Travel Day 8 (Carnival!)

The look of simple happiness

Carnival Day has been the best day of them all. The children talked about it all week long at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, remembering all of the things their mother had told them about it. They also remembered some of the things for themselves, and thought that they just could not wait another minute for this day to arrive. I know of at least one small girl who was determined to achieve great heights, and 'see forever'.

Carnival Day is pretty amazing by anyone's standards. Every child gets to:

The 5 year old revisits the rock wall!

• climb the rock wall
• speed down the bouncy house obstacle course
• have their faces painted in all sorts of fun designs
• throw balls at the dunk bucket and make some hapless grownup fall in
• dance and sing songs from the 1950s (and watch their grandparents dance along)
• toss pennies in the penny drop
• watch a nice clown making balloons for one and all
• fish in a fish pond where someone, or something, puts a prize on their 'hook'
• eat flavored snow from a snow cone machine
• go bowling for prizes
• fling rings willy-nilly and hope one lands just right
• lob bean bag balls through holes in a piece of wood
• fire the sling shot at angry birds

All of this plus grownups with huge smiles plastered all over their faces.

The eldest came away with a bag full of prizes he had won while throwing, tossing, fishing, bowling, flinging, and lobbing. The little ones did not have such a fascinating bag and so the eldest generously shared his winnings with them, which made them happy. Which made Grandma happy. Which helped keep the peace and protect the sanity of all.

It has been a long, but a profitable day. No one protested their bedtimes (well, almost no one...there was just a teeny-weeny bit of a protest, which was quickly squelched by sleep descending unfairly upon the smallest. He didn't really even have a chance). Everyone else flopped thankfully into their beds and bunks, and so the SconeLady is surrounded once again by regular breathing from all sides. 

It is my most favorite sound of the day.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady