More May Fair madness

Saturday we went as a family to the fair. We skipped the parade this year and went to the fair early - probably one of our best ideas yet. There was hardly anyone there and we got to really enjoy our first hour there with just the family. Gabriel still thought the boats were the coolest things there.

He also liked the tractors.

Frejya loved the rides. And I don't mean just a little bit. She seriously LOVED the rides. Her favorite this year was the zipper. She was a little nervous when we were in line for it the first time.

But by the second time she was getting ready to ride it, she was super excited.

The boys only lasted a few hours at the fair. We took them home in the afternoon and then Frejya and I came back for some more rides and for the Selena Gomez concert. Frejya was pretty excited about it.

It was a super fun night. We ended it with one last ride on the zipper (and a bunch more rides - we did the fair big this year and stayed until it closed).

Hooray for warm weather!

It was finally warm enough to take the boat out to go tubing last week. We decided that while everyone else in Dixon went to the fair on Friday, we would go have some family fun of our own. So we grabbed my mom and made the quick trip up to the lake. The weather was absolutely perfect. Frejya loved tubing (and so did Gabe and I).

We also enjoyed just drifting and hanging out a little bit. It was really nice to just get away for a mini vacation.

 Gabriel got a little tired after awhile. It's a rough life being a baby.

It was super fun. We can't wait to go out again. I'm sure it won't be too long before we make our next trip. And in the meantime, Gabriel is practicing his tubing skills at home.

It's that time of year

Maisy showed her first lamb at the fair this year and we went to watch her. She did an awesome job! It brought back so many memories. I can't wait for next year when Frejya gets to show an animal. Of course after watching the lambs get away from kids and drag kids around yesterday, I don't think there's any way she'll ever show one of them. I'm totally ok with that, though. I showed pigs so she can too. They're much easier in my opinion anyways.

Frejya was definitely in her element at the fair. She ran around with all of her friends and ate junk food. Then when it was almost time to go home, we ran into Greta and Joshie and he needed someone to ride the rides with so she got to stay and play some more. She had so much fun!!

Gabriel liked the animals and I think he had fun seeing all the vendor booths and rides as we walked around. His favorite thing by far, though, were the boats. He got really excited to see a few boats that were on display. He could have stayed and played there all day. This kid is seriously obsessed with anything fishing related.

Because it's so hard to choose

Milk or juice? Gabriel couldn't pick just one so he walked around drinking both yesterday. Goof ball. (And yes, these pictures are awful - he doesn't stay still for long enough to get a clear shot)

It was a pretty normal afternoon yesterday. Homework and housework and then swim practice.

Frejya's competing in a triathlon in a couple weeks so I had her ride her bike to swim practice yesterday while I ran beside her. It was super hot. Totally fun, though, and both kids seemed to enjoy it. I think we're going to try doing it a couple times a week.

Slip and Slide

Slip and Slides are quite possibly the best $5 you can spend when you have little kids. Our last one lasted for 2 years and Frejya played on that thing all the time. It finally broke at the end of last year so Sunday after church we went and bought a new one. The kids have already gotten our money's worth out of it (and Gabe too!).

And of course there was crying and eating happening as well. What would a post of Gabriel be without at least one of the two?

Puppies and jelly beans

Ever since Easter, Gabriel has a serious candy addiction. He freaks out if he sees candy anywhere. So we've had to resort to hiding it all away. But somehow on Sunday he was able to find a little bag of candy. He got very quiet for awhile and then we found him chowing down. He's a sneaky little guy!

Janet got a new puppy last week and we went to visit them Friday afternoon. Why don't dogs stay this cute and little always? And this is a bull mastiff so she's really going to be huge some day.

Work visit

Last Thursday was Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work day so I signed Frejya out of school early and brought her to campus for some fun. The University is really good about making it a super fun day for the kids while showcasing all the cool and important things that happen there. We started with tours of both the ARC and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology (which was super cool). We then went and watched the Chemistry magic show, which was also very fun. Here she is waiting for it to start:

The kids got to eat graham crackers that had been dipped in liquid nitrogen. So cold!!

The whole show was really fun to watch. Lots of exploding things and very interactive. Frejya loved it.

We then went and got to explore some bugs using microscopes and then also went to the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Lots of cool bugs to look at. Made me pretty glad that's not the department I work in, though. Bugs are definitely not my favorite things.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring all the different art galleries on campus. I love that Frejya enjoys art and museums as much as I do. We spent about 5 hours walking all over campus and were very tired by the end, but it was so fun. We needed some girl time. And not all of it was scheduled. We also spent some time exploring some of the other stuff on campus like the eggheads, fountains and bike racks. I can't wait to do it again next year!