On Saturday we drove two hours to attend the Wizard of Oz festival in Chesterton, Indiana. When we got there, we walked to an uncrowded place along the parade route to wait, and I started talking with the woman next to us. She asked how old our kids were and I said "Four and two," and she said that hers were also four and two, and pointed to the two kids next to her who were also four. Then I heard a familiar voice say, "...and you know them..." It was my cousin Timmy (who I still call Timmy, even though he's 34). So much for my clever disguise (big sunglasses) that would prevent me from being recognized by anyone in Chesterton (ex-boyfriends). Thankfully, the only person we ran into was my cousin, and I even felt brave enough to take off the (completely useless as a disguise) sunglasses after a while. I mean, really, it's been 15+ years.Timmy (sorry) and I had a nice chat during the parade. His daughters (twins about 6 months older than MG) had fun playing with our kids. After the parade, we got separated by the crowd, but I got a chance to see him and say goodbye later.
I failed to get a picture of my kids with Timmy's kids. This is Glinda.I don't want to sound like a stage mother, but Mary Grace was totally robbed of her rightful place as winner of the 4 - 6 year old Dorothy look-alike contest. There were so many little Dorothys and Glindas and witches, I'm not sure how the judges could've possibly looked at all of them. Frankly their eyes had glazed over by the time they got to the end of the endless line of Dorothys, where we were.
Clicking her heels and being judged.I'm just glad that none of the kids in the too-short store-bought Dorothy costumes won. The girl two spaces ahead of MG in line's given name was Tinkerbell.
People, we really need to rope it in with the crazy names. Tinkerbell? Seriously?? Where is that child ever going to find a job, except maybe Disneyworld?
We ate lunch at the festival, and the kids did the bouncy house and the inflatable slide. Most of the festival was crafts, and I don't have much use for crafts. They just make me feel inferior. Mary Grace wanted a Dorothy doll, but they were 30 bucks and they had bad, creepy faux-porcelain plastic faces. Instead we have commissioned Gramma Denna to make her a Dorothy doll for Christmas.
We also got a chance to look at The Flower Cart's new shop, with about 120 of our closest friends. I couldn't really appreciate it because there were just too many people, but I liked what I saw. You might remember that they did the flowers for my sister's wedding last year. If you're near Chesterton, it's definitely worth checking out. They do such cool stuff.
So after the Dorothy contest and having a minor hissy fit over the creepy dolls, we walked back to the car. Claire was so beat that she fell asleep in her daddy's arms on the way back to the car. We drove home, changed clothes, let Max out, then went to the campground where my aunt Julie, uncle Gary, and their kids Curtis and Craig were camping for the weekend.
Craig was so excited to see us, he fell out of his hammock.
Shortly after we got there, uncle Doug called and said he was on the road, passing by town, and asked if we wanted to have dinner. I said, "Well, we're with your sister..." and so we ended up all of us having dinner together at the campground, which was a lot of fun!
Claire and Curtis got swinging really hard on the hammock, and Claire just laughed and laughed.
We also played at the playground (which is really nice in the local state park, if you live near me and you haven't been over there yet). None of those pictures turned out.
The girls thought the bunk beds in the camper were super cool.
After dinner, we made s'mores by the fire. Claire fell asleep in my arms, this time, and we headed home late.
Then today Bumpa came over for breakfast (French toast and sausage!), then we headed to the local art fair by the river.
The kids liked the playground best.
We didn't see anything that we couldn't live without, so we headed to Best Buy and Barnes & Noble and the mall. I picked out some fall clothes for the girls, and then MG decided she needed to use the restroom, so the girls and I went thataway. By the time we got back out, Bumpa had bought their clothes for them! Thanks again Bumpa!! We got a pretzel, played at the play place, and rode the carousel.
Some punk of a kid was giving the girls a hard time at the play place. Claire was hilarious. She kept shaking her finger at him and saying, "Big trouble!" He tried to hit my kids, and said to Claire, "I'm five, I'm bigger than you so you gotta do what I say!" I walked over and said, "I'm thirty three, I'm bigger than you, so be nice to my kids!" His dad was sitting there with headphones on, being oblivious. We didn't let him spoil our good time, though, and Claire held her own for the rest of the time we were there.
Now we're home, and writing this blog post has taken all of my remaining energy. BJ just went to get a pizza. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts... I'm calling it "basic training" for our trip to Florida next month.
Tomorrow I've got MOPS in the morning with Casey, then work in the afternoon. School Tuesday, School and Ballet Wednesday, and School Thursday and BJ and I have a date in the evening to go to an awards dinner at the local university. Work Friday. Is it too early to hope for a good snowstorm to come snow us in so I can take a break? All this fun is a lot of work!
I think, with this post, I've used up my picture allowance for the month.
People, we really need to rope it in with the crazy names. Tinkerbell? Seriously?? Where is that child ever going to find a job, except maybe Disneyworld?
We ate lunch at the festival, and the kids did the bouncy house and the inflatable slide. Most of the festival was crafts, and I don't have much use for crafts. They just make me feel inferior. Mary Grace wanted a Dorothy doll, but they were 30 bucks and they had bad, creepy faux-porcelain plastic faces. Instead we have commissioned Gramma Denna to make her a Dorothy doll for Christmas.
We also got a chance to look at The Flower Cart's new shop, with about 120 of our closest friends. I couldn't really appreciate it because there were just too many people, but I liked what I saw. You might remember that they did the flowers for my sister's wedding last year. If you're near Chesterton, it's definitely worth checking out. They do such cool stuff.
So after the Dorothy contest and having a minor hissy fit over the creepy dolls, we walked back to the car. Claire was so beat that she fell asleep in her daddy's arms on the way back to the car. We drove home, changed clothes, let Max out, then went to the campground where my aunt Julie, uncle Gary, and their kids Curtis and Craig were camping for the weekend.
Craig was so excited to see us, he fell out of his hammock.Shortly after we got there, uncle Doug called and said he was on the road, passing by town, and asked if we wanted to have dinner. I said, "Well, we're with your sister..." and so we ended up all of us having dinner together at the campground, which was a lot of fun!
Claire and Curtis got swinging really hard on the hammock, and Claire just laughed and laughed.We also played at the playground (which is really nice in the local state park, if you live near me and you haven't been over there yet). None of those pictures turned out.
The girls thought the bunk beds in the camper were super cool.
After dinner, we made s'mores by the fire. Claire fell asleep in my arms, this time, and we headed home late.Then today Bumpa came over for breakfast (French toast and sausage!), then we headed to the local art fair by the river.
The kids liked the playground best.
We didn't see anything that we couldn't live without, so we headed to Best Buy and Barnes & Noble and the mall. I picked out some fall clothes for the girls, and then MG decided she needed to use the restroom, so the girls and I went thataway. By the time we got back out, Bumpa had bought their clothes for them! Thanks again Bumpa!! We got a pretzel, played at the play place, and rode the carousel.Some punk of a kid was giving the girls a hard time at the play place. Claire was hilarious. She kept shaking her finger at him and saying, "Big trouble!" He tried to hit my kids, and said to Claire, "I'm five, I'm bigger than you so you gotta do what I say!" I walked over and said, "I'm thirty three, I'm bigger than you, so be nice to my kids!" His dad was sitting there with headphones on, being oblivious. We didn't let him spoil our good time, though, and Claire held her own for the rest of the time we were there.
Now we're home, and writing this blog post has taken all of my remaining energy. BJ just went to get a pizza. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts... I'm calling it "basic training" for our trip to Florida next month.
Tomorrow I've got MOPS in the morning with Casey, then work in the afternoon. School Tuesday, School and Ballet Wednesday, and School Thursday and BJ and I have a date in the evening to go to an awards dinner at the local university. Work Friday. Is it too early to hope for a good snowstorm to come snow us in so I can take a break? All this fun is a lot of work!
I think, with this post, I've used up my picture allowance for the month.
3 comments:
The Dorothy pictures are too cute, and Claire is such a big girl (I think I'll teach Iris the catch phrase "Big Trouble") when she starts talking. :)
Picture allowance for a week, maybe!
It's crazy when weekends necessitate more time off, but it's damned fun! The Oz Festival looked really cool!
When you go out in disguise you need to leave MG at home. One look at her and old friends are going to think "I use to know a girl like that". Once in Valpo I had an old friend's mother ,who had never seen my kids, look at Sammi (with out knowing I was there) and know who her mother most be.
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