As you know, Paul and I love going to local carnivals. We never went to this one because it is in the same town I teach at. I don't want to be seeing a ton of students in the summertime. But it was the perfect place to take the girls because it was right near their house.
I told Paul that if I saw students, they wouldn't recognize me in my cutoff jean shorts, tank top, and sunglasses. But if they heard me talking, they would definitely recognize my voice. It was funny because there were two instances when I was on a ride with Clementine and while I was talking, a student's head whipped around to look at me. BUSTED!
I freaking love how determined Clem looks to get to the carnival!
We picked the girls up around 4:30 and got a sweet parking spot right by the festivities at Adams-Ricci Park. They had already eaten dinner, so Paul and I figured if we needed snacks or water, we'd just get them at the carnival. That's the fun of a carnival, right!? Well it turns out that was a HUGE error...
The food/drink situation at this carnival was so weird! There was one huge tent with food and drink but it was as if they were only allowing a certain number of people in the tent at one time. So the line to get into the food tent was so long. There was only one food truck outside the food tent, but that only had lemonade, iced tea, cotton candy, caramel apples, and caramel corn. NO WATER. From now on, Paul and I learned we need to bring snacks and water when we take the girls somewhere, even if we think there will be some available at our destination. Rookie mistake for this auntie and uncle.
We decided to get wristbands for the girls because most of the rides were $3 in tickets. The wristbands were $20 so at that point, if they planned to ride 7 rides or more, we would have gotten our money's worth out of the bands.
For the most part I rode rides with Ellie and Clem. Paul and I did go on some "big kid" rides with Ellie...
Yes, Ellie rode this. It went up a lot higher than this picture shows!
She would throw her hands in the air like a daredevil!
Well, Ellie rode over 20 rides and Clementine clocked in around 18. We only took two ride breaks- when we were watching the magician and when we walked to get water from the water fountain. There also weren't any lines, so it was just on and off...
Clem did NOT want me hanging onto her. She kept moving my hand. Well, too bad. The only time I left go of her little waist while she was on the carousel was for the 2 seconds it took me to take this picture!
Clem loved this ride where you were sitting inside a bear that spun.
THERE WAS A SWEET FUNHOUSE!!! I loved those when I was a kid. I went through with the girls three times in a row and Ellie went through two more times by herself.
Ellie is four and is pretty tall, so she was able to ride all the kiddie rides alone and some of the big kid rides with an adult, like the Tornado, Merry Mixer, Swings, and Ferris Wheel.
Clementine was not tall enough to ride any rides alone, so I rode with her every single ride. Paul rode the helicopters with her once.
On the "Crazy Bus"!
Chilling and watching the magician.
After over three hours of hard carnival partying, Auntie Megan and Uncle Paul were SPENT. Ellie wanted to keep going, of course, but I told her my cats were hungry and we had to go home to feed them. She looked very concerned about that. I knew that would work... she couldn't argue with hungry kitty cats.
Running to the van!
I love my nieces so much! I am glad I am their auntie and can spoil them. Hopefully in another year or so Clarky Poo will be old enough to have fun at the carnival with us too! Though I don't think Paul and I can handle three kids at once. How does my SIL do it? I will need an extra person to come along for help if there are three kids to look after...
I felt like I completed a 20 miler by the end of this night. Moms, Dads, how do you do it? I know I am definitely not cut out to have kids, but I am glad I can be an Auntie!
Do you like carnivals?
If you don't have kids, do you have nieces and nephews to spoil?
What's your favorite carnival food?
Tell me a rookie mistake you made while out with kids!
Aww you are a good auntie (and Paul a good uncle)! I haven't been to a carnival in years. In fact I think it was 21 years ago because I remember taking my very first Lab puppy to one.
ReplyDelete20 rides at a carnival seems like a lot. That must be a big carnival. $3 per Also sounds like a lot, but I guess it would if I haven't been to a carnival in over 20 years...ha.
I don't have nieces but I wish I did. I do have nephews though. Our rookie mistake when one of them was like 2 years old (more like scott's mistake but as a young aunt I just went along with it), we put the 2 year old in our hot tub with his diaper on. Shortly afterwards we saw all this gel stuff floating in the tub. The diaper had exploded. We had no idea we needed "swimmer" diapers. And anyway why did we put a 2 year old in a hot tub??? I can't imagine it was all that hot but still!
That should read "$3 per ride".
DeleteLOL @ not only the diaper exploding but a 2 yr old in a hot tub!?
DeleteThere were a lot of rides but probably only like 7 kiddie rides- Clem just rode a lot of them more than once. :) I love how Ellie is just as excited to ride the little trucks as she is the roller coaster.
Awww what a fun time you guys had! I love it! Such sweet memories made! :)
ReplyDeleteIt was great! :)
DeleteHarrison went to the carnival Tuesday night too with his babysitter! I get so exhausted with one I question everyday how I will handle two...I better figure that out! Sounds like a fun time!
ReplyDeleteOh it would have been funny if I had seen Harrison but I would have been confused why he was with someone else. I'm sure you will figure out two- one for you and one for your hubby!
Delete"hungry cats" LOL! That's so funny, good one! That's so great that you got to take the kids there. You are the fun aunt and uncle!!! The thing about having your own kids is that you get in a rhythm as they grow, so you know how to handle more than one. When my kids were small we always used the "buddy" system and I took my son, Alan took care of my daughter. More than 2, I guess we'd have to hire some help. (yeah right)
ReplyDeleteHaha see, how do you do it with more than 2? Suzy will have to give us classes on it. Although you and Alan are done with kids I assume so no need to worry!
DeleteWell, when Clark is old enough to go then Ellie will be old enough to be more independent. It works well that way! You can totally handle 3! Megan, you handle a zillion students every single day all day long. I have 7 kids and I could never do what YOU do!
ReplyDeleteWell let's just agree parenting AND teaching are hard but in very different ways! At school I am fine- there are rules and procedures and there are not 1000 strangers around. At the carnival it is more scary! Good point Ellie will be older AND so will Clem. So let's see in two years Ellie will be nearly 6, Clem will be a little younger than Ellie is now, and Clark will be a little older than Clem is now. You are right, that will be a bit easier in that I probably wouldn't have to hang onto them at the same time. I nearly panicked on the carousel. How was I going to lift Ellie AND Clementine onto their horses without leaving go of either of them!? I'm not sure how I did it, but I'm pretty sure it was one at a time and I just crossed my fingers that neither of them fell off their horse during the 3 seconds I let go...
DeleteIt looks like you guys had a great time and so glad you got to share the carnival with Clementine. It was a great deal to get the wristbands and seems like they had enough adult rides there too. I wish I had a niece or some family member to take to something like this.
ReplyDeleteI bet you and Clay would be a great aunt and uncle! Maybe someday you will have nieces and nephews, or good friends with kids who you can spoil.
DeleteWhat a fun afternoon for you guys! Isn't it fun to have nieces and nephews to spoil? I laughed at you not taking your hand off of Clem. When Kyle was little and he would play at the park and climb up the equipment I would stand behind him (in case he fell). My sister was like "you don't have to do that...he's fine and if he falls he will be OK". I would say "not on my watch".
ReplyDeleteIt is so great to be able to spoil. :) Yeah, I was NOT going to let ANYTHING bad happen while we were with them. In fact, as soon as we got out of the van I said to them, "OKay, here is the rule, you do NOT run off. You stay RIGHT BY ME. GOT IT??"
DeleteYou are lucky to have nieces and nephews to spoil. There are times when I think it would be fun to see an experience through a kid's eyes. Like celebrating Christmas or going to Disney/a carnival/etc! Especially Christmas though. We have no kids in our family, and I think having little kids around would make it more fun!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you would enjoy having little ones! Not having them yourself, but in the fam. :)
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