State Fair

It's been almost a month since my last post, but it only feels like a few days. After such a chilly July, we've been living up these August summer days, going to the pool as much as possible, doing some traveling, playing at the park, etc. In the last week, Quinn became potty trained, basically training himself and following what I was told by many that when he was ready, it would be easy. It was possibly the easiest thing we've done in a long time, which was a relief because I'd been dreading the process for months. My goal was to have it done by the end of summer, and we definitely met that goal!

Anyway, something we've been looking forward to all summer was state fair. Quinn has remembered it since last summer, and we told him this year we'd ride the train. In our town, we are lucky to have the opportunity to ride an old (but nicely air-conditioned!) train to the fair, catching it at the station only a few minutes from our house. In June, we told Quinn that instead of riding the Thomas train for $18 a person ($18x3=$54), we'd ride the fair train (buy one, get one free + Quinn free=$11!). It is a half an hour ride each way, and Quinn was in heaven. It was adorable to see how excited he was. Each time the train blew its whistle, which happened frequently, he would jump a bit and choo-choo right back. He loved it!

Once at the fair, we explored parts we didn't even go to last year. We actually didn't see many animals this year but instead spent much more time with all the farm machinery.
Every time he's talked about going to the fair, Quinn said he wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Andy thought Q might be okay riding with us, but my prediction was right--once he saw how big they were, he didn't want any part of them. Still, he loved looking at all the rides.
The one ride he did have a blast on was the big slide. Andy had fun too. :)I love the fair. I can't wait until next year.

Back to Normal

Quinn and I took a trip to my hometown in Illinois a few weeks ago. Andy had a sales meeting out of town, so we took the opportunity to road trip again. Other than Quinn waking up about 2 hours earlier than usual each morning, he is a great travel companion. He slept 2 out of the 3 hours on the rides there and back and thoroughly enjoyed exploring Grandma and Poppa's house. He loves being in Illinois (and so do I)!

One morning we went to visit Poppa at his office. Quinn has recently learned about meetings and how important they are, as in "you can't interrupt Daddy when he's having a meeting!", so he was very excited to have a meeting with my dad at his office.

And this is the best my mom could capture of a picture of Quinn and me. Even Quinn said, "Why am I making a silly face, Mama?" when he saw the picture. I wondered the same thing, little one!! :)

I finally remembered to get a picture of Quinn and my mom, even though it was immediately before loading him in the car to leave. There are few pictures of us with Quinn because we're always the ones taking the pictures!
We had fun at the zoo and several parks too, but I don't have those pictures to post. It was a wonderful memory-making trip!