Domestic weekend

I usually have one of these "domestic" weekends annually. I choose an overwhelming amount of canning or jam-making to accomplish and stay up until all hours to complete it. This year it is peaches and tomatoes. I picked up a box of beautiful peaches at my grocery store. They were direct from Palisade, CO (my neck of the woods). They are now canned and ready to eat in the dead of winter when you can't find a ripe piece of fruit in a 500mile radius. I am working on spaghetti sauce right now. I actually only planned to do the peaches, but I picked 30 ripe tomatoes out of my garden this morning. I had to do something with them! It smells so yummy!

Alli and I went to the Iowa State Fair this past week. I personally think it is the best state fair in the US. However, the only other state fair I have ever attended was in Colorado at least 20 years ago. Now to all you naysayers: the Iowa State Fair is listed in 100 Places to See Before You Die. Not only is it the only attraction in Iowa listed in the book, it is the only fair listed. Its attendance has reached more than one million people during the 10 day event. With deep fried foods like Snickers, Oreos and Twinkies and everything imaginable on a stick, who could resist the fair. My favorite fair food of all time is the pork chop on a stick. Only in Iowa.

Every year a woman carves a sculpture of a dairy cow out of butter. Yes, butter! She also does a second sculpture of a current event/person/place or thing. This year it was Harry Potter. Sorry about the glare on the glass. If I ever figure out how to use Photoshop, I could probably get rid of it. I'm not posting Harry because of even worse glare.

This was Alli's first time seeing live farm animals. She literally wanted to climb over the fence to get to the cow and her calf.

Alli taking part in a kids activity called Little Hands on the Farm. She is "harvesting" some vegetables and placing them in her basket.

She was quite proud of herself carrying around her basket full of farm items.

This kid had so much fun at the fair, he fell asleep slumped over in his stroller with his face smashed into the tray! Too funny!

Yet another road trip

Alli and I packed up and headed East on I-80 until we reached South Bend, IN. This is the site of Dan's current rotation. We stayed for 2 1/2 days. He had only been there a week, so we used the time to explore the area. We visited Notre Dame University, which is as beautiful as everyone says it is. The Main Building. Such a plain name for such a beautiful building.

This is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. A more aptly named building in my opinion. We wanted to tour this amazing church, but they were overrun with weddings. They have weddings scheduled at 9, 11, 1 and 3 on every Saturday except on home football game days. It is obvious which is more prosperous for the university.

This is the Grotto of our lady Lourdes. If I were Catholic, or knew more about the religion, I would probably understand what this is exactly. (I couldn't even get a straight answer after a brief Wikipedia check) Regardless, it is a peaceful place where I think people come to pray. There are a bunch of candles in the cave.

This is one of those seats one can strap to a chair in lieu of a high chair. Alli loves it because it is just her size and unlike her high chair, she can get in and out of it herself.

Fruit smoothies are her latest favorite food.

Her latest favorite activity is to empty the contents of Mommy's purse and wallet. She especially likes the debit card and cold hard cash. What can I say? She IS a girl.

Goodbye again Daddy

Dan was able to come home for a week between rotations. It was SOOOOOO great to have him here. He had to leave again this morning. This time to Indiana. Alli and I are missing him already and counting down the days until we see him again...only 6 days. We are driving out next weekend.

Here are a few pictures of our time together.

All I had to do was ask nicely and look what he did! Although I didn't believe he even knew we owned a vacuum, he found it AND figured out how to use it. He didn't want any proof that this event ever occurred for fear of being required to vacuum on a regular basis, so he refused to actually pose for the photo. I had to steal it!

Snuggling up with Daddy.

Longing for a summer vacation

Another week of summer GONE!!! We are trying to enjoy it before it gets away. I miss the days of summer vacation. Despite being victim to the year-round workforce for 10 years (yes count 'em 10 years), I still long for the 3 month vacation of my school days. Now that I am a parent, I finally get why so many of my college classmates became teachers. Nice hours and chunks of vacation!! I don't know about you other Moms out there, but never before has my imagination been so prompted to search out a job that provides flexibility and satisfaction, yet still pays worth a darn. I have yet to find it or actually start playing the lotto, but I dream about it.

Here is what we've been up to lately...

Alli has been growing some more blonde curls.

She has also transitioned nicely out of our bed and into her own crib. It was much less painful and involved fewer tears on both of our parts than I anticipated.

Sweet corn is ripe and abundant in Iowa. Summer just isn't summer until the corn is available! she nibbled a few kernels off on her own. She does better if I hold the cob for her and does even better yet if I just cut it off and she feeds herself.

The sarcasm runs thick here.

I've been terrible about taking pictures the past couple of weeks. I did capture this one just so you can see what Alli is up to these days. Click once on the picture to get the full concept of how milk splatters when one shakes it out of her "leak-proof" sippy cup onto the tray and then slaps her hands into it. She is quite proud of herself. As am I.

In the past I have complained about Boone, the 10 year old black lab who sheds hair like a dried up Christmas tree in mid-January dropping needles all over the carpet . Despite his incessant look of despair because he doesn't get walked nearly as much as he would like (like everytime I go near the door) and his need to follow me around the house just in case I might open the door (yes, I have considered that he is trying to escape the hellish life he leads inside the air conditioned house), I have discovered a very redeeming and helpful quality he offers. For the amount of time I am required to spend vacuuming up fur balls that blow like tumbleweeds across the praire of hardwood floor and tile throughout the house, he saves me an equal amount of time otherwise spent cleaning up the floor under the high chair. Who'da thunk the dog and the baby have similar palates? Broccoli, cheerios, yogurt, milk, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, green jello...you name it, he'll mop it up off the floor with his tongue. And considering I am a working Mom trying to do it all, a floor that is mopped with the tongue is as good as Spic 'n Span in my world. Thanks Boone. I'll try to be more sympathetic and walk you more.

Even if she doesn't learn a thing from it, I have a special place in my heart for this toy. I know all the songs and I have learned some Spanish from it too.

Michigan

Alli and I took our first all-girl road trip over the 4th. We went to visit Dan who is in the northern suburbs of Detroit. Turned out to be a much longer drive than I anticipated, but Alli was a champ and it was totally worth every miserable minute driving to see our favorite guy!

In Detroit there are a few of these "Metroparks" around the city. We went to one right on the shore of Lake St. Claire (I think that is the name of the lake, but could be wrong). There was this "squirt park" that was a lot of fun. Perfect for a hot summer day.

Don't look at us, look at all the fun to be had behind us!

Two tips from the road:

1. The portable DVD player is worth every penny I paid for it the night before the trip.

2. Don't wait until the low fuel light is on to fill up. 2.5 gallons of gas cost $65 when it has to be delivered to mile marker 1 on I-280 in Davenport Iowa.

Sick Day?

This is a child who had a 103 degree temperature last evening. So, I took the day off since daycare won't take a kid with a fever. Amazing results from Vitamin M (Motrin)! The Dr. says it is viral. Great! So nothing to do but wait it out!! I hope all of our sick days are this fun.