state fair

The State Fair.  I really love it.  I don't know what it is about it, but I get so excited when it's fair time!  Last year we took Bear for the first time, but he was too little to really enjoy it.  This year was a different story.  He loved people watching, getting out and walking around, the fair food (lemon shake-up: yes, please!), the tractors (obsessed), and the animals! He was saying all of his animal noises and loved seeing them up close.  He even got to pet a baby calf!

We grabbed a corn dog and walk towards the animal barns.  We went one by one and made sure to see them all.  B was so interested in all of the animals and just stared at them, making the occasional animal sound for good measure.  Especially in the sheep barn..."baaa!".  After the animals, we caught a little of the parade and Barrett loved waving to the fair queens and tractors.  

We hopped on the tractor train ride and rode through the fair while we all sipped on a lemon shake-up.  He got to see all the rides at the Midway and loved watching them move.  We hopped off at the huge yard full of John Deere tractors.  Barrett wanted to sit on every single one.  This kid loves cars and tractors and anything related.  

He started getting sleepy around 8 or so, so we headed towards the car. 

 Another successful and fun fair day in the books, here's to next year!

DMB & symphony on the prairie

Matt and I's highlight of the Summer? Dave Matthews concert!  It usually kicks off our Summer, but this year is was mid-July.  We LOVE it!

We were initially planning on only going to the Saturday night show with our friends, Amber and Rob, but on Friday morning I started thinking about how I couldn't believe we weren't going to Friday night too.  I called my mom to see if she'd be able to get down in time to watch Bear for us to get to the concert, and it was going to be cutting it close but she thought she could.  I was getting ready to buy lawn tickets when a thought popped into my head.  A crazy thought.  What if there were pavilion tickets still available? Yeah, right.  Those seats sell out right away.  We try every year to get 4 tickets in pavilion and can never get them.  I was out on a walk with Barrett and Jax and decided to check tickets just in case.  Sure enough, 2 seats popped up in the lower pavilion.  What?!  It only held the tickets for 7 minutes and I was a good 10 from home.  I decided to keep walking and if it was meant to be, they would be there when I checked again.  A few minutes later, I checked again and the only ones that popped up were lawn seats.  Crap!  Tried again.  Same.  Tried again. Same.  Tried ONE last time.  Another set of pavilion seats! The people holding onto those must've let them go.  I speed-walked back to the house to double check with Matt first and all I and to say was the word "pavilion" and Matt said "go for it!!".  In all the years we've gone, we've never sat pavilion.  We were going to go to Friday night too, and sit pavilion for the first time!  Best last minute decision ever.

We had a BLAST! Our seats were 10 rows back from the pit! It was incredible to be up that close.  We could see Dave and experiencing the music from up that close was unimaginable. He played some of our favorites (including our wedding song!) and really jammed out.  We left with the hugest smiles on our faces :).  I even got a guitar pic!

Saturday, we met up with our friends for some more DMB fun.  We got some great seats on the lawn that night.  It was hot. as. heck. though.  We were sweating fools.  Nothing a beverage can't cure.  Once again, they played a killer show and we had an amazing time.  Matt whipped me out into the aisle way again for some dancing and we sang our lungs out.  

A few weeks ago, we met our friends at Symphony on the Prairie.  Matt and I went a couple years ago and really loved the atmosphere.  You can bring your own wine and food and stake our your spot on the lawn.  Great music, beautiful weather, and good wine!  It had been awhile since we've all been able to hang out so we had so much fun chatting while eating and drinking and enjoying our Summer night.  The weather was absolute perfection.  We love Summer!

THIS is summer

I don't know what it is about a happy baby in just a diaper playing outside in the backyard that signifies Summer.  Oh wait, yes I do.  THIS is Summer :)