Spring Family Fest

Some local beachside churches in our area got together to host a Spring Family Fest on Saturday evening.  We didn’t have any plans so we decided to head over there when J got back from kiteboarding napping at the beach…  Big Red tagged along since he had his boys this weekend.  We put up with him because of the boys…

The event took place in the parking lot of a semi-abandoned strip mall where one of the host churches resides.  It was not the most picturesque location what with all the heavy equipment, piles of dirt and boulders strewn about but it was fun.  And I certainly can’t complain because it was free as well!

The boys immediately made a beeline for the pony rides.  The same lady from the Spring Festival last weekend was doing the pony rides for this event!  She must be on the church festival circuit 🙂  The older boys rode the horse first.  Big Red completely missed this because he had to run to the bank for dinner money…

The little dudes entertained themselves with the tortoise while they waited for their turn.

They thought the horse ride was pretty fun too:

All four of the boys were thoroughly amused by the pig in the “petting zoo”.  I put that in quotations because it was basically a pig and a goat tied to a Jeep.  There was a table set up with a caged rabbit and a caged iguana in addition to the tortoise in the tub.

There were the usual fair activities like the bounce house, a bean bag toss game and the sno-cone station.

Then there were some more unique things like the foosball table (could not tear the boys away) and the surf video.

After we’d filled our bellies with yummy food from the booths of two local restaurants and finished watching the surf video, we headed over to Starbucks for a special treat.  The boys either had hot chocolate or chocolate milk and the dads had dark chocolate cherry Frappucinos.  I was too full from dinner so I just took pictures 🙂

We had a great evening and ended up seeing lots of people we knew at the festival.  It was nice to catch up with old friends and spend quality time with our children.

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Whirlwind Weekend

Last weekend was super busy for us.  It started on Friday with preschool, a Halloween party for Wildman to go to, Zumba for me and a local fair at night.  Saturday found us at an early morning soccer game then two consecutive birthday parties.  J came home on Saturday from a week-long business trip to DC as well.  I passed him on the way to our first birthday party.  On Sunday, I attended and help teach a 3-hour Zumbathon at a local gym then rushed home to shower so I could attend services for a friend’s mother who passed away.

Whew!  Just typing all of that out makes me tired.

The only photos I have from the weekend are from the fair.  So, here we go.

We rode the sketchy Ferris Wheel first.  The operator stopped us at the top three times.  It was windy and dark.  I gripped the handle bar until my knuckles turned white…  This was not my favorite experience of the night.  The boys, of course, loved it and wanted to do it again…  We distracted them with promises of cotton candy and lemonade.

There were tons of kiddie-size rides for the boys.  We did all of the ones that were working.  The dragon spinning ride was out of operation which was probably for the best since we didn’t really need a bunch of dizzy kids hopped up on sugar.

Cutie Pie perfecting his homecoming wave…

Crazy Bus!

I didn’t really care for the light bulb eyes on this ride…  They freaked me out a little bit.

All in all it was a good night. We did as much as 4 sheets of tickets would let us.  Sure, some of the carnies were pretty strange but I expected that and ignored them accordingly.  The boys had a blast and cannot wait to go back next year.  That’s what it’s all about anyway.

And look who came home with a goldfish!  Cousin B was gifted this little guy by a friendly fair patron.  Steph was less than thrilled…

Cousin B was over the moon, naturally!

OM

On Sunday afternoon I sat beneath this building:

Looked at this view:

Then proceeded to take a nap in the sun.

As you can imagine, the Yoga Journal Conference was so relaxing.  I wouldn’t call myself a practicing yogi or anything but I could easily become one after this weekend.  I learned so much about breathing, meditation, posture, and anatomy.  The health benefits of yoga are practically limitless.  No wonder professional athletes practice yoga and meditation.

Tito is amazing for giving me access to free passes to this event!  Thank you, Tito!

My cousin and I talked our way into partners yoga class.  We ended up doing things like this:

Acro Yoga is insanely fun and easier than it looks.  Believe me, I didn’t think I could ever ‘fly’ anyone heavier than my four-year-old.

We also managed to squeeze in a trance dance session.  It was like nothing I’ve experienced before.  Imagine a dark room full of spandex-clad people sitting in rings around an instructor.  The instructor gradually walked us through a meditation and then started the music.  It began softly and we swayed to it.  Then she slowly allowed the music to build in tempo and volume until all 100 of us were jumping around and moving where ever the rhythm took us.  The music ranged from Indian chants to Message in a Bottle by Sting to crazy electronic trance tunes.  It was so fun and a new spin on yoga, to say the least.  I left the room feeling like I’d just run 10 miles.

By the end of the weekend I actually laughed at a yoga joke.  It scared me that I got the humor in what the instructor was saying 🙂

I think I’m going to have to make more time for this yoga business.  I really enjoy the strength training and relaxation that it brings.