The Salem Fair

So, we've finally reached a really big milestone in our family.  Like huge.  Almost life-changing. 

OUR GIRLS CAN RIDE THE LITTLE RIDES AT THE FAIR ALL BY THEMSELVES!

Every parent who's ever crammed their legs inside of this flying banana knows exactly how exciting that is.  :)

 

 

Every time we go to the Salem Fair (and at this point, it's an annual tradition), I wonder why on earth we subject ourselves to the dirty, germy, where-did-these-people-come-from-ness of the Fair.  But, every year (and maybe this year the most), our girls love it.  They laugh, they eat, and they ride their little hearts out.  When I finally left with Willa (Sam stayed even longer with the "big girls" Harper and Sydney), it was 10:00.  AT NIGHT.  And between the lack of nap and the overdose of funnel cake, she was hilarious in her emotional departure.  "Byyyyyyyye, Fair!  I miss my fair!!"

Rainy Fourth of July

a 1970s Fourth of July

So, this year, we had to have the worst Independence Day weather of all time.  It literally rained the entiiiiiiire day.  The good news is that we spent the day adult-ing.  Yes, on our day off from work, we (we meaning Sam, although I did provide periodic laughing, which I'm sure was super helpful)installed our new microwave, since our other one randomly stopped working last week.  Thanks, Sam, for your handiwork.  xoxo

It's a good thing we had friends and family over on Saturday to meet our mandatory Fourth of July weekend cookout quota!  Corrie, Jeremy, Rachel, Mike and his daughters, and Chris came over and we grilled out, played cornhole, and lit sparklers.

 

When it became pretty clear that the weather was going to stay monsoon status, the sweet Quesenberrys invited us over to hangout at their house and eat together before trying to catch some fireworks.  All of the local fireworks were canceled (yes, the weather was that bad), except for the Salem Fair's.  Good news for us, since that's the one we usually try to catch. 

After hanging out in Salem at the Quesenberrys for a bit, we drove over to Lakeside Baptist to sit in the parking lot and try to see the fireworks.  The Cromers and Fertittas met us over there, and hooray, it didn't rain for an hour or so!  But, it was still super cloudy.  As we were hanging out waiting for the fireworks, some neighbors of the church started letting off some huge ground-to-air fireworks, and the kids were so excited about those.  And, I felt like maybe we should tip them since it ended up being to foggy from the rain to see the fair fireworks over the trees.  It was nice that our kids didn't know any different since the neighborhood show was so good. 

So, there was nothing spectacular about this holiday weekend.  Just lots of watermelon, fireworks, friends, and family.