Don't blame me, I live in Ohio!

And because of that, there just isn't a lot of hip and trendy stuff to do... therefore, we go to festivals. A lot of them. And we eat fried stuff. Lots of it. (And then we sweat it when we weigh in at Weight Watchers each month. Which I did this morning, by the way, and I came in well under my goal. Whew!)

I took the kids over to my friend Sally's after naps yesterday. This is our new plan. Play date after naps every Friday afternoon (unless one of us is out of town or sick or dying or something.) For me, this is the hardest push-thru of the week and I thought if I can have a play date each week until the husbands come home from work, we've got it made in the shade. So, I packed up the kids and off we went yesterday. And an added bonus, there was a festival going on ACROSS THE STREET from Sally's house. So when the husbands got off of work, we all met up at their house and walked there for fun and dinner. It was a gorgeous evening and super fun to spend it with our good friends.

Olivia and Ava are bestest buds. I absolutely LOVE to listen to them play but most of all, chat. Their conversations are innocent and sweet and I could eavesdrop all day long.

Olivia is officially addicted to face painting and we've now got Ava hooked as well. I did manage to convince them to just get their hands painted since we were minutes away from bed time and hated to pay a whole dollar just to wash it off, but I could live with going to bed with a painted hand.(Don't ya know after one potty trip and a wash of the hands we had to deal with a washed away unicorn. At least it was proof of a good post-potty hand wash.)

As is true of all hillbilly carnivals, this one came with some sketchy (at best) little kid rides. But a promise is a promise and the kids spotted this train ride when we first arrived at the festival.

It was one of the saddest moments when all 5 kids got ready to board the train and the 19 year old carni informed us the train wasn't working. Steve asked if there was anyone coming to fix it in the near future. The pimple faced kid held up a piece of sandpaper and said, "Yeah, I'm workin' on it." Ummmm... kids, time to find another ride.

So, even though these cars were CLEARLY the second choice, there were a *few* tears as we left the train, they fully enjoyed their TWO DOLLAR a kid 5 minute ride. Are you kidding me? I'm quite sure, 'back when I was a kid' it only cost a quarter to ride a death trap like this. But who am a to deprive my kids a moment of death-defying fun???

Seriously, it was a highlight of my week watching my three and little Ava go round and round, giggling with delight. I could have stayed there all night, allowing them to ride 'till they barfed. But bedtime was calling.

Growing up my mom always said one of her greatest joys in life was watching me have fun. Hello, lamo! (At least that's what I USED to think.) Oh my what a blast to hear my kids giggle and enjoy simple things in life. And to do it with good friends, what could be better?!