Meat and Rides with a Robot

I told you we'd be back soon.

And as a consequence for my sudden frequency of blogginess, I don't have that much to tell you, but we did do some summery things this week, so there's that.  I know...Don't be jealous!

Long overdue, but checked off the bucket list of summer, a Toto BBQ!

Ribs + rub + marination in juicy delight + 2 days = Fall-off-the-bone yummy in my tummy!  Plus, he figured out the recipe to my Hobo Stew which is basically a bunch of meat that you eat by the spoon, and there was Italian sausage and some kind of delicious cookie/fruit pie thing that was righteous.  Okay, I realize the latter item doesn't necessarily jive with the others, but hey, just throw some bologna or some sliced up ho dogs on there and call it a pizza.  Good, now you've got yourself a true meatfest.  Meat.  Yum.

Meat eaters love wifebeaters!  Cardo, Toto (whose middle finger I was forced to crudely PhotoShop out of this picture), Ali, Scottie 

Team Torres also attended the Dakota County Fair in an effort to get some stomach-stretching in for the real deal in a few weeks (the Minnesota State Fair).  We started out small, with only a corn dog on a stick, cookie dough on a stick, and some cheese curds (in a paper tray).  We also met a horse.

And since Alessandra is too small to ride a real horse, we tried to trick her with a fake one.  Look how excited she is.  Yay.

 But THEN we went on Alessandra's very first ferris wheel ride, just like in her favorite book "Go, Dog. Go!"  It goes "round and round and round"...[Then shouting at the ride operator] "Go around again!"  We had lots of fun yelling that every time we passed him.  He seemed really pleased.

"Round and round and round..."

"...Go around again!"

Then we tried to keep the fun going with our leftover tickets and could only afford a super sucky ride.  Yay again.

Can we go home now?

So, Minnesota State Fair (on a stick), we are READY!  Ready for REAL food and rides and people sculpted out of butter!  We are ready for live animal births and concerts and the best people watching around!

It's hard to believe that we are so close to having a two-year-old.  She is always doing something new to which I usually think "I'm going to remember this exciting thing that she's doing right now so I can include it in my next blog post!"  That's when I promptly forget what cool thing it is.  Well, for one thing, there are SO MANY WORDS!  Just when we think Ali Pants doesn't know the name of something, she'll point at it and tell it like it is!  She loves singing "Happy Birthday" to herself (and sometimes daddy).  She still loves to dance, but keeps looking better at it every time she does.  She has been a very handy helper lately and sometimes puts her mess away when I ask her to.  She also is a very good Dust-Buster(er?), but not a good clothes-folder.  Alessandra turns out to be kind of a cheeky gal, and appreciates the humor in everything.  She often tells us "You funny daddy".  (Or mommy or whomever, but let's be honest, it's mostly daddy.)  Every once in awhile she'll tell us we're funny when we're not meaning to be...Hey!

Alessandra's temperament continues to be incredibly positive and good-natured.  Even when she's upset (which is often now that she has figured out that she can have her own opinion and that whining can sometimes get her what she wants.  (I'm ashamed.)), it takes no more than a few seconds for her to get over it and buck up back to her happy place.  Same goes for when she wakes in the morning.  There's no grumpy girl wakeup grace period required! I often tell people that it's like she's a robot with a power switch in her back.  The minute I walk in and wake her up, she's "on" again, and happy and talking and jumping.  Oh look, there's my robot now!