Butler County Fair & Parade

Another Friday, another fair.  July is full of fair fun and after seeing how much Nola loved the Platte County Fair we decided that we had to go to the Butler County Fair too.  Did I mention it is less than a block from our house?  

Once again, Nola's favorite ride was the train.  And she HAD to sit in the front.  She threw a fit when some kids beat her to it but the parents were nice enough to squeeze her on.  It just makes my heart happy to think that she's a random child in these people's precious fair photos :)

She also went on the carousel again and on an elephant ride.  I'm going to be honest, when the elephant ride started I had an urge to tell the guy to stop the ride.  It was a little fast.

We went inside to the vendors and there was a group doing spin art on frisbees.  Nola made her own, pink and purple of course.

We left with a new frisbee, some candy, a toddler who was throwing a tantrum because she couldn't ride the train again, and a funnel cake.  Fair success!  

The parade was a couple of days later. Robert's sisters came up from Lincoln to watch with us.  We got a great spot in the shade next to some nice people.  It didn't take long for Nola to figure out that candy is the best part of any parade.

She called it Trick-or-Treating.  She's pretty excited about Halloween now.

This is her loot!  She had a good time.

P.S. If you want a Tootsie Roll we have plenty.

Becoming Mrs. Mallick, Day 2

Day two in Pittsburgh started at the nail salon.  

Jessica (the bride) and I got our nails done then we headed back to her apartment with my Mom and sister, Sara, to work on some last minute wedding details.  Jessica was planning a very colorful and crafty wedding with lots of scrapbooking paper, paper fans, and pinwheels, so we had some stuff to glue.  I can't say we worked really hard, but everything got done.  And some Sparkletini was drank.  And cake was ate.  And Jessica tried on her wedding ensemble.  Then we went to lunch.

After lunch we did some more wedding prep and ate some pizza before heading to the Pirates game.  John and Jessica got a bunch of tickets so we all sat together with John's family.  I had a blast and the weather was beautiful!

And the Pirates won.  

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!

Becoming Mrs. Mallick, Day 1

We just got back (at midnight, after a three-hour flight delay) from our trip to Pittsburgh for my sister's wedding.  As I sit here watching my spray-tan fade, I can't help but think of how lucky I am.   Not only did we survived the last five days, we actually had a great time doing it with only a few minor hiccups.  I have a lot to share so I'm breaking this trip up into a few posts.

We left our house around 9am on Tuesday to drive to the airport.  I had bought a few toys for Nola and wrapped them so she could open them on the plane.  I put all of her presents in a bag she already had that has wheels along with some snacks and suckers.  She was excited that she had her own bag, especially because it had a spot to strap in her elephant.

Have you ever seen a cuter little traveler?  

Because of Rob's leg we got to board first and got the first row of seats.  This was great because Nola could move around a bit more but was also horrible because we didn't have access to our stuff during takeoff and landing.  Getting her back into her seat for landing was the worst part.  She screamed a lot. Note to self: Always have suckers on hand!  

We faced our biggest challenge after landing in Chicago.  We had a 2 hour layover and Nola wouldn't stay still.  There was a children's store next to our gate that sold all of Nola's favorite characters.  She went in there at least ten times and had a little pile in the corner of stuff she wanted.  If she wasn't sprinting to the store she was sprinting to the jet bridge.  Seriously, why do they keep that door open?

Our second flight went better.  We sat in a regular row and Nola spent most of her time on the floor under the tray.

Eventually, she got antsy and we took pictures to occupy our time.

Our second flight was 15 minutes delayed but we got to Pittsburgh 10 minutes early.  Yay Southwest!!  My Mom picked us and my Dad up, he landed the same time we did, and took me directly to the salon for my spray tan.  We hung out at the house and talked wedding details for the rest of the night while I tried not to sweat.  The key to a good spray tan is to stay very cool and still :)

After a long day of travel, I was very thankful for a mostly cooperative toddler and a rental house with air conditioning!

Swimming Lessons

I've been asking around about swimming lessons for Nola since school got out and I finally found someone.  Our neighbor works at the public pool and I never thought to ask her if she does lessons until recently.  She does and since she has babysat Nola a few times it seemed like a perfect fit.  

This is before her first lesson.  She looks a little unsure about the situation.

Nola had 4 days of lessons and overall she did a good job.  The pool has a walk-in entrance (like a beach) so she had no problem getting in the water.  The problem was staying in the water.  She really wanted me to be involved, so anytime she did something she would come over and tell me about it.

She jumped into the pool a couple of times and put her head underwater.  She also went down the big slide.

She learned a little bit about kicking and floating but mainly she just got use to the water.  It was good for her to get comfortable in the pool without a bunch of other kids running around.  She will probably do it again next year.

Platte County Fair

It's fair season!  I've always been a fair-weather fair fan, I only go if the weather is good (see what I did there?).  Well, yesterday was a nice day and the fair was not too far away, so I turned to Robert and said, "what do you say?  Let's go to the fair today!!!"  

And now I'm rhyming.  I spend too much time at home with a toddler.  When does school start?

Our first fair mistake was deciding to eat first.  We walked past the carousel to get to the jumbo corn dogs (yum) and Nola wouldn't stop asking to ride the horsey.  At one point, while we were eating, she slid out of the stroller and started sprinting towards it.  When we finally got her on the horse she was excited!

Next, she wanted to ride the train, some swings and bounce in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse bounce house.

She didn't stay in the bouncy house long, and spent most of the time lying down.  She LOVED the trian.  Loved it.

We also got to check out some animals and artwork.  One of my students put a painting in the show and made it to the State Fair!  That was a fun surprise!  Luckily, it started raining on us so Nola wanted to go home.  Otherwise, we might have been there all day.

The Butler County Fair is next weekend and the fairgrounds are less than a block away from our house so I'm fair-ly certain we will make our way over there for some more fair fun!  Stay tuned!  

Reunited 2

Remember when my dear friend Libbi was in Omaha and we got to spend some time together?  She has a little girl who is 6 days older than Nola and they are best friends.  Libbi and her family were visiting Nebraska again and stopped by for a quick visit.  Obviously, I took some pictures.

They're getting so big!  

I love that they will be growing up together.  Hopefully there are many more visits in the future! 

4th of July

Happy Birthday America!!!

Normally, the fourth of July isn't my favorite.  I'm not a big fan of heat, bugs, and it means that summer is coming to an end.  It's commonly the first day of my sad downward spiral into the "back to school" season.  I get kinda mopey.  

But, this year was different.  It's hard not to have a good time when you're with an (almost) three year old who LOVES fireworks.  She couldn't get enough.  She had the BEST DAY EVER.  I know because she told me so several times.

We did some daytime fireworks in the afternoon and then had a little cook-out. 

We waited (not so patiently) until sunset to do the bigger fireworks.  I got Nola a patriotic shirt and headband.  She would barely hold still for this picture because she was so excited to go outside.

Her reactions were adorable.  

 She said her favorite were the pink ones (ground blooms).  

And if you're interested, here are a few videos from the festivities!