Fair food, gardens, and other fun

This last week I had my best friend from high school Katie visiting us. I was so glad to have her here. Not only do I love spending time with her, but it was fun to show off my new home and surrounding area to her. The running joke for the week was that she should move to Indiana and live with us. While we would love for her to be closer, I know she loves not only Kansas but her current teaching job. So I'm left with dreams. But I'm rambling.

So this week we tried to do lots of fun things while Katie was here. Being fair week we started the week there. Monday afternoon we spend at the Elkhart County Fair. We checked out the 4H animals (llamas, cows, chickens, rabbits and pigs to name a few), 4H photography and sewing entries, rode the farris wheel, and ate lots of fair food. It was a good time for all. (And yes Mom, the boys got cotton candy)

Tuesday we played at home and went to the Farmer's Market. Then my wonderful brother-in-law came to babysit while Mark and I took Katie to Constant Spring for trivia night. We were one point off winning the final music round. Wednesday we went to the Calendar garden.

I blogged about this back in June. It was fun to go back and see the difference. And still just as breathtaking.

Ian and Cai loved the pond in the middle. And we spent lots of time splashing our feet and poking moss with sticks.

I even brought the boys' magnifying glasses so we good observe the leaves, flowers and bugs.

It was fun for a short period, although they were soon replaced with sticks. Even Aiden had fun banging sticks together his brothers gave him.

Thursday we went to Shipshewana. We visited Menno-Hof, a museum telling the history of the Amish/ Mennonite faith, and visited some cute shops in town. Friday afternoon we played at the Kennedy Water Playground in South Bend. It was a cooler day so that water was cold. Poor Cai was shivering after about 10 mins. But we still had lots of fun splashing, swimming and running through the water. Sadly yesterday we had to take Katie back to the train station so she could go back to Kansas. I didn't want to say goodbye. Having her here for a week reminded me how important my girlfriends are and that I need to be better about keeping in touch with them. I was also reminded how blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life. Thanks sweetie for such a great week!