IT'S THE SIMPLE THINGS...

...that make my Pepper happy!

Things like...
*apples
  and
*horses

We finally got to celebrate her birthday in a somewhat proper fashion.  When asked what she wanted for her birthday, every single time she would answer, "apples"!  Although it was disappointing that we had to celebrate 1/2 the day with one family and 1/2 the day with another, it was still a partial success.  I guess it is the small things that make comedy and memories.

Things like...

* losing out on tables at Arlington because their employees are not well trained
* losing out on riding the ponies at Arlington because their employees are not well trained
* losing most of our food at Arlington because of their employees (just kidding..it was because of the 95 degree heat that was shining directly upon us ALL AFTERNOON)

Sad to say that we have no pics from our daytime adventures, but we did have SOME fun betting the horses, eating melted chocolate, getting sunburns, watching the cousins play together, eating nothing but snacks and ice cream, going to the petting zoo and getting some cool goodie bags. 

I do have a few pics from the nighttime...

Not surprisingly, Pepper's cake did not make it back to the house in one piece.  At least we got a laugh from the fact that it now read "APPY BIRTHDAY" which would have been funnier if Nonno and Nonna were there to see it!  Get it?  Cuz the "H" is silent!  Funny Italian reference...

Just for fun and to cover up the mess, I gave her a great cake topper!

See?  It's the small things that make her happy...

We decided that since we were so late in singing to her, we might as well cover everyone else who had a birthday that had passed or that was coming up in the future.  Yeah, we sang FOUR times.  She wasn't happy that she had to share her cake.  Don't stand between this girl and her desserts!

Someone else was having a fit because his name wasn't mentioned during all the Happy Birthday's that were going around...

Just as we were about to call the day a bust, she got her wish and the PERFECT birthday present!

She did end up riding a pony, albeit 2 months late and it was a PHONY (hehe...you can make the "h" sound or leave it silent...hehe), but do you see her smile?

Like I said...it's the small things...
*

ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND...

It was another not so quiet weekend.  Do we ever have a day planned that includes only ONE activity?  Not usually...just ask Joanne!  Keeping busy has kept us out of the house, which is always a good thing! 

SATURDAY...Our annual trip to the
Bristol Renaissance Faire!

I stayed up until 4am the night before finishing our Ren crafts. 

Francesca wore her wench flower wreath for all of 38 seconds...

...so I enjoyed it for the rest of the fest!

Nicholas and his silver sword with hand picked "jems" protected his Princess Maile, without fail, except for when he was busy eating!

Joey hates crowds, heat, dirt

and over-priced food.

I give him credit; he made the best of it!

We saw beautiful forest fairies.

And angry, bad knights.

Our only regret was that we were running so late, we spent more time looking for

J x 3 + G = The Lisy Family :) than we did hanging out with them!

We had a long day, but well worth it. 

We knew it was time to leave when Monkey and Pepper turned into...

Just kidding. They aren't giants....

*************************************************

SUNDAY...And we're off...to Arlington!

What a great afternoon!  It was nice to relax and enjoy a laid-back sunny day and actually win some money!  We have some goofy pics since we were attempting to

get back to 35mm film.

We have a LOT of pictures of birds. 

Thank you Donald!

Here are the winning horses we picked...

Joey - The Elevator

Deanna - Si Si Mon Amie

Nicholas - Wild Comedy

It seems as if our theory of (somewhat) choosing a horse based on a name that means something to us,

works every time!

Francesca wasn't feelin it.  She absolutely refused to touch the program every time we tried to get her to pick!

A little snack for the boys. 

Thank you, Zio!

The boys also enjoyed riding around the track on Sammie...

Francesca and Valentina were both a bit overwhelmed and mostly watched and slept.  Maybe next year, girls!

Joey could have been an actor in (insert your favorite mob movie title here) with his classic look and favorite shirt!

All in all, we had a very nice afternoon with family and friends and a very nice dinner afterwards!


MONDAY...BBQ...NUFF SAID