It seems that we can’t stay home lately…thats one reason these posts are so far behind…but we’ve been having a lot of fun, visiting friends we haven’t seen forever, finally meeting their kids, and having our children become fast friends. Its a beautiful thing.

When my friend Margo said at the beginning of the summer “you should come visit us..” I was like “of course, yes, lets”…and you know usually those conversations end there. Not this one! I searched the calendar, which was already nearing full, and found an open weekend, and thank goodness it worked for them too!

I met Margo and her hubby Jason at Bible camp in 2000, and think we figured out that we’d last seen each other sometime around 2002 or 2003. Meaning, I’d never met their kids…and they’d never met mine. What’s great is that our kids are almost exactly the same ages. Weeks separate the first two, and only 2 months separate the second two. When i was telling Ellie where we were going and explaining that there would be kids there her size and Evan’s size, and then there was a baby, she responded “but we don’t have  a baby”. My reply…”no, we don’t…and that’s just fine.” Sorry, mom, still holding to the thought that 2 is just right for us.

Once we got to Wisconsin, I was surprised how fast our kids became friends. Within minutes of arriving, they were playing downstairs in the playroom together. The best part though, was how everytime we’d go somewhere…and then return to their house, we had a greeter meet us at the van to give us hugs.

We took the kids to some great places…the Eau Claire Children’s Museum…fantastic place. The whole bottom level is this water exploration station. What kid doesn’t like to play in the water? They had a ball!

Margo and I…watching the kids play.

Yeah…fast friends…we’re sure they’re going to get married someday.

And then we went to Irvine park, right there in Chippewa Falls. Playground equipment, live animals, a petting zoo…a kids dream!

Love this picture!

but didn’t want to leave the little guy out.

So glad we went. So. Glad. We had the best time, and so did all of the kids. My Ellie keeps asking when we can go back…and i didn’t want to leave. Luckily, that just tells me it won’t be another 7 years before we see them again!

Like I said in part 1, we LOVE the state fair!

There have only been a handful of years we’ve missed…one when Ellie was 6 months, and one when Evan was 6 weeks. Thought it may be a little much for all of us those years…

The highlights of the fair for us…

Little Hands on the Farm

enjoying the fruits of her labor.

The butter sculptures. I don’t get much into the butter cow…but i did enjoy the tribute to Green Eggs and Ham. It was perfect! “You do not like them, so you say…try them, try them, and you may.”

The geeky hubby loved this! Well, I thought it was cool too…but I’ll use any excuse to share his geeky-ness.

and a visit with our friend Dan Wardell.

And of course, the food was awesome! My new favorite…fried pineapple on a stick. Because if its not on a stick, its not real fair food to me.  They take a wedge of fresh pineapple, dip it in funnel cake batter, deep fat fry it, and then pour frosting on it. Mmmm…tasty. I did also do a wide variety of sampling,…just to make sure i had the full fair experience. Think i covered it until next year. *smile*

This is Nicholas. Our friends adopted him from South Korea this spring. We love this little guy. He’s always so smiley and happy.

We were lucky enough to get to celebrate Korean Liberation Day with them all when we were in Des Moines this year. Nicholas waved his flag…

and we all had some Korean pancakes (Hoddeok)

They’re described as “a fried yeast dumpling, flattened to a pancake, with sticky cinnamon sugar centre.”

And let me tell you…they’re tasty!

If you’re interested in learning more…or trying to make them for yourselves…check out this site.

http://www.lastappetite.com/korean-street-food-recipes-hoddeok/

Every year, we travel to Des Moines in mid-August to take in the state fair…we LOVE the state fair. The crowds of people, the hot, the food….

but this post isn’t about the fair…that one’s coming in part 2…its about the other fun things we did while we were there that weekend.

We are blessed with wonderful friends who let us crash their party every year. The invite my circus into their house and we spend the whole weekend playing and seeing Des Moines.

Last year when we were there, we went to the science center…but only got to stay an hour or so. Not nearly enough time to explore it all.

I love this place. Kids can touch everything, and you don’t have to be afraid to let them do it!

Abbie and Ellie playing with the air.

Ev’s hands…I’m surprised he touched it…

Captive audience…

but i don’t think the ending was what he hoped for.

my little weather girl

and my future scientist…trying to figure out how the ball wall worked.

I loved watching all the kids try and figure stuff out. Fun seeing their little minds at work!

Meeting their new baby cousin for the first time…

Oh, he’s so tiny.

We were impressed Evan got this close.

This one was just loving it! I think baby Wesley was loving it too!

We’re convinced he’s a perfect angel. He slept the whole time we were there visiting, through Ellie holding him, and me holding him, through their dog checking everyone and everything out, and through Evan avoiding him but climbing on and off everything else…I don’t believe for a minute that this boy has ever thrown a fit.

Welcome baby Wesley, we’re so excited you’re here!