Whoa....what a weekend!

We had one of the most fun weekends...ever!

My parents drove up from Arkansas to stay with us and there was a carnival in our front yard! Literally in our front yard... because our house is smack dab in the middle of the business section of town. Crazy!

I was so excited to have my parents here as I missed them so much! But it was bittersweet because I was so sad when it was time for them to go home. *sniff sniff* It's a 14-16 hour drive....and a really boring one too as there is nothing but corn fields along the way but they made it and they brought all of our junk out of storage to us too! When we left for Ireland we gave everything away except for photo albums and special books etc, that stuff we stored so it's been sitting in AR for 2 years! The kids were so thrilled to get their stuff back, Rebecca got all teary eyed unpacking all her books.

She was worried they wouldn't all fit in her bookshelf but they did! Perfectly!

The carnival was insane! It rolled into town and they started setting it up....just a few feet away! Alex stationed himself at the front door and kept us updated. "Deres a fish game! An deres a big lemon! Now deres candy apples! Look! 4 bumbled bees!'

Oh man, the food carts. So many of them. Right. Outside. My. Door. Right there! Deep fried cheese curds, donut factory, funnel cakes, kettle corn, nachos, hamburgers, tacos, cotton candy, candy apples. gyros, corn dogs, lemonade.....so much food and it all smelled soooo good! This food cart was what I saw every morning when I opened my door. lol

Very tempting! It was so hard because I wanted the kids to be able to experience the joys of carnival food but since they all have some type of allergy/sensitivity to foods I was worried they'd get sick. I finally said we'd get one thing and we could all share it. After looking at all the options I figured that the funnel cake would be the safest for them to eat, plus that's something that is really hard to find anywhere else and just screams "carnival!". They loved it!

We took a break from watching the carnival to go to a living museum, it was set up like an old time logging camp - so fun! It was deep in the forest and very beautiful. The kids even got to interact with the characters. We only had time to see half of it so I'll be taking the kids back soon!

They had this massive watch tower, to watch for forest fires, that was 100 feet tall! Of course the kids wanted to go up in it but they couldn't go without an adult and Alex was too young....so Rebecca and Jarod begged me to go up with them.....I hesitated when I saw it up close.

I'm not afraid of heights....I was just worried I'd pass out from all that climbing! lol But I'm proud to say I did just fine, but I probably would not have made it pre-P90X! :-)

Looking down at mom and Alex about 1/3 of the way up. lol

When we got back we checked on my dad who was selling his crafts at the flea market that was also being held during the carnival, Jarod helped him for awhile.

The carnival was very pretty at night, though a bit loud. This was taken from my front porch.

The next morning the kids were ready to test out the rides! We had told them that if they didn't waste their money on the games (not worth the cheap prizes/too expensive) or gorge on the food (unhealthy nightmare), that we would buy them armbands which were good for 4 hours on all the rides! It worked out great because they could ride non-stop for an hour, come back in the house to refuel and rest for a few minutes, run back out, wash and repeat. lol The bad part was...Alex was too young to go on the rides alone, so I had to get an armband and go on them with him! I haven't been on rides since I was a kid and not even much then because they make me sick and I was a wimp. lol I actually had a lot of fun though and Alex was so cute!

Yup, that would be me and Alex on a huge slide! I think I lost my tummy back there somewhere.

My new favorite photo of my mom, on the carousel with Alex.

Jarod on some spinning ride!

Rebecca was the only one who rode this ride, it turned you upside down as it spins! She's crazy!

Alex laughing at me because I was feeling sick on the bumble bee ride, ugh. That was the last ride I rode.

After that I found Rebecca so she could ride the rest of them with him and I could continue to be a wimp.

  

We also met Cookie Monster!

And saw a Pow Wow! 

 

And there was a parade!

 

 And at night, we all sat on my front lawn with my parents and Jason's parents and....

 

...watched the fireworks!

  

 

Then we put the kids to bed and walked over to the bandstand for the music shows. The first night Jason and I stayed with the kids while my parents went, because it was a county show. The next night they stayed with the kids while Jason and I went because it was a show that was more modern. The music was great but I had more fun watching the audience as there was tons of street dancing and drunken groovy moves. lol

 

The next day I was so sad because my parents had to leave. :-(

And poor Alex, he was so bummed because not only did grandma and grandpa leave but so did the carnival. He watched them picking up the carnival with a huge frown on his face.

It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad we got to share it my parents! I think they enjoyed their first taste of Minnesota. :-P

Today we are settling back into our normal routine, which includes P90X tonight!