reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade level.

After, we went to Nelson’s (home of the ridiculously large ice cream cones) and Abby got her first taste of Ice Cream. Jake’s friend Hunter was there and they got to hang out.

Jacob and his friend Hunter.

All told it was a nice family time with everyone: Grandma & pappa, Grandma McCloud, Adam, Shelly, Emily & Kelly, and our family. Very nice to have a relaxing day ahead of big party on Saturday.

State Fair

Today was our annual trip to the Minnesota State Fair.  We really didn’t go to the fair until we had Jake.  That year we owned the salon and had to couple the birth of our first with grappling with two career and the perils of small business ownership.  The State Fair was the first time that we got to act like a normal family, and I really can’t tell you how much that affected us.  The stress was almost intolerable, and that trip was really the day we needed.

Over the years, we have gotten organized in how we approach this trip.  Most of the strategy involves our food rules:

1. Never, ever eat anything that isn’t on your “list”.
2. The list can only contain must-have items.
3. Cheese Curds are always, always a must have.
4. Only buy one of everything – that way everyone gets a nibble and nobody fills up.
5. Always share with everyone.

This year, we did some rides, which is new.  Normally we have a strict no-ride policy.  We got there early and the Tara, Jake and Emma did the Skyride – leaving me to push Abby in the stroller at a dead run under them.  The kids got to go on the Space Needle thing and ride a couple of other to boot.

We love to go to the animal barns and this year the kids got to pet a 3 day old baby pig.

One of our favorites is the “Little Hands Farm” where the kids get to walk through the business model of a farm.  They raise animals, plant seeds, collect milk, harvest food… and then take it all to market where they collect some fake money to spend on real stuff.

Emma got a “Fair-Do” and Jacob got some face-painting.  They looked great!

We had a TON of food!  Here’s a list and some pictures.

1. Red wine ice cream for the grown-ups.  It’s 5 o’clock dessert time somewhere.
2. Real apple cider from the Agriculture Barn
3. Mini donuts – a kid favorite!
4. A pronto pup.  Abby had her first bite of one and LOVED IT!
5. Swedish egg coffee from the Luther eatery by the Eco Building.  Supposedly it’s brewed with an egg.  Can’t taste the difference, myself.
6. Bratburger from the Ballpark Cafe (a smashed brat on a pretzel bun).
7. Grain Belt beer from the Ballpark Cafe (following the rule:  the warmer the weather, the cheaper the beer).
8. Drinks:  Lemonade for Emma, 1919 Root Beer for Jake
9. Key lime pie on a stick.  They really shouldn’t sell fair food with the nutritional information printed on it.
10. Big fat bacon. Thanks to a recommendation.
11. Summit Extra Pale Ale.
12. Cup of fruit.  Cleanse the pallet.
13. Cheese Curds.  A favorite of everyone!
14. Blackberry sundae from the dairy tent for mom and dad.
15. Twist cone for the kids.  Oh what a mess!
16. A funnel cake – very disappointing and there is only one place to have one at this fair – how wrong is that?!?!?
17. Sweet Martha’s Cookie.

Nice Day at the Trabin

We had a nice time at the Trabin again. The morning started off looking awful, but beach weather was in full force by the time we got there.

Grandma provided some floats for the kids and blew them up (which we were more than happy to let her do).

And the grown-ups hung out on the five square feet of beach that is Lake Sturgeon Beach.

Weekend at the Trabin

I’m sitting in the trabin on Sunday watching baby Abby sleep and listening to Connie and Debbie read Grandma Brown’s journal on the porch.

There’s a fly that keeps landing on Abby and waking her up a little. I’ve been chasing it around with a fly swatter between reading a biography of Carly Fiorina (former HP CEO).

We’ve had a nice weekend. Tim was here till about 6 last night with Dorothy and then took off (timing the drive around the Twins game so he could listen to it on the way home). I got in an afternoon nap then we had a dinner of brats and hotdogs.

This is what Emma looks like when she is up TOO late!

The little bar here promised to save some bottle caps for Jake’s collection, but when we came back in the morning (per the agreement) they had been thrown out. A promise of getting some from Uncle Adam’s job at Acapulco and two choco-taco’s made everything better.

Tara and I got a run in down Pumpkins Seed road and enjoyed a nice time by the fire and S’Mores (a trabin favorite).

Sleeping arrangements are notable… Shelly slept where the table is, Karen took the couch (against my protests), Jake and Emma slept on fluffy blankets on the floor, Abby had the playpen, and Tara and I got the… BIG BED. We were woken up in the middle of the night by a white horse neighing really loudly right outside the window and Abby getting up several times.

Breakfast was sausage, pancakes and eggs cooked in the grease from the sausage.

It’s fun listening to the ladies read from Grandma Brown’s journal. Lot’s a family history mixed with world history. Notable was the comment about Clinton. Something to the effect that ‘he did have an affair with that Lewinsky woman… bad news for our country’.