This past week was my fourth trip to Ohio in 2018. That ties my record. The last three times, though, I was there to help clean out my grandmas house. This time we were there for fun. Still, you can see just how excited the boys were to have landed in Cleveland.
Our first stop was to pick up some food to have around the house. You can tell grandma was buying anything the boys wanted.
We flew in on Friday so that we'd be there to put all the tags on our fair stuff that needed to be in on Saturday. It just so happened it was also the night before they were clearing a garden at Terra, and the flowers were free for the taking. The boys would need some later for their flower arrangements, so we went out to cut some of the flowers. We didn't have much of a choice in the timing though, so when it was raining after we went to dinner at the Pizza Palace, we decided to just embrace it. Fun fact though: I got drenched cutting down all the flowers, and the boys never used any of them.
The boys also helped take a mattress upstairs to replace the one on the top bunk in my old room. Though what was up there was an old box spring and the three of us couldn't get it down. We decided to wait for Asa and Calib (who would be arriving the next day), to let them take care of it.
I spent the evening tagging all the boys stuff, and all of Cort's kids stuff and then next morning we were off to the Fairgrounds to take all the needlework, crafts, artwork, photography and collections.
I tried to have the boys take little stuff for collections. Hayden entered the presidential pez under 'America' and his Pokemon cards, and I did let him bring some Disney Infinity guys for the 'Figurines' category. Peyton brought even smaller things- like coins and postcards and campaign buttons.
We did notice the bench was out at the log cabin in honor of my mom's friend and fellow garden club member, Maria Norton, who passed away a little over a month before the fair.
After getting everything in the fair (it took two trips!) Peyton and Hayden worked on their Fairy Gardens and Terrariums for their Flower entries. Mom thought it would be best to get those done early so they had time to settle a bit.
Peyton reinvented his hobbit hole from last year, and Hayden made a little fairy garden in mom's cup from Ireland.
Asa and Calib arrived mid-day. This trip was a little weird for them. I booked it long ago, when I thought Calib would have school during fair week, and Asa would have work. Since that time, Calib registered for all online classes- and Asa was issued a laptop from work, so he could have worked anywhere. Between that and Calib taking his SATs, they wouldn't be able to be there for the fair, but they could at least come up to go to Cedar Point. THEN, everyone decided to have one last party at my grandmas house in September, followed by a Cedar Point day. So basically, they could have stayed home this time around and just come in September. Or, they could have been there all week for the fair. Either way, it didn't quite work out the way I thought it was going to, but they were there.
The good news is that we were able to spend Saturday evening in Toledo with Nate and Allison. They are moving (to the D.C area-- I couldn't be more excited!) so we won't be able to see them in September, so this worked out to visit with some of our favorite people. I should have taken a picture of me and Allison, but instead, here's one of the boys (and Beau!) trying to put together a computer. I'm not sure what happened here, but one minute I was talking everything baby with Allison and next thing I know this was happening.
That evening we had a (really!) late dinner in Fremont at Chud's (Asa's pick). My Aunt Dawn had been staying with my mom. She's moving from Scottsdale, AZ back to Toledo and needed somewhere to stay while she closed on her new house. She's off and unpacking, but we did overlap for a few days, so we got to see her.
After Chuds we stopped by the store for some more Toft's Chocolate Milk. The boys fly through the stuff. I'm actually going to Ohio for a RECORD SIXTH time in November to drive my mom's car down here with remaining items she has for me at her house, and they've already requested I bring a cooler home with a bunch of chocolate milk.
Since Aunt Dawn was there, we had to sleep in a different room- my old room. It was a bit cozy, as it's become a bit of a catch all. But, apparently, still on the wall by the little window is phone numbers (You know, before cell phones, when we all had to call each other's house phones). Fun fact: I can't remember all of these people.
Sunday we headed out to spend the day at one of my favorite Ohio places: Cedar Point!
My cousin Jake came up to go along with us, and he was willing to pay for people to take one last spin with him on the Witches Wheel.
The ride spins in a circle, eventually going upside down over and over again, and is totally terrible. But, it's closing for good on September 3.
Peyton, who swore he'd never go on it, did have a price. It was one Jake was willing to pay.
We did snag a couple of all day dining deals, we got our money's worth, but not much more. But basically you pay a flat fee and can get a meal every 90 minutes. I set my alarm, so I'd know when it was time to eat again, and then we all shared.
I spent the day mostly with mom and Hayden, while the other boys were off riding the big roller coasters.
But, we met up every once in awhile to all go on some things together.
My mom's friend, Bob Miller, came over to pay us a visit too. He was shocked to see Hayden has grown taller than him. (Everyone kept saying how tall Hayden has gotten recently-- I mean, I know I'm the shortest one in the family now, but I don't feel like it happened over night or anything).
We spent some time at the petting farm, and Hayden fed the llamas.
I also decided I would like a Patagonian Cavie.
Overall, we had a fun day at Cedar Point!
But, um, they do need to work on getting their employees to move a bit faster and install some charging stations. I guess I'm just used to Disney, I'm spoiled like that.
Disney also has better food, but nothing is quite the same as mini corn dogs and cheese fries from the Happy Friar.
And Disney doesn't have the place where I met my future husband. (It'll always be Sneak Peeks to me!)
So, nice day at Cedar Point- and we'll be back in a couple weeks to do it all again!
We made the obligatory stop by Toft's to get ice cream on the way home.
There, Asa bet mom Peyton's 20 she wouldn't finish all of her ice cream. She did, Asa paid her, and Peyton was outraged. (Don't worry, Peyton got his money back). Although, I now think we should keep that $20 bill going, trying to bet people to do things.
Speaking of getting people to do things, bartender Jake brought his flask and convinced both mom and I to take a swig. (This was the first time, I, in fact, have ever taken a sip from a flask).
Hayden meanwhile had his chocolate milk in a giant wine glass to be part of the fun.
Calib, who has been dealing with the effects of mono, is getting run down easy these days. (Poor kid gets sick for a week or two everytime he goes somewhere- and he's been on a plane a lot lately- I'm for real buying him a mask and dousing him in hand sanitizer for this next trip), so while he kept his germs isolated to the hallway, Peyton, Hayden and Jake had a sleepover in my old room.
Asa and Calib were up at 4 AM the next morning to head home in time for Asa to clock in, and Calib to start school. They just had to pick up Etta at Pet Paradise. She did much better there this time, and even went out for her playtime! I felt bad for them getting up so early, but I was literally on the same flight a few days later, so I knew the same kind of tired travel day was coming for me, too.
Monday we said goodbye to Jake (but we'll see him in two week too!) and worked on some of the fair projects that still weren't due. Hayden made a beach scene for his marshmallow creation (I loved his sand castle and his beach chair!)
And Peyton made a wreath.
They also made their decorated rice crsipy treats. Peyton went with a sushi theme, complete with chopsticks, while Hayden made little nests for peeps.
They also made their cookie jar recipes.
The baking stuff could go in the fair on Monday, or on Tuesday morning. Mom was going over to the Flower building to help them set up, so I figured we'd just run them over then. We ended up getting roped into an hour or so of setting up all the signs and the placement for the flowers coming in the next morning.
But that did mean we got to spy the needlework ribbons, since it's all in the same building. Hayden got a second on both his quilt and his pillow!
And then mom took us for ice cream to thank us for our work.
Since the boys had already done their terrariums, they only had two flower arrangements left to make for the first flower show. Now, they're no florists. But, they try, and often times- they are the only two entries. You get money for ribbons, and with slim competition, they always want to at least try their hand at flowers.
And sure enough when we got to the fair Tuesday to put them in for judging, they were in the only two entries in all three categories for their age group.
After we got the flowers all set, since it was now opening day of the fair, we decided to check out what the boys got on all their entries. Hayden got a first place in both the Pez Dispensers and his Disney Infinity guys.
He placed second on his Pokemon cards.
Peyton cleaned up. He got a first on his coins, his postcards (not pictured, apparently), his campaign buttons, and his historical finger puppets.
Hayden did most of the crafts. He got a third on his toilet paper roll wreath, and a second on his memory jar full of tickets of places he's been.
He got first place on his button tree, and first place on his donuts for 'painting on fabric'.
In the craft building his water bottle flowers got an honorable mention in recycled crafts.
But her also got a first on his pink dog for stuffed items, his yellow fabric bowl for basketry and a third place on his shell Christmas tree ornament.
Next year, Hayden will be in the 13-16 age group for crafts, but there isn't very much competition there. (I looked at the results for things online and half the categories didn't have one entry!) He's more into crafting than Peyton, who only entered a memory jar of items of things he found in grandma's house (though he got first place), so it'll be a good place for him to enter next year, as he also moves up a category in art- and it gets much more competitive.
Over in woodworking, Hayden got second on his stool he made at his Jr. Woodworkers class at the library, and Peyton got a third on his Tic-Tac-Toe board.
Peyton entered his guy under models and won first. There you get a ribbon AND a trophy for first place!
They did pretty well in Photography. Hayden got a first place in black and white botanicals for his palm tree picture.
He got second for black and while animals with a picture of Delano, and a second for his abstract picture of the canoes and kayaks down at the lodge.
Peyton meanwhile took a really nice picture of the hibiscus out in the front yard, and got a second place on it.
He also got second in black and white abstract and extreme close up (thanks to Pinterest for those ideas!)
Even cooler though, they both got a Best of Show! Hayden in Black and White Extreme Close-Up, and Peyton in Color for Extreme Close Up.
Here's the winning pictures as they were taken on my phone. (That's Maybel's eye, we just ordered it in Black and White).
Over in art, Peyton only had a few entries, but he got a first place on his owl, a second on his greek vase, and an honorable mention on this sculpture.
Hayden meanwhile got a first on his water bottle flowers, and his crayon.
He nabbed a second on his smashed can faces and on his pen/felt tip marker.
He also got second his oil painting and his charcoal drawing. I was surprised some of his other stuff didn't win (I think he had a couple of honorable mentions), but such is life. You can't win them all, and he did pretty dang good.
After checking out all their ribbons, we were off to have an early lunch at our favorite place at the fair- the 'Beef It's What's for Dinner' Tent. Nothing beats a chopped steak (with onion!) fries and a lemon shake up from there!
After that we were headed back to the Flower building to help with all the judging. I clerked (marked the judging sheets) while the boys cleaned up and then put on all the ribbons. Grandma always ropes us into some sort of volunteerism while we're there!
It took a big chunk of our day, but the boys did come to see what the judge had to say about their designs.
She was pretty tough on the adult artistic arrangements, so I was worried she wouldn't award them firsts and seconds, but I was wrong. Hayden took home two firsts, while Peyton got two seconds.
And on the last set, it was Peyton who took first place, and Hayden got second (my gosh, that face!)
Anyway, it was A LOT of flowers to judge, record, and put ribbons on (this is like half of them!)
And we weren't thrilled at the end of it- this is the picture we sent Asa to declare it was 5 PM, we'd been at the fair all day, and we were yet to pet ANY cows or goats.
When we were done, and waiting on grandma we checked out their ribbons on their baked good items. They didn't win anything on their marshmallow creations- but they got first and second on their rice crsipy treats.
And Hayden won second on his cookie jar.
Peyton's, meanwhile, got an honorable mention.
And by 6 pm we had pet some cows and goats- so things were looking up!
My Aunt Bonnie came down to see the boys ribbons, and then we went to dinner at Chuds again (Peyton's request). I took a picture- but it came out rather blurry, something I didn't notice until I went to upload pictures for the blog.
For all the flowers, you earn points for every ribbon you get (5 points for first, 3 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd), and then the winner at the end of the two shows gets a trophy or ribbon or whatever. Mom has been in charge of recording these for years, and it's most helpful for her to have someone read them off to her, so I helped out. It took us about an hour to get through them all.
The next day I was off to Sandusky to get my hair cut!!! I hadn't had it cut since our anniversary last year, so it was needed. But, mom had access to $25 Cedar Point tickets that included parking. I told Peyton if he wanted I would take him and drop him off and he could spend a couple hours there, since it was only $25 (such a good deal!) He really doesn't mind being a single rider, so he was all about it. Hayden, however, said he would like to tag along if we could go Pokemon hunting afterward. So he waited for me while I got my hair cut.
We went to a couple different spots along the water to see if we could find him some water types.
And then we decided to go over to the Cedar Point beach. You don't need a ticket to get in here, and I had told him I'd take him out along the beach on our Cedar Point day, but it never worked out- so this was me making it up to him.
I also took him to lunch along there.
It was a pretty cold day- especially by this Floridian's standards. So we sought shelter from the wind on the lounge chairs with the umbrellas out on the beach.
Hayden didn't seem to mind as much, so he played in the sand (yes in his socks, he said the sand was too cold otherwise- and I just let it go).
Afterwards we went inside Hotel Breakers to get some hot chocolate.
We texted Peyton around 3 to tell him we were ready to go, and to meet us out the back enterence. This whole thing was redone, and I didn't notice it was in place of the old Magnum Photo until Hayden was collecting Pokestops and I realized where we were standing! How can Magnum Photo be gone? What happened to the box? I knew I should have bought that picture where I asked Nolan Whitlock to marry me by writing it on a piece of the keychain cardboard. (Ride Photo people will understand all of this!) Anyway, it's sad to see it go.
When we got back to Fremont the boys put a couple of other flower arrangements together for the next show. We'd be leaving before it took place, but mom took them over for us.
They ended up nabbing a few more ribbons, but this time they had some competition. Hayden got two thirds and a second, while Peyton got a second, third and first. Peyton earned the most points, so he'll get the trophy.
Wednesday was our last night in Ohio so we went back over to the fairgrounds to get in all the animal petting and we went through most of the barns.
This was my favorite goat. I wanted to take her home.
Oh, and then we get to the sequence where some goat tried to eat grandma's dress. My favorite part is the third picture where Peyton starts petting the goat.
We moved on to the pigs, the sheep, the rabbits and the chickens.
I tried to take a fun close up picture of this cow, but he kept trying to lick my camera.
We did get some milkshakes, because you can't not get the milkshakes from the 4-H place.
And we had dinner one more time at the fair. We let the boys pick, and they went back to the same place.
We did stop by to visit the best of show ribbons one more time too!
Worth noting: Mom took home a few ribbons as well.
One last walk through the goat barn, and we were off. Goodbye Sandusky County Fair, until next time!
So, when I got my hair cut, the lady at the counter was like 'Oh, you're Nancy's daughter, I can see it in the hair'. At first, I thought that was weird- but since my mom grew hers out, and I cut mine off- it is pretty similar!
Thursday morning we were up at 4 AM to get on that same early morning flight that Asa and Calib took out of Cleveland a few days earlier. Getting up before the sun was not awesome-- but being home in time to have Publix subs for lunch was a plus (and fun side note: Calib drove to the airport to pick us up!)
Speaking of Calib, he has three classes this semester at Pasco Hernando State College, all of them online. He's taking English Composition I, Astronomy, and Personal Finance. I told Asa to take a picture of him at 'school' on his 'first day of Senior Year', and this is what I got (he still doesn't feel great, but he likes his classes enough). He's also been doing the Observational Drawing classes at the library.
Speaking of which, Hayden had another Jr. Woodworkers this weekend, and he made a pretty cool tablet stand.
Did I post this picture before of his apple change purse he made at his sewing basics class? Either way, there's that.
I think in the birthday and Ohio blogs some of my random pictures got missed. We did do Cake Pop Decorating one day up at the lodge.
And we've been doing lots of bike rides and trips to the pool. It's lovely now that school is back in session. We can go on Asa's lunch and nobody is there but a bunch of ladies lounging around the pool (moms, I presume, who are enjoying their alone time since the kiddos are back in school).
We did also get one of the trees in the back yard down. It's dying, and I'm worried about it falling on its own, so Asa went out there with the big ladder and took care of it. I didn't watch, I made Calib go out there to monitor instead. He keeps things safer than Asa, but not as safe as me- so he's a good compromise to oversee projects like that. Even Etta and Ellie were a little concerned about what was going on out there this time, though.
That is it from here.
Next Up: I've got plans to hit up Disney at least once during this long weekend, and I still have birthday rewards that will expire soon if I don't use them, so we have that to do. And then, we'll be back in Ohio. Busy couple of weeks.
