The hottest day of the year.

Its almost fall now. Tomorrow marks the fall seasonal shift on the calendar at least, and today we had the first taste of autumn. Waves of crisp cool air to send a brief refreshing cathartic start to the season. I'm surprised that its so welcoming to me right now, because up until yesterday I was feeling like I was robbed of a decent summer.

Things are getting closer and closer to finished at the house though and things are easing up at home, which makes me relax a little bit and even, gasp, get time to write on the blog.

Not so long ago though, we were straddling four days of HOT. So grossly, disgustingly humid and hot. They happened to fall right on the week of the state fair, and happened to be on exactly the day we planned to go. Ugh.

If you know me though, you know I love the state fair. I love the cheese curds, the deep-fried wonderful goodness. The weird treats, the hoards of people, the weird shows in the grandstands. The markets and infomercial buys. I love it all. I look forward to it every year. No matter the weather.

But, we had taken the day off and new it would be in low attendance, which is key for the kids, so we decided to grin and bear it. We arrived as early as possible (about 8:30 am) or so and got to it. We had walked all of 10 feet before we were sweating bullets. It was SCORCHING and sticky. HOT and irritating. GROSS.

 Away we went. Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, the boys and Uncle Chris. First stop the Little Hands Farm. We always take the boys here first because the lines are about 500 people long in the middle of the day. It seemed like a good idea. But just the walk from the entry to the Little Hands Farm was painfully hot. Even though it was 9 in the morning, we gave the boys the ice cold icecream they were handing out. Mostly because it was cold.

 Every year we take a picture of the boys near this Oliver tractor. I imagine we'll have one for a few more years to come. It reminds me of my dad and they think of it as "papa's tractor."

 Even though it was so hot the boys enjoyed moving around the farm. They think "milking" the cow is fairly hilarious. And then, to try to get out of the sun as early in the day as possible. We moved to the kiddie rides. We thought if we got these out of the way we could avoid the direct sun and the long lines.

The rides are the bees knees for the boys. The kidway is filled with your standard variety cars/boats/dinosaurs/butterflies etc. going around in a circle. Buts its about the equivalent to pure happiness when you are 4.

 First there were tractors. Then there were bumper boats.

 And then, the happiest face I've seen all year. Collin and Owen took their first ride on a rollercoaster. A small one at that, but still a roller coaster. I was actually a little bit anxious Collin would get scared. He's usually so very sensitive to new things, and I wondered if it would overwhelm him.

 But away we went, I rode with Collin and Chris with Owen while Drew manned the camera. I had no worries about Owen because when it comes to being timid Owen has not one iota of it. That boy is all in, all the time.

 This picture makes me smile everytime I look at it. Its just sheer joy on Collin's face. I could stare at it all day. I imagine that one day this is one of the things he'll have as a first memory of the state fair. he LOVED it.

 When we were finished they wanted to go again. The rollercoaster was a huge hit. I imagine Cedar Pointe is somewhere in our future as these boys grow.

 Then we were off to the Safari train. This is an old standby that Collin first rode when he was all of a year old I think.

 Finally, we rounded out the midway with the dinosaurs. What fun to see the boys tackle the rides by themselves for the first time. It so strange to me to see the differences between Collin and out Owen show themselves in everyday interactions. When Collin was 2 1/2 I couldn't have imagined he would have been able to ride the rides together-- he's timid and careful. But, Owen at 2 1/2 was so ready and excited to be on the rides without me.

 The boys took us next to the giant slide. This year I went down with Collin and for the first time we weighed enough to get some serious speed. I thought we were going to run into the end barrier.

 And then, to round out the adventure for the boys we went to our favorite place- the miracle of life barn.  Its no surprise that it was not in there, but we survived because of the giant fans they had in place for the poor miserable cows and sheep.

 After the miracle of life barn we wandered on to all the animals barns and got some lunch. At this point it was so ridiculously hot I could not be bothered to use the camera. So the pictures stop here. The boys though, enjoyed the fish pond, milkshakes, fishing pond, dog barn, and the list goes on.

This was the first year, in all the years we've attended that the fair had poor attendance. Really poor attendance. We couldn't believe how empty it was. But, it worked out I guess though because lots of people and super heat probably makes for extreme grumpiness.

All in all though, it was a great day for the boys, one that I'm sure they'll remember, and as always an important pillar of summer fun.

The first day.

I'm in Iowa today. Far away from my so-grown-up four year old boy, who is making his way to his first day at preschool. I'm a little bit heart broken that I have to be here, training the whole state of Iowa on how to use the assessments I'm part of the development and design team on (Individual Growth and Development Indicators; www.myigdis.com). It know its all for the "greater good" or what have you, since I'm helping teachers better serve 20,000 or so 4 and 5 year olds, but at this very moment, my heart really is only interested in the one back in Minnesota.

I was nervous today. Not about presenting to 100s of department of education folks, but instead for Collin. I wasn't there, and I couldn't help to start his day out right to make sure he headed to pre-k confident and excited for success on his first day. I left Drew a page long list of things to do, from the first day outfit, to what to put in the backpack, to the grocery bag of school supplies and necessary documents and tuition check. It was all there, step by step.

I started my presentation meetings just as Collin was getting out of bed, so I didn't get to talk to him before school. I sent his dad a text to at least share my excitement for him, but I was super bummed we didn't get to talk before the school day. I wondered if he really missed me this morning. If it made a difference to him that I wasn't the one holding his hand as he made his way to school. My heart sank a little bit to think of him feeling anxious or scared to start in a new class with new friends.

At lunch I finally had a break and got to call. The preschool day was over. It was make or break time- either I was going to hear it was a melt down or it was great. I didn't hedge any bets. That boys surprises me everyday so I had no idea which way this was going to go.

In the past couple of weeks though, I'd noticed that Collin has been starting to really pull together the "4 year old" thing- he's not as nearly testy or defiant as he used to be and seems to be catching his stride with understanding and appreciating school, sharing and the big brother role. His little bits of maturity are bittersweet though- they make me realize that he's growing so quickly and suddenly it will be a year from now and we'll be headed to kindergarten.

So, when I called today, I heard to sweetest and saddest thing in the world. He did amazingly well. Like "see you later dad, I got this!" good. Drew said he handled it like a pro, said good bye and was super excited to play and be with new friends. Not even a second glance. No check in. No anxiousness. Nothing. All confidence. All bright and beautiful.
Sigh (insert tiny tears here). Its a little bit sad to see them be so confident in their adventures, to know that chapter has closed and a new one is on the horizon.

I'm sure Collin will do great this year and I'm confident we'll help him along the way. I'm also sure he'll teach me so much more about being a good parent, and if we're lucky we'll teach him a few things too along the way.

Right now though, I savor this brief moment of mommyhood. Here, right in this spot, is exactly what we've worked for this year- giving Collin the skills to be successful and as much as the baby bird leaving the little nest is hard for the momma, it makes me proud to know he's here and ready. I'm lucky to be his momma, and even from 500 miles away, I can feel the happiness surging from that boy.