Applefest

 I planned out our Saturday with lots of festivals.  We started at the Applefest in Sydney.  We packed our lunch and ate it there while listening to an 80's rock revival group.  We walked around looking at the farmer's market and booths.  The real find was the antique store with the animated horse outside.  It was the first day open and Tristan found a few things for his future office.  We headed off to Marysville for their craft festival in conjunction with the covered bridge festival.  On the way there we got stopped by a parade in a tiny town, Degraff.  It was the county fair and we decided to stop and check it out.  After looking at the produce and walking through an antique store we were ready to go but got stopped by a girl giving us tickets for the rides.  So Kalia had her first experience on fair rides.  I think she loved it.  By the time we got to Mary'sville they'd shut down, but it was still a very fun and productive fall Saturday.  I love festival season!

The makings of a fish

This summer we've had a few adventures to the pool.  Though most of the time we're all getting wet and don't bring a camera.  Since Amalyn was napping and Tristan took Kalia I decided to run over and snap some pictures of our budding fish.

The beginning of the summer Kalia would flip out in the bathtub when we washed her hair.  She didn't like getting water in her ears or eyes.  When I took her to the pools she wouldn't venture from the steps except to jump from the side into my arms.  She took a few falls into the water and seemed to recover from them.  Not once did she insist on going home after an accidental dunking.  Miraculously she managed not to swallow water.  I think that was a big part in getting back in the water.  She hasn't had a truly scary moment in the water.

Progressively, as we've visited more and more Kalia has gotten more comfortable floating in the water.  She no longer clings to my neck but will float and kick.  I was worried she'd never get comfortable in the water and pick up my reservations. (I don't like deep water, or submerging my face)  I'm thinking next year we'll definitely start lessons.

What do you do on a hot summer Saturday?

Grab your net and head to the stream for some critter hunting.

State Fair 2011

We decided to take advantage of a sponsor day to save money on admission to the fair.  That also helped us decide when to go.  We packed a lunch and headed off Saturday afternoon.  We walked through the food alley, the vendors, agriculture and fine arts buildings.  We  saw the chocolate pigs and submitted a name.  We planted our own flower in a cup and learned about bees.  We walked through the antiques and saw the nature park for the first time.  None of the fried fare caught our eye, but we did splurge on a 2 dollar lemonade.  Kalia was awed by the midway, especially the ferris wheel and I'm sure Tristan will want to take her on it next year.  It was all Fair Fun!

The only thing we really got pictures of was the petting zoo.  It was free, but you could purchase carrots to feed to the animals.  A nice lady gave a few carrot chips to Kalia to feed to the yak.

She wasn't too enthralled at first, but I think she liked the animals more toward the end.