All School's Day

This past weekend marked our first All School's Day Experience as a residents.  We started the event off with Leah's school barbecue and half day of school Thursday.  That evening we visited the carnival.  We could NOT get Blake on any ride but the bouncy house and the motorcycles--and that was after MUCH convincing.  Autum started out brave, but ended with getting off the Alligator roller coaster mid-ride. We slept in Friday morning and made our way uptown for the highly-attended parade with Mimi.  The weather was perfect.  We had good seats and good company, and bags full of candy, which made for a great experience for the kids.  Leah left with every politician's sticker stuck to the front of her shirt.  Blake had blue sucker running down his face and arms.  Autum had cheeks full of candy, begging for more. We came home, reapplied sunscreen, ate a quick lunch, and headed to Midway Motors for more inflatables and a petting zoo.  The kids shed their shoes and sprinted from one inflatable to the next.  After awhile, Blake couldn't contain himself and we had to cool down and step away from all the excitement.  So we visited the bison, goats, llamas, monkeys, kangaroos, and other animals.  He kept wanting and signing for "more" handfuls of food to feed the animals and I would put it in the palm of his hand to give the animals and he would turn and throw it at them.  Ugh. Ha! Still working on proper interaction with animals/people. :)  But he was cracking himself up which was quite contagiously hysterical. 

 After the festivities there, we headed to the Matathon at the park. I had no idea what that was. Just heard it described as crazy fun for 8th graders, 5th graders and Seniors.  So off we went to observe.  Plus, Leah had been begging for a face painting which was at this park.  She stood in line 1 1/2 hours with a friend for that, while Autum and Blake and I played on the playground.  Then, Autum decided to run away because the "park wasn't fun anymore" while I was tending to Blake....my mom and I looked and looked...all over the place. Panic began to set in.  I was looking for a police officer by this point in time...fearing she was gone.  There were 100's of people roaming around, in crazy colored clothes and outfits, screaming, yelling and competing.  Completely distracted from a wandering little toddler.  I swear in all of this I heard the announcer say "Anna Woods" but dismissed it as my hearing things and kept on looking.  After forever-- my mom comes walking from the crowd with Autum in her arms.  Relief!! Whoa, did we make our All School's Day debut!!  Evidently they were saying my name over the speaker, luckily Autum had the awareness to find someone and tell them she was lost and gave them my name. (with a little help from someone who recognized her) While briefly debating whether to cry and hug her or go crazy on her...I gained composure and counted my blessings.  Both kids were not allowed to let go of my hands the rest of the day.  We decided to go to get snow cones and depart from the Matathon madness for a while, or at least until Leah and her friend got their face painting fix. Cause they were stillllllll waiting in line after all this.  Somehow cold, crunchy, sticky, grape snow cones seemed to erase my previous panic and return my heart rate to normal levels again.

near

This was right before she cried and bailed. :)

 After snow cones, we headed home, sunburned and tired.  But smiling.  What a great first experience, minus a slight hiccup in losing Autum...we are excited to continue in this tradition for years to come.  Seems to be a big deal!  And now I see why.

"...best ride EVERRRRRRRRRR!"

Wheeeee!!!!