The big frog capture

It was so odd to find that a little baby frog had somehow climbed up the sidelight window next to our front door and was sitting at the top. Scott and Cara rescued the poor little guy and returned him to a more favorable environment.


Cara was pretty excited to use her "bug Catcher" to capture the frog
The poor guy was scared to death inside the cage
They walked down to the pond area to release him
"you're free froggy"
Awww.....this is more like it!

Summer's End Festival Parade

The Thursday before the Summer's End festival we got a call from Ft Wayne that Great Grandma Abbott had a major stroke and that the end of her life was near. We rushed up there to see her and spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Abbott and were able to say goodbye to her. But in the midst of the family emergency we had to go to Rossville for the Summer's End Festival Parade. It is the one and only parade of the year and Scott could not miss it.


Cara and I waiting for the parade to start
Daddy and his band
more band....
more band....they certainly looked big this year
And tractors....small town USA is famous for lots of tractors in parades
Cara loved the train in the parade
and more tractors...

Great weather for a great parade. Cara made out like a bandit, nearly every ride in the parade threw out candy. We are sad we didn't get to enjoy this festival this year but it was more important to us to head back to Ft Wayne right after the parade.

Pre K Day 2

Still green week and Cara was thrilled to wear her Tinkerbell shirt

First Day of Pre K

Cara has been ready for school to start back up all summer. She kept asking when she could go back to school and we can't believe it is already that time again. I am sure her enthusiasm for going back to school will diminish over the years!

For the first few weeks of school they will have a color theme. This week's color is green. Luckily for us we did have some green stuff to wear in a closet dominated by pink.

This year she gets to eat lunch at school! So here is her cute lunch box that matches her backpack.
Playing on the playground at school. I got there a few minutes early and the kids were outside playing and it was so neat to watch Cara playing when she didn't know I was there. She finally spotted me and the smile on her face while she yelled "mommy" melted my heart!

Symphony on the Prairie

A good friend back from our college days came to visit us from Michigan so we went to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Symphony on the Prairie.


Cara taking a picture of Mommy, Daddy and Sally enjoying our picnic dinner
So I had to take a picture of her
The Duke Ellington Orchestra under the band shell
Cara enjoying her view from on top of Daddy's shoulders

State Fair, day 2

Our first very hot visit to the State Fair went by much too quick, so we decided to go back for $2 Tuesday the following week.
This time we were able to do more things without melting like the previous week.

Cara really enjoyed the Little Hands on the Farm

Trike ride!
Milking a cow
Enjoying a pony ride

Sno cone yumminess
$2 elephant ear, perfect size for a snack!
And again in the midway....just love that Cara loves carnie rides (insert sarcasm) :)

We had a great time at the fair this week although it is possibly the most crowded I have ever seen the fair. Long lines at every food stand and every ride! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for going back with us for another fun evening!

Lots of swimming fun...

What a perfect summer for a new pool! It has been nice and hot keeping the pool water nice and warm.

We had Grace over to play so we went swimming!


What a perfect sized pool for 2 little girls to play and splash in!

Boo for shots...

The other day was Cara's 4 year old well child check up. She got a great clean bill of health! We were both surprised that she could receive her "kindergarten" immunizations because I thought they received them at age 5 (apparently you can get them from 4-6 yrs). She was a great trooper and got three shots that day! But they gave her awesome bandaids, 3 stickers, a silly band, a pencil, and a popsicle!

Future conductor?

The other night Cara was playing at Scott's music stand and said "attention symphony on the prairie, the concert is now starting"...she tapped a pencil on the stand and started conducting as she flipped through the music pages.

Thank goodness the camera was close by! These are memories to cherish!

State Fair

We braved the 90+ heat with a heat index near 110 last Tuesday for $2 fair night! I have never been able to go to $2 night but was excited to see what eats we could get for that!


We were walking down the street and a vendor called Cara "Miss Hollywood". She was just trying to stay cool!
But one of the best ways to stay cool was to order a huge sno-cone! Cherry, grape and strawberry please! Daddy held her up so she could order herself.
Yummy!
Taking a minute to sit and cool off- "not!" it was impossible to cool off
Cara could NOT wait to hit the midway! From the moment we got there it was her TOP priority but we made her wait until the end in hopes it would be getting cooler out. We all went on the giant ferris wheel, she was not so sure about this one!
Behind Scott's should you can see the view of the downtown skyline
She loved the rides
Sitting in a bee waiting to take off
Loving the carousel
She ended up riding this one twice! Probably her favorite!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for sweating it out with us! We had a good time and good food.

Last Swimming Lesson

Last week Cara had her last swimming lesson for the summer. We are so glad we put her in swimming lessons this year!


Swimming under the guidance of Miss Caitlyn

And jumping off the side!

We look forward to lessons again next summer!