Party Weekend!

I think this has been the busiest weekend of the summer for us!!

Friday, we had a wonderful day! It was the first day of the Puyallup Fair, and they have a great tradition... for the first 2 hours of the fair, on the first day, anyone can get in free. Tickets are normally $10 a person, so it's a great way to enjoy the fair for free!! The gates opened at 10am and free admission was until noon, so we thought we'd leave about 10:30 and arrive into the fair around 11:30, with time to spare. Well, we had a few mishaps that set our time schedule back a bit. Luckily, we decided to travel through town, rather than traveling the interstate, so that saved us some time. But, I hadn't looked at the map close enough to realize that there was a 5th Ave on the east and the west side of the fair grounds. So, our first attempt, landed us right down in the mess of the fair. So, we had to circle back through town, to make the attempt again. Luckily, the second attempt was successful and we found a parking spot, and arrived inside the fair gates with 10 mintues to spare (before we would have had to pay).

Ken and I aren't really "fair" kind of people. My folks never took us to the fair and neither did ken's folks. My parents had always told us that the rides were unsafe and from my experience, you never really know what kind of people you're gonna have at the fair (i.e. "the carney"). But, although the crowd was unusally large that day, we had a nice time. We met some friends and enjoyed watching our buddy Liam go on a few rides. We also got to witness the "Muttin' Bustin'" in person, so that was pretty neat. Essentially, it is the "bull riding" for little guys... under the age of 6 and under 60 lbs. They put these little kids on the back of a sheep and open the door. The sheep run down to the opposite end and the children fall off, normally within the first 8ft out of the gate. We enjoyed the fair fare... fries and burgers, Ken had a wonderful slice of strawberry and rhubarb pie, while I enjoyed my fair favorite, the "Krusty Pup", otherwise known as the Corn Dog. We both also had a local fair treat, a nice warm scone with raspberry jam. Oh, they were wonderful!! There is nothing like a fair scone! Finnegan enjoyed himself too. He saw his first real cow, chicken, rabbit, sheep and horse. That was neat. He was very mesmerized by them. Daddy gave him a small piece of rhubarb from his pie, and mommy gave him a small piece of her scone.

Saturday, we enjoyed Philip Henry's Birthday party at a local park by Puget Sound. It was a beautiful day and it was very exciting to see all the children, outside of Gymboree, playing together. It was a fun day. Henry got lots of fun toys and books and even a few very nice clothes. After his party, we all had a nice long nap, as we were still tired from the hours of walking the fair.

Today, we all slept in, about 2 hours late. I couldn't believe that!! We have another birthday party today to celebrate Makena's birthday. Ken is currently out working on the lawn, and I am, well, blogging.

There is 2 weeks until Finnegan's birthday and our beloved birthday guests arrive. So, I've been busy planning and over planning. I have been writing out grocery lists, and lists for Sam's Club. I have one week to focus my attention on the house, and then the last week to focus on preparing the food and the last minute preparations for our house guests.

So much excitement. Perhaps I'll post some photos from our fair day and the birthday parties a little later. I have some very exciting ones to share!