We Did the Puyallup!
Saturday, September 10th, we did the Puyallup (which if you are not a Northwesterner, means we went to the Fair - and if you ARE a Northwesterner, you will find it odd to note that the theme for this year's fair was not "Do the Puyallup", it was something about a doozy, ah shucks, where has tradition gone...).
It was the 2nd day of the fair (usually we wait until the last weekend of the fair (around the 24th), but this year we just couldn't wait that long) and the weather was rumored to be rainy and cool, so despite the fact that the first weekend is usually a crush, we thought maybe the forcast would keep folks away. And we were right! We were also lucky because it not only didn't rain on us at all, but the weather turned out down right nice.
First on our agenda was FOOOOOOOD. I had a funnel cake (with strawberries, whip cream and LOTS of powdered sugar, most of which landed on what I was wearing) and Dave had Pete's BBQ. Fiona and I looked at hot tubs while Dad ate, then we went to the Caricature Booth. Every year that Dave and I have gone to the Fair, we have had a caricature of us done. That's 5 years now. And most years, we've liked them, but last year was a dud, so we're getting particular about which artist does ours (cuz at least some of them are the same every year, maybe all of them are the same, but I don't have a photographic memory, so...I'm not sure). This year, we "ran" into the good guy right off the bat. But by the time we were done eating, he had a customer, so we decided to get a color caricature of Fiona done while we waited...it came out SOOOOO cute! I can't wait to go back next year and get another one done. Most kids will have a school picture every year, our kid will have a color caricature every year...that ought to be good for her self-esteem (ha, ha).
By the time, Fiona's picture was done, the good artist was fleeing the scene and we actually followed him to the other caricature booth, where he, luckily, was setting up shop (instead of heading home or off on a break). And we all posed for our black and white caricature...depicting our train ride from hell.
We continued wandering through the Fair. Dave let me buy a pretty expensive chinese silk back pack (similar to ones we've seen around over the last few months - I just liked this one so much, I had to have it - and the lady even bargained with me, so I got $15 off, just cuz I liked it...and cuz she's probably selling it for 5 times what it cost her). I let him buy an incense box and 100 sticks of incense that I'm not overly fond of. We got a nifty framed thingy with Fiona's name on it, stating its origin, meaning and a bunch of stuff that is supposedly about her. I like it, but I'm concerned about defining her. She is who she is going to be and I don't want her to think that we expect her to be this thing that was randomly printed out at the fair that is supposed to represent her. (I'm such a greener).
We signed up for water delivery at our house. Turns out that it's not that expensive, pretty comparable to the water that we buy for the house right now - it'll take up less room in the refrigerator, it has insta-hot water (with kid-proof handles, so our little soon-to-be walker won't be able to take a hot shower by accident) and it came with a second unit that we can put in our basement (next to the mini-fridge) so we don't have to go upstairs to get drinkable water (and yes, the tap water in the Puget Sound region is some of the cleanest in the country, but it still smells/tastes like chlorine or something, so we don't usually drink it...okay I drink it sometimes, but we prefer bottled water).
Then it was time for MORE FOOOOOD. Dave got a sliced caramel apple (which he was excited about because normal caramel apples cause people to feel like they are going to break their teeth, but this one, they core it and slice it and then pour hot caramel over the slices and give you tooth picks to eat the slices with - so it's not messy, it's easy to eat and when you are done, you can fish any pieces out of your teeth with the tooth pick and you aren't left with a core to dispose of...but there is a dish involved, but whatever, Dave was excited). Then while I was pottying Fiona, Dave got an Elephant Ear (which we shared).
And it was back into the Exhibition Hall to buy more stuff. Dave got a silver golf ball marker thingy with his name on it. We got the crazy talented woman to write Carly's name on a sign (I'll have to get a photo of the one she did for Fiona last year and Carly's this year - I think we're going to have to come up with a new name to have done every year - watching her work is AMAZING). I bought some spiky rubber balls that you put in your dryer instead of dryer sheets - they're supposed to make your clothes dry faster, be softer and no static. (we've used them for a couple days now, the jury is out).
And then it was my ultimate downfall...we went to the hand craft exhibit...where they were selling hand dyed yarn...for SUPER CHEAP prices (which basically means that the prices didn't take my breath away as is usually the case when I see hand dyed yarn at the store - I'm just not going to pay $50-85 for one skein of yarn...yet). Dave let me buy 3 skeins and I bought one that he liked, too (a total of 4 skeins) and the total bill was outrageous, but I think I can make 6 soakers and a pair of longies (at least) with the stuff, so...it was worth it. Or at least it will be worth it, if I ever actually knit all that stuff up.
This was about the time that Fiona fell asleep. She had had enough. Nothing about the Fair particularly excited her, but she only wet one diaper during the 5 hours we were there (we successfully pottied the rest of the time) and at least she has her first Fair experience under her belt.
The last thing we did as we headed for the gate was...Dave had more FOOOOOD - he bought himself a relatively pared down ice cream waffle cone. We sat on the jiggle foot chairs - those things are heaven after walking 50 miles, holding a 20# kid, for 5 hours. And we bought some family stickers for our car - feet stickers - a big set to represent Dad, a medium set for Mom, a little set for Fiona and we thought we bought a pair of dog paws, too, but turns out we didn't - had to send one of Dave's friends back the next day to get the dog paws. Once we get them on the car, I'll take a photo and post it.
What else is going on with Fiona, you ask - cuz this is the longest post on here with the least amount of actual Fiona information in it...she continues to attempt standing and she's cruising a lot more. And climbing, wow.
She loves to knock down block towers, which we endlessly build for her. She has a few "rattles" (empty water bottles with different kinds of beans in them) that she enjoys shaking and banging together. She loves to create messes - she will pull the CDs out of the CD rack, she has pulled most of the video tapes and DVDs out of their racks and she can take a small wad of paper and create a confetti disaster. She spends time trying to pull my Razor phone out of it's holder - she's seen the two pieces come apart before and will spend endless amounts of time trying to get them to come apart again.
And last night we woke up in the middle of the night to find her draped over the safety rail of our bed, asleep. She was laying on her back, with one arm draped over the side of the bed and somehow she had gotten both of her legs up over the top of the safey rail and she was just sleeping like that. It was slightly alarming to see her like that at first, I mean, it didn't look very safe, but after seeing that she seemed comfy like that, we had a brief chuckle over it. But before we could snap a photo, she woke up wondering what all the fuss was about.
Alright kids that's all for now. Enjoy the photos.
It was the 2nd day of the fair (usually we wait until the last weekend of the fair (around the 24th), but this year we just couldn't wait that long) and the weather was rumored to be rainy and cool, so despite the fact that the first weekend is usually a crush, we thought maybe the forcast would keep folks away. And we were right! We were also lucky because it not only didn't rain on us at all, but the weather turned out down right nice.
First on our agenda was FOOOOOOOD. I had a funnel cake (with strawberries, whip cream and LOTS of powdered sugar, most of which landed on what I was wearing) and Dave had Pete's BBQ. Fiona and I looked at hot tubs while Dad ate, then we went to the Caricature Booth. Every year that Dave and I have gone to the Fair, we have had a caricature of us done. That's 5 years now. And most years, we've liked them, but last year was a dud, so we're getting particular about which artist does ours (cuz at least some of them are the same every year, maybe all of them are the same, but I don't have a photographic memory, so...I'm not sure). This year, we "ran" into the good guy right off the bat. But by the time we were done eating, he had a customer, so we decided to get a color caricature of Fiona done while we waited...it came out SOOOOO cute! I can't wait to go back next year and get another one done. Most kids will have a school picture every year, our kid will have a color caricature every year...that ought to be good for her self-esteem (ha, ha).
By the time, Fiona's picture was done, the good artist was fleeing the scene and we actually followed him to the other caricature booth, where he, luckily, was setting up shop (instead of heading home or off on a break). And we all posed for our black and white caricature...depicting our train ride from hell.
We continued wandering through the Fair. Dave let me buy a pretty expensive chinese silk back pack (similar to ones we've seen around over the last few months - I just liked this one so much, I had to have it - and the lady even bargained with me, so I got $15 off, just cuz I liked it...and cuz she's probably selling it for 5 times what it cost her). I let him buy an incense box and 100 sticks of incense that I'm not overly fond of. We got a nifty framed thingy with Fiona's name on it, stating its origin, meaning and a bunch of stuff that is supposedly about her. I like it, but I'm concerned about defining her. She is who she is going to be and I don't want her to think that we expect her to be this thing that was randomly printed out at the fair that is supposed to represent her. (I'm such a greener).
We signed up for water delivery at our house. Turns out that it's not that expensive, pretty comparable to the water that we buy for the house right now - it'll take up less room in the refrigerator, it has insta-hot water (with kid-proof handles, so our little soon-to-be walker won't be able to take a hot shower by accident) and it came with a second unit that we can put in our basement (next to the mini-fridge) so we don't have to go upstairs to get drinkable water (and yes, the tap water in the Puget Sound region is some of the cleanest in the country, but it still smells/tastes like chlorine or something, so we don't usually drink it...okay I drink it sometimes, but we prefer bottled water).
Then it was time for MORE FOOOOOD. Dave got a sliced caramel apple (which he was excited about because normal caramel apples cause people to feel like they are going to break their teeth, but this one, they core it and slice it and then pour hot caramel over the slices and give you tooth picks to eat the slices with - so it's not messy, it's easy to eat and when you are done, you can fish any pieces out of your teeth with the tooth pick and you aren't left with a core to dispose of...but there is a dish involved, but whatever, Dave was excited). Then while I was pottying Fiona, Dave got an Elephant Ear (which we shared).
And it was back into the Exhibition Hall to buy more stuff. Dave got a silver golf ball marker thingy with his name on it. We got the crazy talented woman to write Carly's name on a sign (I'll have to get a photo of the one she did for Fiona last year and Carly's this year - I think we're going to have to come up with a new name to have done every year - watching her work is AMAZING). I bought some spiky rubber balls that you put in your dryer instead of dryer sheets - they're supposed to make your clothes dry faster, be softer and no static. (we've used them for a couple days now, the jury is out).
And then it was my ultimate downfall...we went to the hand craft exhibit...where they were selling hand dyed yarn...for SUPER CHEAP prices (which basically means that the prices didn't take my breath away as is usually the case when I see hand dyed yarn at the store - I'm just not going to pay $50-85 for one skein of yarn...yet). Dave let me buy 3 skeins and I bought one that he liked, too (a total of 4 skeins) and the total bill was outrageous, but I think I can make 6 soakers and a pair of longies (at least) with the stuff, so...it was worth it. Or at least it will be worth it, if I ever actually knit all that stuff up.
This was about the time that Fiona fell asleep. She had had enough. Nothing about the Fair particularly excited her, but she only wet one diaper during the 5 hours we were there (we successfully pottied the rest of the time) and at least she has her first Fair experience under her belt.
The last thing we did as we headed for the gate was...Dave had more FOOOOOD - he bought himself a relatively pared down ice cream waffle cone. We sat on the jiggle foot chairs - those things are heaven after walking 50 miles, holding a 20# kid, for 5 hours. And we bought some family stickers for our car - feet stickers - a big set to represent Dad, a medium set for Mom, a little set for Fiona and we thought we bought a pair of dog paws, too, but turns out we didn't - had to send one of Dave's friends back the next day to get the dog paws. Once we get them on the car, I'll take a photo and post it.
What else is going on with Fiona, you ask - cuz this is the longest post on here with the least amount of actual Fiona information in it...she continues to attempt standing and she's cruising a lot more. And climbing, wow.
She loves to knock down block towers, which we endlessly build for her. She has a few "rattles" (empty water bottles with different kinds of beans in them) that she enjoys shaking and banging together. She loves to create messes - she will pull the CDs out of the CD rack, she has pulled most of the video tapes and DVDs out of their racks and she can take a small wad of paper and create a confetti disaster. She spends time trying to pull my Razor phone out of it's holder - she's seen the two pieces come apart before and will spend endless amounts of time trying to get them to come apart again.
And last night we woke up in the middle of the night to find her draped over the safety rail of our bed, asleep. She was laying on her back, with one arm draped over the side of the bed and somehow she had gotten both of her legs up over the top of the safey rail and she was just sleeping like that. It was slightly alarming to see her like that at first, I mean, it didn't look very safe, but after seeing that she seemed comfy like that, we had a brief chuckle over it. But before we could snap a photo, she woke up wondering what all the fuss was about.
Alright kids that's all for now. Enjoy the photos.
posted by Chaos @ 10:20 AM
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