Staycation Days .5 and 1

Our family vacation week is here, and we are here, too :) Originally, we hoped to go to the Ark, The Football Hall of Fame, maybe even Niagara Falls, and the Little House in the Big Woods. But plans change. In fact, the plan is still constantly changing as weather and work and commitments pop up and disappear from the calendar. However, we are determined to make the most of the gift our friends gave us, so here's how it's going so far . . .

Sunday morning: an unofficial start to the staycation. Caelan was still with Noah's family, hoping to see Noah who is working in the fields 15 hours a day for (so far) 15 days straight. She mostly spent time with his parents and siblings but had fun for the five days she was there :) The boys decided with their friends that they would all dress up fancy for church--I'm talking suits and ties! Graysen wore my brother's gold-lam(ay) suit coat (which is actually spelled "lame" when I looked it up, hahaha). I don't have any pictures, but I'm hoping the boys will share some the girls in their group took. They caused quite a stir in their formal duds!

Next, was the aforementioned fixing of the vent pipe and a big breakfast to try to use up some eggs :)

Then late afternoon we headed to the county fair. The boys planned to meet up with their friend group (Gabby was still at work, since our staycation technically did start until Monday). 

Livestock interactions, a state or county fair must! Also, we owned basically every kind of chicken represented in the poultry room--but they had us at the roosters, ducks, and turkeys. All the birds looked so hot; they were panting. Such a bummer that summer was in full force for the fair. We need a good thunderstorm to take the temps back down to reasonable. But at least it was bright and sunny, and outside the barns there was a bit of a breeze :)

Buck and I sat in the shade and ate iffy fairfood while the kids (bottom left of the photo) watched the motorcycle stunts (the red spot in the tree) from much closer. Pretty exciting show :) Then we headed to the main event--the demolition derby! Our kids had never attended such a thing and were excited. G$ sat with our pastor, recently back from sabbatical, and his kids, and I think Brennen and the rest of PaTch ended up nearby. If you squint you can see them all the way at the end of the track, past the announcer's booth (lol, no you can't).

One fun surprise was that a kid we know from youth group was part of the truck drag races (which we didn't even know were happening). We thought he won all of his heats, but he ended up coming in third out of all the trucks participating, and a lot of trucks participated! Buck and I were sitting far enough away to not get enveloped in the black diesel clouds the trucks would build up, absolutely covering the crowds near the fences. 

The next morning was the official start to our staycation! We slept in a bit, decided Gabby could move into the classroom, sent the boys off with the chickens (and to swim and play catch at their buddy's house), arranged with Caelan to meet us at football practice, and Buck and I ventured out again (I know! so much leaving the house after a full week of not even tasting fresh air) to run errands--including buying some organizational stuff to relocate the classroom to . . . somewhere :)

After dropping the boys at football, I headed to Costco for groceries. We hadn't really, legit grocery shopped in a month. I joked about the Old Mother Hubbard in a different post, but for real! We usually use the top of our cabinets for extra food storage--all of the extra food was gone! Plus the freezers were downright spacious. Well, I got the basics and we are restocked again. People look at me funny when I push a cart this full through the store, I can't imagine why . . . :)

Aww, parting is such sweet sorrow :) Do you see the two inseparables in the sideview mirror? Caelan's farmer's market flowers are on the floor, the boys are playing football out the side window, the air was blasting in hopes of keeping the frozen food cool for an hour (I really thought practice would end early due to the heat), and farewells are flowing in the parking lot behind the van.

Back at home, Buck grilled the pork chops I bought at the same time as the "whole" chicken. Just in time, I provided all of the side dishes from my Costco shopping trip. We ate our first meal almost together (Gabby forgot she had two jobs and only took time off of one of them) of the vacation. Then, we sorted through the pile of DVDs we'd checked out from the library (one of our earlier errands) and decided to watch Oceans 11. There are a few "look away" and "cover your ears" moments, but otherwise a clever movie. Goes along with the gambling theme we've got going this week, lol! Jerry and Marge Go Large was super cute, despite being about playing the lottery :)

Okay, so that's staycation so far! We gave the kids a list of options for Day 2, which is supposed to be like 106 degrees, so let the fun continue!