A Trip to the County Fair

Terrible-for-you deep fried food? $12

Rickety carni rides that make mom nervous? $6

Farm animals and all the poop to go with them? (That's free in Indiana!)

Introducing Andra to another Indiana summer ritual? Priceless. :)

Parade Girl

After seeing how much Andra enjoyed the 4th of July parade we took her to, we're now on the prowl for any parade within about a 30 mile radius. :) This weekend we had a county parade really close to home...and in the same county where her Grandma and Grandpa live. Andra seemed to love this one too, and she has the funniest reaction when it gets too loud...as you'll see below. She LOVES fire trucks, but I think their siren is a little startling for her. Well, apparently our gal has her eyes and ears a little confused! :) (and by the way, if you're at work and watching this, you'll wanna turn the volume down a little!)

Aside from all the sights and sounds, I think Andra also loves parades because she has candy thrown to her (which we never eat at home)... and that's the epitome of excitement for an almost 2 year old! So, when faced with the dilemma of whether to eat your FlavorIce or your lollipop...why not both??

Lake Day

Nothing says summer like a day on the lake!

Crystal (you might recall her from the horse post) is one of my very best friends in the world. She also happens to be a golf pro, which requires her to live in California, but she always comes home for at least a few weeks during the summer. Since we don't get to see her most of the year, we try to soak up as much time with her as possible when she IS home. And top of the agenda is making a visit to her family's lakehouse. I've been going there since I was a high schooler, and thanks to the infinite patience of her family, it's where I learned to ski, kneeboard, and laugh so hard that lakewater comes out my nose. :)

This was Andra's second summer to make a trip to the lakehouse, and she was VERY excited to ride on the boat! She loves all things transportation right now: busses, traines, planes, boats...

Hands up!...we're going "fast!" (about as fast as a pontoon can go)

A great one of Crystal and Andra...oops! I blinked...

Floating the day away... (ok, I did NOT intentionally match our hats...but it's kinda cute!)

Her First Parade & Horsin' Around

What a big day for our little gal! Andra celebrated the 4th of July by going to her very first parade, and she really liked it! We headed up north to the Carmelfest parade, dodged a few raindrops...and luckily, it didn't rain on our parade! She loves fire trucks, marching bands and costume characters, so needless to say...the parade was a hit! There were a few loud moments that startled her and she jumped into my lap (see below)...but she always jumped right back up once the noise stopped.

Her parade experience was made perfect by her FIRST sucker...blue, of course! She held on to it for about an hour and wouldn't share a single lick with Mom or Dad.

After a nap, it was time for more celebration. My best friend Crystal had a hogroast (she's a country girl!), so we gobbled up lots of yummy food...and Crystal spent some special time introducing Andra to her family's horses. Andra LOVED it. She was content to spend hours in their horse arena, and probably would've slept in one of the stalls if I would've let her!

She even got to ride a horse bare back. She looked so proud and filled with wonder all at the same time. While we were trying to hold on to her and help steady her, she kept pushing our hands away. She wanted to prove she could do it on her own! Crystal also showed her how to feed the horses hay...so the horses all had full bellies when we left because Andra fed every single one. Multiple times. I know there will come a day when Andra will want to take riding lessons...and I love that she'll be able to do it at Crystal's house... a place I have many special memories too. Thanks for all the special time, Crystal. She grinned ear to ear the whole way home.