Drove Mom & Dad to michigan?

We are back from a family visit in Cleveland, sort of for my birthday. We left as soon as I got out of work last Friday, which happened to be a day we had a HUGE thunderstorm blow through Warsaw with what they call "destructive winds." The hickory tree lost a big branch and a huge limb, and another large limb broke but is still hanging on in the tree. However, I did not have time to deal with it, and there was nothing smashed on the ground (except the little sickly redbud), so we left it. We were in Cleveland late at night at Thomas' apartment building, which is a fantastic old converted factory building. We were there for Thanksgiving last year too. Saturday we all went to the Cleveland Zoo, which is a very nice one, although it was so HOT HOT HOT that the highlight of the zoo is the misters blowing here and there, and the cold drinks. But they do have a Foosa, which Missy loved seeing. On Sunday we all went to a go-kart an video game wonderland called Swings-n-Things, for which Laura had found a groupon, or some such. We spent the better part of the afternoon all racing go-karts (and I can honestly say, not all of the go-karts there were created equal) and playing other games, like the motorized inner tubes you steered around a pool and tried not to (or to) get splashed by the spectators with water cannons. We all went out to a very nice restaurant for dinner. We left and drove home with Mom and Dad in caravan (sort of) today.

This week has been mostly about the fair. Tuesday was $1 ride day so we took the kids. Now you would think that $1 would be plenty for these rides anyway, but usually they're $2 or $3 apiece, which is highway robbery just like everything else there. But anyway, someone paid our admission fees for us. We don't know who. They man running the ticket booth at the gate just told us we were paid for, handed us $12 worth of entry tickets, and told us to have a good time. Best we can figure is it was just a random stranger doing a good work, and we were just the lucky recipients. We didn't see anyone we know there at all. So saving that money, we gave the kids $10 worth of ride tickets each and were able to get lemonades for them as well without breaking the bank. We wondered if 10 rides would be enough, but it was...there didn't seem to be nearly as many rides this year as you typically see at a fair. Maybe it's just because we were at a different one last year. But after the kids did the fun house and slides and kiddie coaster they were set, and we did the ferris wheel last with all 4 of us. I also tried the hit the thing with the sledgehammer to ring the bell game but it was set much harder than at Indiana Beach. The guy gave the kids the inflatable hammer toys anyway. Thursday I was back at the fair with Alicia from work and Toni formerly of work, for lunch. Friday Beth and the kids and I went to the fair again in the evening, this time to check out all the booths and to see the big cat encounter (nobody paid our entry fee that time). Alex had practically thrown a fit about being dragged to the big cat show but he really loved it (especially since a one tiger peed and a another pooped during the show. Tiger poo really stinks, too.) and so did Missy (but we knew she would anyway). Friday night we finally realized that Mom and Dad were going to arrive in Indy Saturday and not Monday, so on Saturday Alex and I drove down to the airport to pick them up while Beth and Missy went to the zoo in Fort Wayne with Missy's brownies troop for a zoo campout. They got to sleep overnight in the zoo, how fun is that! They were back this morning while Alex and I were blowing off church since Mom & Dad were here.

First Fridays action tonight...the Cub Scouts had the dunk tank going on. And I must say it had to be the coldest July 1st in history. We were set up to have cub scout parents (and scouts, because we didn't know we weren't supposed to do that) in the dunk tank for $1 for 3 throws. I was in for a while, and there may have been ice floating in the water...we'd had Bryan come fill it up from his work truck and it looked a little skanky too, but I think it just came from the city fire main. Plus, just after we set up, the sky clouded up and it was threatening to rain almost the while time (never actually did). But, cold and murky notwithstanding, we made $201 over a 3-hour period. Everyone loves a dunk tank!