Ohio Renaisance Festival (oh yeah - we went)

Sit back - this is a long one! Before I get to the Renaissance Festival, let me finish my Bengals post...

Marines were honored before the game and some took an oath of some sort at halftime (I'm not being disrespectful, I just couldn't understand what was said over the noise of the stadium)

I would not have wanted to be the guy getting taken down by three guys at least his size!

Now the fans...

 His gloves were quite helpful in not dropping the water and soda. (You can't see his doo-rag well, but he actually had a buccanneer with a line through it. sweet)

I loved this guy with a child sized helmet on his head. I don't believe he ever took it off, but maybe he couldn't get it off his head...

Who wouldn't want a "Who Dey Hotel"? Probably everyone now that I think about it.

This is just a shot of the stands - talk about a lot of people there to see the Bengals lose.

So now onto the Ohio Renaissance Festival...a coworker gave us free tickets, otherwise we would not have paid $40 just to get into the "festival." Personally I thought Wesley would like to see the costumes, and he did even though he thought they were dressed up for Halloween. (side note: Wes asked me at least three times what I was going to be for Halloween. My answer: Cat in the Hat's mom) Damon was less than excited to go, but I thought it would be fun to people watch more than anything. I went to the festival YEARS ago so I generally knew what to expect, but Damon had NO idea. he he he (that's my evil laugh)

Many people visiting the festival dress up in period costume, so it isn't just the workers who are dressed to the nines. We did not dress up, but I'm sure that comes as no surprise to you. Not only do people go all out to dress the part for the festival, they talk like it is the 1500s as well! To me though most of it sounded like they were trying to talk like pirates, but maybe that's just my untrained ears :) Our family stuck with the good ol' southern Ohio twang.

Here's a sample of what we ran across today...you couldn't make this stuff up!

belly dancers - not sure what the fox tails are all about

I have always wanted to carry a parasol, but I've never had one that went with my outfit. Come to think of it, I've never actually had one at all. bummer

the parade of workers (some ladies were a bit racey in my opinion)

How would you like to have people throw rotting veggies at you? No thanks.

love the ears and the wings

it's a family affair

I am unsure whether this is a costume or just her everyday outfit.

more fairy wings

Here are pictures of us hamming it up:

Wesley hanging with a viking

on the much anticipated horse ride

these cute little pumpkins were at a farm on our way home

I almost didn't see this van in the parking lot! *smirk*

Next update will be about the first professional pictures of our family that we had taken this week...stay tuned!

Bengals game, adoption update

So I'm a bit late in posting the pictures from the Cincinnati Bengals game last Sunday. (here's a spoiler...they lost) I'm going with "better late than never." I have to say first though that it's been a productive week as far as I'm concerned. One thing that I've been trying to concentrate on is not wearing myself out at work. I work hard (thank you for the work ethic, Mom and Dad), but most days I work so hard trying to get everything done that I come home exhausted, mentally and physically. Doesn't exactly make me a model wife or mother...so this week I tried to remember to save something for home. Of course I still worked hard all day, but I didn't try to get everything done every day. I made myself leave work to take care of the next day, and miraculously it all got done. Well maybe not everything, but everything that HAD to be done got done. So I had much more patience and energy for Damon and Wes, which I'm sure they appreciate. And one more crazy thing - I even had the energy to clean the house like I like to do (never got around to hiring that person to clean...YET). Having such a clean house helps my mental state as well, I'm weird like that.

I am happy to report that our homestudy is nearly complete!! I thought I would be typing this months ago, but again, better late than never. I have to email a very detailed list of monthly expenses to insert into our study, but then it's ready to go. I am hoping to get it into USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration) before their fees increase in a few weeks, but if we don't, the difference in cost is only about $100. Not a lot, but it's still something that I would prefer not to have to pay, considering the fact that adoption isn't exactly cheap. And I just realized that I should be typing up that detailed list instead of blogging, but oh well, I'll finish this first. What will happen though is that I'll finish this and it'll be time for bed, then I'll have to find time tomorrow. Such is life. I guess it will be worth it for our daughter :)

Now for the game...

the coin toss

 a lil action shot

the huddle (check out the zoom on my camera)

T.O. (Terrell Owens) had a good game, and it had to be because I was wearing a shirt with his name and number on it. There couldn't be another reason.  

Ok, so now my computer won't upload any more pictures, so I'm going to post this and finish it tomorrow. Guess that's my cue to work on the list for the home study...

10.10.10

We hit the big festival Saturday morning. Talk about crowded!! We left around 11:30am because you could hardly walk due to the masses of people. I would have taken a few pictures of the food, but we ate as we walked, which wasn't easy but we managed because we were much more interested in eating than taking pictures.

 Damon and me at the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival

 the family at the festival

and another (I like the previous picture more than this one, but I cut off Wesley's chin because I couldn't see the screen because the sun was so bright. oops)  

a shot of the crowd around 11:00am on Saturday  

check out the crowd!

another crowd picture (these pictures really don't show the sheer number of people crowded onto a small street)

we had to stop and see the fire trucks as we headed to the car

my big purchase from the festival - for the baby sister :)

Wes headed to Doda and Pawpaw's house, and Damon and I went down to the Bengals-Buccaneers game today. Sadly the Bengals lost, but I enjoyed spending time with Damon. See...always looking for the bright side. The other bright side was that we only sat in the sun for about 15 minutes of the game, which matters a lot when you're wearing a black shirt and it is 88 degrees outside!!

Our seats are right next to the sweetest Grandma you've ever seen. Everyone around actually calls her Grandma (she's had season tickets for YEARS). She brings her grandsons to the games with her, and she asked me to pray for her grandson who is serving in Afghanistan. So please say a prayer with me that he returns to the United State safely and also soon. Just listening to her you could tell how much his family cares about him and misses him. It is times like that I remember how difficult it must be for families when one member is in harm's way overseas and how much I appreciate those who willingly give their lives and their time to keep us safe.

Here's a prayer card she gave me.

I'll post more about the game soon. I have to go through the pictures, but not tonight - I'm headed to bed!

Before I start this post, I would just like to say...GO BENGALS!! As a serious football fan (especially the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ohio State Buckeyes), today officially marks my favorite season of the year!  I love to spend Sunday afternoons napping and watching football. I'm excited just thinking about it.

Why is that I write these whitty blog posts in my head, then when I actually sit down to write, I have nothing to say? Since I can't come up with much to say, I'll just post a few pictures for your enjoyment.

"washing" his foot in the hose adding water to the pool

swimming by himself (with a vest, of course)

I'm a little confused why his body is curved like that...

Wes LOVES jumping in and going under!

This was before Wes would swim by himself. If Damon had tried to pry Wesley's arms off, Wes would have screamed and cried. He's come a long way in the last two weeks.

This picture was before Wes figured out that he didn't have to jump into our arms

BIG splash for such a small guy!!

Does he love swimming or what?

As you can see, we've been spending a lot of time at our local pool. I hate to think that it's going to be closed for winter in just a few weeks!