Car Show and Gardens

On Saturday we went to a car show. It was mostly classic cars, but there were some really nice new ones, too. Paul was in heaven.

I was persuaded to go because it was being held at a local botanical gardens. I figured that when Will and I got tired of looking at cars we could wander around looking at flowers and other pretty things.

When you first walk into the gardens you start at the top of a very steep hill. This picture doesn't do it justice, but there is one further down that looks back up the hill that gives you a better idea. Luckily they had a path the wound down a more gently slope so that we could get the stroller down. However, the hike back up was not pleasant.

Most of the flowers were still in bloom. With all of the rain that we have had this year the flowers have gone nuts.

They had the cars spread out across multiple lawns.

There was a little creek running through the center of everything.

This is the shot back up the hill.

William was in the stroller most of the walk because we didn't want him touching the cars.

At one point Will and I went off on a side path to see what else was in the gardens. There was a vine covered pathway that had little wooden doors inside. Through the doors was a little walled in secret garden. I let Will run around in there for a while.

This is the face you get when you have Will say "cheese".

Once we left the secret garden Paul decided to give Will a ride.

William and Paul liked the old dump trucks.

One of the sections of cars were Austin Healey's. Since Rhonda's first car was a 1959 Bug Eyed Sprite we had to have a picture of one.

There were a lot of cars to look at. Paul loved it, but Will and I soon were getting tired.

I found us a bench near the rose garden so that we could sit and relax for a bit.

It was a really nice day. The wind was blowing a bit, but it kept the tempurature down to a reasonable level. We were all exhausted after climbing back up the hill, so afterward we went to Grandma's and just hung out.

Pool Party

We had a pool party on Saturday at Rhonda's house with our friend Merrill and his daughter Kensie. We kind of got a late start, so rather than go to the big pool we just set up the little pool for the kids to swim in.

Will and Kensie had a lot of fun splashing around while we cooked up the food.

After lunch we went downstairs and let the kids jump in the bounce house. I only got one good shot because they were jumping around so much!

When they got tired of jumping Grandpa Bob brought out the pool of balls.

Will was worn out by the time he went to bed that night, but it was so much fun to have everyone over for a visit.

After dinner we decided to play the new game that Erin gave Paul for his birthday. It's based on a TV show called Banzai. It's a weird game where you watch a DVD for clips and then bet on the outcomes using little plastic sushi pieces. The hardest part was that you had to use a pair of plastic chop sticks to get the betting pieces into the little bowls, and you only had 15 seconds to do it! Usually I would do well at a manic game like this, but my chop stick ability is sorely lacking. Rhonda was the winner.

Erin was gracious enough to take a picture of us all wearing our Banzai headbands.

Crochet Ocean Bag

Okay, so this one is a testament to what you can accomplish when you are home sick. I started this bag on Wednesday when I was at home with a head cold. It was either this or watch hours of daytime television, which I still had on in the background.

I made the little animals on my breaks at work. The hard part was trying to represent seaweed in yarn. There are lots of free patterns for the sea creatures, but I was all on my own for the grasses. I think that they turned out pretty good.

William likes this bag and he can name all of the little animals on it.

Fluffy Blue Baby Blanket

Okay, more craftiness...

I finished this one last night. It is a little baby blanket that one of the girls at work asked me to make for her. It's a simple pattern because the yarn was so fluffy.

Sandy Balloon Festival

On Saturday we all went to the annual Sandy Balloon Festival. We had to get up really early because the hot air balloons can only be filled when it is cool outside, which happens before 6 am at this time of year.

William was still a little sleepy eyed at first, but once he saw the huge balloons he perked up.

They had about a dozen hot air balloons all stuffed into a little park.

William liked the pig balloon.

The weird thing was that they didn't even go up in the balloons. They just inflated them on the ground and then took them down after about an hour. We weren't sure if this was what they had intended or if the weather had not been right, but it was weird.

Since it was a balloon festival they had free balloons for the kids. Will got a purple one.

I was showing him how you can see through the balloon and I got this picture.

Crochet Bottle Bag

Okay, one of the guys at work found out that I did crochet and wanted a beer can cozy. I made him one with some scrap cotton yarn that I had, and I liked it so much that I modified the pattern to make a water bottle bag.

This is basically the same thing as the can cozy, just a lot bigger and with a strap.

I added the button to one side of the strap so that I could undo it and loop it around my purse strap or diaper bag strap. I thought that this would be a good thing to have because when I am carrying around Will and all his gear I have no room for my drink. This way I can hang it off of a bag and I won't drop it.

The flowers where just for fun...

MLR Luau 2010

Last Friday was the Mountain Land Rehab company picnic. This year they had it at a local park. The theme was Luau.

The food was fabulous and it was set out beautifully.

They had hired a group that does party entertainment. They set up three large inflatable toys for the kids. Will loved the bounce house and maze, but the shark slide was a little too intimidating. it was really tall, and you couldn't see where you'd end up at the bottom.

Will liked running through the maze. It had a slide at the end. I thought that he might have trouble climbing up, but I think that he might have a future as a human fly. He barely even used the foot and hand holds!

Here he is almost at the top.

Here he is about to go down the slide. He had absolutely no fear. He would throw himself down that thing!

Grandpa finally had to snag him so that we could go watch the hula dancers. He was drenched in sweat.

They brought in a group that does dancing from around the South Pacific. Will liked it, but he was mad at us because we wouldn't let him get out there and dance with them.

He was happier once they let everyone stand up and learn the hula.

Luckily my camera has a video function. The quality isn't great, but here are some of Will and Paul's dance moves.