Carnival!

Since we moved I've been trying to "explore" our "new town". I say those things in quotes because we didn't really move too far away from our apartment, but it is a different town. Ever since moving back to this state, I've loved the small town celebrations! I remember growing up and having Strawberry Days, having the rodeo, the parade! and the carnival rides. now some people may think that because the rides haven't been updated since the 1800's when they were built, makes them a little untrustworthy, I think it makes me nostalgic. and that's all that matters. :) Since this year I'm pregnant, and can't go on many of the grownup rides I thought(as I always do) that it'd be fun to go to as a family. We were lucky enough to get Joe and Nate wristbands so they could ride what ever rides they wanted as many times as they wanted and Ben and I shared the individual tickets so both of us could go on some of the easier rides.
here's the boy's waiting with such excitement for the first ride they chose. the boats. really it wasn't that amazing to look at but they got to ring these brass bells all they wanted and not be told to stop, so maybe that was the appeal. then here's all of us making smiley/silly faces while in the giant strawberry ride. you know the one, it has the giant steering wheel inside the strawberry you're sitting in and you control which way to turn and how fast to go. it's kind of like an enclosed sit n' spin. but we've learned that Nate and spinning sideways don't go together well anymore. we got off the ride and he was white. hehe... We went to the kiddie roller-coaster for Ben's first time....he loved it! We saw Joey's bestest friend from Kindergarten, and Joe and Nate went on THE GRAVITRON! It's the spaceship that spins you round so fast that you're stuck to the walls and you can climb them while spinning. Here's my last shot of them before they closed the door. but this is when my camera decided to die. :( i didn't get a coming out shot. but end of the story is Nate was even whiter than before and Joey was loving it! Figures! the one person i thought would be coming out throwing up wasn't the one who needed worrying about.

I figured we should let Nate get his color back so the boys went on the obstacle course, which Joe's done before, but is still fun for him, but since this was Ben's first time going through it Joe ended up going though the course 3 times before Ben even got to the slide that ends the course. but the funny part was that Ben ended up not wanting to go down the slide, since it was a little steep. so there's Nate and I calling up to him for him to come down and him blocking the slide for the other kids in the course till Joey finally gets up there and nicely sits Ben on his behind and pushes him down the slide with him right behind, so Ben knows he's safe. Of course at the end of the slide BOTH are ready to go back up again. but Nate's color has safely returned so it was time to move on to other things. Namely the ZIPPER! Now I was worrying about Nate and Joe throwing up but they both got out of the cage hopping up and down and yelling how cool it was.... silly boys.
We ended the night by playing the squirt gun/racing game a few times. Joe and Daddy against Ben/Mommy. Ben/Mommy's team won 2 of the 3 times! and we kept upgrading our prizes to get bigger ones, but finally the last time Joe beat Ben(who was playing all by himself this time) and he was soo thrilled that he got to pick any of the largest animals! of course Ben was quite upset. but Burt, the nice carny, let Ben play 1 more game, shhh, unpaid for, and gave him a prize for winning that game all by himself!
what a nice guy! I guess it helps that we'd probably spent close to $20 just at his game. But that was very nice of him. After some cotton candy we went home on a good note. Joe with his green Iguana and Ben with a green puppy.
Fun day!