Labor Day

This past weekend was an absolute gift.

The weather was perfectly sunshiney, we were surrounded

by family, Mims and Grandpa carted us everywhere,

and Mama got to take advantage of some Labor

Day sales. Three day weekends are really just the BEST!

 

Auntie Stacy (and Penny) picked Max and Mama up on Friday,

(Papa Rob stayed back to participate in his

fantasy football draft and power wash the house)

and with a quick(ish) stop at Starbucks, we

were on the road. Sometimes it seems we have

a well worn path on I-70 between Columbus

and Dayton. But, I'm not complaining.

Upon arriving - we decided on lunch at Chick-fil-A....

and an afternoon trip to the pool.

We rounded out Friday night with Skyline and

a trip to see Papaw and Mamaw.

 The highlight for Max was playing bouncy ball

on their back porch and sending rockets

over their back neighbors fence. Papaw seems

to be in good spirits (he fell and broke his hip

about three weeks ago).

 

Saturday morning Mims and Grandpa went to

a flea market, leaving Auntie Stacy, Max and me

to our own devices. 

Auntie Stacy and Max enjoyed some Clifford on

Netflix, building trains, and taking Penny outside!

Penny would have probably preferred to

sit outside in the sun all day...but we had

other plans of course :)

We took our little trio to the Greene and went SHOPPING! 

Max hung out in the stroller...

and eventually played in the fountains for like

seven whole minutes before he saw the snow

cone shack and it was game over.

Thankfully, Auntie Stacy hung out with him while I

finished up shopping!

 A quick stop at the local park...and we headed

home to Mim's and Grandpa's!

Saturday afternoon we hit the pool

again...where Max loves to pull random toys

out of the "treasure box" and play. This

particular afternoon it was water guns! 

 

 

The highlight of Saturday was our

evening at Alter Fest!

Alter (my high school alma mater) has a family

friendly festival that they put on every

Labor Day weekend and it did not disappoint!

Max rode almost all the rides...but his favorite

was a walk through obstacle course/fun house

(I kept calling it American Ninja Warrior). It

had cargo nets, slides, stairs, swinging bridges...

and Max would have done it over and over

if the tickets were unlimited.

  

 

 

Sadly, they were not - so we had to

move on :) He won an inflatable

elephant at Plinko and Grandpa won

a giant inflatable hammer.

 

In going to the festival - we enforced one major

rule and that was "you have to walk". If you know Max,

you know he'd rather be carried EVERYWHERE.

Perched on my hip is literally his favorite place to be.

However, he did (for the most part) walk there

and back. The walk back to the car was made slightly

easier..as all he wanted to do was chase us with

his hammer. I just included the below series

of pictures because they make me laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

Man, just typing this has been exhausting...but

the fun didn't even stop here!  We woke up Sunday

morning - and had (you guessed it) even more plans! 

Those plans included a nature walk, trip to

Grandma's Gardens, and shopping around in

Lebanon (home of my favorite store, Blume) -

while Mims and Grandpa took Max to see the trains.

 

I was too busy trying to remember every detail

of Blume (picture like an Anthropologie type

store but with more local type things) - so

sadly no more pictures - until the true highlight

of the evening - pizza/parmesan sticks and

SUNFLOWERS!

This sunflower patch has been growing

for a number of years in Centerville -

and we have taken Max every year. 

So, so, so many bribes were involved

in trying to capture a picture perfect

moment...but in true three year old fashion...

you get what you get...and you don't throw

a fit :)

 

  

 

Cheesing so hard in those last two photos :)

Kids are so weird when they are trying

to figure out how to smile naturally. I know

this because of all the Zoo Kid summer

photos I've had to take over the last ten

years...it's so awkward. But, we shall

power on with the picture taking.

 

Our last hurrah was the Labor Day parade

on Monday morning.

 

This parade did not disappoint - fire trucks galore,

jeeps, corvettes, and the Shriners.  I mean honestly,

I still don't even know exactly what a Shriner is -

but they showed UP at the parade. Like all of

their vehicles and floats took up like half the

parade.

 

You know who else showed up?

This tiny school bus. Appropriately named, Buster.

The wiener mobile.

Motor cycle dudes with tiny dogs wearing sunglasses.

And my old high school band! Represent :)

And, Papa Rob!

He was able to make it down Monday morning...

and we spent the rest of Monday swimming,

chasing Max around with his inflatable elephant,

launching his new rocket, and chowing on our

favorite picnic foods (always and forever cheddar

brats, deviled eggs, and pasta salad).

So, that was the weekend in blogshell.  

If you made it to the end of this long post -

I congratulate you :)

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

xoxo