Back to School Carnival

I was invited to attend the Salvation Army's Back to School Carnival with CoRielle. It was fortuitous I attended as Cory was home with a migraine and this would have been a hard venue in which to corral two active 3-year-olds, a baby and a 6-year-old. We began by signing in and getting a meal ticket for each of us. They also had backpacks with school supplies for kids 6 - 17.  

Benny was quick to visit the cotton candy booth. Danny had his first taste of cotton candy. He wasn't overly impressed. 

There was face painting and popcorn. 

All manner of carnival games were sprinkled throughout the building and outside. At each booth one got tickets, lots of tickets. No one seemed to know what the tickets were for, but the volunteers knew they needed to give them out. 

This version of musical chairs magically ends up with each child getting a king size Kit Kat bar or a package of Hostess donuts. 

After a hamburger lunch we were ready to move forward. A lady insisted we turn in our tickets for prizes. I thought she was a bit over the top excited about plastic prizes. However, we headed back in to turn in our tickets. They had amazing prizes, and they WANTED to give them away. "You have lots of tickets - pick a big prize." WOW - look at those prizes!  There was also a bouncy house and a bus and talk on bus safety. All for free. 

We decided we needed to stop at a quiet playground and let someone regulate before a nap was attempted.  Check out the giant mushroom - that is not the biggest one.  

I decided I also needed to regulate after the busy morning. I grabbed a cuppa chai and headed for a favorite spot overlooking the river.  I sat warm and snug while it rained. I prayed, processed big emotions out loud and took the time to polo my sister friends. I haven't gone through a coffee drive thru since May. 

I was in the correct frame of mind to re-eneter my life and headed home. Allie and I decided to get mail...with all the detours and what not it took 40 minutes to go the one mile to get our mail. ::snort:: BUT we learned we CAN drive the wrong way on the one way if we LIVE in the area and have no other way to get around. Literally none as they have big piles of dirt blocking the road to the mailboxes.  This has been fun to watch. We enjoy less traffic on our road. It does take longer to get places. 

We miss Stacia. She will be home tomorrow night. We had YOYO for dinner, Michael edited a couple of papers for Krista. She is so near the end of her doctoral program! GG has gone to bed. Allie and I are going to watch something she's found. 

Grace Notes

• Wind, rain and a raging river to match my emotions!
• Tea on rainy days. 
• Blustery walks with Allie.