If it's on a stick, I wanna eat it.

Break out the Pepcid--it's FAIR season! The fests and fairs of summer are in full swing. Moon bounces, pony rides, shaken-up lemonade, wobbly rides, midway games, various foods on sticks--it's finally here in all its glory.

Our first "fest" of the season was Earth Fest at Lichterman Nature Center. To be fair, this one wasn't typical. It was held in honor of Earth Day and while we did experience face painting--an old favorite--we spent the majority of our time on a guided Tree Hike. There's this amazing, dense 65-acre forest right in the middle of the city of Memphis. It's really one of our best kept secrets. Instead of vendors trying to pedal cheap silver jewelry or Hannah Montana posters, there were booths for various local non-profits and government agencies devoted to clean water, recycling and celebrating birds & rivers. Rebecca found caterpillars on the trails and didn't hesitate to scoop one up. And we met Jacob, whose dad was the guide on our hike.

(the caterpillar queen--hey, wasn't that a billy ocean song? note the face painting)


(on the Tree Hike)


(with our new friend Jacob)

The very next weekend brought another sunny, breezy day, and there were plenty food-on-a-stick options to please any palate. Just to the east of our beloved Lakeland is a town called Arlington. They have a nice "fest" called Arlington in April, where local artisans and business-owners and churches can display information. Rebecca wasn't feeling well and Peter was out of town, so my mom joined Molly, sleepy Amelia and me for moon bounces, train rides, Fiddlesticks, pony rides and dogs jumping through hoops. I bought some pieces of pottery from a local guy (I'm a sucker for the local artist), and I discovered that I am a terrible mother, because the tiny big of leg that was exposed between Amelia's jeans and her shoes got so sunburned. I didn't think to put sunscreen there. Bad mommy!

(molly and granna enjoy skewered food--a fiddlestick)


(the exposed flesh--I was taking a picture of the shoes--pre-sunburn)

A few memories of fairs from recent years: the Durham Fair in Connecticut is by far my favorite fair, and Peter and I went every year when we lived in CT. From our early married days (10 years ago!), I remember that the state fair in Jackson, MS, was fun, too--love the Chicken on a Stick from Penn's. The irony, of course, is that one can buy this delicacy any time of year at Penn's restaurant in Pearl, but somehow, it tastes so much better mixed with hot Mississippi summertime sweat. And, of course, the MidSouth Fair holds so many memories from my childhood. It's different now, but still wouldn't miss it (except last year, when I was about 6 days from what turned out to be Amelia's delivery date...). Next weekend is the Beale Street Music Fest, where Peter and I went on our very first date 17 years ago. That's more than half my life for those who are counting!

Do you have memories of fairs and fests?

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack!

We love baseball. It borders on obsession, actually. I come by this honestly, as my family regularly scheduled summer vacations to coincide with baseball games we could go to along the way, major league or minor league--it's all good! There's a tape of me singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as a very young toddler. Peter joined the frenzy sometime during our courtship, possibly as a way to keep me.

I am a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan, but came to enjoy the Boston Red Sox when I was in college in Massachusetts. When Peter and I moved to Connecticut, we lived in a town with divided loyalties--half Yankees and half Red Sox. Peter adopted the Red Sox at this point, some 9 years ago. Everyone likes them now, of course, but he likes to brag that he's been on the bandwagon since before it was a bandwagon. So now we're a family that simply likes baseball, preferably teams with red as a color (Memphis Redbirds, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox).

Needless to say, April is a welcome month for us. After the long, hard winter, hope springs eternal in the form of soft green grass, bright white balls and steroid-infused hitters. For each of our daughters, their first professional baseball game has warranted at least one spread in the scrapbooks that have become our family's history books. Amelia has now been baptized into the Church of Baseball, as we trotted out one chilly night two weeks ago for a Memphis Redbirds game.

Stuff That's Bad for Your Brain

When Molly begs to watch TV for longer than any person should, I remind her that TV is bad for her brain. It doesn't allow her to think creatively or use her imagination. Only rarely does she learn anything from TV. She accepts this reality in a way that I think is pretty refreshing for a 6-year-old.

That being said, I am now hooked on a TV-related phenomenon. I am a Johnny-come-lately to this technology. I love TiVo.

For the unindoctrinated, TiVo is the ability to tell your TV to record anything you want--you can program the TV to record a series for you, everytime it comes on, on any channel. It is all stored for you in Technology World, and all you have to do to watch your show or movie is use your remote. No scratched DVDs. No VCR tapes. Just turn it on and scroll down your list. If you need to pause, just pause and it saves your spot for eternity.

I am not a TV junkie. I am a junkie of other things, but not TV. There have been a handful of shows in my adulthood that I have enjoyed--Seinfeld, The West Wing, The Daily Show. Even shows I like, I have no idea when they come on. This is because I have a lot of kids and I work a lot. "Prime time" television for me just doesn't happen. I am feeding & bathing children; preparing lunches, clothes and snacks for the next day; doing homework and tucking kids in, all during ER and Desperate Housewives and CSI: Miami. Until very recently, I blissfully existed without these shows.

TiVo has changed all that. Now, at 10:30 p.m. or 2:30 a.m., I can watch an hour-long show that came on two days ago, skipping happily through all the commercials (therefore sucking a mere 40 minutes out of my evening) while folding clothes and packing snacks. When Amelia was awake this morning from 3:30 until 4:30, I watched an episode of Ace of Cakes and half of Law and Order:SVU while I walked with her and nursed her. I love this new freedom!

Here are the shows I have set to record, as of today:

1. John Adams series on HBO--this is amazing!
2. Ace of Cakes on Food Network--the kids like to watch this one with me!
3. Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC--when I feel like I live my whole life for my kids, I just watch this show about a couple with twin 6-yr-olds and 6 sextuplets age 3. Then I feel better. And I am grateful I did not ever take fertility drugs.
4. House--I have worked with many a doctor with House's bad qualities, though none of them have the brilliance factor he has
5. King--documentary about MLK that ran last weekend; I'll get around to watching this soon!
6. The Human Footprint on National Geographic--about what we are leaving behind.
7. Don't Forget the Lyrics!--karaoke reality show with Wayne Brady (hot!) as the host. I thought Peter and I knew the words to a lot of songs. Apparently, we don't. But these insane lunatics do.

Soon I will add Project Runway and Grey's Anatomy. We also recorded Yo Gabba Gabba to distract Amelia when she's fussy and we recently recorded Ice Age and Anastasia for Molly & Becca. Peter has some stuff he's set the TiVo to record for him, too, so we're all happy!

Yes, TV is bad for my brain. But I am a grown-up and if I want ice cream for breakfast, doggone it, I'm havin' it!

Still Love The Blue-and-Gray

So the Tigers did not win last night. They won their Final Four game against UCLA by a wide margin--no small feat. Then, much to my surprise (but what do I know about basketball?), Kansas soundly beat UNC. So Memphis and Kansas met up last night for the championship game.

I told Peter that if I weren't rooting for one particular team, last night's game would have been an amazing one to watch. These teams were so well-matched, stats-wise and on the court. There were multiple factors contributing to our loss:

--the decision to review the 3-pointer (which WAS a 2-pointer but how often do they do a video review in college basketball?),
--Kansas's effective guarding of Rose,
--our inability to make 4 of the last 5 free-throw shots during regulation time,
--lack of substitution on the part of my favorite coach,
--Dorsey's stupid foul which took him out for the last 2 minutes of regular time and all of overtime,
--Andre Allen's suspension for failing a drug test just last week--what an idiot--

but the bottom line is that Kansas simply outplayed us. Given the way they played last night, it was an honor to lose to them. They were clearly an impressive force.

All that being said, I am immensely proud of the U of M this year. We were not given credit for being the great team we were--all year, the national naysayers were on us as though our success was some kind of fluke. Hopefully, they will be silent now, because the fluke-of-a-team with a fluke-of-a-coach went all the way to the National Championship final game and finally lost in OVERTIME to probably one of the very best college basketball teams of all time.

Hopefully, Chris Douglas-Roberts (first team All American!) and Derrick Rose will decide to stick it out one more year and bring us the glory next year. I doubt they will, because the big-bucks of going pro must be quite appealing. And the seniors will hopefully move on to bigger things and maybe be more successful than Tiger basketball grads have been in the past. We'll be watching and rooting for them all!

Yes, We Have More Bananas

Amelia has broadened her toothless palate lately. With Molly & Rebecca, the introduction of "solids" was welcome from their perspective, but not complete joy. For tiny little Amelia, on the other hand, she trembled with excitement. I mean, the kid was literally shaking all over in anticipation of the next bite, grabbing my hand/the spoon and directing me not to waste any time. Where has this been all my life, she seemed to be asking. Since bananas, we have also given peas, carrots, applesauce and sweet potatoes (like her sisters before her, she did not care for sweet potatoes). All those cute bibs people have given us are now being put to good use!

From the Mouths of Babes

We were at a Mexican restaurant last night. At the bar, which we could see from our table, there was a little monkey decoration. He was wearing a sombrero and holding a margarita. Rebecca announces, to the delight of the servers around us, "Look! That monkey is holding a Mommy Drink!"

For the record, I was not drinking a margarita at that time. But I do like them. :)

One for the Ladies!

Here is a list of 15 Amazing Women You've Never Heard Of. Number 11 is the president of Brown University, who was the president of Smith College when I was a student there. She was something of a celebrity around campus--incredibly kind and down-to-earth, but gave us all a star-struck feeling!