Puyallup Fair 2010 and Family Pics Preview

It seems so quiet around our house these days since we said goodbye to our last guest just a couple of weeks ago. I think that poor Uncle Doug is going to need a vacation from his vacation after chasing Matthew around for a few days. Although I do have to say, I was wondering who was having more fun as I watched them put together Hot Wheels tracks and race cars around- Matthew or Doug?

We made a trip to the market with Doug and our friend Irina. Matthew decided that he wanted to buy mommy some flowers (with a little help from daddy). They were beautiful. Thank you Matthew (and daddy)!

The big news in town the past few weeks has been the Puyallup Fair. We ended up going twice and Matthew and I are heading there tomorrow with our friends the Sobbas for round #3. Matthew had a blast on the rides, of course. He still continues to look longingly at the "big boy" rides and points to all the rides saying "I wanna go on that". He did, however, take a trip on The Scrambler this year, much to my dismay. But I think his favorite was the giant slide, which he must have gone on at least a half a dozen times. He decided to try his hand at some games this year, but mommy and daddy quickly put a stop to that as he started throwing the wooden balls from skee ball all over the place. We were trying to avoid him taking out a spectator or two.

With the busy summer coming to a close, we decided to get our family portraits taken. Unfortunately, with all of the unseasonably rainy weather we've had lately, we had to cancel our location shoot and went to our photographers studio instead. The pics turned out great though and we have some especially cute ones of Matthew. Here's a little preview....

The Ham

Welcome to the Hotel Taylor

Well I feel like we should install a revolving door in our house after this summer. Since May, we have had company all but two weeks when Scott has not been working. When I tell people this, they say that it must be so busy, but actually we've loved it and had a great time. The only problem is that we've become very attached to our video camera and have lots of video of this summer's visits, but not many pictures. And we have no clue how to download any of our video yet. So stayed tuned for when we figure it out and can post some funny videos.
Our latest guests were my mom and dad and Scott's father and stepmother. I think I mentioned in my last post that my parents were here in mid-August for my triathlon. Actually they were here to see Matthew and just happen to come that same weekend ; ) Anyhow, Matthew had a blast and loved building things with Gramps and having squirt gun fights. He also did some crafts with Grammy. His favorite was making sock puppets.

We took a little trip to the Oregon coast when Grampa Mike and Gram Karen visited. Astoria and Cannon Beach were beautiful. Matthew got to see the Pacific Ocean and fortunately did not try to take off running into the water with daddy in hot pursuit like last year. He also loved the Portland Children's Museum and spent two and half hours there trying EVERYTHING out.

Our next visitor is our friend, Doug, from Michigan. We can't wait to head to the market again to get more smoked salmon, dried strawberries and fresh fruit. If only Matthew would expand his palate a little. Instead he chooses his carbs and the occasional Playdoh sandwich...