Oktoberfest

On Friday, a friend and coworker of mine was filling me in on her weekend plans.  The very first stop included a Friday night rendezvous at Oktoberfest.  Apparently central Ohio hosts an Oktoberfest each year to kick off the fall festivities.  This was news to me.  I had no idea that we, living here, would have the opportunity to attend Oktoberfest, but we did...

...if you can even call it that.

Oktoberfest held in central Ohio DID NOT live up to it's name.  At all.  Brian and I were both thoroughly disappointed in this poorly organized, chaotic, sad excuse for Oktoberfest that we attended. There were three main halls.  The first and the last were full of carnival style food vendors, many of which did not serve German fare at all.  The middle hall was full of chintzy arts and crafts, many of which, again, had no resemblance to German/Germany whatsoever.  The musical entertainment did involve an accordion and the musician's dress was close to Oktoberfest attire, but the sound was terrible.

The "Kinderplatz", or children's area, involved several half inflated moon bounces and slides from 1987 and a very, very lame entertainer.  In addition, the advertisement for the zoo animals in the Kinderplatz area on Sunday afternoon was totally false.  There were no animals whatsoever.

Brian and I had debated on a Sunday zoo visit or a Sunday Oktoberfest visit and ultimately decided on Oktoberfest since the zoo would be available next weekend and Oktoberfest would not.  Plus, we read that there would be zoo animals at Oktoberfest.  Clearly that made the most sense.

Not.

While neither of us have ever attended a real Oktoberfest in Germany, we have visited the country and know what is involved.  Honestly, we probably could've hosted a better Oktoberfest for central Ohio in our backyard.

Despite all the drawback from this Oktoberfest, there were two positives:

1. Kate got to try her first taste of German fare - brats, sauerkraut, German potato salad and a cream puff.  She did not care for sauerkraut at all.  She liked the brats, potato salad and cream puff, but I wouldn't say she really loved any of it.

Patiently waiting for a taste of German brats!

2. We took the cutest fall photo of Kate:

:)

Initially, I would have gone as far as to say that this photo makes up for the fact that Oktoberfest sucked, but then I see that it is our darling baby girl that makes this photo...the Oktoberfest fall background is just extra.  Therefore, this photo almost makes up for this [not-so] German festival!

I suppose we'll just have to go to Germany next year to experience the real thing.  I mean, I really can't see any other alternative!

Perfect Park Days

The weather has just been phenomenal recently so we have taken every opportunity that we can to soak up those last warm sunshin-y rays at the park before we find ourselves in the middle of a brisk, cold winter!

Kate has really enjoyed going to the park recently now that she is more mobile!  This girls just loves to climb!  The very first time we let her explore on her own (read: crawl around the jungle gym with Mommy right by her side) she climbed to the very tallest slide!  Some of the older kids wouldn't even go down that slide, and while she did not officially slide down that very slide, she did thoroughly enjoy sitting atop of the world, watching the other kids play.

Just crawling through a tunnel, into the sunshine!

See that red tower in the background?  That is the tallest
slide at the park that Kate likes to crawl to!

She is never short of smiles when she is at the park!

Tunnel fun!

The cute little butt is on her way back up
to the red tower!

There she goes!

I love that Kate adores being outside and playing at the playground.  We've got several wonderful playgrounds in the area and I can assure you that we will certainly be making very good use out of them!

Apple Picking on a Buckeye Saturday

Today we joined several coworkers of mine and helped pick apples at a nearby orchard for charity.  All of the apples that we picked, except for the one bag that we were allowed to bring home with us, are going to be distributed to local food banks throughout Ohio.  It feels great knowing that we were able to donate our time and labor and help those that are less fortunate and we were extremely impressed when we saw how many apples we were all able to pick together!  Those local food banks are definitely going to get a good stock of healthy, crisp apples!

The morning was cool and definitely felt like fall, so in addition to doing a good deed, we also checked off one of the quintessential fall activities: apple picking!  Kate thoroughly enjoyed eating a whole perfectly Kate-sized apple!  And I can assure you that we are going to enjoy eating our bag of apples!

Our first apple pickin' adventure as a family!

Brian dons the apple bag and starts filling!

While Kate and I get situated with a pint-sized apple!

Apple pickers!

Kate goes in for the pick of her very first apple!

Brian starts to pick this plethora of apples!

There were so many apples to pick from!

The Hendu's at the apple orchard!

The whole crew!

In addition to our apple picking, we also had the pleasure of attending a very special backyard tailgate for the Ohio State game where Brutus himself and several Ohio State cheerleaders came and cheered on the Buckeyes!  It was like a mini pep-rally in one of Brian's friend's backyards!  The kids absolutely loved seeing Brutus and this was Kate's first legitimate meeting!  We know her future holds many more Brutus photos but there is something so very special about the first one!

Kate, meet Brutus.  Brutus, meet Kate.
You can tell by her expression that she is
just thrilled to be in his arms...

The Hendu's with Brutus.

Brutus enjoys some free play before the game!

Go Bucks!

SO, apple picking?  Check.  A win for the Buckeyes?  Check.  Starting the autumn off right?  Check, Check, CHECK!  Fall is most definitely upon us!

Walk Like an Egyptian

Oh-whey-oh!

We've noticed that Kate has really been practicing standing and she has started scooting along our furniture, so we decided it may be time to invest in a little walker to help her exercise those growing leg muscles!

She absolutely loves this thing!  Not only are there a bunch of fun songs and tech play options, there is also an option to remove the front bit and use the walker solely as a walker!  This is definitely a win-win situation!

Can it be possible that our baby girl will be walking soon?!  Yes, I think so.  As a matter of fact, I know so.  It's only a matter of time!

This was Kate's first go at her new walker!  We think she's a pro!  (Note Jack, who in typical Jack fashion slides through the smallest open space possible, and note Kate's funny laugh/voice/excitement.  I'm not really sure what that sound is, but it sure does make us laugh!)

Once Kate figured out how the walker really worked, it was time to start playing!  She got creative and used it as a "walk on your knees" walker!  Sometimes she'd rather play it safe on all fours than practice walking on two legs!  And that is fine with us!

 

Last, but not least, a view from Brian's camera phone which is so adorable!

Whey-oh-whey-oh-mmmm-whey-mmmm-whey-oohhhhh!

Ottawa Adventure

We spent our long Labor Day weekend in Ottawa visiting my parents!  This was Kate's very first international trip and we even got the stamp in her passport to prove it!

There is too much time in between our visits.  This seems to be a common thing.  The last time we saw my Mom, Scott, and James was over Easter when they all came to Columbus to visit.  My, how things change in six months!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time together.  We stopped at Saunders Farm, took a trip to Ikea, enjoyed some really fancy rock formations by the river, and had a picnic overlooking the parliament.  Saunders Farm was so much fun!  We must find a place like this near Columbus!

On our way home we experienced quite a few flight delays and re-routes.  Kate was an absolute angel the entire trip.  We expected to be home at a decent hour and ended up travelling much later into the night than anticipated.  We could not have asked for more from our darling girl.  She was such a sweetheart!

Anyway, without further ado, check out our Ottawa Adventure below!

Our Ottawa Adventure!