Tanana Valley Fair: We did the usual first day of the fair with Kieran's daycare. It looked like rain but cleared up enough for most of us to feel overdressed. The pony wheel was back and Kieran enjoyed horseback riding even more than last year! While Kieran was waiting for his horse Max surprised us by showing up unexpectedly - I think Kieran was very proud that daddy was there to watch him ride the biggest pony there :)
Of course we had to take a bunch rides down the big purple slide!
Kieran's friend Lydia shared some of her cotton candy. It was a first for both of them...both reacted the same way; each looked at the parents and asked "Do I eat this?" Good question! 
This game is so kids can practice their dipnetting skills for when their old, tired parents send them to Chitina for the annual salmon harvest. Kieran's dipnetting has improved greatly since last year!
Speaking of dipnetting and salmon...Max had a successful Chitina trip just a couple of days after returning from his month-long field campaign. What a schedule! We had an efficient processing week even with the less than ideal rainy weather for smoking. We had it all wrapped up in less than a week. Kieran will definitely be running the vacuum sealer next year. We couldn't keep him off the counter!
Here he's giving the vacuum sealer a hug. Right after I took this picture he kissed the newly-sealed pack of smoked fish. Have I mentioned how much this kid loves salmon?
Our garden continued to do well through August. We harvested a decent amount of veggies over the summer, but the most surprising corner of the garden was the corn corner. We managed to grow 4 ears of corn! It would have been 6 if a wind storm in July hadn't knocked over two stalks.
The Botanical Gardens on campus has been a fun place to visit this summer and in August the veggies, berries and fruit trees are in prime form. So are the wildflowers!
We had an after-work outing to the gardens with Chayce and a new friend Cody and their moms. There was lots of throwing rocks into water, running through trellis tunnels, jumping off structures, laughing, playing...it was a great time.
Kieran walked this water trough a bunch of times. He has his dad's balance and body awareness. I don't know how many other two year olds can walk a 5 inch wide, 40 foot long platform without so much as a bobble. He amazes me.
The moms stood next to this cabin for 20 minutes while the boys took our orders for food and drinks. They would yell out, "Mommy, what do you want?" or "Kieran's mommy, what do you want?" and go in and prepare it. When it was ready (seconds later...this was very fast service) they would pretend to throw it out to us. We pretended to catch it and eat it, exclaiming how delicious it was. It might have gone on all night if the moms weren't hungry for some actual dinner!
They wouldn't be boys if they didn't get completely filthy on the way back to the car. This was a very fun and very effective stall tactic.
The tall grass along the trail back to the parking area proved to be one of the best play areas of all. It was perfect for hiding and falling in and even pretending to swim. the boys really lost themselves in the fun of the moment, running and rolling over each other, laughing all the way back to the cars.
Pure summer joy!
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