The weekend.

Our weekend was packed, like usual. Friday evening we hit up a Lebanese restaurant that opened not too long ago, which was awesome. It's called That Lebanese Place and it's on Commercial Street. I had kabobs and Abby had the stuffed olive leaves, finishing with baklava, cardamom chai tea and Lebanese coffee (also with cardamom and very strong).

Saturday, up early for breakfast at Anton's and then off to the Ozarks Celebration Festival on MSU's campus.

There were a handful of wooden boats at the Ozarks Celebration Festival. Kyle Kosovich of Longboat Outfitters was set up in a booth, tying flies and showcasing his Ozarks Jonboat based on Jim Michalak's Ozarkian. Which is based on a Jim Owens style White River jonboat, from before when the White river was dammed. (I think I got that right.)

I also talked briefly with a fellow that builds cedar strip canoes and kayaks.

Gwen got to dance to the bluegrass and gospel bands for a bit.

Then it was off to Mother's Brewery for their early Oktoberfest. Man, it was hot. I wish they did this later in the fall, since there were several other festivals going on that day (Japanese Festival, Ozarks Celebration, Buffalo Celtic Festival, Greek Festival, etc.) and the heat really sucked. The first couple years didn't see quite the crowd this year did. With age, I'm less inclined to be around that many people and even though I love the place and their beer, this may be the last major event we attend there. I don't think we've missed one since their first Mother's Day festival.

Sunday, church and then Gwen's fifth birthday party. Lots of kids and Rutledge-Wilson Farm. Another hot day, but luckily we booked one of their air conditioned party rooms. Gwen got a meet and greet with a miniature horse and a rabbit. Cake pops were provided by our friend Matt's side business, The Cake Bite Place. They were great. No one wants to see a hundred pics of someone else's kid opening presents, so I'll just skip that part.

And to inject some more boatness back into this post, I somehow managed to find time to cut out the bullwinkles for my taller mast cradles I'm building from the same coffee table I built the camp kitchen from six+ months ago. These should allow me to motor, row and camp on my sailboat with the masts down. Right now, the current set is more of a trailer riding set and they are nearly flush with the deck. I'm making some similar to the ones I've seen used by a couple cruising Central and South America in a Sea Pearl 21.

As usual, I need a weekend from my weekend.