Cicadas

Tam and I watched a cicada emerge from its hole in the ground.  We then left it to its own devices as we went indoors for the evening.

The next day, Tam ran out to the yard to check on the cicada.  The insect, of course, was long gone from its hole.  However, we did find the shells sloughed off from cicadas.  I even convinced Tam to touch the shells and hang them off of our shirts. 

With a bit of looking, we did find a dead cicada that must have drown in a puddle of water on the slip-and-slide.  Tam decided that the dead cicada needed to be back in its home.  So he very carefully picked it up and placed it back into the hole in the ground.

I'm not sure if this is a sweet act or just that Tam feels VERY strongly that everyone belongs in their home.


(Not my photo)

We went to Berlin Fair

For the past couple of years, we have gone to the Berlin Fair as a family.  We got to do this again this summer, and, again, on a really hot day.

Since we had already been to the Berry County Fair to see the animals, I knew we could spend more time seeing the tractors and riding the rides at this fair.  Because of this, we choose to go on family day when the rides were only $1.  I have to admit, I am ecstatic that Tam is finally tall enough to experience the thrill of these carnival rides.  I am totally grooming him to like these fast steel contraptions so that, when we do get to Cedar Point someday, he'll want to ride with ME!





As usual, the HUGE tractors captured Tam's attention right away.  He loves that he is allowed to climb up on them.  I like to compare my little men to the enormous tires :-)

We did get to see animals too.  There is a group that brings in rescued farm and pet animals for people to see.  These guys are really friendly and love getting fed from little hands.  This year, Tam had the added fun of walking into the Budgie bird cage.  There, the birds landed on him and Brian, much to there delight. 

 

I love this picture of the little lamb reaching out to lick Jude's toe...and Jude bending over to investigate what's tickling him!

We always enjoy the education barn.  Inside they have general fun information on grain harvesting and livestock.  There is also a mock tractor to drive and watch a video on harvesting corn. (You bet that Tam enjoys this.)  There is also a wooden cow to "milk", baby chicks to see, and different grains to touch.





Tam was really looking forward to riding the rides.  I couldn't believe that he actually remembered riding the rides at the Ashtabula Fair last year, but he did.  He especially talked about his ride in the kiddy Ferris Wheel.  As to the rides here, we got a handful of tickets and just let Tam decide on his own what he wanted to try.  He yelled his head off in glee while on the roller coaster.



 Jude loved waving to his big brother every time he went by us on each ride.


 There were only tears twice...once when we said he couldn't go through the fun house because he wasn't tall enough and once when we told him he had to come out of the bounce house. 

 

He loved everything he tried.  When asked what was his favorite, he quickly answered with "Ferris Wheel!"  He wasn't tall enough to ride the Ferris wheel by himself, so I readily volunteered to ride with him :-)  No fears from him at all while looming high in the air.

 

Jude and Brian in their fantastic hats...in the sweltering sun.

Find the family members shot!

Great fun!

Wordless Wednesday...First Snow Cone

 Hmmm....What's this?

Oooooo...It's cold!

 Let me try it again....

Oooo....it's still cold...but yummy?

Okay...I think I like it on this hot day!

Garage Sale Reflection

I'm a garage sale junky.
I admit it.
I love the hunt and the awesome score of stuff.
Usually the stuff is stuff I can use...usually.
I love saving money.
And I love being able to give my boys something I couldn't otherwise afford brand-new.
I delight in the anticipation after getting out of the car starting up to the sale and wondering what treasures might be there.
I love counting up my score and tallying the money spent and gloating in the bargains I got.
I am so addicted to garage sales.

After a this brief confession, I've got a bit of reflection...

I vividly recall traveling with my father and sister to Plymouth, Massachusetts to see our relatives.  While there, on Saturday morning, we piled into their mini-van, driven by my aunt Brenda, and tackled the local garage sales.  Yes, while on vacation, we went yard-sale shopping.  I even remember that at one of these sales, I found a box full of cross-stitch magazines for a quarter a piece.  I bought eight(?), though my aunt tried to talk me into offering $5.00 for the entire box.  I just couldn't fathom spending that much money or how I would get the whole box home.  I still have the patterns from those magazines and I even made a handful of them :-)  Anyways, at that time, my aunt was armed with a newspaper with key ads circled.  She also passed on the advice to 1. only hit sales that are opening that day for the best stuff and 2. Look for really new signs on the road, and not ones that might have been used the previous weekend or last year.

Fast forward to last August.   The family was gathered back in Ashtabula to celebrate the semi-annual reunion.  Of course, there was a group formed to go out on the yard sale hunt.  This time it was my cousin Rhonda who led the hunt.  She had scanned the newspaper for ads AND had mapped out a route with the help of the Internet to maximize our time.  We hit several sales on her list and a few that were just advertised with yard signs.  With this run, I remember scoring a few metal car models for Tam.

And now?  How do I tackle yard sales in this technology age?

I've come a long way since that time two decades ago...

I don't even look at a newspaper now. (Print is dead).

Even a few months ago I used to scan for ads online on Craig's list.

Now "there's an App for that" and it is Yard Sale Treasure Map, which I heart in a big way.  This awesome little site scours Craig's list for me and then maps all the garage sales in 20 mile radius on an interactive Google Map.  I can also search the listings for key words, like boy clothes or toys.  I can then click on the map to see the listing and decide if the sale is worth my time.  If it is, I add it to my "route" and if not, I can remove it from the map.  In the end, I have a list of sales I want to hit and I can see a visual map of their locations AND get directions to each.  Then, while in the car, I can pull up this map on my iPad and use my GPS if I get lost.

All this means, is that with a bit of planning I can maximize my yard sale morning so that I hit what I think will be the best sales in the closest proximity and in the shortest amount of time (usually because I have to get home to get Brian to work by noon).  And so far, this strategy has treated me well and treated the family with some great scores (like the slip and slide!).

But looking back...wow...technology is just awesome...even when out bargain hunting.  I think my Aunt Brenda would be proud of me.

And then there are the mom sales...which are moms selling to moms all kids stuff all in one huge place for one day.  And I hope to sell at the upcoming one in September, with some help from my sister :-)

Went to Berry County Fair

We did make it out to a couple of our local county fairs this summer.  This is always a great chance to let the boys get close to real animals other than the tree rats that live in the yard.  I enjoy seeing the crafts, eating fried food, and watching the other visitors.  Tam loves the tractors...and now the rides too.  Jude just takes it all in, but does have some affinity for wheels.  I think Brian mostly likes spending time with his family.

For our first fair, we went with our friends, Keith, Xander, and Jo.  We had decided to go on a day that Brian was free too, and this turned out to be one of the hottest days of the summer. Luckily, we tackled the fair early in the morning because everyone was wilty, ornery, and sweaty by eleven o'clock.

We toured slowly through the animal barns, letting the children check out the animals.


 The bunnies were the first to be seen and uber cute.







There were a few guinea pigs housed with the rabbits...Tam spotted them right away as not like everything else.

The fowl were also okay to be approached by the kiddos.  Both Xander and Tam tried to "talk" to the roosters with little success.









The larger animals were a little more scary for the kids and they had to be a bit more coerced to approach them.  Eventually, all the children braved-up and touched the various big animals (goats, pigs, cows, horses, alpaca). 

 

  Jude LOVED checking out the animals.  Once Daddy showed him how to reach out his hand to get sniffed, he kept trying to touch the animals on his own. 

 Jude had  very little fear and tried to reach and touch everything that looked his way with a bit of curiosity.

 And sometimes the animals were really reaching out to touch Jude! 

 This was a common shot of the two boys behaving so well with each other.  Xander just turned 5years old and Tam is 3.5 years old. 

 The pig barn was chaotic because we entered it in the midst of judging.  This meant that there were loose pigs being herded around the pens.  Twice random hogs got away from their owners and made flights down the aisles were we were walking.  This up-close run in with huge livestock was a bit too much for the kids, especially little Jo, and they were a bit freaked out.

Did I mention that it was HOT...like in the 90s hot with high humidity.  The kids were sweating like mad after just a short time. 
We had lunch in a little piece of shade and tried to keep cool and hydrated.


We ended the day with a quick look at baby animals in the birth barn and then high-tailed it to the car and the air-conditioning.





Overall, a good day spent with friends in the heat with animals :-)

 Jude has been demanding to try using a spoon to scoop up his food.  He has gone so far as pull the spoon out of the hand that's feeding him if he doesn't have one of his own.  He's not doing too bad of a job with it.  Most of the time he gets the spoon to his mouth and at least 60% of time the food is still on it!

You go little man!

Now if only he would gain a few more teeth :-)

And how does Jude let us know that he is done eating or that he doesn't like his food choice? 

He subtly drops the offending food over the side of his high-chair tray.

:-)