We enjoyed some stunning fall weather this weekend. It would be like normal early summer weather in Ohio. We had highs in the mid 70s with low humidity and it got down into the 50s at night. This worked out really well for fall activities here.
Saturday I took the kids to the NC State Fair. This is a big deal in these parts, though the kids don't really like to take full advantage of the Fair. We checked out the blacksmith shop and the FFA barn for starters. We were all fascinated by the prize geese. One of them had a neck about as thick as my forearm. Noah was very excited to learn that you kill a goose by chopping its head off. He and Lily both milked a cow, though Noah only gave a couple of tugs. He was afraid, but was still much braver than Lily was at 4. Noah also really enjoyed seeing a pumpkin that weighed over 500 pounds.
The kids didn't really want to ride any rides, but they did want to eat. Noah wanted me to buy something from just about every stand, but we managed to settle on just getting some corn on the cob, meat (Lily ate an enormous rib sandwich), and some ribbon fries. We were really intrigued by pig lickers (chocolate-covered bacon), but I told Lily that we would make that at home. I know I want to try it.
Yesterday we played some more tennis. Lily came with her rollerblades and did a great job skating around the double tennis courts. She also was a big help in retrieving balls. She tried using Noah's racquet and really enjoyed it. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that we went out and she spent some birthday money on one for herself. Now she and Noah want to hit balls to each other. We'll see how that goes, but at least they're excited.
I have a few pics from the Fair that I'll post from home. Also, I now have a way to get online from work, which means I should be able to post more regularly from now on.
We've had some beautiful weather this weekend which just begged for outside activity. Noah has a tennis racket that he's been dying to try out, so this was an easy choice. We walked to the local court with some balls.
We started with me bouncing balls to him. He didn't do so well with that and really wanted to try serving. He got a few of them over the net, but didn't do too well. The hard sell was getting him to face the right way to start.
He wanted to go back today, so we did that after lunch. I bounced a couple of balls to him and he hit them pretty weakly. Then I had an idea.
I had him turn around and hit them left-handed. He started to really crank them after that. He hit them at my head and between my legs. He even hit a few over the net and in play.
He's pretty excited about this. We will have to do this again soon.
After dinner Lily and Noah were getting treats from their buckets. Their buckets hold all the candy accumulated from Easter, Halloween, and birthday parties. Noah went for a bag of fruit chews and called them "fruit gummies." Lily immediately chimed in by singing, "Fruit gummies...yummy yummy."
She was obviously thinking of this when she did it. Lily has always been good at making associations, but this is a new thing for her. I have to say that this is one of my prouder moments as a dad. She's ready to join in the cheesiness. What great family fun!
Today we got a rare treat in that Lily spoke at length about something she learned at school. She read a book about Blackbeard the pirate and we learned all about him. She knew about his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge and how he hid in an inlet somewhere in the Outer Banks. When he saw a ship laden with cargo he would strike.
Apparently his undoing was from a man named Maynard (perhaps this is who the road near our house is named after?). Maynard very cleverly hid his crew below deck and lured Blackbeard in. Lily also knew that it took three balls to fell Blackbeard. I didn't know that.
She got all of this from a book she read. I find this very encouraging. She is a voracious reader, like her mom. But I have been wondering about how much she's getting out of her reading. It turns out that she is getting plenty.
Lily's friend Katie came over to play today. Katie and her sister both go to school at St. Michael the Archangel. Their parents are members of that parish. It's a solid Catholic family.
I'm not sure how it came up, but while they were playing in the basement Lily said, "Jesus had brothers and sisters." Katie was very surprised and asked, "He did?" Since I was there I tried to diffuse the situation. I explained that Katie's family believes that Mary never had any other children, but that we think the Bible says that He did. I didn't go into great detail, but I think I described both sides fairly.
Although I have pretty firm beliefs about this I didn't think it was time to tack 95 theses on our neighbor's door. I'm glad that Lily is thinking about this though? How could she have known that this was such a hot-button issue?
We had planned on camping this weekend to celebrate Lily's birthday. We thought that yesterday was going to be a teacher's workday, so I was going to take yesterday off. Noah doesn't have school on Friday. It all seemed perfect.
We had to change our plans. It turns out that Lily had school yesterday. It also turns out that we have had terrible camping weather. Since Thursday it has been so humid you could practically cut the air with a knife. I took a little walk up our street at around 6:30 this morning and the fog made the street lights shining through the trees look quite eerie. Everything is warm and damp. It has not been very hot, but it has been rainy and muggy.
We have made the best of it though. I took Lily out for her free Red Robin burger on Thursday and we went shopping to spend some of her gift cards. Then last night Brenna came over to spend the night. They actually got quiet when they were supposed to, which is a huge win for us. Once everyone gets up we're going to have some pancakes. Hopefully today will be a relatively quiet one where we can relax.
