Well, THIS weekend certainly turned my frown upside down! My neighborhood had a festival on Saturday. Free food! Free DIPPIN DOTS (Ka-ching!) and free jumpy things with slides. Bring it on. The sky was blue. The air was breezy and warm. And the kids were having a ball!
It was quite odd to know that Justin has arrived at the age where I can say "go ahead to that area and have fun. I'll be over here..." Odd. My baby is able to be away from me in a crowded carnival.... And he was ok. And I was ok. Very unnerving and I don't think I am entirely comfortable with it, but I wasn't as nervous as I would have expected. Instead? I was chilling on the grass with a pop and watching my kids find schoolmates and bond with new ones while narrowly avoiding breaking their necks.
I was also pretty damn cool (if I do say so myself) when a whole mixup with shoes seemed to point to a lost pair for Justin. I politely confronted a woman who was holding Justin's sandals in her hands (no shoes on jumpy things, so there were shoes scattered across the field like dandelions) . I said "I believe those are my son's shoes..." She swore up and down that her grandson had taken them off of his feet and put them into her hands. I raised my eyebrows and just walked away. I mean, even though I KNEW they were his, they didn't have his name on them, so how could I prove it? I simply said to Justin, "Well, you didn't really like them anyway. I guess you get new sandals, eh?" He was remarkably calm about this, as well. (a year or two ago, this could have been a serious melt-down). Life was fine.
The best part? The best part was when the woman was walking by me about 10 minutes later with 2 pairs of sandals in her hands and a sheepish look on her face.
Me - walking out to meet her, for I knew what she was going to say...
Her - Oh my God. I am SO SORRY! My grandson said that these were his, but his mom said that THESE were his instead! etc. etc.
Poor lady. She was SO embarrassed. I was gracious and not at ALL condescending. I was just thankful to have saved $12.99 on another pair of sandals!
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And today? TODAY we went to my dad's workplace for their 50th anniversary party! Very awesome, as he works at C#terpill#r. 
Remember how I said I always dress them alike? See?
Lots of big trucks, big bolts and big MANLY stuff. They also provided free food, drinks, cotton candy, ice cream and any other goody you can imagine at a fair. Good stuff, people. Good stuff...
There were several jumpy things there, as well. My children are thoroughly exhausted, as you can imagine. And filthy. Oh, how filthy...
There were several jumpy things there, as well. My children are thoroughly exhausted, as you can imagine. And filthy. Oh, how filthy...
I am thinking that we are set for carnivals this season. If we don't make it to another one, the kids won't be any the wiser. And we won't be out a SINGLE dime.
Air guitar anyone?
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20 comments:
Looks like a great weekend! Love the pictures of the kids playing on the big machines. :)
Looks like you all had a great time! That was funny about the lady who had to eat humble pie over the sandals. Good on you for being so gracious. That idea of dressing them alike is a good one. I'll have to remember that with my little girls next time we go out into a crowd.
FUN! FUN! FUN!
And for the record, it would have been ME having a serious meltdown about the sandals - LOL! "No! Those are MY kid's shoes!" You're WAY cooler than I am!
That feeling of having handled a tricky situation with grace is AWESOME.
And what a fun weekend! Lucky you guys!
Sweet air guitar!
Our new neighborhood had a block party like that last week. It was so great to feel like we were finally part of a community - we felt like we'd finally moved past the whole apartment living thing and were real adults. Can't wait til the boys are old enough to head off on their own, with or without their sandals (poor woman).
Beth
http://www.totalmomhaircut.com/
You guys sure have been having some fun already!
Dressing them alike is such a good idea, I might have to start doing that!
My kids would love going to your Dad's work, trucks are a big hit around here :-)
Yay for summer, we have only 3 days of school left and then it's lazy days for us. I can't wait.
How fun! I'm quite proud of you for handling the shoe lady so gracefully. I like to think I would have done the same, yet the reality is I probably would have been much more scathing. My grandma always says to me, "Stevie, why can't you be a nicer girl?" I don't know, Grandma. I don't know.
looks like a lot of fun! I can't wait to take the kids to the carnival this year, because I'm not preggers!
what a fun day!
Looks like the perfect time to me! :)
Also, I tend to dress people alike too, without even thinking about it - it just happens!
Free Dippin Dots? That is my idea of heaven. So great is my love for them that for my 30th birthday, my husband had a box of them sent to my work as a surprise:
http://interruptedwanderlust.blogspot.com/2006/03/picture-pages.html
You were very kind and gracious to the granny. I don't think I would have your self-restraint.
And those tractors look like so much fun!
what great fun.
...and how calm are you about the shoes. I'd have probably gotten ugly....I'm so proud of you!
That sounds like so much fun! I was just talking on my moms group listserve about how Chicago always has fun events during the summer.
My son would have flipped over all those construction vehicles! I can't believe how big the scoop is on that one bulldozer! And, what a great idea to dress your kids similarly. I might just have to start implementing that when we attend crowded events. Brilliant.
Free carnivals with free food? Woohoo! Glad you got the shoes back, hate that.
Love the pics of the kids on the big equipment, so cute.
You had me at "free dippin dots"
:) Becky
http://www.stinkylemsky.typepad.com/
I love that picture of the kids in the big digger, whatever it's called!
We are going to a free festival like that this weekend.
To funny. I had two sets of shoes from the neighbor kids sitting on my porch steps for over a week. I had no idea who's shoes they were. Finally claimed! lol
That sandal situation - I'd never have handled that so calmly. I mean, I wouldn't have been mean to the lady or anything, but I do get attached to all of Bean's little things and I'd have been really upset to lose a pair of her shoes! Isn't that pathetic? Also - air guitar! That reminds me of something that happened in the Chili's bathroom last week. I'll have to write about it sometime!
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