This would have made Grandpa Jim proud!!

I was driving home yesterday and saw that they were selling sweet corn on the corner so I stopped and picked some up. I'm not sure if that's just a midwestern thing or not ... big farmers will pick corn and hire teens to sit all over town and sell corn, watermellon and tomatoes out of the back of trucks.

We hadn't given Paige her own ear of corn yet this year and I wasn't sure how she'd do ... but we gave it a go. We cut an ear in half, stuck the pokers in and set it down in front of her .... at which point she just looked back at us like, "What would you like me to do with this?" So Ryan went over and showed how how to eat off it ... at which we got a look that would have said, "Dad, you're crazy!" Then she tried to poke her fork at it ... seeing if she could get some off that way ... but nope, that didn't work. It wasn't until we had Riley show her how to do it that she finally took a good bite into it. And once she got that first bite into it, she was off. I looked back about 5 minutes later and she had CLEARED the ear and was wanting more.

Yep, Grandpa Jim was probably smiling down on her at that moment.

(And as a side note, we have pictures of Riley doing the exact same thing at almost the same age.)

Buckles

Buckles on her baby stroller. Buckles on her high chair. Buckles on shopping carts. Buckles on someones backpack hanging up at daycare. Buckles on her stroller. Buckles on her chair that sits on my bike. Buckles. Buckles. BUCKLES!!!

Paige is obsessed with buckles on just about anything. She loves to snap them together and then goes "uuuuh" when she wants you to UN-buckle it. Then ... go back to step one and repeat the whole process over and over and over. (And there is no ignoring the "uuuuuh" when she wants them unbuckled. If you ignore her she'll just do it longer and louder.)

Warroad from Paige's Eyes

I had a lot of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's. I didn't like the ride up there that took 9 hours but once I could get out and stretch my legs I was better. While we were up there I got to read the paper with Grandpa, go on a tractor ride (which I CRIED to go on and then decided once the tractor started up, really wasn't as fun as I thought it'd be), go swiming and get covered from head to toe in sand, eat lots of 'nacks, and chase Riley and Grandpa down the driveway to get the mail. We also spent time at Great Grandma's house and she had a funny moose that rocked in a rocking chair and sang, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." It was kind of strange but I liked it after a while.

Warroad from Riley's Eyes

I had fun in Warroad. My dad took me on two tractor rides, we got to see the fireworks over Lake of the Woods, we got lots of candy at a parade on the 4th, Grandma AND Grandpa tried to give me golf lessons, I got to run around with my cousin Weston a LOT, Grandpa and I tried to look at the baby birds in his bird house ... and I actually got to play a few holes on the Warroad Estates Golf Course. I gave my dad a run for his money on putting (ha ha) but most of all, it was really fun riding in Grandpa's golf cart. There was lots more we did too.

Warroad from Ryan's Eyes

My wife kept sticking the dang camera in my face so I just kept making strange faces ... and then I counted my change.

It only took three weeks ...

but the new banner is finally up. I have a million and one updates to do but I've just been a little short on time.

I will say that we spent July 4th in Warroad with Ryan's family. It was a full house (Ryan's sisters family, as well as Aunt Jan from CA, were up as well) but the kids had a blast swimming, swinging, going on tractor rides and getting eaten by mosquitoes.

And of course, I have a ton of pictures to upload and share too.