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Aloha!
we're home!





Vacation was wonderful.
Hawaii wasn't at all what I expected
and completely what I imagined all in one.
I took a badrillion pictures.
1,072 to be exact!
I know I'll procrastinate going through all of them, so I wanted to post a sneak peak.
The boys loved the beach.
Henry got as brown as a bear,
Patrick dug deep deep holes in the sand,
and William hung out in them, safe from the waves.
Henry loved the waves, the surfers and his boogie board.
It was an adventure. We had a rental car and I felt really adventurous.
We drove around the whole island, door to door it takes about two hours.
We saw the mountains where they filmed scenes from Pearl Harbor,
the opening of Jurassic Park and opening scenes from Lost.
We ate pineapple.
Tons of juicy, melt-in-your-mouth pineapple.
Macadamia nuts.
Coconut syrup.
Oh and even McDonald's.
The colors there were stunning.
The sky, the water, the clouds, the sunsets. Gorgeous.
I loved being together, the four of us, together for a whole week.
There were times I didn't know if we'd survive that one
little
hotel room,
or William's new shrill (ridiculously loud, make strangers turn their heads) shrieks of protest,
BUT
we did!
And the plane ride, too. The boys did so great on the plane. I was prepared for and expecting the very worst and
they did awesome! We were super proud of them.
More pictures and elaborate details to come.
Mahalo!

we're off

In approximately 8 hours and 58 minutes we'll be landing on the big island in Honolulu.
I anticipate that I'll feel
thrilled
thankful
excited
relieved
pumped
and
jazzed
to be there and not be in the plane
any
longer.
Because right now I'm feeling a little
nervous and
worried and
stressed out
about the looong plane ride.
But there are books
movies
candy
suckers
gum
matchbox cars
and other trinkity-clinkity toys from the dollar store all packed
and ready to go.
I'm hoping they will help beat
boredom,
crabbiness,
and restlessness.
Waikiki, Hawaii
Here We Come!

we've got a winner

Erica,
you're the winner of the sassy pig caption contest!
I will put your giftcard in the mail tonight!!

Here's a look at how the very scientific method went down

all the entrants names

were placed into a basket
(minus one. I didn't want Henry to pull out Patrick's name. I thought everyone would think the contest was rigged!)

then Henry reached in,

unfolded,

and revealed the winner


Thank you all for playing!
that was fun,
let's do that again.

last chance for this little piggy

If you want one of these

to sit at one of these

and have a few moments of peace

ENTER NOW!

Leave your sassy pig comment!
Contest ends Wednesday August 12, 2009

We're leaving for vacation on Friday and I promise to mail out the winner's Starbucks card before we go!

sassy pig

Introducing
my first ever prize-winning blog contest!
I took this pig's picture at the fair last week. When I was working on my fair post I became obsessed with this pig. It is looking right at me!
I can just tell it has some spunk.
I knew right away that I had to use a caption bubble to capture this guy's thoughts.
I even sent texts to my mom and Holly asking them for their best ideas of what a sassy pig might say.
They both had some great ideas. I couldn't narrow it down, and that's when I decided to hold a pig thought caption contest.
For a prize.



Think you've got one?
Leave a comment with your caption.
I'll assign each comment a number and then draw one number at random.
Did I mention there's a prize?
I will send the winner a $5 Starbucks giftcard.
ok, it's your turn,
go HOG wild!

fun at the fair

Last Thursday, we went to the annual McLean County fair and we had lots
of fun.

Really, we did.
Before I explain William's expression, here's a look at what we did and why William's night
ended in
tears.

First we visited the animal barns.
There were cows, horses, goats, sheep and pigs.



As William walked up and down the aisles of these barns, he kept turning around and looking suspiciously at the animals.

Henry was pretty brave and tried petting the pigs.


Hands-down, the 4-H sheep shearing contest captivated the boys' attention the most.
There were six sheep, each standing on their own boards, cutting boards, if you will. Each one with his own shearer. Each shearer a boy, some looked as young as 10; definitely no older than 13 or 14. Three of the boys sheared with clippers and three with scissors.
The boys literally did not want to leave this sight.
And I was obviously captivated, too; I didn't take a single picture of their mesmerized faces.
The contest was an hour and we got there halfway through, so unfortunately I cannot report the winner. (There was still fair food to be had...)

Next we walked around the fairgrounds and looked at the tractors.
Small ones, big ones,
mowers,
loaders,
forklifts.
Neither Henry or William wanted to leave them.

which is why we saved the fair food for after this.
Neither boy, tractor loving as they are, can resist a chocolate ice-cream cone!


Patrick and I shared a lemon shake-up and a funnel cake.
I never once think of those two things any time during the rest of the year, but when I walk into a fair I feel like I cannot live without a taste of either of them!

I love this picture of William watching this girl on her horse.

The last thing we did was buy tickets and take the boys to the fair rides.
Henry loved this slide.
We were so proud of him; he gave the man his tickets, took his mat and went up all by himself!
Such a big 4-year old boy. So much changes in a short time.

Then Henry wanted to drive these trucks.
We pulled some strings to get William on board, too. Technically riders have to be 36", but he was so close he was so excited about going, too.
And really those guys at the rides,
well, they don't really seem to care.

Henry was so excited to get the green one that he shoved his ticket forward and barged to the front of the line. They got the green truck and they loved driving that little thing.
So much that William didn't want it to end. He refused to get out when it stopped and Patrick had to go in and get him. Which is why...

It was a fun way to spend a night together.
And I'm sure,
we'll be back next year.