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| Cotton Candy covered tongues! |
Yesterday we took our granddaughters to the Oak Creek Lions Fest which is a carnival that has been held over the Labor Day weekend since I was a kid (probably even longer) over at the local legion post. During the 4-day event, Saturday between 11 am and 3:30 was designated for children's events so it was a perfect time to take them to their first carnival. When I checked the weather report, there was 0% precipitation between 11 am and 1 pm but after that the chance of rain went up to 75%. So we were going to get there at 11 and hope for the best.
As we headed to the car, it started rain hard. So while it poured, we debated whether we were going to grab some umbrellas or scrap the whole idea of going. By the time we grabbed the umbrellas the rain stopped. It was a short but hard rain that left very large puddles on the road. Since the children's events were being held in a large dance hall, we weren't terribly worried about the weather, however, the girls' chances of going on the carnival rides were pretty slim.
The ride to the legion post is about 5 minutes. It's about 4 miles away. When we got there, we pulled right up into one of the available disabled parking spaces. We were a little surprised that there weren't many people there but we decided they must have stayed away because of the rain. We ordered some beverages and the server told us it never rained! So the rides are going and no one will get wet. Yay!
The first thing we saw were horses. There were two and the girls were tickled to go and pet them. That is until they saw all the trailers selling popcorn and cotton candy and games with all the stuffed animals to win. It was toddler eye candy. We gently guided them into the dance hall where all the activities were going on. Chloe instantly wanted to get a balloon animal made for her. As we waited in line, I also took a number for her to get her face painted. Avery is too little to care about these things so her mother took her over to a 'fish pond' (a kiddie pool full of water) that had about 50 little rubber ducks floating in it. Each one had a prize value on it and each kid could pull some out of the water for a prize.
Avery had fun with this while she waited for her sister. The balloon wielding clown was making Chloe a Twilight Sparkle balloon animal fashioned after her favorite My Little Pony character. It took him a very long time. After making the purple pony, he added pink wings and a dark purple mane to complete the look. It was impressive. He even took a photo of it for his portfolio.
After that was completed Chloe headed over to the 'fish pond' by her sister. There she proceeded to win her choice of not one, but two of the top prizes available. She took home a giant stuffed Care Bear and a stuffed Husky dog and a blow-up sword and some other little trinkets. It was the mother lode!
Chloe's number was called and we went over to the face painting table and when she sat down, all of a sudden she changed her mind. That was surprising because she loves having her face painted. The artist-clown doing the face painting talked her into a arm tattoo with the characters from Frozen. She was thrilled by the time it was done.
We ordered the girls some chicken tenders and french fries so they could eat before we headed outside to the rides. They ate while attending a puppet show. The puppet show had a penguin character so Avery chose a penguin for her balloon animal. So the very talented clown made here a penguin balloon animal that was incredible.
By then it was 1 pm and surprisingly, it wasn't raining. It looked absolutely sunny so our risk was paying off, no rain! We took the girls on the merry-go-round first. They loved it. So we took them on the little cars next, they were faster than the merry-go-round and they still loved it. So we headed to the little roller coaster shaped like an alligator. Chloe was so excited, she couldn't wait. I don't think Avery knew what she was getting into, she was just happy to follow her sister. So off they went, Chloe was grinning ear to ear, Avery didn't look so excited. I don't think it helped that Avery was getting tired. Once the ride was over, Avery was done with them, she didn't want to go on any more. Chloe didn't care. She was going again without her sister, she liked it that much.
After that, I took Chloe on the ferris wheel. I figured it was something I could do without injuring myself and Chloe would get the thrill of being way up high. When we got to the top I put my arms up in the air and yelled 'weeeee'! Chloe asked me to hang on to her, she was a little nervous. After the first time around she relaxed and said I could let go of her. She commented on how pretty the view was. Of course she was repeating what I had said on our last time around. By the fourth time around Chloe was holding up her arms yelling 'weeeee'! That's my girl!
Chloe just loved the rides and I was glad for that. It was her first time and it was wonderful. After the rides we sat and listened to a band called SuperFly. Jeff's co-worker, Carlos is in the band and Carlos was thrilled to see him. We stayed until the girls fell asleep then we left. By then it was after 5. Here we thought we would be at the carnival for just an hour or two and get out before the rain came. Some of the best days are the ones that surprise you.
My daughter is a Racine Zoo member which has some really nice perks. Tonight there was a member appreciation event with free dinner and many activities for kids.
One of the best things about these member nights is that the girls have the opportunity to touch the zoo animals and learn all about them.
We celebrated my mother's 80th birthday yesterday and as always, it is impossible to get photos of her. She hates getting her picture taken and sometimes it's just not worth the fight to try to sneak them. So I must admit that I did not try very hard. However, I do have some photos of my granddaughters. They really like the pet bird, Oreo that resides at my mom's house. So Chloe tried hard to get Oreo to go on her shoulder while Avery hoped the bird would hop on the hat my sister gave her to play with.
With the church's celebration, the Taste of Egypt coming up we decided it was the perfect opportunity to get a tour of the beautiful building and show Chloe that it really wasn't a castle, just a church. Little did we know how much we would learn. According to the scripture, the only country Jesus traveled to was Egypt. The journey was chronicled in books and the Egyptians celebrate Jesus' time in country throughout their church. It is a beautiful account of history.
After our tour of the building, we experienced the food. Jeff had something called schwarma which had lamb and beef with a relish-like condiment on it that he said was so delicious. He wants to come back tomorrow for more! It is that good. The people running the event were so very friendly and inviting that it wouldn't surprise me if he did come back tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day to sit and relax and meet new people.
Today is Bailee's 33rd birthday and to celebrate I made her favorite lasagna dinner complete with a Simma's cheesecake. Of course I added a salad and garlic bread so the meal was complete. We invited her friend , Shawna to join us along with her three children and had a small celebration. It was nice for Chloe and Avery to have other kids to play with and the weather was perfect.
It's my husband, Jeff's tradition to go to the Veteran's cemetery and plant the flags on the graves in time for Memorial Day. So today was the day for his volunteer group (the GE employees veteran network) to do the task. In past years Jeff has taken our granddaughter, Chloe with him. As a toddler, she rode along in her wagon and handed her grandpa the flags. This year was very different.
Chloe is a fast study. She watched her grandpa put his heel up against the headstone, then make the hole for the flag at the end of his toes using the length of his foot as a measure to make all the flags in the row look uniform. Chloe wanted to do this task for him. So she stuck her toes up against the headstone to measure and put the flag at the length of her foot. Grandpa had a difficult time explaining to her that his foot was a little bit longer than hers thus lacking the uniformity as intended. Oh well. 
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