Neewollah- "How Sweet it is." Pt. 2

The second part of our Neewollah adventure this year, was the Kiddie Parade. The Kiddie Parade takes place at 4pm on the second Friday of Neewollah. All of the kids put on their scariest, prettiest, and sweetest costumes and walk down the street in a somewhat, organized fashion. There are superheroes and supervillans, witches and warlocks; and princes and princesses. It is always a sight to see as parents try to keep a hold of their kids while catching up with the other parents whom they haven't' seen in a year. This year, Koko Bean was *Super Girl,* or as she called it, "Super Reader to the rescue!!" Can you tell we're big fans of Super Why?

We met up with our good buddy J, and his parents at their house. We hadn't seen J since August, so Koko Bean was more than excited to see him. They played and played until it was time to suit up and head to the parade. When we arrived downtown, they played some more. We met up with my friend, Ashley and her two adorable children who were dressed as a monster and Spider man.

Can you guess what J was for Halloween this year??

He was the cutest HAMBURGER you've ever seen!!

Each year, it is a tradition to take a picture with D family at Neewollah. This year, we were sans strollers since the kids were big enough to walk the parade themselves.

Koko Bean walked most of the way, until the end. Then she caught a ride on Dad's shoulders for the remainder of the parade.

To wrap up the day, we stopped at a food stand. Dad and Koko Bean wanted one last funnel cake for the road. I even found something that I couldn't live without and my mommy bought it for me. It was a piece of Bavarian cheesecake with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and cherries on top!!  Sometimes,you just have to indulge and boy, did I. How sweet it was....

Neewollah- "How Sweet It Is." Pt. 1

My hometown of Independence, KS is the home of The Little House on the Prairie, William Inge, the first monkey sent into space, the first night baseball game, and Neewollah (http://www.neewollah.com/.)

Neewollah is the longest running and largest festival in Kansas. It's a ten-day celebration with a musical, three parades, a beauty pageant, a carnival, tons of food stands, a bandstand, a 10k run, a fun run for the kiddies, and a band competition, just to name a few.

While in college, I was not able to attend Neewollah since most years, it fell during homecoming week. For those of you involved in Greek life in college, you know that Homecoming Week and Greek Week are the most important two weeks in your life. Then, after I graduated college, I only got to come back one year. It was until I had Koko Bean, that I realized I needed to make the trip back to Neewollah. This year was even more fun for us, because Koko Bean is just three months shy of turning three. That means she's a big kid now.

First on our list of Neewollah fun was the Doo Dah parade. The Doo Dah parade is for the adults. They dress up in outrageous costumes and make even more ridiculous floats to ride on, and strut their stuff down the main drag in Indy. This year, the Neewollah theme is "How Sweet It Is," and the musical was Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory, so there were many costumes representing candy and Wonka. Grammy was one of the parade participants this year, representing Relay For Life. She and her team wore Western attire as their theme.

There's even a Doo Dah parade King and Queen.

(These men were bras in support of the "tatas.")

As we watched some adults wearing long capes, some wearing next to nothing, and some wearing opposite sex clothing, Koko Bean enjoyed her first funnel cake.

She loved dipping the doughy substance into the powdered sugar and then licking her fingers after each sweet gooey bite. When she was done, we finished watching the parade and headed to find Grammy so we could ride the rides.

This year is the first year Koko Bean can ride all of the kiddie rides. First up was the Ferris Wheel though. Mommy and Daddy got to ride with her while Grammy watched our stuff.

I watched as Koko Bean's eyes lit up when we started to ascend. The ferris wheel went round and round. Finally, it stopped at the top to let some riders off and Koko Bean wasn't sure about sitting at the very top.

After the ferris wheel, we headed over to the kiddie rides. Boy, was this fun?! Koko Bean got to ride fish...

and trucks....

and a dragon that flew high into the sky....

and a bear with Daddy....

and finally an alligator roller coaster that jerked her around each time it hit a turn. She even met a new friend on the "Go Go Gator," who helped her in and out of the ride, and let her ride beside her.

Koko Bean went from ride to ride. The more rides she rode, the more excited she was to ride the next. I knew it was going to be rough trying to get her to go home. We ended up heading home with less of a fuss than we thought. Daddy just pretended her stroller was a car and we raced to the finish line- our car.

We only spent a mere $30 tonight on food and rides. It was probably the most fun I've had in a long time. I think Daddy and I had more fun watching Koko Bean have fun than she had herself. It just makes me wonder how this little girl isn't scared to try anything...except veggies.

Fall and Football is Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

All that I know most surely about morality and obligations I owe to football.

-Albert Camus

Fall is great. It involves cooler weather, beautifully colored leaves, and pumpkin spice scented everything. However, if you ask me, the best part about this great season is a widely-known sport where men are men and smack talk is at its highest. What I'm talking about is FOOTBALL!! What better way to spend a Saturday night after work than to drive across the county to Lawrence, KS for a good old Sooner beat-down against the Kansas Jayhawks.

My love for football started at a very young age. On December 26, 1981, the Oklahoma Sooners played the Houston Cougars in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX. My grandparents lived in El Paso, so as a Christmas gift to my parents and me, we all attended the game. I was three days short of turning nine months old. I believe it was then, when I actually became a football fan and a Sooner fan.

(That's me in the middle- in the pink. Nice hat Dad!)

Last night's game wasn't Koko Bean's first college football game. It was actually her third. She was nestled in my tummy for the first two. That didn't stop her from dancing to the tune of  "Boomer Sooner" in utero. (I know you are singing it in your head now. It's quite catchy.)

(Korbin is that big bowling ball looking thing under my hoodie.)

Last night's game didn't disappoint. As we walked into the stadium from Uncle Polly Wog's house, Korbin was perched up on my shoulders taking in everything. From the smell of the popcorn, hot dogs and cotton candy, to the crowds chanting, "Boomer!" She would answer their "BOOMER" by yelling "SOONER!"

She did get super excited when she saw the big Jayhawk and said, "Look Mommy! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!" My poor baby girl is going to be so confused when we don the crimson and blue during basketball season. As for her college career, we're keeping her options open.

We were all starving and didn't have time to grab dinner on the way there, so we opted for some hot dogs, sodas, and a pretzel for a whopping $30!! She even sneaked a few sips of Daddy's soda. Uh oh!!

As if the expensvie junk food we called dinner wasn't enough, there was a man pacing the bleachers with a pole dressed in about about twenty bags of blue and pink cotton candy. When Koko Bean saw that, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "OOOOOOOH boy! It's a dress! I need one! I need THAT!" So, with the last five bucks in my pocket, I sent Uncle Polly Wog after the man carrying the dress of confection. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly the texture Koko Bean was hoping for and she decided cotton candy wasn't her cup of tea. That meant Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Polly Wog had to eat some. (At the end of the night, the majority of it was left with Uncle Polly Wog for a study treat.)

As the game went on, and each team took turns putting points on the board, we thought KU was going to pull off the upset. I don't think Koko Bean noticed though. She was too busy dancing to every song the Jayhawk Band played. She even waved the wheat with them when they scored. Uncle Polly Wog enjoyed some banter with Daddy as the Jayhawks had more yards at one point during the game.

After halftime, a lady behind us came back to her seat with a container full of nachos, and what did Koko Bean do? Of course, she begged us to get her some. We figured that since she didn't actually eat much of anything we had gotten her, what was one more thing to top off our night of complete nutrtional deprivation? I think the nachos were her favorite of the night.

After eating the entire container of nachos (okay so maybe the adults had a few,) and licking the cheese out of it, the game was drawing near the end and the Sooners had a comfortable lead. We left the game eight minutes until the end to beat the crowd, but I actually think the crowd beat us. Either way, traffic out of Lawrence wasn't half as bad as it was coming into the town. As soon as we hit the highway, Koko Bean was fast asleep, and Mommy's fingers were swollen from all the sodium consumption. (Hooray for Dandelion Root.)

All in all, it was a great evening with the family. Koko Bean was very well-behaved compared to what could have been and the Oklahoma Sooners remained undefeated. The Kansas Jayhawks put up a valiant fight, but couldn't score. Polly Wog wasn't too disappointed and reverted to what all Kansas Jayhawk fans say without fail,, when any of their other sports teams lose.....

"Just wait until Basketball Season....."

Dog Days

Today was a great day to head to the dog park. Flex, our five-month-old Mini Bull, had never been and we were itching to get out of the house to enjoy the weather while it lasts. We threw on some play clothes, grabbed some drinks at Quick Trip, picked up a picnic lunch from Sonic, and headed to Shawnee Mission Park. When we got to the park, Koko Bean was way to occupied by the scenery to eat her chicken strips.

Flex was anxious to see what was in store for him.

After we finished eating, we drove to the other side of the lake where the dog park was. There was a long trek down a winding trail to get to the dog park and I wasn't sure we'd make it. Flex wasn't used to his leash and harness yet, and Koko Bean was complaining of a tummy ache. My tummy was turning too because I could smell dog urine as the wind picked up on the path. We finally made though and Flex was greeted by many dogs. Let the rear end sniffing commence.

Flex found a friend in the form of a five-month-old boxer, named Eva. Eva showed Flex how it feels to be Chloe by rolling Flex over several times and biting his neck.

Flex was having fun for a while, then started to get frustrated because Eva completely overpowered our little guy.

While Flex was busy making friends, Daddy was teaching Koko Bean how to skip rocks.

Koko Bean enjoyed sitting by the water, and throwing rocks as the waves came crashing in on the shore. She even got too close once and her tennis shoe got wet. She didn't mind though. She played peacefully while dogs ran around her, chasing tennis balls and splashing in the water.

The dog park was a lot of fun and surprisingly, there were no dog fights out of the ten or so dogs out there. All the dogs got along great. Flex was more interested in the people than the other dogs. I swear he approached each patron and received a complimentary petting at each stop. Everyone loved him and he loved EVERYONE. Koko Bean would tell people, "this is Flex," as she introduced her "brother."

On our way back up the trail to the car, Flex was exhausted. Koko Bean was too and caught a ride on Daddy's shoulders. I think it was a successful trip. No one got hurt, we made new friends, and got to spend time as a family. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Friday afternoon.

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