Kami has been training to run a marathon for about a year now I think and tomorrow she's running the Chicago Marathon. Since I'm not there to see her run, I'll be getting emails and text messages to track her progress throughout the race. Good luck to Kami - I'm so proud of you!
Singing to Panic at the Disco's song "I Write Sins Not Tragedies."
We've lived in Texas for 7 years and had never been to the Texas State Fair. "Fair" conjures up images of dirt ground, stinky animals, hay and bad carnival rides so I actually dreaded going but thought we should at least give it a try. Turns out, I was pretty wrong in my assumptions as this was much more like an amusement park than a stinky county fair.
First up, the African Acrobats from Kenya.
Swan paddle boats on the lagoon. You'll notice that we have pics of rides but we didn't do any - costs way too much to do especially considering that you have to pay to get into the fair. 
The Italian Chef Juggler
Blake watching the BMX bike show
The Discovery Garden was maybe our favorite thing. It was a beautiful garden w/model trains running all throughout it. Payton said she wants to have a backyard like this someday. Some pics of the garden...
Water fountain
Elephant tusks
Pavers the shape of Texas
Bryan Berg, the Guiness World Record Holder for biggest structure built w/cards...he was building the Dallas sky line here.
Sculpture at the African American Museum
Sweet
Big Tex
Blake's always hitching a ride wherever he can
Snacks while we take a break.
Then it was on to the Backyard Circus where the kids play the parts of the circus acts.
And lastly, we watched the parade before heading home.
Day 5 was Tuesday and Blake and I headed out to Wichita to stay with Andy's brother, Bob, his wife, Nicki, and their 3 children (Mia, 4 and the twins, Micah and Elizabeth who are 10 months old). Shortly after we got there, we headed off to a class that Mia's is enrolled in at the YMCA where the kids play sports. Today was basketball day and Blake was allowed to participate but not too thrilled w/it. He was pretty tired after getting up early and not taking a nap but the thought of shooting a basketball and *gasp* missing the basket mortified him. I told him it was ok to try and miss and that all of the other kids were having fun even though they missed sometimes. He wasn't buying it and looked like this most of the time.
After class, we went back to their house and ordered pizza for dinner and played w/the babies while Blake and Mia disappeared and played for hours and hours. Despite being tired, Blake didn't collapse until around midnight.
The next morning, we woke up and got ourselves packed and ready to go around noon. Bob had gotten the TV fixed (thank you, Bob!) so Blake had something to watch to kill time on the 5 1/2 hour drive back. We got home at 5:45 and were so glad to be in our beds again. We had so much fun and it was the easiest, most laid back roadtrip I've ever been on.
Our next roadtrip will be the week of Thanksgiving where we go up to Kansas City and take our time doing so. Loving the laid back schedules - much more fun!
On Monday, I decided we should try for the T-Rex Cafe again since it shouldn't be as busy. Mom came with me and Blake and we headed out.
Some pics from our visit...
The dinosaur that greets you when you walk in
The baby dinosaurs underneath that dinosaur (all of these are mostly animated, btw)
No pics from today but Blake and I had a very laid back day. We got dressed in our red Chiefs clothes (although they had a terrible game!) and headed over to Maria and Tom's for some time to visit w/them and most importantly, baby Bree. I didn't manage to snap any pics of her but she's grown a lot and walks very well and is a very smart toddler.
On the way back to my parents' house, Blake and I went grocery shopping and picked up ingredients to make some Chicken Vegetable Soup which we love (don't let one of the ingredients deter you - it's so good!) and made it for dinner for my parents. I also made some Ghirardelli brownies for dessert...yummmm.
Blake and I got up after the free breakfast was offered and he wasn't interested in swimming so we took our showers and got checked out of the hotel. First issue we ran into was the TV wasn't working so I worried that the 4 hour drive would be very long w/o TV for Blake. He entertained himself ("mommy, I'm keeping myself busy!") and the Roadtrip Scavenger Hunt that I brought with us came in handy - whew!
So we arrived at my parents' house around 3:30 and I got us unpacked while Blake played outside with my parent's golden retriever, Harley. He's very scared of animals right now so it was very brave of him to do this.
Then it was off to Grandma Willie's house to meet up with a bunch of Andy's family to head to the Legends area which always has new things when we come back to visit.
Blake at a water fountain with Joey, Katrina and Isaac.
Joey and Blake in front of the T-Rex Cafe. 
We weren't able to eat inside this day due to the 3 hour wait but we did get a good look inside. This is an aquarium inside...
On the ride home, Blake took a couple of pics.
Grandma Willie
Self-portrait
After that, we hung out at Grandma Willie's and left around 8:30 to go back to my parents where we were exhausted after having done a lot today.
