Fair, Fun and Family

Once again Wesley had a busier weekend than any 11 month old should really have to endure. On Saturday Duane's company had a family picnic at the fair. Wesley was not real interested in being social with all the HVAC guys, but he did surprisingly well as we walked around the fair. Or at least, surprisingly well as long as Daddy was holding him. I'm shocked that Duane's arms didn't give out completely! Wesley slept in his stroller long enough for us to go through some of the commercial buildings, but we saved the animals for when he was awake. He was pretty interested in the sheep building and really liked the "petting zoo" tent.

Of course, like most fairgoers, Wesley's favorite thing was the food. In order to do the fair up right, we let him sample whatever we were eating. He munched some BBQ, brat and potato salad at the company picnic. He sampled some corn dog and elephant ear and slammed the cinnamon mini doughnuts I had to have. And to no one's surprise he loved the strawberry ice cream we all shared while sitting on a patch of grass. Even just drinking a sippy cup of water seemed extra special outside with all the people around.

After the fair we all crashed at home for a couple hours before heading out to Wesley's first cocktail party. One of my coworkers hosted a "welcome home from Africa" party combined with a "we'll miss you when you move back to Turkey" party. It was wonderful! The food and company were great and Wesley managed to be on his best behavior. He tried to share some of his toys with the hostess' cat and impressed everyone by enjoying a fair amount of bread with goat cheese. He even curled up on the floor at one point and let his librarian girlfriend Wendy rub his back. I was sad when we had to leave to put him to bed.

On Sunday we drove to Mansfield to attend a family reunion. It was the family of my great great grandmother so I didn't really know anyone. In fact, I joked to Duane that we were so distantly related to these people that Wesley could marry one and it would be perfectly legal. It was a small gathering, but the food was FANTASTIC! Can you tell I totally blew my diet this week? We went to my aunts new place for awhile after the reunion. She has a ceramic dog that looks fairly real. Wesley did not know what to do with it. He was fascinated because it was a dog, but he didn't like the way it felt. After a few minutes of investigating it, he gave it a wide berth whenever he toddled by.

Which brings us to today's news. Wesley's third tooth has officially broken through! It's one of the top center ones which ought to make him look like a jack-o-lantern in another week or two. In other disturbing news, Grandma and Grandpa P. informed me that Wesley was totally enthralled by Michael Bolton singing Frank Sinatra songs on Good Morning America today. Could it be that we've found a replacement for Moose and Zee? Nah!