Minneapolis!

Dear Future Tracy,

You just drove across the country for the second time with your loving, patient husband and your sweet, inquisitive son that never ever ever ever stops talking. Congratulations.

Love,
Present Day Tracy

Muuuurcy!

The last week and a half was graced with Mercy's presence and new adventures (here, too, employees can bring their pups to work!). [Did I spend too much on stickers? Yes. Yes, I did. Does my kid even like stickers? No. No, he does not.)

H developed a love for smoked gouda, red quinoa (yes, I just had to Google that for the spelling) and pistachios (that, too).

But look at these best-ies (with weirdly placed kid in the photo)!

 Now's your chance to weigh in on The Great Bang Debate of 2010 (bring it on here: honesty is a gal's best friend)! Other than her other best friend.

Sonoma County Fair

There is nothing better than the county fair. Except the county fair when it's free. And your parking is free. Because you won tickets from your local library. Because you are awesome.

You'll note that the Sonoma County Fair doesn't mess around:

I can't even tell you how many times we had to return to the car to drop off our knives! Hundreds. Maybe tens of hundreds. Hundreds of hundreds?

A lady inside this little booth assured me that I ought not worry about money (Ha! She apparently is unaware of the ER visit bill I received the same week.) and that our family will live in the Chicagoland area for a couple of years. Also: two boys and a girl, if we so desire. Do we? Ask the Mister.

Who doesn't want to ride on the Black Widow formerly owned by Mr. Michael Jackson?! Oh. You? Me either.

Total bargain cheese on a stick: $3.50

Cowpoke and water pump, together at last

This is what we came to see, folks! The big event! The Amazing Acro-Cats!

I saw three minutes of this cat rock performance before H let me know he was sick of performing cats in various forms.

$1.69! $1.69!

Grandpa R came out west last week for his visit and tour of San Francisco.

We finally rode one of these!

Hen spent the weekend with his pop, trying to learn the mechanics of the potty while his mama flew home to Wiscownsin (note: humidity, mosquitoes) to see her family and get tattooed on Lauryn's 18th birthday.

And we are hosting our BFF Muuurcy now (who H mistakenly keeps calling grandma). We stopped at Target for a bottle of shaving cream, setting us back $1.69, but providing some good clean fun for 30 minutes.