The Indiana State Fair

I completely forgot to write a blog about our trip to the Indiana State Fair from our visit to Indiana earlier this month. We've been busy with back to school, marching band, ptsa, and more these last couple of weeks.


Here is Hannah along with her cousins Beatrix and August at the Indiana State Fair. It was the "year of the dairy cows", so they posed with a cow.

Hannah always loves to have her picture taken in the photo cut outs.

Hannah & Beatrix (with help from her mommy) completed a questionnaire on gardens. Upon completion, they were each given a little garden kit to take home.

Big tractor

Farmer Hannah and baby calf, Beatrix.

We saw real cows.

And horses

Sheep

 And pigs....the pig on the right liked to give kisses.

We saw award winning llamas.

And alpacas (I think - or it could be another llama.)

We didn't see any elephants, but we made sure to eat an elephant ear while we were there. We don't see many of those in Georgia.

We also ate some cotton candy.

The kids rode some rides.

We met a very nice storm trooper.

Beatrix wasn't too sure of his character.

And we stopped for some Bubble Tea on our way out. It was a fruity (non-tea) drink with little "tapioca-like" fruit flavored balls. It was very yummy.

We only spent 3 hours at the fair. That was about all the young ones (and my sister who has forgotten how to live with hot, humid temperatures) could handle with the hot Indiana heat. Hannah wished we could have stayed longer. Maybe another year....

What am I Reading?

With the start of the school year, I haven't had as much time to read these past few weeks. However, I did manage to get a little reading done.

Juliet by Anne Fortier was lots of fun! It's about a young woman who is a direct descendant of Juliet as in Romeo and Juliet. She ends up on a adventure/treasure hunt in Italy. One of the reviews I read compared it to The DaVinci Code. I have never read Romeo & Juliet, but I was familiar with the story. There were a lot of references made to it.

Man Hunt by Marissa Mackle is an Irish Chick-Lit. It's about a single woman who has been asked to be a bridesmaid for her cousin and is looking for the perfect guy to accompany her. It was a quick read.

I absolutely loved Sophie Kinsella's latest, "I've Got Your Number".  It's about a young woman who loses her cell phone at an important time. She happens to find another one in a trash bin and starts using it. It belonged to the assistant to a handsome business man who had just quit her job. The main girl then promises to forward any texts and messages to the business man while she borrows the phone. The story was cute. It reminded me of some of her earlier work. Some of the story takes place in the form of texts and emails.  Kinsella used a lot of humorous footnotes in the story that gave us a glimpse of the main characters inner thoughts. I read it on my Kindle so all I had to do was click on the footnote number and I was taken to that footnote.

Hooked on You was a Kindle freebie. It's about a single mom whose father hires a private detective on the premise of some threats against him and his family. The father's true intentions are revealed later. (I'm trying so hard not to give any spoilers!) It was a cute, romance.

Several months later, I have finally read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". I had never read this classic before. I had tried to start it several months ago, but then my book club decided that we would read it this year. I didn't want to read it too early, so I waited until it was closer to our discussion time. I thought it was a wonderful story, but definitely not a fast read. I really don't know why I hadn't read it before, other than it was never an assigned book for me when I was in school.

Happy Reading!

Pottery Painting

One day right before the kids went back to school, I had promised them that I would take them to one of the canvas painting places nearby. The kids chose a beautiful sea turtle painting that they wanted to do at one of the locations that reminded them of our cruise. I called to sign them up a couple of days before the class only to learn that the class had been canceled due to "lack of interest". I had two disappointed kids.

I found a replacement activity at a new pottery painting studio that was not too far from home. The kids each brought a friend with them, too.


James selected an intricate dragon to paint.

Tyler chose a football helmet.

Hannah picked out a dolphin.

The girls enjoyed selecting their paint colors.

The kids worked very quietly on their pieces of art.

Dolphin in progress.

Hannah and her friend carefully applying paint to the greenware.

The boys working just as seriously.

James working on his dragon.

A close up of the dragon.

The finished helmet before firing.

James and the painted dragon.

James' finished dragon after it came home. James was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Hannah loved her finished dolphin.

The name of the pottery place is Remember This Paint Studio and it's located in Hiram. The kids have already selected what they want to do next time.

A Quick Trip to Indiana

My sister and her family live in Las Vegas. With the cost of airfare and our busy lives, we don't get to visit as much as we would like. So when I found out that she and her children were going to be staying with our parents for a couple of weeks in Indy, I knew that I would be making a trip up there.

Here are some pictures of our visit to Indiana.


Hannah spent one night with Grandpa Nick & Grandma Jeannine. She hadn't seen them since last January when we went to Indy.

We went out to lunch with Grandma Pat and spent an afternoon with her.

Grandpa Nick took all of the "in town" grandchildren (plus Bethany's two) out to dinner. It was the first time that Hannah has been with all of her cousins at once.

Here's my nephew holding the Target gift card that we got him for his birthday. It was a super cute foam finger!

Hannah & Beatrix with Grandma Charlotte.

Here they are with Grandpa Karl.

Beatrix helped Hannah make some of Paula Deen's "Not Your Mama's Banana Pudding".

The girls did a great job with the banana pudding. It was a big hit!

21 month old August is quite the technology geek. He can amuse himself for hours on the I-Pad. 

My aunt and uncle came over for dinner one night to see Bethany & me and our kids. Here's Uncle Ken and Grandpa Karl with Beatrix, Hannah, and August.

Three generations of Swain women.

A freshly bathed August.

Saying goodbye to Beatrix before we headed back to Georgia. Beatrix adored Hannah and shadowed her for the few days we visited.

Grandma & Grandpa with their granddaughters.

It was a short and quick trip. We were only in Indy 3 days not including driving days. We went to the Indiana State Fair which I will write about separately. I hope we can plan a longer visit in the future.