Parade and Carnival

Saturday: The boys woke at 5:15am bouncing in and about the house as quietly as possible, but not quiet enough for us-girls. We stayed in our rooms willing the sleep to return, but to no avail. The boys were gearing up and ready to hit the golf course a few hours drive away with extended family. An annual tradition, the golf tournament represents family time for cousins, aunts, and uncles. (Not ignoring the boys' day. I would post pictures here, but our camera was left behind. We're meeting our Uncle today, who luckily lives close by, who kindly brought it home).

For many years the boys have been unable to participate in the tournament because my daughter's dance dress rehearsal on stage have taken precedence on the same day. But this year her Cast was pulled for a Monday time slot, so the entire family was free for this busy day ... because something else also happens on the second Saturday of June.

A few hours later, my Chicka and I were ready and headed out the door to our first ever city parade. After living here for fifteen years, this is the first time we've experienced this annual event. The years prior to dance conflicts were filled with little ones, and lack of motivation to grab our gear and trek up the road that had no shoulder, nor sidewalk in town.

But now that the town has created a magnificent round-about with full sidewalks and bike trails, it made our trek super, duper easy. It was a ton of fun! My girl invited three of her friends to join our trek to the parade. Like a good mom, I walked a good half mile ahead of the Middle Schoolers to give them space (not really, but there was a huge distance!).  Once we got to the parade, however, we all joined up for lots of smiles and laughter.

Bumping into their FUN Language Arts Teacher 

Our niece was in the parade with her dance studio. We found my sister-in-law, and my mother-in-law, my other niece on this side of the family, and their friends. We hung out the rest of the day.

My Smiley Niece who saw the Paparazzi!!

Cousins, same grade, same age = Buddies

It was fun to see familiar faces of our small town in the parade, and parade-watchers, and finding out who this and that person was when my daughter would come over and point out friends from school. I have found that once Middle School and beyond hits - the weekly volunteering at the classroom level is dropped, and while you might hear about different kiddos, putting a face to the name is lost. It was fun to capture some of that today.

We walked to the city park at the end of the parade and enjoyed the festivities; the smell of the potpourri of corn dogs, cotton candy, and nachos was not my favorite, but we experienced the carnival by a traditional purchase. Gooey highly processed cheese over stale nachos. Doesn't get much better carnival food experience than that.

We walked back to the main road where our departure went Left, and theirs went Right. Upon coming to the golf course neighborhood that we attach too, we found the road blocked off. Apparently the Running Of The Balls was taking place ~ a group of football players from the High School had arranged a fundraiser/scholarship situation that involved raffle tickets, and a dump truck filled with tennis balls.

I never really got the gist of the game, but apparently the tennis balls were numbered with corresponding raffle ticket numbers, but I am not sure how the winner(s) were selected and what the prize was. I was standing next to the Chief of Police while the balls were rolling down the hill, and she smirked with an under the breath comment, "Only in (insert our town name), Only in (insert our town name)."  I couldn't agree more. Ha!

A lovely morning and early afternoon spent with my girl, our sweet family, and nice friends. I am crossing my fingers that we can experience this again with no-conflicts on this annual event for future years.