So we send off another one ...

into the working world.

Anna started at McDonald's Saturday morning.

I am thrilled to give up sleeping in on at least one weekend morning for her!

Alaska has some mighty interesting child labor laws. She will only be allowed to work weekends until she turns 16 ... and that is right around the corner. Two of my cherubs now haunt this place. :) We have a couple of years before the next one (and last one) hits the working world.

After dropping her off at work Saturday morning, we went on a hunt for some yard sales. No luck. Took the wrong roads ... and didn't find a one. Must not have been anything out there that we were in need of, hey?

On home to start some fun. I have red tomatoes!! Can't hardly believe it. Not enough to make any sauce for the winter ... but they're red! I picked the red ones, peeled and seeded them, seasoned them with basil and sea salt ... and plunked them into the dehydrator. Now I understand the high cost of sun dried tomatoes. Let's hope we like them! Jari has been snacking right out of the dish they went into. I'm hoping to have a few for some pasta dishes.

Then off to the carrots. We picked them all ... and canned them all. The tops looked beautiful as did some of the carrots. Next year I'll have to thin a little better ... and maybe try a different type of seed. I was surprised to get 10 quarts out of the garden. Done with that one! Still waiting on potatoes that aren't agreeing with us real well. Cucumbers are beyond hope. Zucchini and raspberries and still producing for us.

Amber popped over and spent the rest of the day with us. Jen pulled in before dinner ... and the night was set for games and visiting ...

and little people. Isn't Naomi just the cutest little one? She is so unbelievably good. Tired and too stubborn to take a nap ... without a wail even once.

Then there is this young energetic kiddo. Nolan has energy to burn ....

so does Tia. So she built him a web.

Ingredients needed for this little project: children and yarn.

She only did it in the dining room. My kids use to take over the entire house. They would also tie knots in the yarn. Around door knobs, lamps, anything that would hold on to the yarn. Then they would proceed to crawl and play under the spider web for hours. The fun part was always undoing all the knots they had tied. A pair of scissors did great with dismantling the whole mess ... except every knot that was tied to anything imaginable. If you think PlayDo makes a mess ... this one beats it. :)

Sunday we braved the weather ... and headed for the Alaska State Fair. It was a tad bit wet, but the rain (not the drizzle) held off for the most part until we were ready to leave.

I did manage to:

• 
  
  buy more of my favorite lotion
• 
  
  pass up the rug that is suppose to be guarantee your shoes are clean after you step on it
• 
  
  eat my very first cream puff ... and not have a major case of gut ache afterward (it really is divine!)
• 
  
  pass up mittens that I really liked ... will try making some .. and will certainly share with you should I ever get them done
• 
  
  got my funnel cake digested rather quickly
• 
  
  wondered how photography is judged
• 
  
  thinking about contributing a few things to the fair myself next year ... certainly not my carrots!
• 
  
  passed up a new pair of Danskos although I have gotten to the category of NEED in that department
• saw the humungous punpkin and ....

even managed to go into the house of mirrors!