A day at the fair.

  Growing up in rural Indiana, 4-H fairs were a staple of my summers growing up. My township is the last in the state to keep having its own and we even won actual money for our projects when I was growing up {I'm sure they've phased out that part}. For 11 straight years, I took part in our county fair {if you count mini 4-H, which I totally do} and had a project go to the State Fair every single year. 
  So you could say I'm a fan of the the State Fair. Which makes it even more shocking that I haven't been since high school and that my husband had never been to any 4-H fair until this summer. I know, I'm embarrassed, too. 
  But anyways, we crossed that off our bucket list this summer. After an uneventful trip to our suburban county's fair {hint: suburban counties don't do 4-H like farm communities do...}, we had to redeem ourselves by a trip to the State Fair! We spent this past Saturday people watching and animal petting and good food eating. And it was wonderful. Justin may disagree {you can take the boy out of Jersey...}, but Caleb loved it too. I couldn't capture any non-blurry shots of his extremely happy face as he pet the animals, but it was awesome. So I'm counting it a success! 

Symphony on the Prairie.

   One of our unofficial summer goals has been to explore Indy a bit more. Months ago, we talked about going to Symphony on the Prairie for Motown night with some friends. On Friday, we all met up at Conner Prairie, armed with enough snacks for 10 people and plenty of beer and wine. We were totally put to shame by the Symphony pros who brought full size picnic tables and tablecloths and citronella candles. Next time, we'll be far more prepared. Even with our hodge podge picnic, we had a blast listing to some throwbacks and helping the Contours relive their glory days. Tons of fun! I even saw a local celebrity {that no one else in our group had heard of...} But we'll probably be sticking with our {cheaper and closer} park concerts. Either way, live music and byob? Yes, please. 
 In other news, I'm in denial that summer is almost over. Not. Fair. 

tragic.

While I'm sure not many {besides us Hoosiers, of course} keep up with Indiana news,

I hope most of the country has heard about this by now.

On Saturday, there was a tragedy at the Indiana State Fair.

5 lives lost.

Many, many more injured.

Yet in the midst of the tragedy, 

Hoosiers displayed some heroic character.

Everyone helping everyone else.

As Governor Daniels said,

people ran towards the tragedy {to help}

rather than away {to escape}.

I'm pretty proud to be from this small, boring state.

And my heart goes out to everyone effected by this tragedy.

If you think of it, pray for them!