Fair Days

Well we were gone during most of the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days but we were able to submit some photos, with the help of our friend Jeneé. I also got back just in time to show my horse in the Open class and he placed 3rd out of 11 in the Other Breeds class. It was a lot of fun.

I submitted this photo of two Boer goats having a conversation at the Boer Goat Show that was held at the fairgrounds earlier this year. I got 2nd place for this photo.


Matt submitted this neat photo of highway lights and he also got a 2nd place. What is wrong with these judges? We saw many an excellent photo with a 2nd placement. Oh well.



Here was my second submission, Levi and his favorite dog BeBe. Matt actually was the photographer of this image but you can only enter two photos per person and we had already decided on the four that we wanted to submit, so I claimed this one. This image won a 1st place ribbon.




This photo is one of our old favorites of Levi and his grandma Susan from his first birthday party. Matt took this photo. This image also won a first place.

Next year I am hoping to exhibit a lot more - perhaps some of my eggs and garden produce, along with some of the chickens, baked goods, perhaps a painted rock, a collection, who knows.

Friday, Train Museum

Dad again made us breakfast this morning, eggs with stripples and breakfast potatoes. We had to kind of hurry to eat because dad had an appointment at his office that morning and we would all be spending the day together from there.


After that dad had to show a house so he dropped us off at a strip mall and we were able to spend time in PetSmart (Levi really enjoyed the fish and all the little animals and birds) and Circuit City, Marshalls (I got two shirts) and Barnes & Noble (where Levi fell asleep in his stroller).


Following that we went to the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum, for the Western Maryland Railway. Matt was excited about this venture. The museum was two stories, with misc. artifacts on the main floor, the interior of a train, a small children's train with a bell, a railworker's uniform, historical things of interest to train people.





On the second floor were two layouts - one an HO and ran by numerous volunteers while we were there. The other layout was larger scale but not as fun to look at.

As a bonus they also had smaller things along the wall for kids - a wooden train set they could play with, and a railway operated by a light-switch on either side of the table. Levi turned the train on and off a couple of times before trying to derail it by hand.






At the end of the day, dad had to stop at Martin's for some food. He ran into my cousin Mark and his new wife Joanne. So Matt and Levi and I went in the store to see them, since we had missed them at Wendy's house the other night.

Thursday

For breakfast, dad made us pancakes to start the day off right. Then he had to do some work and his house was to be shown so we had to leave for awhile. We took a drive and ended up on Hwy 16 and drove through Waynesboro and Greencastle and finally found a place to eat. It was a strange place, serving both Italian and Mexican food. We got Levi a personal pizza with black olives, he ate maybe half of it. Matt and I each got an oven baked sub, which was quite good.

This evening we went to visit my mom's brother Todd and his wife Lisa. They have two kids and four dogs. Lisa baked a yummy veggie lasagna for us and we had a nice chat while we waited for it to be ready. Afterwards Matt helped Todd with some computer questions while Levi played the guitar, drums and keyboard.



I told Todd that I did not understand his t-shirt. It is a man on his back on the ground with little birds all around. He said the Postal Service is a band.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning we got up and had breakfast. I was excited because today was planned our trip to the Land of Little Horses. I had gone there a couple times as a kid and loved it. Now I was eager to see it as an adult, and share it with Levi. Alas, it was not to be. As we pulled into the location there was a gate across the drive CLOSED, and another sign "Warning, these premisses are guarded by trained attack dogs." As we turned around I noticed the home's collection of garden gnomes. Interesting.

Well we were in the heart of Gettysburg so we decided to go to the battle field and visitor center while we were in the neighborhood. We started out with a picnic lunch that I had packed. PB&J with chips, apples and dessert. Levi took little bites here and there and frolicked, enjoying his freedom from the car seat. Dad was eager to show us the the New Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.







The new building, which opened in April 2008 with a grand opening scheduled for September, orients visitors to the park and Gettysburg, hosts a museum on the Civil War from beginning to dramatic end featuring items from the massive museum collection of Civil War and Gettysburg artifacts, and houses the fully restored Gettysburg Cyclorama. The $135 million dollar project has been funded through generous donations of corporations and individuals alike.

Dad got us tickets to the 20 minute film entitled "A New Birth of Freedom" about the Battle of Gettysburg, which was interesting. We then toured the museum and stopped in at the gift shop before taking a drive around the park. We stopped at The Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg and climbed the spiral staircase to the top, taking in the view.

After our journey through the past we drove on to Boyds Bear Country, the World's Most Humongous Teddy Bear Store™. We explored their many levels and viewed all the varieties of teddy bears and animals that they offer for sale. Levi posed in a teddy bear stand, although I think his head is a bit small. :) I found their help desk sign to be amusing. Leaving the store, Levi decided on his own to showcase his walking-backwards skills.






Tonight we visited with my mom's sister Wendy and her daughter Erin for dinner. It was nice to see them again. Wendy had made a lovely cheese quiche (which Levi gobbled down), corn on the cob, fresh green beans and a cold tomato soup from all her garden ingredients. Very tasty!

Erin was making faces at Levi from across the table, so he decided to go over and visit with her. He then discovered her cellphone and started pushing buttons. After a chirp, Erin looked down and saw that he had sent a text to someone. "Who did you text Levi?" She looked through the history and saw that he had sent the letter "P" to her friend Andrea's husband. "Of all the letters, you had to choose that one?" It was quite amusing.

Wendy gave Levi some pony rides on her leg, which he enjoyed so much that when she was done and stood up, he walked over to her and stood over her feet, looking down, wanting another ride.



It was a full and enriching day with family.

Tuesday, Aug 26

This morning we packed up and after breakfast we headed back for dad's house. It was about a five hour trip home.

Levi slept half of the way and was well behaved the rest of the time. Dad had some business to take care of so we had some time at the house to rest.

After a quick dinner of english muffin pizza we headed over to Linda and Ken's house. Linda is my dad's sister. We had a nice visit and they enjoyed seeing Levi.

Monday, Aug 25

Monday morning we got up and and had another good breakfast of steel cut oats and fruit. More of the same, Rummy and canoeing,feeding fish and just relaxing. My dad did some work on one of the bathrooms that needed to be finished off.






He also mowed the yard. He tried to get Levi to ride on the tractor but Levi wanted no part of that. We finally did get him to pose on it but when it was running it scared him. From that point on whenever Jeff would ask Levi "Do you want to ride on the tractor?" Levi would start out by nodding and smiling but then would quickly frown and say "no!" once he thought it over.

This afternoon we took the golf cart out on an adventure cruise. We found a road leading into the woods on the property so Matt and Levi and I took it back as far as we could. That was a fun half hour or so of driving. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there.

This evening we had another rousing game of Rummy. Levi got tired of playing with his cars so he climbed up in the chair with grandma Katie and they had some special time together.





Later on he came back to see what we were all up to and wanted to take a picture, so I helped him with the camera and he took this good one of his grandpas.

Sunday, Aug 24

On Sunday we had breakfast of biscuits and gravy, fruit, it was all so good. Levi had a great appetite and ate everything we put in front of him. After breakfast we went down to the pond and got in the canoe. I am not real comfortable in it, but Levi had a great time putting his hands in the water as we paddled around in circles.



We also played a lot of Rummy with gramps Lou. Levi would come over and climb up in my lap and point out the letter A on the Ace card and say loudly "Aaaaaa" and I would say "yes, shhhh...." Ok thanks son, now everyone knows what card I am holding. It was really fun though. He also kept himself occupied playing with his cars on the little end table in the living room.

A couple times we went down to feed the fish in the pond, grandma had bought some white bread for them and we would tear it up in little pieces and toss it in. When we would hand some to Levi he would put it in his mouth and eat it, he thought that was great. A few times I got him to throw it in the water and he did enjoy watching the fish.



Dinner was Ramen noodles with broccoli, carrots, and vege meat; fresh corn on the cob that gramps and I had raided from the neighbor's garden; croissants; etc. It was all very good. Levi was sleeping on the couch during the meal but ate once he got up. It was really cute because he had partially rolled and his legs were hanging off and he just kept on sleeping.

Saturday, Aug 23

Sabbath my grandparents went to church, so Levi and Matt and dad drove the golf cart around the property and canoed around the pond.





Levi helped grandma in the garden, picking cherry tomatoes. He tried to pick the green ones. Lunch was baked potatoes.





Here is a cute shot of Gramps and Levi hugging.


Saturday night dad and Matt and Levi drove back to Ivanhoe to pick me up at the endurance ride. Levi ate a good portion of my haystacks and had some cake too. We sat through part of the awards ceremony and then went back to the cabin.

We (the Bobbitts) stayed in Doug's cabin and the bedroom was in the loft. A steep spiral staircase to get up there - a little scary! It was an a-frame so you could stand at full height in the center and there was a double bed on either side. Levi's playpen fit up there on the end so he has had a familiar place to sleep each night.

Friday, Aug 22

Today we got up and had breakfast and we stopped off in Hagerstown, MD and visited with my Grandpa Jim. We were able to get some photos with him even though Levi was distracted by something in the yard (never did figure out what).

We then continued on to Luray, VA and they dropped me off at my aunt Kim's. Levi had a chance there to stretch his legs and saw a rooster crowing and started hiking over to it but it vanished before he got to it. He really enjoyed that.



After that Matt and Levi and dad drove down to the Laurel Creek cabin where my grandparents are staying for the summer, up from Florida.

Baltimore

Thursday morning we landed in Baltimore and went down to get our luggage. I was not clear on where dad would meet us to pick us up so once we had everything together we went out and waited at the curb. After about 15 minutes Matt went back inside to use the bathroom and found Jeff so that was good. He asked us if we would like to go to the Inner Harbor while we were in town there. We were quite tired but it sounded like fun and the weather was lovely.





Just a short car ride and we were there. We took the stroller for Levi and walked around the Inner Harbor. Lots of people out enjoying the sun and the breeze. Matt was interested in the ships and took a lot of photos. We also went in and ate brunch at the food court - I found a Thai place and got some Pad Thai and lots of vegetables. Matt found a pizza place and got a calzone and side of fruit so we shared all of this with Levi. He loved the fruit, it was watermelon and grapes. Once full again we continued walking around the Inner Harbor. There is a Barnes & Noble on the end that had taken up occupancy in an old power building, it had brick smokestacks up through the center that you could walk in and look up clear to the top, that was really neat.

We walked past a city worker about four times and each time he would call out "Shorty-Man!" and make a little comment. It was pretty fun, Levi grinned at him.

We walked back to the car and drove back to dad's house. We were all pretty tired by that point and fell asleep in the car. Then we all took another nap once we got back to the house. We got up about 5:30 pm and dad made dinner - grillers, fries and fixin's. Rachel and her boyfriend Vogner came by to visit and Levi had fun playing with his cars on the wood floor until about 9 pm. Then I took him up and gave him a bath in the big tub, turned on the jets but he wasn't sure about that.

Trip East

Wednesday afternoon we drove over to Uncle Wes' and Aunt Joanie's house in Portland and had dinner with them. Joanie had prepared a delicious meal of spaghetti and sauteed zucchini with vegetarian chicken. Also cantaloupe and texas toast. Even though it was pretty late, we all had a good appetite and snarfed it all down. We hung out and visited with them for a couple hours and then Wes drove us to PDX airport for our flight out to Maryland.

There was no line and we were able to check in and proceed rather quickly, good thing because the cut-off time was soon! I thought we had more time than that allocated for this leg of our trip but we did spend some time watching Bolt sprint in the Olympics when we should have been on the road perhaps. No worry, we got through security and headed for our gate. They weren't loading yet so we let Levi run around and burn off some energy and I took some photos. Our flight left about 11:47 pm. We had the red-eye into Chicago and a connection from there on to Baltimore.

Levi did well on take-off and sat by the window and watched outside the whole time. He was just fascinated by it all. We were hoping we could all sleep on this flight since it was dark. Well Levi maybe got about 2 hours of sleep and I dozed off and on but did not feel very rested when we landed in Chicago.


What a neat airport Chicago is, we had to go under the terminal and there are neon lights everywhere overhead blinking on and off, lighted pastel colored walls and people walkers to speed you along. We got to go through there twice because when we got to our gate we were told that the plane had moved and we had to turn around and go back to where we had come from to find our flight to Baltimore.

By now with the time change the sun is coming up and that was the shortest night I have ever experienced. Our flight to Baltimore was uneventful and Levi again sat by the window and watched everything. He was a good kid. Both times we were seated in the back of the plane.

Blueberry Picking

Today we went down to Lampson's Blueberry Farm and learned how all that works. You pick the berries yourself. The man will tell you where you are allowed to pick from and then he shows you the best way to get them off the bush. He warns not to pick the red ones, as they are not ripe yet. It was quite the experience. We intended on meeting Thad and Jeneé there, but didn't see them until we had been there about an hour. Levi did ok - he picked berries for awhile and ate a lot of them. Then I think he got full, and decided that playing chase with mommy would be fun. Off he went through the bushes. He is a lot smaller than me and FAST. I had quite a hard time keeping up with him. We finally decided to call it a day, with a full pail of berries. We picked about 11 lbs. We put half in the fridge, and froze the rest of them for later.