Another Day, Another Fair, Another Tour

Greg is back in town. Now he's working at the Minnesota State Fair. 

My Dad-Larry and I spent the day there this past Saturday (so fun to spend the day with him). Greg gave us a tour of the grandstand area

 ....including the area where he is currently working and engineering the video production for the grandstands

....and the back of the huge video screen (16' x 20') that they assembled for the production (one on each side of the grandstands actually). Weird trivia moment: This particular screen is rented from the Dallas Cowboys football team--the team/organization owns it and rents it out during its off season (funny).

So glad to have Greg back in town for awhile and fun to see where he is currently working.


Upcoming: 
Stay Tuned for a few posts on what just may be my busiest summer ever. I soon will be sitting down to process the information, write about it, and share what God has been teaching me about Himself. 

Cookie Baking Night 08/20/12

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan and Carissa. 

It recently occurred to me that I have not been including the kids in my clean up process (usually doing it after they leave), therefore I have not been teaching them about that part of life.

 I've decided to incorporate clean up into Cookie Baking Night. 

So tonight after supper: 

Ethan vacuumed the dining room area (carpet in the dining room--don't do it people), and he did a very nice job.

And Carissa helped me load the dishwasher.

Then we started making our "cookie" for the evening. Tonight, we made bacon and eggs. This is a great activity for involving the children. First, they need to sort the M&Ms and find all the yellow ones to use for the "yolk" (we use the green ones too for a Dr. Seuss sort of feel).

Then they have to line up the pretzel sticks in rows of three. Next, melt the white almond bark, pour over the pretzel sticks, and place a yellow M&M in the middle.

And there you have bacon and egs. 

We also read lessons 74 & 75 tonight from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. Both lessons were about prayer, so following the lessons some good discussion ensued. 

Tonight Carissa read for us from the Bible for the first time! (There were a few tricky words in there, but she's well on her way to becoming a Bible reader). 

As usual, a fun time was had by all. 

In Future Cookie Baking News: 

Our niece, Allison, turned 2 years old today (picture taken at her birthday party on Saturday). In one more year, Alli will be joining us at Cookie Baking Night. We look forward to her arrival.

Road Trip With A Niece

Greg has been working at the Iowa State Fair for a couple weeks (the company he works for provides the video for the grandstand events). Emily and I decided to pay him a visit (about a 4-1/2 hour drive), check out the fair, and visit a few relatives before we returned home. 

We headed out on Friday evening after I finished work. 

Had to stop for supper so we tried a place called Baldy's BBQ along the way (we liked the name, and the food was good too).

We arrived around midnight. We were exhausted. 

A couple friends from church (Marc and Rachel) happened to be visiting the fair that day as well, so we spent some time with them.

Greg showed us where he was working and what his job entailed this time around (Emily thinks she might want to be an audiovisual engineer when she grows up--hmmm).

Had to try some fair food (here, Emily and Greg are checking out the chocolate covered bacon on a stick).

Rachel and Marc thought they would try some nachos and deep fried cheese on a stick. (I stuck with the classic corn dog, myself).

     
                                   Greg, myself, and Emily

After Greg headed off to start work for the day and Marc and Rachel went back to their family's house, Emily and I decided to check out the view of the fair from the sky ride.

And we finished off the day with some ice cream and a souvenir state fair style (shirt on a stick).

P.S. On a relational note, there's nothing like a road trip to build on a relationship with someone you know. The conversation on such trips is deeper, the potential for sinning and needing to ask for forgiveness is greater (sanctification opportunities abound within the road trip). The opportunity to live everyday life with someone watching you 24/7 exists within the road trip (and everyday life is where strong relationships are built and nurtured). I recommend taking a road trip with a young person near you sometime soon. 

Cookie Baking Night 08/06/12

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan, Carissa, and Emily. Due to a scheduling conflict, I had to cancel Cookie Baking Night last time. And the time before that, only Carissa attended. So, it has been a while since we've all been together.

We made s'mores. We've done this one before, and it's a keeper. If you like s'mores, then you can't beat this easy recipe.

Just line up some graham crackers on a cookie sheet (covered with parchment paper). Have the children sprinkle mini marshmallows on the crackers.

Place under the broiler for about 4 minutes (until the marshmallows are golden brown).

Place chocolate pieces on top of the melted marshmallows and cover with the second graham cracker.

And voila! You have s'mores.

Tonight we read lessons 72 and 73 from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. Both lessons were on prayer, which led to some interesting discussion about why, where, and how we pray. We spent some time talking about it out loud and processing it. Emily read 1 Kings 8:22-28 from the Bible for us. And Ethan read Psalm 95:1-6.

We ended the evening with a rousing game of Pictureka and Go Fish.

As usual, a fun time was had by all.