Candy Falling from the Sky

2009-05-31

We took a day trip to Muncie on Saturday for a little Indiana history at Minnetrista and then enjoyed some friends and fun at the Zabel's house for Jamie's second birthday party. Lots of kids, lots of laughter, and lots of sugar, whee!
The Chimichanga Store is a come-as-you-are type of place. Case in point, right here.
This is what happens when you let him put on his own shoes and then don't check on it later
Sitting in the gardens outside of Minnetrista in Muncie
We really were trying to have a special moment. One of us cooperated
So, the Ball family (as in Ball Mason jars) used to live in Muncie (hence Ball State University there, too) and this was the 125th anniversary of the Ball Mason jar. We visited Minnetrista, the Ball family home (now gardens and a cultural center) which just happened to have a (surprisingly interesting) exhibit on Mason jars. Ironic, since just the week before, Emily purchased the canning guide and supplies and is going to try her hand at preserving the summer's bounty. Long story short, they had a kids' area and David pretended to do his own preserving
We had to pretend really hard to be interested in the lemon-pear-strawberry-pickleade he was working on
Thank goodness he never were through the phase at home where he tried to take all the pots and pans out of the cabinets
In actuality, this was one of the original machines they used to make mason jars. Small children not much older than David) would bring in ot globs of glass from the furnaces, place them in the bottom of the molds, and then large bursts of air would be blown into the mold to spread the glass out and form the jar
Normally small children would not have been permitted to sit on the hot glass mold machine
The other exhibit at Minnetrista had to do with Where Animals Live. Witness two "raccoons" in a log. One raccoon looks like she ought to lay off the crawfish
This may have been the first time he has ever played dress-up anywhere
Mrs Mallard was sitting on a huge bunch of eggs right outside the gift shop
We strolled through the nature center after the museum, and one of the mallards looked like a lumberjack in a log-rolling contest as he tried to keep from falling in the water
This is why you should never, ever swallow bubblegum
The real reason we were in Muncie was for Jamie Zabel's 2nd birthday at Karen and Brian's house. Try explaining to a two-year-old (or anyone under five) that t actually is OK to hit one of your favorite Sesame Street characters with a big stick until it breaks, because that's when the candy falls out. I think the only people who think pinatas are a good idea are the parents of the birthday child, because they don't have to endure a car ride home afterwards
Jamie actually didn't do too badly, even thought the bat was taller than she was
Jake shows them how the big boys hit it
David cheers on, still with the bubble butt. Sometimes we're just so proud as parents
Tamsyn hands off the bat, not too girly in her fancy party dress to take a few swings
For a child who usually has some pretty abysmal aim, he actually knocked off one of the legs
OMG this game took forever
David got bored while waiting his turn and started "trapping" the grown-ups. This could have ended badly
Finally, after endless rounds of letting the short people hit, Bailey (Jamie's older sister) went in and put the pinata out of its misery
We did not have to explain this part of the game to anyone. Apparently diving after free candy is instinctive to small children
One for now, one for later
What the big kids were doing while they waited for the pinata to die its slow death
Hello. We've had sugar
Classic boys rough-housing
Ginger, the Zabel's dog, is either very brave or very misled
The contraption at the center of the mass of children is a bubble "grill". Who knew that a bottle full of bubble solution (which is, essentially, soap) could ultimately make so much of a mess?!
Rob finally gave up on trying to keep Toby clean and just hosed him off. Smart man
Next we plan to teach him how to wash the car, stack the dishes in the dishwasher, and sweep the chimney
On our traditional Sunday Morning Ride, we stopped at Holland Park and David saw his friend Lucy and her brother Logan. They comapred snacks on the slide
No fear
Why go up stairs the easy way? No, let's go up backwards instead
This was the last time this mosquito ever appeared anywhere in three dimensions (read: splat!)