Jackson 2013

Last weekend we went to Jackson and met up with Mom, Dad, and Courtney. The weather was perfect, and Amelia and Cooper had fun playing outside.....until Courtney hooked up the Xbox, then we didn't see them for about two hours! We visited Mormon Row and were "ushered enthusiastically" by an overpriced wedding planner past the Most Photographed Barn In the World because a wedding was taking place in front of it. We visited parks, jumped from bench to bench in the gazebo, visited the Moose Junction visitors' center, and discovered the high amusement factor of American "Top Gear."

Relaxing in the gazebo. Amelia crocheted her scarf herself. She's very proud of it.

A less photographed house with accompanying outhouse. It's still gorgeous.

The barn that lost the competition for the most photographed.

I don't think this needs any caption.

Cooper with the anatomically correct moose statue at the visitor's center. Yes, his hand is where you think it is. Everyone watching me take his picture thought it was funny, too. Sweet, innocent Cooper had no idea what he was doing, only that it was about eye level and a good place to hold onto. He did however, ask me if that was where we milk the moose. I think I'll keep this picture handy for future blackmailing.

We went back to the park with the creek running through it and the fun "hanging merry-go-round".

It was a fun weekend and made it hard to come back to life on Monday. We're looking forward to next year!

Bear With Me.....

School starts Monday for me. 17 credits. Because I feel like this already:

                         
                           I'm going to follow this excellent advice:

                     And go have a cupcake.....or a dozen.


I'll need a bit of time to update my blog. Say, a week or so? See you then.

EISF 2013

Arguably the best time of the year, it's FAIR WEEK! Amelia, Cooper and I came down Friday night after school and stayed until Monday. We hit the fair at 10am on Saturday and had a great time:

Amelia entered her cookies in the fair and won second place! I've only ever won third! She was absolutely thrilled, and I am sooooo proud of her. She's really worked hard this year to perfect her special chocolate chip cookies. On the back of her entry tag the judges had written, "Like having a little piece of heaven in my mouth!" She's already making plans for next year.

My little baker.

Cooper and Amelia milked a cow, and drank from free chocolate milk.

Cooper raced a farmer and lost. As the farmer shook his hand Cooper said, "You got more milk, but I was more gentle." Which, we all know, is what really counts when milking a cow.

We hit  the petting zoo and the kids fed the hyper hungry goats, sheep, and calves:

This is a zebu.....he was HUGE.

 We also went through the Idaho Fish and Wildlife booth. They had the pelts of a skunk, wolf, coyote, badger, bobcat, fox, cougar, and a few others I forget. It was cool to feel how different they all were because, you know, doing it when the animal was alive would be really hard. They also had a laser shooting range set up and Amelia and Cooper tried it out. Both were pretty good shots!

After we went through the buildings we went to see the "Axe Women of Maine".

Axe throwing contest.

Log chopping contest.

Log rolling contest.

Cooper insisted on having his picture taken with them. As we left he said, "I'm a fan of them now!

I LOVE the fair for so many reasons......but mainly because I see it as the intro to AUTUMN. That's right people, only 20 more days!! Whoooeeeee!