Riley County Fair 2014

We have survived the Riley County Fair! I think that the fair pretty much consumed the week for the whole family, but it was worth it. 

This week has been HOT. It seems like it has been over 100 degrees every day, and sometimes up to 110 (although officially "only" 106 that day). Even this morning, it was 85 degrees at 6 a.m. 

Nonnie came down for the week!! We were so thankful to have her here. And no one was more excited than Daniel, despite his expression in the picture. ;)

Tuesday night was the first event for Annika - pets! She entered our cat, Racer, and had a blast talking about him with the judge. Racer was less than thrilled with the experience, but survived. I am pretty sure that almost everyone earns a purple in pets, but yay for purple!

Our club banner! Which our family had nothing to do with, but our great friend Abby was the Banner Queen. Great job, Abby and girls! Will was instead in charge of the float for our 4-H club this year, and spent Tuesday night shopping all over town and Wednesday night with a last-minute work session.

Thursday was the big day for Annika for 4-H. First up in the morning - arts and crafts!

Talking with the judge. Annika earned blue on her five projects and got some good feedback on ways to improve. Will and I are trying to encourage her to think of how amazing she could be if she took more time on things. ;)

One of her projects below, the "Jay" plate, which she made by throwing on a wheel in her summer pottery class. There is also a ceramic dragon that she made in front, which is sort of hard to see.

Bobcat painting. The judge told Annika that she would have liked to have seen the moon brighter, and Annika responded that she ran out of silver paint. Priorities. ;) 

The Angry Birds cup and the painted cat ceramic.

Later that morning - photography judging! Annika first came to judging for her pictures early, and learned that they were all mounted improperly, with 1.5 inches instead of 1 inches from the top, or something like this. After some stress and mad scrambling and learning that it is thankfully easy to re-mount pictures, Annika made it back in time to have the photography judged.

This was Annika's first year of entering black and white and her second year of color. She learned a lot last year about things to look for (rule of thirds, filling the frame, etc.), and this year learned a lot about black and white photography through the very helpful interview judging process (contrast is key). Another big improvement from last year is that she took over 900 pictures during the year, so had a lot of material to work with.

Purple ribbons - Audrey Cat and the Grand Canyon. Annika was really excited - her first purple ribbons in photography, and since it is a state fair event and she is 9 (her 4-H age, i.e., your age on January 1st), this means that these two pictures can go to the state fair in September.

Blue Ribbons - Zion and Yellowstone.

Red Ribbons - the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Geyser.

Thursday afternoon, we got ready for the Riley County Fair Parade! Our club had a float and thankfully someone else in the club had a very long, 24-foot trailer. The theme of the fair was Party on the Prairie, and so Will came up with a Disco Party theme for our club's float.

Noisemakers and party hats for everyone, because, after all, it was a party.

Completed float. Disco Ball! And grass netting (for the prairie) with all of the projects that youth in our club are involved in.

Our family!

With Nonnie!! So happy that she was here this week!

Strong Satellites (our 4-H club).

Will and I walked along the float.

Party!

Dancing Disco Party!

WIBW came and interviewed our club at the end of the parade. I never did think to turn on the TV later....

Our club ended up with a Red for the parade, but hey, it was fun!

Nonnie took us all out to Texas Roadhouse on the Thursday night to celebrate the end of a long day.

Friday morning was the "Building Creations" judging, aka Legos. Annika had an "original design," which she called "Jay's House" (or maybe Jay's Place?), complete with a dragon landing pad and garage, pet cheetah with water bowl, hot tub, and margarita bar.

Interview judging. The big thing Annika learned was to remove the tape under the Legos next time.

Purple ribbon!

Friday was also a big event - the end of our fabulous summer nannies. Our kids have declared this the best summer ever, both from hanging out with their great friends Sage and Bryn, to getting to spend time with Shaun and Netta. We will miss them as they move to be instructors at Virginia Tech! To celebrate, we all went to lunch at Houlihan's on Friday.

The whole gang. We will miss you, Shaun and Netta!

And because this week wasn't already full enough of unproductive events....Julie and I finally got our hair cut!! I feel like we have been planning this for months. We had appointments at Gaia Salon at the same time and it was such a fabulous experience. I will definitely be back. Julie's hair is beautiful.

And I absolutely love my new cut! I am donating my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, so showed my stylist where to cut off above my ponytail and asked her to make something low maintenance and pretty with the rest. I think she did an amazing job.

Donated hair. You need at least 8 inches, and mine wasn't too much longer than that, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in volume.

Friday night, our kids got to enjoy the carnival rides at the fair. Daniel absolutely loved this one.

And this one.

He loved anything where Nonnie would accompany him.

And rode into the night. Annika and her friends went to the 4-H Dance during this time, in which everyone assured Annika that she would not actually have to dance.

Best funnel cake ever!! I was at home working on some overdue work as per usual, but the family brought me home one and it was delicious.

This morning, Nonnie took the kids to a nearby garage sale and they came home with a 3-foot tall Stuffed Husky. The kids thought this was the greatest bargain ever since it only cost $1. I think that the owners made the greatest deal ever, since someone paid them $1 to take this thing away. ;)

Farewell lunch for Nonnie. We miss you already!! The kids had an absolute blast and already can't wait to see you again.

Finally, we are going on a 2-week road trip starting tomorrow morning (!!!) to my conference, and I made a list yesterday afternoon of all of the work-related items I needed to do before the trip. I think I have only accomplished two of these so far....

With so much to do, why on earth am I writing a blog post?! Because I am a girl who knows how to prioritize, that's why. HA! Stay tuned for trip updates!

Another Week in the Books

Another week of summer down (and another week closer to reality starting up again....). Our biggest highlight of the week was transitioning to a family of bike riders!! We also enjoyed parties, time with family, and lots of destruction. 

The kids with Sage and Bryn. This week was the second-to-last week with our amazing summer nannies, Shaun and Netta, and the last week at our house (we alternate weeks). This was literally the first week all summer that our kids did not have to go anywhere in the morning and could just stay at home. They were in heaven. 

One thing that has become a favorite of the lunch crew is a Peanut Butter and Nutella wrap. Hard to believe that our family had not tried Nutella until this summer...and there is no going back now.

Monday night was the "Cast Party" for the kids' play. The water was pretty cold so I only waded in it, but both kids seemed immune and had a good time.

Life is never dull with three cats. Poor 19-year-old Audrey is looking for some love.

Tuesday night, we had the Thorntons over for dinner. A free night where none of us had any plans - craziness!

We introduced the kids to the Weird Al video "Word Crimes," which you absolutely must watch (click here) if you have not experienced this gem yet.

On Tuesday, we decided to work on tackling one of our goals for the summer...riding bikes without training wheels. This is the 5th summer in the row that we have worked on this. I was honestly starting to think that Annika might be doomed to a life of bipedal transportation and had made peace with the fact that this would be okay.

Since no method we have tried has worked, I had googled, "How to teach a 10-year-old how to ride a bike" or something like that. Through a forum, I came across a new method that gave step-by-step instructions that was all about breaking learning how to ride into smaller pieces (like balance, steering, braking, etc.). The first step was removing the pedals and placing the seat low to the ground so that you could touch your feet to the ground to stop at any point, but would get practice on balancing on the bike (click here for article).

Daniel and Annika both practiced riding without pedals at the nearby church parking lot. Daniel eventually got tired of practicing and he and I did sprints/races instead, but Annika had a blast. She got to where she could ride around and steer all over with no pedals if she started on a downhill.

Wednesday night, we headed over to Bergman for more bike practice. Daniel opted to run races with me and play on the playground instead.

Meanwhile, Annika made awesome practice on her bike riding. Will reattached the pedals and she practiced with one pedal at a time, then both pedals. Once she got that down, she practiced riding down the hill by Bergman, and pretty soon was able to pedal up the hill when it started to climb back up. And - she was riding a bike!!! Something that we have been working on since she was 5. I cannot begin to express how proud Annika was. I asked how riding a bike made her feel, and she responded with a huge grin, "Really awesome!!"

We rode back home and Jeremy was shocked to see that Annika was riding, especially given her trepidation when he had been working with her. Annika and Will went on a bike ride then and she was so thrilled.

The next day, we decided to buy a used trail-a-bike at the Pathfinder so that Daniel would be able to go on bike rides with us, too. Daniel was intitally "terrified" of the bike since it was a very different feeling, but once he got used to it, proclaimed it was "awesome" and wanted to ride everywhere on it.

We biked over to our friend Jen's house, which was about 2 miles each way. Annika did great! The kids had a wonderful time playing with Brynn and Brady, and were super excited to meet their hedgehog for the first time.

On Friday, we went back to the Pathfinder to look for a used bike for Annika. Her bike she had been using was ridiculously small, but we figured there was no need to get a new bike until she learned to ride. We found a great used bike complete with hand brakes and gear shifting, which Annika adapted right away to.

While I went to have dinner with church friends, Will and the kids rode to have dinner at Dairy Queen.

Both Will and I did lots of running and walking this week. I actually got up every single morning to either run, walk, or run/walk, and am really deciding that I need to start going to bed earlier if I don't want to turn into a Zombie.

Saturday, my parents came up to visit, and my Mom brought a wonderful gift - she scanned all of our wedding pictures so that we have them electronically, and gave us all of the snapshots she had! Thanks so much, Mom!!

Perfect day to play outside. Hard to see, but Greg is playing with our t-ball set.

Playing "tennis."

Our Hula Hoop Girl.

Best part of summer.

The lunch plan for the Stilson crew...checking out the new Taco John's. My parents had never been and we had never eaten inside the one here. I give it a huge thumbs' up - so much better than Taco Bell.

My two non-smiling guys.

Looks like I was there, too.

Greg was an enormous fan of the Potato Oles. I think he ate the equivalent of two containers' worth.

Daniel was very cold.

My dad took this picture of Daniel later in the afternoon, completely zoned out while playing Lego Batman 2.

We had to introduce everyone else to "Word Crimes," too.

My dad keeps one of his bikes here, which made it a perfect time to head out on a family bike ride!

Since one fast food restaurant was not enough, we also headed out for chocolate and drinks later in the day.

Saturday night was a very special event...a surprise graduation party for one of my best friends, Melendra! Melendra is finishing up her Master of Library Science, which is awesome, particularly given that she has two young kids, is working full-time, had an international move in the process, and has been doing this at a university located 1.5 hours away. Way to go, Melendra!! And way to go, Joe, for planning this!

The running crew - Me, Melendra, and Alphild.

Julie and I had to continue our tradition of Sister Selfies at the party.

What's everyone doing? Oh, watching Weird Al on their phones, of course.

Congratulations, Melendra! We are so proud of you!

We are pet-sitting this week for two families and Annika is in heaven. Her new best friend, Gravy, is below.

This morning, Will and I taught the "Games" unit in Rotation Sunday School. First activity was puzzles and information on a lot of the Jewish Feast and Festivals.

The Dreidel Game!!

After worship service, we headed out to Pizza Hut buffet for a post-church lunch with a lot of the other church families. Not the best picture, but we had a girls' table, an adult women's table, a boys' table, and a men's table. It was practically like another Church Ladies Dinner Out again!

One of the other women in our congregation commented that everyone's children always seemed well-behaved and under control at church. HAHAHA! Right as she said this, Daniel was playing in the window at Pizza Hut.

Sunday afternoon was Mother/Daughter Book Club at our house! We read one of The Spiderwick Chronicles' books, which wasn't Annika's favorite, but that's the beauty of selecting a different type of book each month.

Before we discuss the books, the kids always play while the moms sit and talk (which was super useful this month, given that 4-H Fair is this week and all of us had many questions). Here is some of the aftermath of play-time.

We had to jet at the end of book club to head to church night meetings. Annika went to a friend's house, while Daniel was delighted to spend three hours in church childcare and engage in all kinds of destruction and havoc with his church buddies.

This upcoming week promises to be a busy one...4-H Fair, the last week before our trip, and the last week of Will's summer class. But we still plan to do as much biking as we can!