Boulder Creek Fest

Jo and I hit up the Boulder Creek Festival yesterday and today in order to enjoy the festivities and eat a lot of festival food.  We didn't have the camera with us yesterday and I wanted to get pics, so we went back on the last day of the festival and here's how that went:

First thing's first: food.  The day before we had chowed down on Tandoori wraps and pizza, but we decided to forgo more festival food and have a nice little picnic instead.  Jo and I really like picnics.

We had the picnic in a random small patch of green grass we found on the side of the road.  We would have liked to have had it in the little park we drove by just one street over, but seeing as that little park had chosen to mysteriously disappear, we had to settle for this spot instead:

I was sososo hungry, and was so grateful that Jo had packed a yummy spread: salad, goat cheese, crackers, leftover spaghetti, Italian soda, and OJ.

After admiring a cute little lady bug...

And some purple flowers that look like fireworks...

...we made it to the festival.

We entered through the section with the collapsable amusement park rides and corn dog stands and carnival games that award you with a stuffed animal that you don't really want if you throw the little hoop around the neck of the coke bottle.  Jo and I passed on all of these things.  We didn't want a corn dog or a stuffed pink gorilla.  Plus, carnies scare me.

The merchant stands were next.  We didn't buy one of these little pigs, but they sure were cute.  We had already bought a sweet military cap the day before, so we passed the vendors and continued on until we found what we were really looking for:

DOGS!  We had had a great time the day before checking out the dog parade at the festival, so we were excited to see more pooches.  Jo and I really like dogs.

Might as well get it out of the way now.  This is just a fraction of all the canines that were there.  Here they are, folks.  Dogs.

Anyway, moving on.  Here's Jo, looking lovely, as always.

And here's the whole reason for the festival: Boulder Creek.

Jo and I had already decided that we were going to get dessert at the festival, since we had been good the day before.  Specifically, we were going to get some fruit cobbler, but they turned out to be sold out by the time we got there.  So sad.

So, undeterred, we headed to the, yup, corndog stand.  But we weren't there for a corndog.  Oh no.  We were there for a fried, fatty, sugary funnel cake.  We were standing in line, waiting to order, when one of us had a thought.  Why have a plain funnel cake when you can have a funnel cake covered in Bavarian Cream?  You know, the type in the middle of an Eclair?  Knowing what I know now, I know damn well the answer to that question, but at the time it seemed a legit point to ponder.

So we went for it.  I'm going to say right now that it was a bad idea, but at the time we were excited about it.  So we ate it.  The whole thing.

This funnel cake left Jo and I feeling ill afterwards.  Very unpleasant.

This just about sums up how we both felt after that funnel cake.  Ugh.

One of the booths we had missed the previous day was the photo booth.  Jo and I really like photo booths.  If you signed up to get emails from the city you could spin a little wheel and get a prize.  Jo got a free zucchini to make into a boat (?) and I got half off our next iceskating trip, even though it's May.  Anyway, after spinning the wheel we took some silly pics in the photo booth, which involved a boa, a pimp hat, several wigs and some really big glasses.  Then we left.

Jo drove me back to my car, which I had left at a parking garage close to where I work.  I've never parked there before, but I had been forced out of my normal parking lot that morning because of the Bolder Boulder.  Once at my car, we didn't want to separate to drive home, a recurring problem for us.  So, instead, we hung out in the Jetta and just talked.  And, of course, I took more pics of Jo.

We still weren't ready to part ways, so we decided to state an impromptu photo shoot on the roof of the parking garage.  Here's Jo, looking dead sexy.

And here I am, trying.

And, since we were taking photos anyway, we decided it was time for another senior photo shoot!  These are my favorite.  Here he is, the proud senior who is almost done with highschool!

 

And, finally, we were about ready to go home.

So we got in our cars and drove home.

And, as a parting shot, here's the hippo that lives on my keychain.  Jo and I really like hippos.

Jo's 2nd b-day

For most of us, our birthday is the one day of the year that is devoted to spending time with friends and doing something special for ourselves.  Since it'll be 364 days before your next birthday rolls around, it is okay to, say, splurge on an extra decadent dessert after dinner or stay up too late or drink too much.  Our birthdays do come only once a year, after all...

Except for Jo.

Nope, none of this "once a year" crap for my dear Jo.  Jo will accept nothing less than two birthday celebrations, because that's how he rolls.  Right, honey?

Alright, alright.  To be fair, the reason why we celebrated Jo's birthday twice is because he was off having a roadtrip with Erin and I on his actual birthday, and his family wanted a chance to wish him a happy birthday as well.  So, two birthdays it was.  We were planning to have a picnic in the park, but we got thunder-stormed out, so we moved the location to his folks' place instead.  Everyone met for dinner.  The players:

Jo, of course.  Along with his Friends: Erin and Joe.

The Brothers, Esteban and Sterling.

More Friends: Corrina and Xalan.

The Dog: Glacier.

The Stepdad: Walt

The Mom: Connie

And me, of course.  The Girlfriend.

Jo was excited to have everyone over, but what he was really excited about was the food.  It was a potluck affair, so we all loaded our plates with a bunch of different types of food.

Observe............

And we ate.  And talked.  And laughed.  It was great.

Midway through the meal, Jo's new Bolivian friend Virginia stopped by with her husband and two kids and joined in on the fun.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for Jo's actual birthday because the man's obsessed with the stuff, and, sure enough, Jo was able to enjoy round two of cheesecake.

After dinner, Jo opened cards.  I was going to say presents, but he had already opened the tangible goods on his actual birthday so what was left was the cards with the nice birthday messages on them.  It's funny how that happens.  When you're little, it's the biggest and brightest boxes that are the most desirable.  When you get older, the little sealed envelopes hold the most promise because that means the gift-giver decided on either cash or a giftcard.  Afterward, we played one of our favorite games, Catchphrase.

After awhile everyone started to disperse, so Jo and I followed suit.  Happy (2nd) Birthday, Jo!