Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend was a big one for all of us- especially Little Man. On Saturday we had Neil's cousin, Johnny's wedding. This was a big deal because all of our usual babysitters were going to be busy. My parents and Bonnie and Neil were all going to the same wedding and Sandy and Don were leaving for their vacation the day before. So we all were going to be very brave and all of the kids (Anna and Sophie and Jackson) were to be babysat by Tesa, Neil's 15-year-old cousin. Now, Tesa has watched Anna and Sophie many times, but it was going to be the first time for Little Man. We were only in Lakewood so if anything were to happen we could run over there ASAP, so we were feeling pretty good about the whole thing. And boy am I glad we did. Jackson was so good! He had a blast with Tesa and the girls. Since he is so comfortable with the Stenger's house and with both of the girls being there with him things went really well. I guess it was a little difficult getting the babies to bed, but we figured it would be that way. But Tesa handled it all very well, and when we all got home the babies were all happy and sound asleep in their beds like angels. It is such a good feeling knowing that we now have another babysitter if we needed one in a pinch.

On Sunday, after Jackson's nap, we met up with a few of the other Kanengeiser's out at Rick and Judy's house to go to the Geauga County Fair. What a blast this was! Unfortunately Judy wasn't able to join us due to a twisted knee, but Uncle Bob, Aunt Deb and even Sara who is was in town from Toledo University (!) , Grandma K, and Aunt Peggy (Judy's sister) along with Rick and our crew, we were a pretty good bunch! From what I learned, this fair is the longest running fair in the country! And boy, is it a lovely one! We all had a blast- Jackson especially. I knew he would enjoy the people watching and all the animals but I wouldn't have guessed he liked it this much! It was so cool seeing all these animals up close and being able to touch all the farm animals too. Little Man got such a kick out of touching the cows and goats. It was so cute! Plus we all shared Fair French fries with ketchup and malt vinegar- one of all our guilty favorites! Jackson’s new favorite thing lately by the way is ketchup. Yummy, does he gobble that stuff up!!!

Another pretty special thing for Jackson was he got to ride rides! OK, one ride. But he rode it three times! He was only old enough to ride the merry-go-round, but oh my goodness did he love it! I could have died just watching the look of joy and hearing the squeals from him! First he rode it with Daddy, and then we wandered around the fair a bit. When we came back to the merry-go-round he rode it one more time with me and then with Grandpa right after because he loved it so much he didn’t want to get off! We have wonderful pictures from it but they will be coming later because they are in print form. I need to upload them to the computer so check back soon! This really was a fantastic day!

On Monday, Labor Day, we all headed over to my parents house to celebrate my dad’s birthday. It was a perfect afternoon- the weather was beautiful, excellent company and great festiveness all around. It got pretty warm by late afternoon so my parents pulled out the sprinkler and we let the kids go crazy and play in the water. Usually Sophie and Anna are the daredevils, flying through the water and dipping their faces in it while Jackson stays off to the edges and just lets the mist hit him- but not today. Today he was super brave and ran right into the water, put his head and hands right in it, and just had tons of fun! I was so proud of him!

Over all it was a super busy weekend. But it was a really great one with lots of family time and lots of fun experiences.