Tractor Pulls and Monster Trucks

Last year we watched the monster trucks and tractor pulls at the Sublimity Harvest Fest on both Saturday and Sunday, but this year we just went Sunday since the tickets are uber-expensive for Saturday and Sunday is when the non-pro (a.k.a. Ben and Travis) do their tractor pulls.

Emmett spends a lot of time looking cranky when he's really not.


Avery was happy to get to hang out with cousin Damon


Then it was time for Travis to do his very first tractor pull! The idiot announcer introduced and talked about some other guy during Travis' pull and didn't realize his mistake until Travis was done.


Later it was Ben's turn. Ben got 2nd in his class.


As soon as Daddy came back to the stands Emmett passed out and slept through a lot of noise. At least he woke up in time to see some of the monster trucks.


The really big gun tractor pulls don't just pull the sled (the blue thing) but also the dead weight of two other tractors!


Avery, the lucky kid, got something thrown in the crowd again. He wore his shirt he got last year (all three boys wore their "monster truck shirts"), and this year he got the exact same shirt (still 36th Annual) but in an adult large and a hat.


He thinks he's pretty cool.


This isn't kissy enough to be Blue Steel (a la Zoolander), butI think it has the same feel...


Then it was time for monster trucks!


Everyone thought he would tip backwards right here (he was!) but somehow he slowly toppled it back forward!






Excuse me, is this your tailgate?

Sublimity Harvest Fest 2010 Monster Trucks from Laurie H on Vimeo.

Sublimity Harvest Fest Parade

I forgot to post about the Sublimity Harvest Fest! It's been so busy and crazy here and I've had so many projects on the computer to do. So, back on Sept. 11 we were in the Sublimity Harvest Fest parade and I surprised Avery with inviting his best friend Avalyn to come along (as well as her brother Mason and Mom Nikee).


Our float got 3rd place this year. We got 1st last year, but if we don't hardly change the float it leaves me surprised we even got 3rd.


But that's okay, we'll take it!


Emmett likes "driving" the tractor


Julie does too.


I seriously love taking Avalyn's picture, she's such a little model!


It didn't take long for the kids to get into the candy.




Sweet Julie and Mom Katrina


Such eyes...


Waiting for our turn, watching other floats go by


And the monster trucks go by


A picture of me! Amazing. (Thanks Nikee)


Really, no one could avoid pointing a camera at this lovely face, right?




Jump!


Since we all wore our John Deere gear, Mr. E wore his new hat he got for his birthday.


Look at Julie go!


Uncle Kevin accidentally beaned Avery in the eye with a little water bottle.


"Are you okay?"


"Here, lets cool it off with the water"


"Are you kidding me, get away, you dirty rat!"


"I said stay away!"


Avery and Kevin are a lot alike, which of course means Avery can idolize him and hate him within the space of 2 breaths.

He managed to heal up enough to take some pictures with his girl.


Funny, if they know each other as adults, their heights would probably still be about that proportion.


When we got back to our house after the parade, Avalyn got to stay a while and play. Avalyn and Carson are hiding from Avery here in a rousing game of hide-n-seek.


What a fun day!

Blimp

Almost 2 weeks ago we saw this driving down the freeway. Since when does a blimp come to little ol' Salem, Oregon? Of course, it's not a big famous Goodyear...

Girls Trip

The last weekend of August I got to go to the coast with some friends. It was so nice to have a girls weekend. Oh, wait, it wasn't a weekend, it was just a day for me because I couldn't stay the night because of the Aumsville Corn Festival parade the next morning. Ugh. That's okay, I had a great day!

I took brownies to share and right before I left Emmett climbed in the van and put his stamp of approval on them. How often do you get to eat brownies with little toe imprints in them?


My friend Jocelyn reserved the weekend in her extended family's adorable little beach house.


The entry


The living room. So cute, huh!


I drove out with Jocelyn and Amy on Friday morning, the others couldn't come until the evening. First Jocelyn and I went for a walk on the beach while the tide was still low.


These white rocks pop up out of black rock.


We climbed up around the point but couldn't go to the other side because the tide was coming in too far already.




Frosting? Um, no.


A couple tiny fish in a tide pool


We went out to lunch and got pizza then Jocelyn taught Amy and I how to play a favorite card game of hers that was a lot of fun. Jocelyn and I made a short trip to the outlet mall but had to hurry back because the Kari and Alicia had arrived.

There only ended up being five of us that could come. Kari, me, Alicia, Amy and Jocelyn.


We got a little silly


And really silly


And before I went home (okay I stayed a lot later than this) we were all treated to a gorgeous sunset



What a great day for me! It's just nice to feel carefree and not have to worry about the next time I have to feed the kids, or are they being safe on the beach etc. etc. Now, if only I could have stayed the night with everyone... Next year! Right Jocelyn? We have to make this happen again, don't we? ...said with big puppy dog eyes. :)