Our yard...before and after

Here are some pictures of our yard before the cars showed up and then after the cars showed up.

Back east corner of our lot empty

back east corner of our lot half full


back west corner of our lot empty


back west corner of our lot full

west side of our yard empty

west side of our yard full

front west side of our lot empty

west front side of our yard full (female cop was new this year...her first year working blueberry...I think she liked it)

front yard empty

front yard full

Our yard is on the left, the neighbors yard on the right (they also park cars)

Little Texas

Allen and I walked over last night to the main stage and watched Little Texas play. They put on a really good show. They have a new album out, which I bought and then stood in line for about a half an hour for them to sign. The kids were not interested in going, so they stayed home. Greg was parking cars at the high school for the band and didn't get off until 8:30 pm so he wasn't able to go either. He didn't mind though, he really doesn't like country.

Tonight Denver and the Mile High Orchestra will be playing over at the main stage. They were on the TV show "America's Greatest Band" (I think that is what it was called). It was like an American Idol show only with bands. Anyway, they made it all the way to the finals, but didn't end up winning. The lead singer is from Plymouth, so of course the town was following the show pretty close.

All the shows at the festival are free. They have two stages in the park for shows and then there is an amphitheatre at the edge of the park where they have gospel music bands playing all weekend long.

Little Texas on stage

We had so much fun watching these two little kids play in the dirt. They got sooooo dirty, but were lovin it so much!!

Saturday at 6:30 pm was the balloon launch. They flew right over our house. The black, red and white one is the one that Allen & I went up in when we rode a few years ago.

Another balloon

Allen

Greg parking cars at the high school...was not thrilled to see me show up with my camera! He said, and I quote, "My life isn't an open book, Mom!"

This is how not to leave the parking area! This poor older lady thought she had her car in reverse, but it was in drive and she drove straight into the ditch. This was in the lot across the street from our backyard.

Here is the tow truck showing up to pull her out. Her front bumper was dented in but they managed to pull it out.

Me and officer Kip!

This is Carl. He is the one that oversees all the other cops here. It is his wife that always brings us a plate of homemade candies at Christmas time.

Feeding the cops

We have been feeding the cops for several years now. This is what they got this morning for breakfast. I should explain. We will have a cop at the corner of our yard all weekend long. Our street is a dead end street. At the end of our street is the Yellow River. Between our house and the river is the school's parking lot. The Blueberry committee uses this parking lot for Gate 4 passes only. These passes are given out to "special people". I'm not sure who all gets these passes, but if you don't have a gate 4 pass, you will not get down our street (unless you live on it). Anyway, that is what the cops are for, they will not let anyone down our road that does not have a gate 4 pass. Well, to keep them happy and to get OUR passes through, we feed the cops! The cops know that we have people out there with passes to our yard and they will direct them through for us. Several times in the past Allen has been busy parking a car or is in the house and when he gets back to the front of the yard the cop that is on duty will hand Allen some money and tell him that he parked a car for him! The police chief's wife every year will bring us a plate of homemade Christmas candy as a thank you for treating the cops so well! These aren't our Plymouth cops either, they are usually from Syracuse or Winona Lake, which is about a half hour drive from here. Plymouth has help from several surrounding cities during this weekend because we wouldn't have enough police officers to work all the festival as well as the city.

Anyway, just a little inside scoop from the Rundle corner!

Donuts Anyone?

Sorry Ash, but I just had to post a picture of these delicious donuts that I have been having this morning with my coffee. Can ya almost smell them? For those of you who have yet to have a true blueberry donut, I feel for you. These are the best blueberry donuts, ever! The batter has blueberries in it but then the glaze that they pore over the hot donuts also has crushed blueberries in it!! So good!! They are getting up there in price though. $8 a dozen! And they seem smaller this year too!! Everything has gone up in price though...

Friday Night Rides

Here are a few pictures of last night at the rides. Greg was off with his friend, so never got a pic of him...I'm sure he is fine with that!

Libby and Sarah waiting to get on the scrambler

Sarah and Libby on the scrambler

Nathan on the scrambler

This was a new ride this year. It was called the power surge. Nathan and Sarah were on this ride together, her friend Libby could not be talked into getting on it.

The power surge at night. Nathan was on this time with one of his friends. By this time in the evening, both Sarah and Libby were feeling a little too woozy to ride anymore rides. Sorry I didn't get any more pictures than this, it was really hard to take them while holding on to every one's drinks and such. I'll maybe go back and take some more pictures later, although you all probably have seen these rides before!!

Wake us when your done

I was cleaning the downstairs bathroom today and this is what I found waiting for me at the top of the stairs when I was done! These two follow me all over the house when I am home. I guess they didn't want to wait on the hard tile floor in the bathroom so decided to wait for me on the stairs.

I am taking the kids over tonight to do the rides. We usually just buy them the wrist bands where they can ride as many rides as they want in one evening. That's usually enough...at least it is for me since I am the one standing around watching them ride all night long!!

It's Blueberry Time!!

It's that wonderful time of the year again! The Blueberry Festival starts tomorrow here in Plymouth. Since we practically live in the park, our street will be full of cars driving by and people walking by. I guess it was a draw back to some who looked at our house when it was for sale, but not us! We love living this close to the park, and we love it even more every Labor Day Weekend! Allen has been parking cars in our yard since we moved in almost 11 years ago. He has quite the little business going now. I make up passes for some of the regulars that park with us every year. This allows them to come and go all weekend long with the assurance of a place to park. There is a little league diamond directly behind our house and the playoff games will be going on all weekend long. Several of our passes go to the coaches and families of the players. We also have a couple of people who buy passes because they work over in the booths all weekend long.

This is the 2nd largest festival in Indiana. It runs 4 days. We have a 15k run on Monday morning called the Blueberry Stomp. We also have an awesome fireworks display on Sunday night. There are also several hot air balloons that come to the festival and they usually have 3 launches during the weekend. Allen and I actually got to take a ride in one several years ago. Awesome experience!! Of course there are lots and lots of craft booths and tons of food booths!! Greg usually goes over early every morning and gets us fresh blueberry donuts for breakfast! Oh! There is also a parade on Monday morning which Greg will be marching in!! His first parade! I'm sure he is going to be so excited when I post those pictures!

I have taken a couple of "before" and "after" pictures, and then I will post more as the weekend develops!

This is looking out our backyard towards the community pool (all you can really see is the pool building behind the one light pole, but there is a fairly good size pool there too). This picture was taken last Saturday when they brought in the porta johns.





This was taken Monday when they put up the big red and white tents. They are hard to see because the sun was so bright on them. You can also see one camper over by the pool area.

This picture was taken today (Thursday). You can no longer see the pool building because of all the trucks that will now be parked there through Monday. (I am still standing in our backyard)

This picture was taken on Monday after school. I am looking at the little league diamond from our backyard. You can see the teacher's cars parked in the parking lot behind the ball diamond.

This is what it looked like today (Thursday). Teachers are no longer able to park in the parking lot because it is now full of food vendors. Luckily there is another parking lot on the east side of our house that they are using. (a few are parking in our driveway too)

Ball diamond to the left, school to the right. You can see the banner that is hung over the school sidewalk. This is where the tram stops to let off people who park a few blocks away at the high school. This is one of the main entrances to the festival.

Close-up picture of the food vendors behind the little league diamond. The homemade blueberry donuts are in the second row of those booths (about half way down and on your right)!! Yum! Yum!

Sunday Potluck

This is Heather's dog, Gigi.

This was our last Sunday morning meeting with Adam and Charlene. They are moving to Chicago in 2 weeks. From left to right: Melanie, Dave, JoAnne, Doug, Adam, Charlene, Bill, Bev, Me, Allen, and Greg. Sarah and Nathan in front. (Michelle was at work)

This is a picture of everyone that was at the potluck. Adam and Greg were missing from this picture because they were taking the pictures and Emil had already left for home. From left to right: Bonnie, Dave, Melanie, Dave, JoAnne, Doug, Carl, Charlene, Karen, Bill, Bev, Gary, Jenny, Mark, Me, and Allen. Sarah, Nathan, Chelsea and Troy in front.

Buggy going down the road.

There were a lot more pictures taken, but unfortunately they were taken by Sarah who loves to shoot you at your worse. I will not embarrass the folks by posting them on my blog. There were also some very close-ups taken of toes and skirt patterns!?!

birthday gift

This is a picture of the planter that my sister-in-law Holli painted for me for my birthday. I finally got around to putting a plant in it!

Friday Night Football

Last night was the first football game of the season. It was home, so Greg had to march at half time. It was their first time to march in front of an audience. They only performed half of their program that they have learned for competition. I guess they will play the other half at another home game. I tried to take some pictures, the ones that I zoomed in on are not too good.

Besides playing at half time, the band also plays during the game. Every time we make a touchdown, either the band plays "Rocky Top" or they play a canned version of it over the intercom. I know, we don't live in the south, it seems a little weird to me too. Our football team's name is the Plymouth Rockies, so I guess that is why they play that song?! We ended up winning 42-27. A little too much of Rocky Top if you ask me. Sarah's friend, Libby, went with us and by the end of the night they could pretty much do the little dance routine that the cheerleaders were doing every time they played that song. There was even a group of boys (middle school age) down by the fence imitating the cheerleaders while they did their dance to Rocky Top!

The band marching in to play the school songs before the game started. If you look between the boy with the cell phone in his hand wearing a white hat and the girl beside him with the red hair...you will see Greg. He is the on the outside row and his music looks like a white sheet of paper floating in the air in front of him. He also has a color guard girl carrying a red flag right in front of him and one right behind him.

Here they are lined up at the end of the football field getting ready to march out and do the school songs and the National Anthem. Don't ask me where Greg is, I only know that he is on the far right side somewhere!

Playing our school song. I didn't realize that I had gotten some of the cheerleaders in the picture too! Pretty funny! Greg is the last sax player in the 5th row from the right.

Here I tried zooming in on Greg, it really didn't turn out that great. He is in the middle row and the fourth face back that you can see. He is right in front of the color guard.

I also tried taking pictures at half time, but it was too dark and the pictures did not turn out very good at all. I really need a better camera!!! :-)

Sarah's best friend

Libby (with bunny ears) and Sarah (with moose ears)

This is Sarah and her best friend, Libby. Libby rides home with Sarah after school and stays here until her mother picks her up after she gets off work. They are so much alike it's scary!

I've been tagged by Rhonda

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. *Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. *Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. It has been 22 days since I have eaten at Mi Cameno's! (can you believe it Ash?!)To those who may not realize this, that is WAY too long!!!! Yes, I admit, I am addicted to this Mexican restaurant!
2. I am the youngest in my family. I have 3 older brothers with the youngest of those 3 being 8 years older than me!
3. I love the look of flowers in a yard but hate planting and watering them. Maybe this is why mine are always looking so sickly?!
4. I miss the days when the kids were babies. I think about how neat it would be to have another one, but then Allen shakes me out of my state of craziness again!
5. Being in your 40's isn't nearly as old as I use to think it was, in fact, it's quite young!!
6. I love shopping for shoes, and to my great admiration, so does my daughter!
7. I am a procrastinator...in fact I should be doing a dozen other things much more important than this list, but hey, what's more fun?!

I tag: Julie, Stacy, Ashley, Gina, and Amy.

http://bryceandjulie.blogspot.com/

http://damonandstacy.blogspot.com/

http://peteandashmalone.blogspot.com/

http://bloemkersauce.blogspot.com/

http://ourtinydot.wordpress.com/

First day of school!!!

Today was the first day back to school. Greg is in the 9th grade, Sarah is in 6th, and Nathan is in 5th. I drove them all to school this morning. Greg's high school is close enough that he will be able to walk most of the time. Sarah and Nathan are both at the same school this year. They are actually too close to get a bus pick-up, so would have to walk also. I will be driving them though, I just don't feel comfortable letting them walk. Their school is a half mile from our home. The high school is only about 3 blocks from our home.

I quit my Aide's job in the Autism Department at the Elementary School behind our house. It was a hard decision to make, but one I felt I needed to make. I have been trying to get a teaching position for 5 years now, and I think as long as I am seen as an Aide, I won't be seen as a teacher. Hopefully this will help. I will try subbing and see if anything opens up during the year. Probably not the best time to be quitting a job, but I'm sure I will keep busy subbing. We never seem to have enough subs.

Well, I need to start doing something! I think I will start tackling the closets first!

Greg (holding Copper), Sarah (holding Coal), and Nathan