Summer

I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated the blog.

The 4th of July was a really great time. Gabe was not affraid of the fireworks at all and even got to hold a sparkler all by himself this year. Although, since it gets dark so late here, he was ready to go home about half way through the fireworks.

We went camping on 3 of the most miserably hot and humid days of the year this year. We went to Brown County State Park. Gabe loved it, he got to sleep in his own tent! He did surprisingly well. I, on the other hand, did not enjoy it too much. Our tents were under some kind of trees that produced nuts and dropped them frequently! So at night you would here a nut falling throught the trees and then usually would land either on the tent our just outside the tent (it woke me up every time it happened). Besides my airbed deflated in the middle of the first night (pregnant and sleeping on the hard ground do not go well together).

We took Gabe to qualifications for the 400 this year. He loved it up until Jeff Gordon qualified and then he wanted to go do "fun stuff". It was cute. Jeff came out for his 2 lap qualifing and Gabe was cheering "Go Jeff". As soon as Jeff was off the track Gabe wanted to leave NOW! He was grumpy the rest of the afternoon (it was really humid and hot that day). He wanted to do "fun stuff" because we think he thought it was going to be like going to the fair (we had just taken him to the county fair a few days before where he got to ride a ride and play a game). So he was looking for rides and games at the track.

Then, of course, Mike and I went to the race the next day. This is something we really look forward to all year, and about the only "fun" outing we spend money on all year also. It was alot of fun up until the race started. If you know anything about racing I'm sure you've heard about all the tire issues that happened that day. They (NASCAR) threw "competition cautions" every 12 laps because the tires were so aweful. So the race kinda drug on and there was no real racing going on. This was no fun to sit through, especially with my 6 month pregnant belly making me uncomfortable. As disappointing as it was for us this year, we still decided to renew our tickets for next year. Surely that kind of performance won't happen more then once at the same track! Even with the disappointing race we still enjoyed most of our day at the track. The weather was pretty nice for once. I'm a fan of the winner (Jimmie Johnson), and Jeff didn't do so bad either (5th).

We finally have a full size patio!!!!!!! My brother-in-law and a few others built us a patio so we no longer have that little step coming out the back door. It is so nice to go out there and eat lunch or to just relax.

We had Gabe's 3rd birthday party on Aug. 2. He had a blast (and went the whole day without his usual nap and didn't crash!!). Towards the end he and his cousin Hayden (1 yr. younger) had alot of fun in the pool with daddy. We had a Caillou party since this is one of his favorite cartoon characters from PBS. I made the cake. I couldn't find a Caillou pan to bake it in so I found a Bob the Builder pan and modified it to look like Caillou. All that mattered when I was done was that Gabe thought it looked like Caillou (I thought it was starting to resemble Charlie Brown a little since they're both bald, but Gabe didn't think so).

Thursday we took him to the State Fair were he again got to ride a ride (with Daddy) and play one game. We've decided, after seeing prices for ride tickets, that when our kids are big enough to ride alot of rides and play other games we can't take them to the county fair AND the state fair all in the same year. Luckily the county fair is free to get into (and it's right here in Franklin), but the state fair is going to be pricey just to get into let alone ride rides and eat. Gabe got to try his first elephant ear and loved it!

I think that's about all the updating needed right now.