unplugged

we are getting rid of internet, netflix, and hulu plus in an effort to get a handle on our finances.  Time to only have the necessities.  You may only here from me once in a blue moon.  I'm hoping I can leach internet from an outside source around here.

Ren Fest 2012

As with the State Fair, I believe we have learned that these activities are fun with Jolynn, but we need our adult time too.  To experience everything through her eyes, the excitement; but it also nice to have the adult time to enjoy the adult parts of the day.  At the fair it was the buildings.  At Ren Fest it was the shops.  There was no way I was taking Jolynn in any of the highly breakable shops.  I just wanted to look around, NOT HAPPENING.  So we did the Jolynn thing.  We ate our turkey leg and cheese curds.  I was going to do the beer tasting but forgot my license in the car.  If I would have known better I would have taken the free shuttle back to the car and been back in time to still drink.  Next year I will remember EVERYTHING.  Last year I forgot cash for the food booths.  This year was the license.  Next year will be perfect.haha.  In the years that I have gone to the Renaissance Festival I have watched the shows and played a few games (archery or throwing knives).  I wander the stores and have fun looking at all the costumes.  Last year I finally made my own costume.  Since losing 40 lbs it doesn't quite fit the same.  A little loose and I was able to synch the bodice all the way closed.  All good things, but it took a long time for me to make that costume!


Like I said, this year was about Jolynn basically.  We tried to watch the jousting event but there were a slew of bees and we didn't want to stick around.  Jolynn saw kids getting rides on the horses and wanted to go.  So we did.

a little scared of the big horse

coming back down so WE can ride the next horse together.

here we go!

waving to daddy

 After riding the horse, she noticed a MUCH bigger animal next to it that was giving rides too.  Of course we HAD to ride an ELEPHANT!  I tell you this was all she talked about when people asked her about Ren Fest.

Ellsa's Birthday

We've made some new friends through the Desvousges, Cara and Josh Borggren.  They have 3 beautiful daughters.  Their youngest just turned one.  We were invited to her birthday party.  I think Jolynn had fun.  She definitely didn't want to leave her new friends.

ready for the party!

the traditional "get all the kids together" photo

I LOVE this photo. Of course she didn't know I was taking a picture, probably why it turned out so cute.

running back up the hill to roll down.

trying to roll down the hill

rollin' rollin' rollin'

Jon's birthday

Jon had more of a birthday week than a birthDAY.  It started Wednesday with Benihana.  My mom watched Jolynn while we went out for his free $30 worth of food.  I remember us going there and eating everything they served plus we got a couple sushi rolls.  Now I eat that and then the main meal comes and I have to box the whole thing.  Jon did convince me to change my normal surf and turf to Yakisoba (with chicken).  Granted I didn't eat it until almost a week later - it still tasted awesome.  Definitely getting that again.

Thursday was Jon's actual birthday - FOGO DAY!.  We took the day off.  Around 11:30 we headed over to the Desvousges'.  Margaret rode with Jason.  She's not much for Fogo so she agreed to watch all the kids so Erin and Richard could come with.  It was a great lunch. I've gotten into making cake pops.  This was my second try at it.  I can get the cake part right, the frosting was what I needed to work on.  These turned out great.  I asked Jon what his favorite color was, which I knew, and not thinking about what I was applying it to.  So Jon has blue balls for dessert.

Friday was the State Fair with the Moritz clan.  We did our traditional stop to get Jolynn's hand casted.  (picture to be inserted later).  We hit up our normal fair food - curds, corn on the cob, fried pickles, the milk stand, malt from the milk booth, corn dogs, foot long hot dog.  Jon tried the bacon ice cream.  I really couldn't taste the bacon all that much.  Jon also went for the Poutine - fries, cheese curds (not fried), covered in gravy.  In line for the Poutine was the grandfather of hockey Lou Nanne.  Jon felt like a bit of a rube for not saying anything to him.  I have no idea who he is - anyone in the sports world does however.  Many older generations would be surprised that Jon did.  See more on the State Fair here.

State Fair 2012

Another year at the fair has come and gone.  We only thought we were going for one day this year.  Jolynn and I ended up going twice.  We went on Friday with Jon, Mike and Margaret, then again on Monday with my mom.  Friday was once again, all about the food.  Our first stop was getting Jolynn's hand casted.  She did really well.  No fist this year.  I wanted her to do the age with her fingers, so we were trying really hard to do bunny ears with her fingers.  Didn't happen.  She ended up with a high-five looking cast.  (picture later)

We did the normal fair food - corn dog, foot long hot dog, fried cheese curds, mini donuts, corn on the cob, Chicago Style Hot Dog, pretzel, funnel cake, $1 milk, malt from Milk Booth, and fried pickles.  We tried two new foods this year - bacon ice cream and Poutine.  Both were nothing to rave about.  A new food for us but not for the fair was a Philly Cheesesteak.  Now this was something that will definitely become a new staple fair food for us.

In past year's Jolynn was so young that she basically was confined to her stroller.  Not this year.  I can see that there will be two days of fair for me in the future.  One with and one without Jolynn. The first day I didn't even go in any buildings.  So I thought Monday would be the day for me to hit all the buildings and merchandise areas.  Ha, right!  The only reason I was able to get a glimpse of the Grandstand shops was because my mom kept Jolynn busy looking at the DNR fishery.  Both days were spent doing fun things with Jolynn.  It was fun seeing her enjoy all the different things to see and do and she is such a people person that she would make "friends" at every location.  She would be so sad with they or us had to go.  "where my friends go" she would say.

I also noticed that being there at night is a whole new experience.  I really enjoyed walking around when it wasn't steaming hot with the sun beating down on you.  People also seemed to move differently than during the day, more cautious about where they were going (maybe because of the darkness).  Jon pointed out that there were no strollers (double or triple wide) and no motorized carts.  The old people and kiddos have gone to bed.

On Friday, Mike and Margaret took Jolynn back with them from the fair.  Jon stayed with me to catch the Wilson Philips free concert.  We got our seats at 6pm.  The show didn't start until 8:30pm.  It was a good thing we did though - there had to be close to 6,000 people there.  Only 2,000 seats were available, so that makes for a lot of people standing room only.  It was an awesome concert.  Jon told me to stop at Target the next day and purchase their new CD - Dedicated.  After the concert we took the bus back to Oakdale.

We weren't going to go on Monday.  Mike and Margaret were going to go but decided to go to the casino instead.  They asked if we wanted their tickets.  I thought my parents were going on Monday so I took M&M's tickets.  Well Monday came and Bumby hurt his back while up north, so just my mom, Jolynn and I went.  I thought this being my second trip that I would get to go in the buildings.  Not happening.  It was an all Jolynn day again.  Rides at Kiddie Park, playing in the bubbles at the Mr. Bubble booth, dancing to music played on free stages.  Luckily my mom was with so I was able to take a quick run through some buildings.

Here a few pictures from the two days - there are more on Facebook. (FYI-there are more pictures from day 2 than 1 because my phone died 2 songs into the concert and my phone died shortly after the ride pictures.)

Day 2: Merry-go-round with mommy

Day 2: Nascar ride

Day 2: 4 wheeler ride

Day 2: the whale ride with bubbles (she had to do this one again)

Day 2: Ferris Wheel by HERSELF

Day 2: driving a tractor

Day 2: foam bubble area (missed on first day)

Day 1: Grandma walking with Jolynn to Farm Hands

Day 1: had to be shorter than 4 chickens high.

Day 1: my goofy girl loving the ferris wheel and being up high.

Day 2: more of the foam Mr. Bubble pit.

Day 2: big sand box

A Two Year Old

We are a month into being a two year old.  There was a night where Jolynn spent the night at the Desvousges house.  It was spur of the moment, Erin was going to babysit the following day so we just decided to leave Jolynn there Thursday night.  Well, we didn't bring any sleeping stuff with us - including her BLANKEY.  She didn't ask for it and slept fine without it.  So we didn't mention it the next night and she didn't either.  Then the next, and the next.  We are up to 2 weeks now since she has had it and I think it is over.  She switched briefly to sucking her fingers, which I was okay with because it was easier to wash her hands than wash that stinky blanket.

The Potty Training Train has pretty much left the station.  She has not shown any interest in trying to go on the potty, wear underpants, or even wear the pull ups.  I'm okay with this, because I want HER to be ready as much as us.  I'm not going to force the issue.  We still ask all the time, before bed and when she wakes up.  She still has no interest.  The only time she has shown interest is when she sees an older child (not an adult) going too.  If Shirley needs to go, so does Jolynn.  If the older girl at daycare has to go, so does Jolynn.

Jolynn's vocabulary has grown significantly in the last month.  Almost putting sentences (although choppy) together.  Singing songs to the point where you can recognize what she is singing.  And the politeness scale is off the charts.  Please, thank you, bless you (didn't see that one coming when I sneezed!).  She can go into the fridge and get what she wants if you put it on the lower shelf where she can reach.  We put her milk there so she can get and put away her milk whenever she wants it.  She also helps clean up by putting her dishes in the sink.  We are still working on picking up toys on command.  She does well helping you clean them up, but not so good at picking them up by herself.

We went through a few weeks of sleeping in our bed at night.  We were having monster issues in her room.  It's not that she takes up a ton of room, but it is much nicer knowing you can spread out and not smother your child accidentally.  So Jon and I have traded off nights putting her to bed now.  We're down to 30-45 min to get her to sleep.  Jon is really good at this and I couldn't figure out what he was doing that worked so well.  He is consistent and firm.  He sits in the rocking chair which he moved right next to her bed.  She has to lay in her bed while he reads a few books.  When she starts to yawn and say "me tired too", that's when we know she's ready for sleeping.  We turn off the lights but stay next to her bed until she is completely asleep. We also purchased a Dora night light that shines a picture of Dora on the ceiling.  All of these steps seem to be working.  We (I) just have to keep it up.

There's our monthly update (as far as Jolynn is concerned).  I will try to post more about the goings on this month.  It has been a busy summer and I just haven't had the time to blog about everything, let alone take pictures of everything to go along with the posts.

2 Years Old!

My baby is a toddler.  So starts the week of celebrations.  Tonight we went to the Lifetouch family picnic.  She danced, played basketball, and ran all over.  Today she will go to Chucky Cheese with Grandma and Grandpa Benson because they can't make it to her birthday party on Saturday.  She has her 2 year check up on Friday.  Then after her birthday party on Saturday we are going to visit my dad again in Luck, WI.

Again, she amazes me every morning.  She is almost forming sentences.  She does somersaults.  She loves to jump.  She is a daredevil.  We've started swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Moritz's.  I'm pretty sure she's going to turn into a fish.

 I've become very bad at taking photos with an actual camera.  Most are taken on my phone and posted straight to Facebook.  These are the latest photos taken with an actual camera.