Milk Bubbles

almost enough to make you wish you were a kid again, isn't it?

Even Claire's catching on...

HIllsborough County Fair

Tonight we made it to the Hillsborough County Fair. We had no idea what to expect, but it was Can Day, so we got in free. It felt like a county fair in it's infancy: a dozen rides, a small midway, a few livestock tents, but not much buzz going on. It worked out just fine for us, though, because the sparse crowd made it easy to keep track of the kids.

Almost immediately after I told Isaac that we were going to the fair, he asked if he could ride on the merry-go-round. Apparently that was his overriding memory from the MN State Fair last year: riding the carousel with Caleb. He got his wish, and he was trembling with excitement and adrenaline. He was too worked up to even smile the first time. But as soon as he got off, he was shouting the praises of his beloved ride.

Vance initiated Isaac in that most important of excitements: his first roller coaster ride. (You can see his little hand waving between the antennae). He was less nervous about the (little) roller coaster than he was the merry-go-round.

Claire was too short to ride, but she had fun watching! This was one of the rare smiles, though...most of the time she had a look of complete and fixed concentration on her face. No smiles, no expressions, just focus. While we were in the livestock tent, Isaac was ecstatically petting a cooperative cow, and I asked Claire if she wanted to pet it too. "Nope," was her emphatic response. No question there. She was NOT getting out of her stroller to touch any of the foreign objects surrounding her. It makes me realize how different Isaac and Claire are. At this age, you couldn't have kept Isaac in the stroller for love or money.

Lucky for the little guy, we had enough tickets for one last carousel ride! What a night!

Autumn Festival

On Saturday we went to a nearby Autumn Festival with our friends the Huttons. We almost didn't make it, since we were hurrying up on putting an offer on the house, but we managed to throw together a couple of quick costumes and make it in time for most of the fun. Claire, as most people were able to recognize (amazingly!) was our little movie star.

Isaac started out as a fireman, but switched over to being a pirate after he got a facepaint mustache and goatee and balloon sword. Such is the fickleness of man. :)

Claire had such a great time! She's more of a scaredy cat than Isaac, and she was happy to sit in her stroller sucking on a lollipop for about half the time. She screamed when I tried to get her to play the fishing game! But oddly enough, she was an angel with the facepainting, and it was her willingness to do it that got Isaac in the chair afterwards. That little competitive edge can come in handy, sometimes :).

They had some great moon bounces, even some for laser tags and zip lines...pretty fun for older kids. Isaac mostly jumped in the more tame moon bounces, but he did really enjoy the big slides. It was fun to go with friends, and the kids got more than their required amount of candy for the season. We had a great time!

Just Kidding: it IS our house (we think)!

The housing saga continues, but is hopefully nearing its' end. On Saturday, I was blown away to see that the first house we had offered on (and had been accepted, then dropped), went back on the market. We offered again, and this time they signed the contract and got back to us before the deadline. The inspection is tomorrow, and the appraisal is on Thursday, so Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we're on our way to home ownership!

It's one of those things where hindsight really enables you to see God's wisdom. We were excited about the house in the first place, and I remember saying to Vance, "I'm not worried about it falling through. I feel like this is our house." That made it more disappointing when the sellers jilted us. But not getting what we wanted (and thought we were on our way to having) did force us to check our hearts a little more, and be reminded that God's goodness isn't dependent on whether or not we get our preferred housing arrangement. More than ever, we are reminded that we aren't entitled to this house (or any other), but that it is just a gift. (And you experienced homeowners are now saying, Just wait till you see that first expensive repair bill! :)

Vance prayed that if we were supposed to have that house, that the other offer would fall through. I never thought it would, but it did. And the second time around, we're even more grateful.