Hannah Milks a Cow at the Maryland State Fair

We spent most of Labor Day weekend being as lazy as humanly possible, but were itching for excitement by  Monday so we headed up to the Maryland State Fair. Eric, ever the spender, took his last $100 out of his allowance account and gleefully announced that he was going to spend it all at the fair. I rolled my eyes and told him that if he managed to do that, I'd reimburse him $40 from my allowance since that's the most I was willing to spend and it only seemed fair that I chip in.  Once inside the gate I ran off to the bathroom and met up with him a few minutes later clutching $45 worth of tickets in his hand....Let the rides begin!

I don't do rides, especially not rides that go around and around which is the case with most rides since the alternative would be riding up and back--and since that would require riding backwards, I wouldn't do that either.  That's okay though, there's a place for people like me on the sidelines. We are the ones who stand with the stroller and the backpack and whatever other accumulated junk, and we are also the ones take all the pictures. We allow the fun seekers to have more fun because they have less to worry about.  And I'm okay with not being fun in this regard because I consider myself a pretty fun person otherwise, and I'm pretty sure that Hannah would agree.

Between rides Hannah spotted a giant blow-up Dora doll.  Lucky for her Eric was eager to blow his cash so he propped her up on the table, paid the lady a few bucks, and helped Hannah fish out some fish until she had won herself the blow-up Dora.

Her and Dora were thenceforth inseparable.  The man at the moon bounce tent wanted her to leave it with me, but she wore him down rather quickly.  

Dora also got a chance to pet nearly all of the animals in the petting zoo, including this nice, furry sheep.

But even Dora can't compare to a slew of super cute, fuzzy little ducklings!  Hannah dropped the blow-up, held out her hands, and said "hold them, hold them," over and over and over again.

I looked around for someone to ask, and right then a young girl in a green shirt started to climb over the fence into the duck pen. Before she had both legs over I had struck up a conversation about whether or not they were her ducks ("sorta") and if my daughter could pet one ("yes").  Of course as soon as I asked about petting them all the parents who heard started getting their kids ramped up to pet a duck and then all the kids mobbed the area, eager for a touch, but the mob eventually died down and Hannah got some QT with the cute little quacklings, and I got my photo op.  I hope that someday we live someplace where we can have ducklings waddling around all cute-like in their fuzzy little coats.

After the ducks we spent a considerable amount of time watching the piglets nursing from their mama pig. I explained what they were doing and Hannah was mesmerized.  (I didn't take a picture of that because they keep the pigs in a tall cage that can't be photographed through.)

Then I saw a sign that said "Milk a Cow," and I was off and running, dragging a less enthused Eric behind. He didn't get why I wanted to milk a cow.  I didn't! I wanted Hannah to. Duh!!!  Earlier that week I was telling Hannah about where cow milk comes from (as opposed to rice milk).  I ended up searching around for a cow milking video on YouTube which was far more illustrative than I was being, but hello!!! The chance to milk a cow herself is the ultimate icing on that little lesson! I really wish there was a 4H program for city kids... Hannah did awesome, and the cow milking was my own personal highlight of the day.

We grabbed lunch, and then Eric talked me into getting on the ferris wheel in an attempt to burn some of the billions of tickets he had left. When I say I get motion sickness I mean on everything. Seriously, everything. I can't ride in any moving vehicle unless I'm the driver. Roller coasters and anything on water leave me shell shocked for hours afterward.  I can't even turn in a circle more than once without getting dizzy and nauseas (which is a problem with a 2-year-old who's recently become obsessed with Ring Around the Rosie). It got so bad when I was super pregnant (like 8 months) that I couldn't do flip turns when I was swimming laps because the flip made me sick, and if the pool was crowded, I'd get seasick on other people's wake.  So yes, ferris wheels make me sick too, but I sucked it up and got on anyway.

After that I started getting cranky, and Hannah started rubbing her eyes. It was past nap time for everyone, and I'd had enough of the chaos.  Lucky for us the cloudy day meant the fair didn't get hoppin' until around lunch time so we'd covered a lot of territory early on without waiting in lines and with no sun beating down on us either.  Eric picked up our not-so-subtle crankiness and started scrambling to use the last few tickets before the ladies lost it (no telling who would go first).  He took Hannah on the carousel and then the teacups again and managed to use every last ticket and spend every last dollar.

Then we peaced out.  Whew.  I love kitschy, all-American activities like State Fairs, but they sure are exhausting.

What Dora's good for

Guess who learned how to count to 10 and has done so repeatedly today?? Even now, when she's supposed to be napping, I can hear her up there counting loudly to baby Lila.  I guess Dora is good for something.....Not that a 2-year-old needs to be able to count to 10 and frankly, I'd rather she not know how to count than watch as much Dora as she has been, but still, I must admit that I'm impressed and close to proclaiming her a genius and sending in a recommendation to Mensa that they admit Hannah as the newest member of their genius club.

Second annual trip to Michigan

I've had "MI blog post" on my to-do list all week, but not much got crossed off that list this week because we ended up buying one month of HBO when we got back in townand have spent every night this week catching up on the fourth season of True Blood.  That's 10 1-hour episodes in 5 days (Monday-Friday).  Pathetic, I know.  Anyway, we're caught up now and have to wait until Sunday to see if the vampires blow up the witch's hangout with Sookie inside.  In the meantime, let's relive Michigan!

We flew in on Saturday, and on Sunday we headed to Binder Park Zoo.  I think the great thing about zoos is that they're a really nice place to walk around and enjoy being outside.  Binder Park fits that bill: it's really pretty with tons of nice walking paths. It's also impressively large.   I was my usual mamarrazzi self, and although I tried to exert some control and not post 18 of the same shot, I couldn't pick my favorite of these first three with Granpah and Hannah on the dodo bird.  I think the third one is my favorite...You?

I seem to have a thing with taking pics of Hannah running off down paths ahead of me...I took a ton like this in Ohiopyle too.

We didn't bother taking our stroller with us to Michigan since we don't use it much anymore anyway, but we did end up renting one at the zoo, and it's a good thing we did because it was a lot of walking and it was all during nap time (which we skipped that day) after a day of traveling (also missed a nap on the travel day) AND both Hannah and I were fighting colds, so her energy waxed and waned (as did mine).

Eric and I look better in the other pics, but this is the only one where Hannah is showing her shining face instead of the top of her head.

Hannah and Grannah grabbed a branch of leaves off a nearby tree and fed this ginormous turtle with the super long neck.  Mmmm....leaves.

Like any good zoo, Binder Park has a petting zoo.  Unlike our zoo, you can feed the goats at this one. Wooohooo! I love how Hannah has her hand on this goat's bum but neither are paying attention to each other.

Hannah's first carousel ride!!! Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the trigger to get a decent shot.

I think Binder Park's claim to fame is probably their Africa exhibit which is huge and really pretty and set up like a pretend safari.  Very cute.  By this time in the day, we were all pretty exhausted and the crowds were getting thick, but Grannah managed to wiggle Hannah in to the giraffe feeding station where Hannah fed and befriended a giraffe with a very, very long, black tongue.

Uncle Justin was at Grannah and Granpah's when we got home from the zoo, and he took this super cute pic of Hannah coloring.

On Monday we hung out at the lake, Fine Lake, where Grannah and Granpah live.  Granpah got a new sail boat and look at what he named it!!! Hannah liked learning the ropes and helping Granpah sail her namesake.  They kept it on the lift this day, but she got to go sailing the next day.

After a nice nap, we headed over to Eric's bff's house to hang out.  I think I was mamarazzied out from the zoo because I left my camera in my backpack until the very end when I snapped this shot of Hannah with Cooper and Carson.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I wish I hadn't been so lazy.

On Tuesday we went to MOO-ville, a local dairy farm and creamery that has awesome ice cream and a farm animal petting zoo. It was really sweet spot and a very laid back activity which was much needed and appreciated.

I let Hannah have a very small peach ice cream cone, more of which melted than was ingested.

 

Eric took this next pic....He took a ton of these but unfortunately, this is the best one...I probably should have handled this since it would have been nice to have had a good pic of Hannah and Grannah, but in addition to still being on the warpath with the cold that was trying to bring me down, I was also at war with cramps, so I found a nice little chair to sit on and stayed there.

Later that day Granpah took Hannah sailing....No good pics here either, but I had to post at least one of Hannah on her first sail boat ride.

On Wednesday morning we went to visit Aunt Dawn and got to hang out with her granddaughter, Paris, for a little bit before she headed off to band practice. Aunt Dawn has a ton of really cool family heirlooms that she was showing us. I'm looking forward to getting ahold of the family tree and ransacking it for names for the future baby number 2 (which is no more than an idea right now).

On Thursday we packed up and moved to Grand Haven to hang out with Uncle Justin on the beach for the rest of our stay. Our original flight home was Saturday afternoon but the impending doom of Hurricane Irene forced us to change that. We thought about leaving early and getting home before the hurricane and then realized that that was a terrible idea and decided to stay on the beach and come home AFTER the hurricane. Duh. Much better choice.   Where were we during Hurricane Irene? Making sand castles on Lake Michigan.  Ahhhhh....

Hannah dug around Uncle Justin's backpack and found a lollipop and although I have never given her one and don't think she's ever seen another kid eating one, she seemed to know that it was something special and went right to work unwrapping it.  Fortunately Uncle Justin is a mostly healthy eater and this lollipop is 100% pomegranate juice with no added sugar so I let it slide. I don't like candy though. I'm easing up a teeny bit on her sugar intake, but I don't think there's ever a reason for her to have candy or chocolate (chocolate because of the caffeine and candy because it's not real food).

Hannah soon grew tired of Uncle Justin's bare chest and decided to help him put his shirt on.

Once properly dressed, he was ready to play her game.  First, run from the blanket to the water.  "Unca Justin. C'mon."

Then run from the water back to the blanket and hide under the umbrella.  "C'mon Unca Justin!"

 Back and forth, back and forth from the beach to the blanket, all the while insisting that "Unca Justin" follow her.  Super cute watching them play together.

So, on one side of Uncle Justin's apartment is the beach.  If you walk to the top of that hill and then down the other side, there's a super awesome playground.  These days, there is no place Hannah would rather be than a playground.

Of all the pics I took this one is MY FAVORITE.  I'm adding it to the long list of pictures that I intend to print and frame...I still only have one framed pic of Hannah, and I think she's only like 6 months in it.  Digital photography is nice, but as a result of it, I have absolutely NO current pics of her in the house. None.  And that list I mentioned, the long one of pics I want to print, it doesn't exist. There is no list.  So I know there are a ton of pics I want to print, but I don't know what they are. Sigh.

Our second annual August trip to Michigan was a good one! We're still struggling to get back to our routine though; the 4-day holiday weekend isn't helping, especially not after our extreme True Blood marathon which has consumed all our free time this week and kept me up way later than I like to be up.  And now this blog post has me up way past bed time.  I'm tired!!!