A Spring of Joy

Yes, it’s that time of year again when we pack up the kids and head down the road to watch the Fireman’s Parade and the Tractor Parade on Friday and Saturday nights. The streets are lined with chairs and local color is everywhere. Asher remembered the barrage of candy from last year, so he was adamant that we find the best vantage point for watching and collecting the flying drops of sugar. Micah found the trucks and tractors much too loud and Audrey just enjoyed wandering from person to person to make friends. It’s always fun to bring friends along, like Mrs. Lookabill or run into friends there, like Lyric & Anna and the Butler family. Saturday night we got to babysit sweet Maddie Oates for 6 1/2 hours. She was a trooper and made having four very easy, although Audrey wasn’t too sure Mommy should be holding another baby.

Once the parades were over, we trekked on up to the Lawn Party grounds for the boys to ride a few rides and for us to find the funnel cakes; however, this year we ran out of cash paying for rides and missed out on the yummy cake goodness. Asher and Micah were so excited to ride the “Dragon”, a little roller coaster for kids. Once the ride started though, Micah showed serious doubts, screaming in fright every time the coaster went around a curve. He would recover during the straightaway just in time for another curve, and Brian and I watched guiltily while our poor Bear endured the terror. We ran into even more friends up at the rides, and Micah recovered enough from the Dragon to have a great time riding the cars with Alex.

By the time night began to fall on Saturday, we were all grumpy with exhaustion and headed back to the van. We piled into our seats and discovered that we were parked in and had no way to exit the grounds. It was at this particular moment that Maddie decided she had enough and started to scream. Fortunately, we only had to wait about 5 minutes before someone else left and we were able to get home to warm beds and a bottle for Maddie. It was a great weekend… and the boys got their stash of candy… I’m doomed!