Our happy days

Last Monday I strapped Natalie into a pink leotard, whipped her shoes to the side and sent her freezing toes onto the gymnastics floor. And she loved it!

Lisbon Eagles Gymnastics opened their doors for a two-week gymnastics summer camp, and Larry and I figured that a ballerina girl with the elastic qualities of a rubber band needed to try it out. During the first stretch session, an instructor commented on Natalie's uncanny bendability. While putting her through back-flip motions just yesterday, we heard another such observation.

She really is from another world. The last picture on this past blog post will give you a peak into what Natalie is capable of.

Miss Natalie also chose a recipe from a princess cookbook she had had her eyes on for weeks and we finally made it a reality.

Observe: the cookies above are very tiny. The ingredients list was very short. Within these cookies lives one cup of butter. They turned out so rich, neither I nor Natalie nor Heather could eat more than one at a time. It's the making that counts though, right?

And then the Lisbon Happy Days happened. It's a weekend of food and activities presented by the town and local businesses, and it was a blast. Along with my friend Dana and her boys, we packed in as many activities as the kids, and honestly, ourselves, could take over a two-day period and counted the weekend as a major success.

Friday, we initiated the festivities with cookies and lemonade and a pie drawing at a local bank, then made our way over to the Lisbon park pool for a free day of swimming.

When the kids had enough swimming, we walked over to the picnic dinner being held at the park for food and playtime.

By this point, the littlest of the little kids were done. Heather sat back and quite contentedly watched Natalie do obstacle courses for an hour.

Saturday were city-wide garage sales, and after a pancake breakfast at the Lisbon firehouse, we set off with the intention of hitting every one. And I think we did... by the time we reached the last group at the corner of town, Heather was falling asleep in her stroller and Natalie was sitting in the chairs the folks selling their stuff had set up for themselves!

A few hours later and a good nap in between, we set up camp with our friends again on the road to watch the Happy Days parade.

The best part of Happy Days happened after the parade. And it involved food. Lots of sticky, greasy, beautiful food.

We started out with homemade cheese curds...

Then took our pick of seven rib/brisket contenders and gorged ourselves on ribs, beans, and grilled corn on the cob. By the time I got the ribs to the table, I was too sticky to dare touch the camera to document their loveliness.

All that salt needed some sugar lovin', so as a group we walked to the ice cream shop then camped in front of the library to enjoy the goods.

The weekend was a roaring good time. Must I include the fact that We all slept VERY well that night?