Old Settler's Week!

Old Settler's Day is in town!!!!

 

You know, when I was in grade school and even high school, Old Settler's Week was always the best week of the year. We would basically live up at Old Settler's Days from Wednesday to Saturday. Rides, food, friends....what more do you need during a Midwest summer????  I've spent so many birthdays up at Old Settler's Days celebrating. It's the perfect way to celebrate in my book.

 

Now that I have kids and have moved back, I now see Old Settler's Days as a parent. Hot. Chaotic. Money. :) I get it now :) But we still went to feel the magic of Old Settler's Days. We went during Friday's wrist band day. I was smart enough not to spend a million dollars on a wrist band for my kids but I did buy a few tickets. We met my fabulous friend Jenni and her beautiful baby girl Ivy. We started our first ride on the carousel.

 

A picture before the ride starts!!!

He was so proud of sitting on this horse.

It all went downhill after the carousel started turning. Charlotte started screaming hysterically. HYSTERICALLY.  She didn't even make it one lap. She was clawing at me. It was just so bad. So, she vetoed any other rides.

 

The next ride we did was the Amtrak, choo choo train ride. Sawyer LOVED IT.

He was the smallest guy on it. See him? Third one from the back?

Charlotte's stance during the train ride.

 

So we headed over to something they could both enjoy. The germ infested blow up jumper.

They LOVED it and even made friends inside.

We had a pretty successful trip to Old Settler's Days.

Ivy is just beautiful and we had so much fun with her and Miss Jenni!

On Saturday morning, my birthday morning, I got up early and headed to do the Lincoln-Douglas 3 mile race. No better way to turn 32 than running 3 miles at 7 am. I walked it last year with Dad, Dale, and Mary. This year it was just me. So, I ran it. I ended up running with my friend Maegen. We finished together so that was nice. We were like 6th from last but we still finished.

 

Then, I came home to surprises from my kids and my babies' daddy. They were so sweet. The house was decorated and everything. I am just so lucky.

 

After that we met Mary and we headed to the parade route to enjoy the parade!!!

Charlotte hates parades. She hates humans dressed as animals or weird things. She clung to Mary quite a bit during the parade.

 

Lydia's first parade!!!!

It's my birthday!!!!!

See where Charlotte stood????

Sawyer loved it. Tractors, trucks, lawn mowers, random people throwing him candy.

 

What more could a boy want???

She would run out and grab candy and glare at people then run back behind Mary again.

The dancing people. We see them everytime. How cute are they? They don't advertise or represent anything other than dancing older people. They are a crowd favorite.

Who are those dancing people?

 

The redbird. The man that made my child fear parades.

Our favorite....Salon Seven. They handed out popsicles.

Brilliant girls.

Sneaking in some candy...

A quick picture with his favorite twins.

The parade was a success and Charlotte came out at the end and watched all of the random tractors. We then ate lunch and headed over to Aunt Bare's baby shower/Lydia's meet the baby shower.

Courtney did a great job. It was perfect.

For that night, Grandma and Katie came up to watch the kids so we could go out for my birthday. I am so lucky to have a grandma that would drive almost five hours round trip to do that for me. Grandma, Katie, and Melissa came up after Mallory's baby shower. We ate pizza and got ready. Alex got home from work. He bought me a car for my birthday. Yes, a car. What a guy....

 

We met up with Jodi and Derrick and headed up to the square to hear Jake Maurer play and to hang out outside on a beautiful summer night.

We took our own drinks :)

Party girls!

When the crowds cleared, we posed for pictures.

 

So appropriate at a family event.

Love these two and the fun we had on my birthday.

We had planned to be back around 11 and didn't get home until 2 am. It was a bit rough. We all felt pretty terrible the next day. We cancelled our plans to go sit in the heat at an STL game. It was 90 in St Louis that day. Sawyer spent the morning with Papa. Charlotte spent the day with Ella. Grandma, Katie, Alex, Mary, Liddy, Melissa, Katie, Sawyer, John, and I all went to lunch at Bernardi's for my birthday. It's just the thing I needed to ease my stomach after a night of fun.

Our sweet girl. She had a rough while at the restaurant but once she settled down, she was perfect.

Mary. Taking it all in with a colicky baby :)

 

 

It was a perfect week of Old Settler's fun! Our goal for the next one, Charlotte to make it half of the ride before freaking out. Weirder things have happened :)

We're Gonna Party Like It's My Birthday

The 22nd of June was a very long day for our family. It started with the Lincoln-Douglas Run/Walk, then the parade, then a little birthday shindig at our house planned by myself, and a little dance/fun times up at Old Settler's Days.

After the parade, the kids and I headed home. I needed to finish cleaning the house for some friends and family to come over for snacks and drinks. The kids went down for a nap and I was able to get some stuff done. As I was cleaning, cooking, and what not, I got a big surprise!! Anne Marie showed up! She had said she couldn't come to help celebrate my birthday with me (and I was bummed.) But she DID show up. She drove up from Jeff City Saturday morning to be with us! So we ordered Monical's pizza and we hung out and played! The kids were super excited to see her...as was I.

Everyone started coming to hang out and drink and play around 5:30.

Sweet Baby Eliza came with her Mommy and Dady.

Is she not the cutest little girl in the world????

My kids come on very strong. Very strong. They intimidate the crap out of shy kids.

Anne Marie went to see a friend of hers and when she got back to my house for the food, drinks and fun, she brought ANOTHER surprise with her!!! Aunt Kathy drove all of the way up, all by herself (for the first time) and she came to party!!

My two surprises!!

I am so happy they came!!!

Chad and Bare...probably watching the Cardinals play

Sawyer loves pretty girls! Here he is giving Erin a kiss. So sweet.

Sawyer also loves his crazy Papa. Dad does this thing with his cheeks and mouth and the kids go wild.

Eliza started to warm up to Charlotte and Sawyer. She even sat in the rocking chair with her.

Sisters. Laughing at someone. Or something.

Love my sisters.

And I love this guy right here. He loves me so much that he can't even sleep through the night.

Food, friends,family, and...... shots. We enjoyed some Rum Chata.

Around 7 pm, Mom and Dad took the kids and headed home. They were having a slumber party with Gigi and Papa so that Momma and Daddy could party like rockstars. Jessica, Anne, Mary, Chad, Erin, Zach, Alex, and I all headed up to Old Settler's Days. Jake Maurer and his band from Nashville were playing at the square. We parked a few blocks away and we had a small bar in the back of the Tahoe.

Alex was being the bartender.

We all had a bit of tasty deliciousness in our cups. We were trying to fly under the radar.

Jake and the Naked Truth

The town square was hopping

(And Erin, her friend, Jodi, and I dominated this little dance floor before the night was over.)

We invited a few more people to our bar.

Classy? Not so much. Think ahead type of people? Yes.

Aunt Kathy had a great time. She LOVED Jake. She got a CD and got her name in good. Then John came and got her and took her to Mom and Dad's house to bed.

The rowdy crowd!!

Derrick, Jodi, and Alex. Clearly a good time is being had.

After the show was finished up at the square, we headed over to a townie bar and had some more fun. We ran into random people from high school. I drank ENTIRELY way too much. I finally made it home safe thanks to my amazing husband who took such great care of me. I had so much fun!! I should have stopped drinking 2 hours before I did. BUT you only turn 31 once and this is the first birthday since I was 27 that I can drink and have a good time. (I was pregnant at 28, breastfeeding at 29, and pregnant at 30.) A great time was had.... but I probably won't drink again for quite awhile....

Lincoln Douglas Race

Saturday morning of Old Settler's Days is always the Lincoln Douglas Run. When I was in high school, as a cheerleader I had to be up at the run cheering on the runners. We had to help direct them where to go, hand out water, etc. So when Mary brought up her and I walking with Dad and Dale Meredith, I was super excited about it. We didn't want to actually run it, we were going to walk it.

Prewalk. Let's do this.

Erin and Dale ready to get their run and walk on.

The starting line...at the MTCO.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk.

Walk it out. Note the ambulance following us. I mean what are they insinuating? And I feel certain that Dale was cussing about them not having water for the walkers.

We could see the runners across the field... and my house is back there. You can't see it... or the roof or anything. But it's there.

Dad loves to walk.

Great friends. Getting healthy. Very proud of them.

Look who was waiting for us at the finish line!!! The prettiest faces we have ever seen!!

Charlotte found food. Shocking right?

The Meredith/Elliot duo. I am so proud of you for running it, Erin :) You are amazing.

We were representing :)

The Mettler trio. They were awesome and all of them ran it as well.

The run was super fun and it felt good to get up and get the day started with a morning walk.