Septemberfest

We went to Septemberfest again this year, and it was about 300,000 times because it wasn't raining. Septemberfest is an annual event the governor puts on that kind of celebrates Oklahoma and agriculture. There are lots of farm and ranch groups out for a big festival at the Governor's Mansion, which has a pool in the shape of Oklahoma with a hot tub Panhandle.

We ate watermelon and hot dogs and peanuts, and we petted a lot of animals. Mia touched a sheep, donkey and chick. But when it came to her favorite animal - the cow - she got stage fright. It was hilarious. Leigh had to take her up to the cows several different times before she got the courage to pet one. I think their size surprised her.

Aside from the animals, it was so fun to be outside on a beautiful Oklahoma day.

A big day for Carrie!

Tonight was a pretty exciting night! I had the chance to put my photos up for sale in a real store in Oklahoma City! I started a little side business recently called Africa Affection Photography. I'm selling some of my favorite photos from our trips to South Africa.

This summer, I got some great encourage from my Aunt Barb while we were visiting her and my grandparents in Iowa. She's a professional photographer, and she shot our wedding. She really knows her stuff. She I got some great advice and encouragement from her, and I just went for it.

Long story short, I've sold two photos! ha Big sales! It has been very exciting. (And, as a side note, I've decided to give 10 percent of the purchase price of all my photos to Vilakazi.) Our friend Marc has a booth at this awesome store called Bad Granny's Bazaar in the super-hip Plaza District in northwest Oklahoma City. And he's letting me sell some of my photos there!

I guess that was really a long story long. But anyway, it was an exciting night to put my work up for sale! Fingers crossed someone buys at least, like, one picture. ha

Reading time with Grandpa and Nancy

I love this picture.

Grandpa and the zoo

Nancy and my dad came to town for a visit this week! I got to take off work, and we spent the day tooling around Oklahoma City. First stop: the zoo. Of course. We saw all kinds of animals, including the baby elephant, Malee. Nancy has a close encounter with the gorillas. Mia, Nancy and I got to even feed the giraffes at the new feeding station. OK, it was really just Nancy and me feeding the giraffes. Mia wasn't sure why the giraffe was so huge, so she didn't want any part of it.

We had the best time with them in town! They came to one of our Vilakazi meetings, which was really fun. We're so pumped that they're going to go with us on our trip in 2012. They'll be teaching first aid classes for teachers and staff at the schools that are members of the Knysna Education Trust. (Click here to read about the trip!)

Firetruckz!

Some days are better than others.

For example, the day you think your house might be blown to smithereens because of a gas leak is probably one of the days that isn't as good as others.

Long story short, everything was fine. And a fire truck even came to our house!

So Mia and I were out and about for a couple hours, and when I got home, the house smelled. It didn't smell like rotten eggs - the telltale sign of a natural gas leak - but it didn't smell right. It smelled like something was burning. I set Mia on the floor, rushed to the kitchen and found nothing. I ran into the bedroom to see if I left the iron on. Nope. I couldn't find anything.

I decided it's better to be safe than sorry, so I put the dogs out and took Mia outside, too. I called 911, and a fire truck got to the house within a minute! Four firemen dressed in their full gear went into our home for a look around.

The result? Nothing.

"Sometimes old houses just smell funny," one of them said.

Really? That's the verdict? Our house is stinky. Awesome.

But they were so nice and helpful. After they checked everything out, they told us to have a good day and then they hit the road.

Well, we surmised that someone was burning something outside near our house. The windows were open in the back half but closed in the front. So maybe smoke drifted into the house but couldn't get out.

Or we have an old, stinky house.

The zoo

We didn't have much planned for our Labor Day, so what did we do? You better believe it. We went to the zoo because we love free things to do.

Arts Festival Oklahoma

We went to Arts Festival Oklahoma to watch our friend's daughter perform. (Both of her girls have babysat for Mia.) The weather was beautiful and it was fun to see Jaeson sing. That's here second from the left, performing with some other local acoustic artists.


Mia enjoyed the music. She spent her time dancing and running around like a crazy lady.

Spraygournd fun

The spraygrounds in our city close after Labor Day weekend, so we decided to take Mia out for one last go. She was a little leery of spraygrounds at first, but by the middle of this summer, she really started getting into it. Leigh and I had so much fun watching her go to town. Leigh gave her a purple bowl we had in the car and then she found some random 7-Eleven cup another child left behind.

Are you ready for football?

Mia is.

Our own Easter bunny

We have an Easter Bunny in our house.

I got under the sink to pull out a pan and this made me laugh. Mia is going through a rearranging phase, where she finds new homes for things. It started a few months ago when I found a giant building block in a high heel. Other highlights include a toothbrush in the toilet and Leigh's cell phone in the microwave. I just love imagining her little mind working, thinking, "Where should I put this Easter egg? Wheeerrreee is a good spot? Ah-ha! Pots and pans."