Iowa State Fair '17: Just a Mess of Pictures

My buddy Rob gave me a real phone for my birthday, so I didn't take our old digital camera to the fair this year. The phone takes better pictures, but I'm still getting used to the timing. That's my excuse, anyway.

Daphne and I have a rule about eating at the fair: there are no rules. There are also no calories, no too much of a good thing, no diet, and no regrets. The ISF comes around once a year, and we make the best of it. 

We started out each day with a breakfast of fried cheese curds. (Remember our rule and judge not.)

Charlotte was excited to go farming at the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit. Pioneer donated a slew of hats for the kids to wear. Nice job, Pioneer. Turns out Char didn't care about the "farming". She just wanted the free Cheetos... 

Really Char? We have Cheetos at home.

Mazes are a big deal to our kid, so we spent a few minutes navigating this attraction.

"Ooh, look at the cutie pigs!" 

This picture doesn't look like it is a triumph, but Charlotte couldn't climb the ladder that lead to this spot on the playground last year. She tried a few times, but she got scared at the height and frustrated with number of kids cutting in front of her. This year she climbed it like a champ.

Like big mazes, Charlotte also enjoys big puzzles.

If I ever find one of the vintage egg-shaped chairs for a decent price, it is soooo going into our basement. I'm not even going to ask Daphne for permission. 

This stand bragged it had perfected the poutine that the Canadians had created, but I was skeptical. 

It was okay, but we have had much better poutine north of the 49th parallel.

The pork chop on the stick is always good, though. 

The sand castle was impressive. I kept wondering what would happen if it rained. I was told that they put a tarp over the castle when the forcast calls for that.

Charlotte loves cotton candy. It is the last she ate on Super Sunday.

While Char stuffed herself with melted sugar, I ate a good ol' hamburger, and Daphne had some grilled veggies on a bun. See ya next year, Iowa State Fair! 

Now it's time to start our diets again...

Iowa State Fair '17: A Group Effort

Daphne's sister and mother began a doll house project nineteen years ago. Deb and Phadrea built a doll house from a kit, painted the exterior, and began working on the interior. When Phadrea left to go to college, the project was put on hold. 

Deb passed away four summers ago, and while cleaning out her house, the girls found the forgotten doll house project. Phadrea thought it might be something Charlotte would like to play with when she got older, and Daphne agreed to take the doll house home. 

While we were at the Iowa State Fair last year, Charlotte became fascinated with the doll house competition. She asked Daphne if they could build one, and she told Char, "I think we could do that, in fact, we have one at home." And that is how the doll house's journey continued...

I had my own project in the garage, so all the work on the house was done by Daphne and Charlotte.

Daphne did a great job on the interior. Cutting wallpaper to this level of precision would drive me nuts, but she pulled it off. 

Mounting ceiling lights and running tape wire like this can't be much fun, either. Daph got the house wired for light, though, and it really looked cool.

Aunt Phadrea quilted a blanket for the bed, and Charlotte knitted the bathroom mat.

Daphne cross-stitched the rug for the living room.

Here they are setting up the house on the Sunday before the Iowa State Fair:

Char and Daphne were really proud of their work, but we kept reminding Charlotte that they weren't in it to win a ribbon. Their goals were to compete the house, and get it in the fair - that was it. Finishing the house was also a great way honor the memory of Grandma Deb.

Daphne added a cardinal to represent the real bird that visited Deb's deck when Deb was sick. He was named Crash because the bird always hit the glass in the sliding door before landing.



The fair opened on Thursday, and we made a bee line to see what the house looked like on display. Low and behold, there was a ribbon on it!

The three generations earned third place!

When I first spotted the ribbon, I could have sworn I heard Grandma Deb excitedly clapping.

Now that the fair is over, Charlotte has a pretty sweet toy in her room.

First Days of School

Kindergarten:

First Grade:

Second Grade (this morning):

PS. She may be getting bigger, but like the past two years, Charlotte has Pinky in her backpack for extra first-day-support.

Pre-Party Glee

I've only throw a few parties in my life, but I was always worried sick that no one would show up. Charlotte had a birthday party on Saturday, and she showed no signs of stress ten minutes before the party began. I would love to be that confident. 

Scenes from Victoria, Canada: The Awards Show

Okay, I'm not going to detail the three days that we spent in Canada. Instead, I'm going to post my favorite pictures from that visit, and our last day in Seattle before heading home.

Most memorable snack goes to oysters with grated horseradish and lemon:

Best picture of an actually crabby Charlotte:

Best business sign (don't look up!):

Best musical performance in a castle:

Best stairway (in the tiny home we rented):

Best picture of a Mexican hot dog that I ate at the airport: 

And the Best Picture From Our Entire Vacation goes to a joyous Charlotte playing in a Seattle public fountain:

Good times.

Scenes from Seattle (part 6)

Sunday was a transition day. We were leaving Seattle to spend an afternoon on Bainbridge Island and a night at Port Townsend. To do that, we had to travel by ferry.

He's the view from the passenger deck.

It was beautiful day, and I really enjoyed our trip on the ferry. 

On a side note, our rental apartment in Seattle had underground parking, and that required us to rent a compact car. I was underwhelmed when I first saw our Chevy Sonic sedan. I didn't even take a picture of it. 

The car was so small, but in the end, the Sonic's small stature was its biggest strength. The trunk easily held our luggage, and the car was zippy enough in town. The car's size made it really easy to parallel park (something that makes me cringe), and maneuvering the Sonic out of the tight spaces of the ferry's belly was a snap. The car also made good gas mileage. We only filled the tank once, and that was right before we returned it.

I'm not ready to trade the RAV4 in for a Smart car, but renting a compact car for vacation has it advantages.

The only drawback wasn't the car's fault. Charlotte really enjoys listening to books on Cd, and that makes traveling with a six-year-old so much easier. We thought we were so smart to bring a few audio books with us, but new cars don't have Cd players! That hadn't occurred to either of us. Sigh. I am so far behind the times. I still think bluetooth is something you get after drinking juice or when your teeth get sad.

 Here's how Bainbridge Island looks like as you approach it on the ferry.

And now, the food memories:

Our first stop on the island was to eat a crepe.

Lunch was pizza.

Dinner at Port Townsend included mussels,

a French dip with onion rings,

and fish and chips.

I'll write more about Port Townsend next time... it's one of my favorite stories from the summer.

Scenes from Seattle (part 5)

Saturday started out at Top Pot Doughnuts, again. 

Then we visited Charlotte's favorite park, again.

But this time we got inside the Pacific Science Center!

Two grown men spent weeks inside this tiny space while orbiting the Earth? 

Oh. My. Goodness. 

An animal whose foot was this big walked the Earth? 

Oh. My. Goodness.

Question: Do you know what is worse than waiting 45 minutes for a butterfly to land on your daughter in the butterfly habitat? 

Answer: Having a butterfly land on you while she stresses out because one hasn't landed on her.

Eventually a butterfly found Charlotte.

Finally! We could now get out of that heated room and play some big checkers in the air conditioning... Charlotte says she won this game. (I think Mom let that happen.)

Lunch was seriously good. No pun intended.

Fried chicken, black pepper Tabasco gravy:

Fried catfish cake, green olive tartar:

Dinner at Mollusk was a good time, too:

Yep, that's poutine, again. Deal with it, health-conscious-sucka!