Poage Landing Days & Grandma's Arrival

This has been a busy week! Things got started last weekend with Ashland's annual Poage Landing Days. This was the first weekend since we've moved here that this festive event fell on a non-football weekend, so we really got to fully enjoy it!

Yum - carnival food! Jordi chose to have a snow cone and Caroline decided (with my help!) on the caramel apple. Boy, were they good!

Next on the agenda was the arrival of Grandma Henri. She got here on Sunday - with lots of treats for the girls, of course!

This time, she made the cutest Indian dresses for both girls so they'd have something to wear with the Indian souvenir accessories that Tim & Judy recently brought them from a trip to North Carolina. Jordi decided that she likes the way this looks and plans on being an Indian girl for Halloween this year!

Caroline liked dressing up like an Indian, too. I don't think she's fully committed to the costume for Halloween, but who cares? she's adorable!

UK 20 - Middle Tennessee 14

Well, I'm almost a week late with this post, but better late than never! These pictures are from the Wildcats second home game, which happened to take place last Saturday.

Chris is carrying his tradition of getting his girls on the jumbo-tron every game. So far, so good!

Here's Caroline, enjoying a close-up look at the game with her new binoculars. Nana got each girl her own pair, and they're very pleased to be able to watch the game like the grown-ups do!

As always, there were lots of finger-lickin' snacks to be had during our time in the stands. I think Jordi was enjoying cotton candy in this picture...

Although they're almost always there with us, Uncle Al & Marty doesn't always get included in the picture taking. In fact, our Aunt Pat recently pointed out that she hadn't seen her nephew Aaron on the blog in quite awhile. So, Aunt Pat, this one's for you!

UK 38 - Norfolk State 3

What a great home opener! Everything about Saturday's game was great: the weather, the friends, the food, the halftime show by the visiting team's band - not to mention the big win by the Cats! It was a wonderful way to kick off the 2008 football season!

As always, there was lots of great food at the tailgate. Here's Jordi & Caroline yukking it up while the enjoy their dinner of football food!

Of course, as far as the girls are concerned, the best treats are to be had inside the stadium. This week, the following snacks came courtesy of "Uncle" Marty: cotton candy, funnel cake, m&m's, & skittles. (Yikes! I get a stomach ache just thinking about eating all that junk!)

We got to catch up with our season-ticket-seat-neighbors, Eli & his Mom. You may remember from last year's postings that he & Jordi became big buddies over the course of last year's football season. We're looking forward to seeing them a lot more over the next couple months!

Last year it was corn hole, but here's this year's new game: Tailgate Golf! Don't ask me how it's played; I only know that flinging golf-balls-on-strings through the air is an accident waiting to happen!

We got our annual family photo out of the way early this year. We've had one taken each year since we've had children. It's becoming one of my favorite annual family traditions!

First Friday

During the first week of each month, we look forward to attending one of our favorite, regularly-scheduled, local events: First Friday at the Pendleton Arts Center!

This month, there was lots going on outside the Pendleton, including tennis demonstrations, courtesy of the Ashland Tennis Center.

Here's Caroline getting a lesson from one of Chris' high school classmates, Chris Meinfelter. They got re-acquainted during last weekend's Class of '88 reunion. Not only was it was nice to see him again so soon, but it was great to watch him have such great rapport with the girls!

After the tennis demo and a quick tour through the studios inside the Pendleton, it was time to head back outside for some live music back & McDonald's dinner alfresco!

This weekend is the first home Kentucky football game, so we were off to Lexington after First Friday. Doesn't Caroline look cozy? That's a purple unicorn around her neck whose one purpose in life is to give her comfort when she sleeps in her carseat during our roadtrips!

Stay tuned for tailgating pictures coming up this weekend! Go Big Blue!

Happy Birthday, Jordi!

Today was Jordi's 5th birthday!

She had her official celebration yesterday with a birthday party in Central Park. This year's cake scene: a hiking path through the woods, inspired by our recent hike at Lake Vesuvius!

For the first time, Jordi invited some friends to her party. That's Little Emily on the left, Jordi's friend from ballet (and a familiar face to regular viewers of this blog!). On the right is Marti K, one of Jordi's new friends from her kindergarten class. Jordi really seemed to enjoy celebrating with these little buddies!

This is a picture from today. After ballet class & dinner at Bob Evans, we had a came back home for more birthday gifts. Here's Jordi opening a package from her cousin Libby!

Luckily, we had plenty of cake left over from the party on Monday for everyone to have another piece today. Mmmmmm - it's so good!

Chris' 20th Reunion

Don't you love it??! This was Chris' name tag from Saturday night. What a great idea to put his senior picture on there!

We met up with some of Chris' high school buddies before heading over to the Reunion: Larry, Scott, Ted, & Chris.

And, on the other side of the table, the wives (also known as "Reunion Widows"): Lisa, Jennifer, Stephanie, & Dawn. Even though it wasn't our night, we had such a great time hanging out with each other while the guys got caught up with all their old classmates.

The final get-together of the weekend was lunch-time cookout. Despite their lack of sleep, Scott & Chris managed to pull it together and put out a delicious meal for everyone: hot dogs, hamburgers & cheeseburgers, & chicken.

Truly, it was a great weekend. The Planning Committee for the Class of '88 put together a wonderful three days of informal & fun activities, and everyone took full advantage the opportunities they were given to do lots of catching up while having a good time. From what I could tell, everyone really enjoyed themselves, myself included!