Fun at home

Making sauce with the beautiful bounty of farm share tomatoes and having a brothers lego party at the table.

Saturday we went to the HABA outlet sale in Skaneateles, which was really fun but hot. They had bounce houses and facepainting and giveaways and a teacher from a paleontology institute with bones and skulls which captivated T&B.

Then we met Daddy at Gillie Lake for a wonderful afternoon swimming at our own risk at the closed beach. The water was perfect and there's no place I would have rather been.

On the campaign trail

At the Skaneateles Fire Department Labor Day Parade Sunday, and then the beautiful playground at the town park.

State Fair 2016

This year we hit the NYS Fair twice, which is a luxury of living in the same city as the Fair, just about 10 minutes away. We went last Friday with Grandpa Stu and Jeff and the kiddos. The highlight of the day was expected to be the Paw Patrol exhibit but the line was so incredibly long (some folks waited 5 hours to get in!) and the exhibit so lackluster (Jeff stayed in line while I went to check it out) that we decided to bag the line and the exhibit. We checked out the clydesdales, the old hot rods, an Air Force helicopter, a couple funnel cakes and fried doughs, and the fair fire station (always a favorite), and the 4H building for some crafts. Then as we were returning to the main part of the fair from the fire station area, looking to get into some lunch, we happened on the back of the Paw Patrol vehicle. There was a back entrance to the 18-wheeler that wasn't guarded or chained, and I saw a few other parent/kid combos just calmly walking in. So I grabbed Theo and Beckett and we walked right in. The truck was surprisingly empty, probably because there wasn't much to do there besides a small slide and a periscope in the hideout area. The lengthy line appeared to be for folks waiting for pictures with large human-sized Paw Patrol characters, which Theo and Beckett wouldn't have enjoyed anyway. The whole thing was bizarre and poorly-planned, in my opinion. But we stayed for about five minutes in the truck and then the boys were all set for Paw Patrol. I have friends who waited for hours in line before giving up. We certainly lucked out with the surprise back entrance and skipping out on the waiting. Jeff is pretty sure that we "sneaked" in and that it was not legitimate and indeed, the entrance was chained off by the time we left, but it wasn't like we were taking anything away from anyone who had waited, because there really wasn't anything going on in there anyway!

We also lucked out with some favorable weather--breezy and not too hot. We had lunch on the grass (PB for Beckett, hot dog for Theo, tempura veggies for me, a bacon bomb for Jeff--pork chop layered with sausage, all wrapped in bacon and slathered with BBQ sauce, and his regular Basilio's sausage for Stu) and hit some of the animal tents after. I also had my first fair wine slushie, which was everything I had hoped it would be except bigger.

Maybe Jeff has some pictures from that day that he will add here.

Labor Day Monday Jeff and the kids and I went back to the Fair for a focused day of eating and rides. Rides are only $1 on Labor Day Monday and we came prepared for a day of grimy, rickety fair rides and finding the best food at the fair. I think it's FAIR to say we crushed it. We rode every ride in the kiddie rides section (this year was the first when the boys are over 42 inches, a key height threshold in the ride industry) and found some great food finds--falafels, maple cotton candy, and maple ice cream (the BEST).

first day of school

Theo and Beckett are off to their first day of kindergarten at Syracuse Latin School today. They waited for the bus (30 minutes late!) with their friends Luke, Jake, Oliver, Marty and Evan.

Late summer fun

Swimming in the Kamerys' pool, celebrating Mama and Daddy's anniversary with ice cream at Arctic Island, and swimming at the Swim Club in Ithaca.

weekend in the catskills

Spent the weekend in the Catskills for the wedding of friends Leah and Jon. Unfortunately spent the majority of the night with these two goofballs above.

Sunday morning we went for a lovely, if short, hike to Trout Lake in the park. Beautiful flowers and a peaceful walk.

We were amazed by all the Trump signs we saw in the Catskills. This display of American, Confederate and Trump flags all on one flagpole was particularly impressive.