Memorial Day Weekend

FRIDAY- We went and saw the Daddy working at Chocolate Fest, doing sound and we stayed for the fireworks.  Venily made some new friends that were part of the traveling family circus, lol!  Two girls, 4 and 6 and they were INSEPARABLE. 

They tried calling Venily up on stage for one of their magic tricks, but their Dad knew that she was too shy so had her pick someone else, lol.  The family has 7 kids and they travel around doing 350 shows a year.  The Dad was telling us that Wife Swap calls him every year asking to be on their show, lol!  I couldn't believe how well-behaved and sweet the kids were though, what a different life to live for sure!  We watched fireworks with the girls as well, even though Venily usually goes to bed around 7:30, we didn't end up leaving up 11pm, haha!  Haven LOVED the fireworks.  Venily was a little scared, but was brave and watched them because she wanted to hang out with her friends.  Sooooo cute! :) 

And I couldn't believe how good the girls were, even with the heat and with messed up napping and eating schedules!

SATURDAY- Back to the fair!  Venily loved, loved, loved the petting zoo!  I really see her doing something with either animals or children when she grows up!!  We also went to Grandma's and made lots of tie-dye shirts!  It was my first time making them and a lot of fun! :)  However, the heat and messed up scheduling hit both the girls that evening!  They were CRABBY!!!! haha.  And wouldn't go to bed! :(

SUNDAY- I wanted to get them back on routine a bit.  We went to Echo Park and played and watched the boats, got ice cream and walked around Burlington.

MONDAY- We went to the Chocolate City Parade!!  It was Haven's first time at a parade and she did great!  Venily was unusually shy, but said she really liked it!  I think she was just taking it all in.  She especially liked "the little cars with the guys who were too big for them", haha!  We then hung out at Grandma's house. 

Went HOME for lunch and naps (learned our lesson, lol) and back to Burlington for more Chocolate Fest!!! :)  (P.S. Venily is really going to have fun this summer, she LOVES fairs!!). 

She played with her friends again and I let her go on one ride since it was the last day.  She has been talking about it ALL weekend and begging to go on a ride! 

She hung out with her friends some more and fell in love with Olivia's snake, Buttercup!  I was soooooo nervous!  She was making him lick her hand and petting him and kissing him and grabbing him!  Ahhhhh!  I kept picturing the "when animals attack videos"!  But the snake was really used to all the attention!  
After her friends were done with their last performance I took all the girls on a walk around the fair.

And a super amazing woman gave me TONS of free ride passes for the girls to go on rides!  I almost cried, here I was not having the money and making Venily wait until the LAST day to ride ONE ride and this woman gives me probably $60 worth of ride coupons!  Needless to say, the girls had a lot of fun.  And I was so surprised at all of the rides Venily wanted to go on, she wasn't scared at all!  And even Haven went on some, the merry-go-round and ferris wheel and was very interested the whole time!  And Venily was sad that they had to leave!  Hopefully we'll see them again next year!  And they have a website and blog, so we'll be following them while they travel across country!  [I looked at his blog and he talked about me and Venily and Jason on it, LOL!]

[Side note:  I was so impressed with this family we met!  They were all so wonderful.  Jason became good friends with the Dad, despite our many differences.  They have 7 children (ranging from 4yrs-20yrs old) and travel 4 months out of the year, across the country, doing 350 shows a year!  The children were the NICEST, SWEETEST, MOST WELL-BEHAVED children EVER!  I never saw them fight, they were very respectful, very independent and smart (the 6 year old reads at a 6th grade reading level).  And the Mom wasn't even with them (she was at home with one of the children who can not walk or talk and both of them were going to join the tour at a later date).  Part of me wanted to take the girls home with me and give them a "normal" life, but the other part is like "how do I raise children to be that amazing".  It was an eye-opening experience for sure.  I'm not really sure what to make of it, but it has got me doing some serious thinking... no worries though, we're not joining the circus! :)


[A separate side note:  I don't know what changed this year.  Maybe it was turning 26.  Or maybe it was the fact that I now have 2 children and was pushing around a double stroller.  But, SOMETHING happened.  I was called "Mom" by the carnies on SIX different occasions over the 3 different days we were there!!!!!  What?!  I'd walk by and they'd be like "Hey, Mom, come here!"  Lol, it really bothered me!  It was like a total shock every single time it happened!  But then I was thinking about it while walking back to my car and how much it bothered me and I got hit on by some guy in a car WHILE pushing my double stroller, so I felt a little better! :)  I even smiled and waved at the guy when I usually would have rolled my eyes and looked the other way!! LOL!

[And a third note- I feel like I rocked being a mom of 2 this weekend!  Yay!  I've always known that I can handle it pretty well, but having to load all of our stuff and organize and plan and everything all by myself all weekend and take care of and make happy 2 children at once while Jason literally worked ALL WEEKEND LONG, well, it went pretty well and that makes me VERY happy! :) ]

SUCH A GREAT WEEKEND, hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!!!  It's sort of the 'unofficial start of summer' and makes me really excited for what the rest of summer brings us! :)