Party till you Puke

Two blogs, one weekend. Two blog worthy activities, one weekend. That's why.
Key Bank hosted its employees today at The Children's Museum. They were serving mac and cheese for lunch and the Barbie exhibit was still there so we just couldn't miss it. Lilly is finally old enough to enjoy more of the Children's Museum than just the toddler playscape (although we still spent a lot of time there). The only problem is that she doesn't transition well from exhibit to exhibit.
For example: Here she is digging in the dinosphere. She got to wear goggles and use a little scraper and brush to help unearth some dinosaur fossils. When Bryan and I decided it was time to move along to the next exhibit...which by the way was only about twenty feet away and still in the dinosphere...Lilly collapsed. As far as she was concerned this was the most fun thing she had ever done in her entire life and nothing, NOTHING, would ever make her happy again. She cried, screamed and kicked. Well, until about 30 seconds later when we got the the dinosaur nest.
Just a close up of the goggles.

Then, at the dinosaur nest, Lilly dressed up like a dinosaur and collected eggs. Leaving this exhibit went a lot smoother. There just happened to be a little boy about her age waiting his turn to try on the dinosaur costume. When we told Lilly it was his turn she gladly took off the gloves and handed them over and then took him her vest. Bryan was shocked to say the least.

Next, we cruised through the train exhibit. Wasn't really Lilly's favorite, but she was sad to leave it none the less. Then we had lunch, the previously mentioned mac and cheese and a few other things, but all she noticed was the mac and cheese.

After that we headed to the Barbie exhibit. Bryan was a trooper, he helped brush Barbie's hair, even doing his best to put in a hair bow. He dressed a Barbie doll and managed to act excited to discuss Barbie fashion with Lilly. Then as we left he gazed longingly towards the G.I.Joe exhibit, looking forward to the day that we bring our son to the Children's Museum, but right now Lilly had no interest. And of course, Lilly left the Barbie exhibit the same way she left the dino-dig area...kicking and screaming.

But, about five minutes later (because that's how long it took me to make it up the ramps to the next level) she recovered from her devastation upon seeing the carousel and she insisted on riding a deer. And...after the carousel she cried and asked "again?". Bryan took her to play in a tree house while I got another ticket for the carousel. Then we learned something that many of you with older children may have already known; instead of distracting her while I got another ticket we should have simply distracted her and moved along. Because by the time I got back with the ticket she wanted no part of the carousel. That's right, she only wanted to play in the tree house, the ice cream shop and the other little play house. Guess what happened when we left the playhouses.

That's right, kicking and screaming. But, only until we got to the next area.

Bryan insisted that Lilly sit in the race car for a picture. Then Lilly and I realized he had an ulterior motive. He just wanted an excuse to get in there himself. They both left this area in tears.

At the end of the day Lilly and Daddy shared some ice cream and then we headed home. Now, I mentioned that Lilly cried and kind of threw a fit whenever we'd leave an exhibit because she was having so much fun, but she quickly recovered when she realized we were going to another fun hands on area. Well, when we left the table and headed to the car we got the fit, complete with kicking, screaming and shaking, but without the joy of another exhibit. This is where the title of the blog comes in...Lilly had herself so upset that while Bryan was buckling her into the car seat she threw up (and I gagged). But, this only caused her to pause in her temper tantrum. As soon as Bryan cleaned her up she continued with her impression of Linda Blair from 'The Exorcist'. About four minutes from home Lilly finally stopped screaming, and I assume swearing at us, and fell asleep. I carried her in a put her down in her bed, but hoped she wouldn't sleep long. She didn't. She woke up about an hour later in a mood that reminded me of a little of pit bull. So, Lilly and I cuddled in my bed and watched a cartoon while Bryan watched the Colts game in the living room. Lilly looked so cute in our big bed that I had to share a picture. She seems to be saying "No more pictures please."

Cousins' Day of Fun!

When my cousin Brecquelyn moved here several years ago we lived in the same area for the first time in 24 years so we started a tradition called Cousins' Day of Fun. We would choose a day, plan an activity and spend the day together doing something fun. Even if it was just running errands, watching a movie on the couch or have drinks we've always enjoyed ourselves and each other's company. So, when Lilly was born it seemed natural to just include her in our special days. Our plans have had to change slightly since we started including her, but we still have a great time together. Instead of happy hour drinks we do milkshakes at DQ, instead of trips to the mall we do playdates at the park, and instead of watching movies on the couch we have tea parties. But, yesterday we finally did something that Brecq and I have wanted to do for a long, long time. We took a mini road trip to Centerpoint Indiana to visit the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.
The EFRC is a sanctuary for exotic cats that were owned illegally by individuals, unlicensed zoos or have been taken from their homes for a variety of reasons. It spans one hundred wooded acres and provides a proper home for over 200 exotic cats. Lilly loves kitties so this seemed like an obvious choice for yesterday's day of fun.
All three of us had a great time and loved seeing the 'kitties', but I didn't get many pictures and only one of Lilly because Brecq and I were both a nervous wreck keeping Lilly away from the fences. The EFRC is not a zoo, it is a place for neglected, abused or homeless cats to live out their lives and be taken care of. They offer tours as a way to help support the care of the cats, not to humor the public. Because of this, the most important thing is large natural enclosures for the cats, not wide paved walking paths for the people. The paths are about six or seven feet wide and there are fences with cats on both sides. The plant life makes it possible for a 500 lb tiger to lay right up against the fence and still be hidden so we had to be on guard 100% of the time to keep Lilly away from the fences because there is no safe space between people fences and kitties. Not to mention most of the cats were raised by humans so they aren't afraid or even shy of their human caretakers. And the way the big cats eye her was a little unnerving...they all looked at our Lilly like a cat in the wild would look at a wounded gazelle. The tour guide said they always show a lot of interest in little kids.
So, not a lot of pictures, but there are a few good ones of the kitties. We were standing right in the middle of this large African Lion (above), a tiger named Raja (below) and two other enclosures that included a total of five adult tigers when all of a sudden all of the cats stood up, ran towards the fence and started pacing, generally making everyone in the tour group a little uncomfortable. It was then that we mere humans heard the RTV, or food truck. So we got to watch while the keepers tossed parts of a horse into each of the enclosures.
The only picture of people. This was next to a pen with five enormous tigers so we thought it would just be best if Brecq held Lilly for a while.

Lilly's favorite. She insisted that this leopard was a baby jaguar...possibly Diego's baby jaguar.

All three of us had a great time and Lilly loved seeing the lions, tigers and cougars. But, the highlight of the day, at least for Lilly, was when we got back to Brecquelyn's house and Lilly was able to come in and pet one of her domestic cats.

The German Dress

As many of you may know, Bryan's sister Cammie and her family have lived in Germany for the past seven years while her husband bravely serves our country in the army. When Lilly was born Cammie waited for Ed's leave and then quickly made arrangements for the whole family to come and see her new niece. She brought with her an adorable German dress. At the time it seemed closer to fitting me than the tiny baby she had intended it for. But, last night while organizing the closet in Lilly's big girl room I stumbled across the dress and began to wonder. Lilly was just as excited as I was to try it on. She called it her princess dress and I had to do some smooth manipulation to get her to take it off before dinner.
I thought everyone might enjoy the pictures, but don't be surprised if you see the dress again in the Halloween blog.

More Festival

It started out as a dreary gloomy Saturday. Complete with clouds and drizzling rain. We planned to take Lilly to the Fall Festival which includes a parade, a small carnival and some local merchant tents and displays. The weather made us question our resolve, but we decided to risk it when it looked like the rain would not last.
We headed downtown Z-ville, found seats on the curb and settled in for the longest and most boring parade ever. Evidently you don't have to have a float or even a reason to be in the parade...just an overwhelming desire to show yourself off. Now, don't get me wrong there were floats that were well designed and deserved to be in the parade and there were fire trucks, police cars and Lilly's favorite part, marching bands and princesses. But, quite a few entries were just local people who are proud of their car, their job, or their new hair cut...I don't know.
But anyway, Lilly enjoyed it and we didn't stay for the whole thing. Here's Lilly and Bryan patiently waiting for the parade to begin.
Lilly in her bag chair. Bryan carried it all the way from our distant parking spot only to realize that Lilly could sit in the stroller if she so desired and that she was only going to sit for amount of time that it took me to take this picture.

When McGriff the crime dog came by waving and passing out candy Lilly panicked and ended up in my lap. This happened several times during the parade whenever a mascot made an appearance. She is just like her aunt Kristy in this regard.

And of course...Lilly rode a pony. If there is a pony ride within a hundred miles Lilly will find it and talk of nothing else until she's had a turn. Sadly, all she talked about while riding the pony was the playground.

Around this time Lilly and I headed home for a rest while Bryan pressed the flesh with the public at Key Bank's booth. We came back rested and ready to party a few hours later as Bryan's shift was coming to an end. We hurried to get back to the Key Bank booth in time to get Lilly a Tinkerbell spray on tattoo, but Lilly wanted no part of it. She seemed afraid as if it would hurt like a real tattoo. Hope she keeps that attitude throughout her teen years.

After that we headed to the midway to see if there was anything that Lilly could ride. There wasn't, but after Daddy forked over three dollars to a young girl with black and purple hair and many of the previously mentioned real tattoos, Lilly was aloud to 'pick till you win' at duck pond in the carnival. She chose as her prize this purple ball. Then insisted on riding on Bryan's shoulders and holding the ball. It was only then that Bryan discovered that the ball was wet.

The highlight for all of us was the area that was dedicated to inflatable playscapes. There were six of them. Ten dollars for an all day wrist band or two dollars for a single ticket. I talked Bryan into springing for the ten dollar wrist band when I pointed out our friend standing nearby with his four kids. Bryan easily shelled out the ten bucks when he realized how happy he was that he wasn't being asked for 40. Lilly had a blast for well over an hour, going from bouncy house to bounce house. Some were just the old fashioned moon bounce, but there where three obstacle courses, and a slide too. Lilly was able to do all six things unaided, which meant that we had the luxury of standing idly by and watching. After a while Bryan suggested that we leave. "Why?" I asked. He looked around and couldn't come up with an answer so he tossed Lilly back into one of the obstacle courses and we resumed our idleness.

A note to Matthew...When we got out of the car and Lilly saw the giant inflatable slide she couldn't hold in her excitement. "Matthew will be here!?" she asked. Please note the Fourth of July blog.

Bryan's Bean Blossom Birthday Bash

Every year for the past eight years my family and many of my parents' friends have gathered for a weekend of blues in a small town just north of Nashville IN. In the begining the Bean Blossom Blues Festival was two days of blues bands playing to a small crowd. But, it has evolved in its 11 years to include almost three days of bands, a beer and wine tasting and a BBQ cook off. This year the organizer took another huge step forward...he changed the date to include Bryan's birthday and he hired Kenny Wayne Shepherd as his headliner for Saturday night.

Bryan and I missed last year, due to the fact that our babysitters religiously attend this event. But, this year we just couldn't resist the draw of a birthday/anniversary spent at the Blues Festival. Things have changed for us a little as far as the Blues Fest is concerned. Instead of making 200 jello shots, renting a cabin for the two nights and spending the whole weekend parked in a camp chair, we enlisted the help of a trusted babysitter, packed a small cooler with a few beers and some water and headed about an hour south of Indy for a day trip to Bean Blossom.

Bryan shows off his birthday cookie cakes. A closer view of the cookie that didn't get inhaled. The cookies were so cute...and appropriate for the blues festival.

Dad's gift for Bryan. While at a small dive bar in Wisconsin, Kristy bet Bryan $20 that he wouldn't eat one of the pickled turkey gizzards that had been on the shelf since the begining of time. To Kristy's dismay, my shame and no one's surprise Bryan actually liked the disgusting thing. As Bryan munched away on his new favorite snack Wes envisioned an opportunity to snooker my dad at a later date. Long story short...a joke was born and my dad ordered a jar of pickled turkey gizzards as a birthday gift for Bryan.

I won't name names, but Bryan wasn't the only one to enjoy a pickled turkey gizzard at the festival.

Special Shout Out to Mandy, Lilly's best friend. Thanks for coming over on Saturday. Bryan and I had a great time and were able to relax knowing that Lilly was in good hands and having a great time!

Our State Fair...

...is a great state fair. Well, that thought isn't universally felt in our family, but Lilly and I like the fair. Bryan, not so much. Every year when I mention going to the fair he makes this horrible face and rolls his eyes. No doubt he is thinking of the heat, the expense and the indigestion that comes along with the state fair. But every year I am proud of Bryan because one day during the almost three week stint that the fair is here (which happens to be the hottest three weeks of the year) he will suck it up. He comes home a little early from work, pastes on a smile and takes Lilly and I to the fair.
This year he seemed to like it more than ever. I think this reaction was in direct correlation to Lilly being old enough to start enjoying the fair. By the time Bryan got home from work I had Lilly so pumped about the fair that only a daddy with a heart of stone wouldn't be excited too and he was eager to do everything the fair could offer a two year old.
Lilly rode a pony. Well, it was more of a miniature donkey, but she was just as happy as if it were a thoroughbred.
She did the 'Little Hands on the Farm' activity. This may be her and Bryan's favorite part. You walk around a path 'harvesting' several things to put in your little basket: little bags of corn and soy beans, an egg, wool, milk, and a vegetable. Then you feed the corn to some animals and sell your other items, you are given a dollar and corralled into a store where you buy an edible farm product: milk, applesauce, etc.
Here is Lilly doing the 'plowing' part. You are supposed to peddle the tractor around the track, but Lilly opted to be pushed around the track on the tractor.

Milking the cow.

Next, we made our way around and passed the midway. We couldn't resist but to treat Lilly to a ride on the world's biggest slide. She loves to slide more than anything else, but this may have been a little fast for her. As they came down the look on her face was pure terror, but as soon as her feet were on solid ground she asked to do it again.

Of course, it wouldn't be the state fair without stopping to see the World's Largest Boar. Unfortunately, the World' Largest Boar also has the world's largest testicles that he insists on proudly displaying against the fence. So, we moved right along to the Grand Champion sow with her litter of piglets before Lilly could ask any questions.

To end our day at the fair we grabbed an ice cream (which turned out to be Lilly's dinner because it was the only thing she ate all evening...yes, I have cleared off a shelf for my 'mother of the year' award) and made our way to the rodeo. It was the best deal at the whole fair...free. The rodeo was lots of fun and all three of us enjoyed it. That is until Lilly's diaper leaked...while she was sitting on my lap.

We had to go, because while Lilly fit right in at the fair with no pants on, I would not.

The North Woods 2010

What can I say about our third annual Wisconsin trip? It is easily my favorite vacation, and probably for the same reason that many of you would hate it. There is nothing to do. I mean nothing. Now, don't get me wrong I guess there is plenty to do, but nothing that takes a lot of effort. We fish, we sit outside the cabin, we walk to the play ground, we play shuffleboard, we go for a boat ride, we hit the Sportsman bar. But, nothing we do takes more preparation than simply grabbing a sweatshirt and a drink and shutting the cabin door. You don't need hair products or make up. In fact, you can walk into any one of the bar/restaurants up there in cargo pants smeared with fish guts and a camo jacket and fit right in. There is just no real planning or thought required to do anything.
Among the nothing we did so many fun things that I can't even include all of them in this blog. But, I will say that Lilly enjoyed herself more than I ever could have imagined and Bryan and I were both heartbroken on the last day when she woke up excited, ate her breakfast and cheerfully asked to go to the playground. Later that night when we got home she cried after her bath and said "I'm a go back to my cabin".
Lilly on our first full day at the cabin. She is wearing her 'Lil Fishin' Chick' T-shirt and playing her new fishing game. She was surprisingly good at it. I was worried it was too old for her, but she proved me wrong. Notice the tongue hanging out to indicate the amount of concentration.

This is a terrible picture from one of our evening trolling missions (they were all unsuccessful), but it is the only photographic proof that I was even in Wisconsin.

We didn't catch a lot of fish, not nearly as many as last year. All year we kept saying "we don't need to clean 300 crappie" "we don't need to bring so much fish home"...little did we know it wasn't our choice. This year we only caught enough to have a single fish fry. See, we caught so few fish that Dad was even excited about catching the world's smallest bluegill. Don't worry PETA, we threw him back.
While taking a cruise to a connected lake Lilly wormed her way onto Wes's lap and then wasted no time in taking over the wheel.

After losing interest in driving the boat Lilly took in the afternoon sun with Tiki.

Lilly is a budding fashionista, however, some times she seems to struggle with accessorizing. For example, I never would have thought to pair a light blue tu tu with bear claw slippers. But, it seems to work on her.

Fishing with Daddy. They tried almost every day to catch a fish off the dock with Lilly's little Tinkerbell fishing pole, but they were unsuccessful. I tried to convince Wes to swim under the dock and attach a fish to her hook, but no luck.

This picture is dark and I don't if you will be able to see it or not, but as we pulled out for a nightly trolling cruise Lilly sat on Papaw's lap waving good bye. But, as we pulled away she needed her binoculars to see us leave the cove.

I couldn't resist including this picture. Lilly asleep in her little bed. So sweet. Bryan, Lilly and I shared a small room with two sets of bunk beds. After much debate we decided that I would sleep on one of the lower bunks, and Lilly would sleep on the other with her toddler rails attached. We finally decided it would be best if Bryan slept on the top of my bunk...also with toddler rails.

Oh yeah, it wouldn't be the Wisconsin trip blog if I didn't at least mention the mustaches. I don't have a picture of all three of them, but for the second year in a row Bryan, Wes and Dad have grown mustaches while on our trip. The comparing of, grooming, discussion of and giggling about the mustaches takes up quite a bit lot of time.