State Fair Time!

The Illinois State Fair! I have been going to the Fair every year since I was a child. I love it! Yes, it is cheesy, greasy, usually hot, and always ends in a tummy ache, but I don't care. It is once per year and I look forward to it every time! Being that we live in Springfield, I made it to the Fair three times this year. Above is Olivia and Joe enjoying the Sky Ride - Olivia was begging for this even before the Fair began!

This year, we waited in line in Conservation World for the canoe ride. As we were all on the canoe (Joe and Olivia paddled while Ethan and I relaxed) I was not able to take any pictures of us on the ride. So, we took this picture instead.

The second trip to the Fair was with friends. On the top left are Olivia and Ethan going down the giant slide, in the middle is Nicole and Jack, and leading the pack is Ava. Ava and Jack are each within one week of age with Olivia and Ethan, so they are very good friends.

Milk a Cow! Olivia and Ethan have to do it every year. And then the two of them plus Jack and Ava ran through the cow barns yelling to the cows "thank you for the milk!" Pretty cute.

The butter cow. Yes, it is extremely silly, and if you haven't been going to the Dairy Building every year since you were a child, you may not understand the point of it. However, you have not really been to the State Fair if you have not checked out the butter cow.

The kids rode on the rides for two straight hours while Nicole and I tagged along behind. We were both thrilled that they are old enough to go on the rides without us. I'm assuming that that means I am getting old.

Jack on a motorcycle. Enough said. (he is obviously motorcycle crazy)

The four kids on this ride were hilarious to watch! They were all both thrilled to be on the ride, and yet a bit terrified at the same time.

The last trip to the Fair was a no holds barred fried food fest. I won't apologize for it - once per year I will go to the "Fried What" stand with no guilt. Let's see...we sampled the deep fried kool aid (delicious), fried green tomatoes, beer battered deep fried bacon (see picture below), deep fried brownies (very rich), Vose's corn dogs, Krupp's cheese curds (see picture below as well), fried cheese on a stick, and mini donuts. Before people start really freaking out over all of that, let me point out that it was all split 6 ways, so I only basically got one bite of many of the items. And of course washed it all down with lemonade shake ups!

Olivia won a fish at the State Fair. Who actually wins at those games? Well, Olivia did. And the fish (named "Silver") has thus far lived for 2 days. What Fair fish actually lives beyond one night? So, we had to go buy fish food and a little toy for it's fish bowl. I refuse to buy it some friends, though.

Olivia is 7!

Our baby girl, Olivia, turned 7 on August 1. On her actual birthday, we were still cruising in Alaska. Luckily, she didn't mind having a very extended birthday celebration - the boat, with her girl friends, with extended family, and then lastly with her playgroup friends. First off was a morning of opening presents from Joe and I.

And here is the loot. Her big gift was a camera, but her favorite gift was the Monster High doll. It has become a bit of an obsession with her, even if I do have to monitor which of the items are age appropriate for her (the books are more for tweens than for a 7 year old).

For her friend birthday party, she decided to invite some girl friends to the Springfield Art Association for an art party. Considering Olivia claims to want to be an artist in Chicago when she grows up, this was perfect for her. Here she is modeling with her Olivia banner (the theme of her party this year).

Traditional family with the cake picture. Olivia selected a Barbie dress cake this year and I was thrilled that she did! I had a Barbie cake when I was little and I loved it.

The party guests making art. Each girl (plus Ethan) decorated a picture frame and painted a canvas. We came home with some beautiful artwork to display! Another party game was "fishing" over the balcony in the Historic Edwards Place home (Joe would hook small gifts to a fishing line for the girls to reel in). What a great memory that will be in the years to come as we attend more formal art events there!

Cake time! We all hope Olivia's wish comes true!

Ethan pulled the lucky pinata string, and...

there was a mad dash for the candy!

More presents for Olivia to open.

The girls doing their best "diva" pose to place in their decorated picture frames.

Next we headed home for a family party with the grandparents. Here Olivia's American Girl doll is modeling one of the homemade Princess dresses that grandma made for it.

Yet another cake! We ate cake for a very long time after these parties!

Oh, yeah, Joe had a birthday too. :) Unfortunately, as the years have progressed, Olivia's birthday celebrations have become more elaborate, while Joe's celebrations have become less elaborate. He did score a homemade blackberry pie and homemade almond toffee, though.

And lastly we have Olivia's birthday party with her playgroup friends. This was the first year that Olivia elected to have an all girls party (at the Art Association), but all of her playgroup friends that she has literally known from birth are boys! So, we had a second friend party at home with water toys. Here she requested a jello cake.

The last of the presents. This was funny to watch, as at first the boys are very excited to watch the presents being opened. However, after the first present is opened they realize that all of them are going to be "girlie" so they quickly lost interest and left her alone! Happy birthday Miss Munchkin!

Alaska by Land

Our Alaska cruise made the three traditional port stops - Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Our first stop, Skagway, was supposed to be our glacier tour via helicopter culminating in a dog sled ride on a glacier. However, as soon as we woke up that morning, we pretty much knew that it was not going to happen due to the heavy fog (see picture below). We did end up being canceled, so we spent a few hours shopping in the town. The town was very cute - wood sidewalks, the storefronts were coordinated and reminiscent of the early gold rush days of the town. Here is the Disney Wonder from land.

Totem poles became a theme during our entire vacation - they were everywhere and the kids never seemed to tire posing with them.

Beautiful Alaska scenery. This was one block off the main street near the Skagway Museum (a great little place that takes you through the early gold panning years).

This harbor seal was literally right next to the gangplank leading to the ship. The kids were thoroughly entertained by him, watching him eat his salmon.

Juneau was our second port city, and our second attempt at the helicopter/dog sledding (thank you Disney for rescheduling!). We were waiting for our tour time in the theater, and in walks Mickey Mouse! He sat right next to the kids and truly spent 10 minutes with them, despite the other kids in the aisles. He was so focused on us that Joe and I actually became nervous that the excusion was to be canceled yet again and the ship sent Mickey to soften the blow!

Mickey even led the kids to the gangplank for our excursion!

As you have probably guessed, the weather in Juneau cooperated for the helicopter ride! Here is Ethan all suited up for the ride. Both kids loved the helicopter - especially the headphones.

The Disney Wonder via helicopter.

The helicopter ride lasted maybe 15 minutes each way, but the scenery was all gorgeous. We flew over 3 glaciers total, 2 descending glaciers (they are growing smaller) and 1 ascending glacier (it is actually grown larger - about 1 foot per week). Here is our first glimpse of the ascending glacier.

The dog sled camp! There were 170 dogs at this camp, and they were all transported there via helicopter. The dogs will stay on the glacier for about 5 months, and the dog sledding that we participated in helps the dogs learn to carry weight on the sleds. When we were there, the temperature on the glacier was about 50*, but that was considered very warm for the dogs who prefer 0* or below. The drivers live on the glacier for about 10 days at a time before being flown back to Juneau for a 3 day break.

We rode on a 2 mile track, that took about 30 minutes to complete. It was a fantastic 30 minutes! Joe, the kids and I were on one dog sled team while Kim and Brett rode on a second team next to us. Joe "drove" the first 1/2 mile of the track (our dog handler, Jeremiah, actually did the work for us).

My turn!

Olivia actually drove the dog sled! For 1/2 mile she and Joe stood on the back together. For the final 1/2 mile she became brave enough to do it herself (after the initial jolt it is actually a very smooth ride). I am a bit glad that Olivia had to work up her courage a bit, because if she had driven on the first leg of the track, I don't think that any of us would have had turn since she ended up loving it so much!

A passenger view of the dog sledding.

Joe and Olivia waiting to drive the team back to the camp.

The six of us with our drivers. Our driver, Jeremiah (far right), was actually only 17. He WON the junior Iditarod race last year (for drivers under age 18) in 25 hours.

Goodbye dog sledding. Worth every penny. What a fantastic experience!

Juneau was a very busy port stop for us. We actually did not explore the town on foot - only via bus going from one excursion to the next. Olivia really wanted to go gold panning, and had talked about it all cruise long.

Olivia panning for gold in a river. I knew that prior to this excursion, she had no idea what panning for gold was about. I wish I had gotten a picture of her face when she realized that she was not going to find a gold nugget and instead all you are lucky enough to find are tiny gold flakes! I'm not sure that her brain was able to comprehend the process!

Mom and son hoping to make it rich with gold!

Gold! The flakes are there - you just have to look very closely. Once Olivia transfered the flake to her vial, the guide was actually pretty impressed with the amount of flakes (each flake was worth a quarter).

Transferring gold flakes to our keepsake vial.

We ended our Juneau excursions with a yummy salmon bake and marshmallow roast. The salmon in Alaska is the most beautiful color - almost red. So delicious!

Our final port stop, Ketchikan. We had no excursions planned for this town. Instead we put on our walking shoes and toured the city. Of course, we found another totem pole in the town.

Creek Street is a great place to go - literally a boardwalk over a creek lined with local artist shops.

We walked to the Ketchikan fish ladder, but we unfortunately did not see any salmon spawning. We then hiked over to the salmon hatchery and totem pole museum (great authentic totems that were original to the area).

Ahhh, Married Man's Trail leading to Creek Street. We walked this Trail and learned its history. Back in the day there were brothels lining the street. Nice.