Fall Fest

As I mentioned earlier, Friday & Saturday our town had a small festival- "Fall Fest." Matt got a booth so he could give out balloons, pens, and yard signs for his campaign. The festival started at 4 & lasted until midnight. Those aren't great hours for the kiddos, so he was on his own that night (& I felt really bad for him because it was nasty weather- rainy & windy). 

Saturday, though... Matt & I started our day with our first 5K run/walk. We were walkers (for some reason, my body sends out a "running rejection" as soon as my feet start moving fast, in the form of a massive migraine that usually lasts for 2-3 days). Although I beat Matt across the finish line (he was in campaign-mode & had to talk and/or shake hands with everyone on the route), he was the one who got the trophy ("Fastest Male Walker" - there was only 1 other guy walking the course). We had fun though, and I think I'll be entering more 5K's in the future. :)

Then I rushed home & brought the kiddos down to enjoy the fun:

Milo enjoyed petting the baby cow

We started with the petting zoo because it was the first thing Xandra spotted & would not be swayed in her mission to get there.

Xandra was in *heaven*! Milo.. not so much. 

The little petting zoo offered *free* (music to my ears!) pony rides. Xandra & Milo hopped on & set out on a quick ride around. Milo got a pretty worried/anxious/scared-to-death type of look as they rounded a corner & quickly went out of view. About a split-second later, I heard his screams. So I hobbled ran walked rapidly over to him & let Xandra finish out the ride with her "new best friend" (the little girl sitting next to Milo in the picture- we do not know her name, but Xandra was infatuated with the fact that she got to use the reigns & walk her pony).

They had 2 ponies (brown & white)- Xandra got to ride with both of them.

Xandra's highlight: getting to feed the pony a carrot!! Oh she was SO SUPER excited!!!

Xandra with ride tickets in her hot little hand

This looked calm enough for a little girl who is scared of everything...

Xandra started out desperately wanting to slide down the BIG slide. Thankfully, her older cousin was easily talked into going with her (she's right next to Xandra in the picture, but her face got blocked out from that red triangle). You'll notice Xandra sitting up there getting ready to come down like a big girl... that only lasted for the amount of time it took to snap the picture. She began screaming like someone stabbed her. Her cousin came to the rescue & let Xandra sit on her lap, screaming, all the way down. 

Shortly after Xandra calmed down from her traumatic ride down the slide... she decided she was brave enough for another ride. She decided on a train-thing (it was miniature semi-trucks that rode around a track). She handed the operator her tickets & went in. 

She started to get in the truck...

Then she decided she was too scared, and came back out. The guy running the ride graciously gave our tickets back. We stuck around to watch the ride again, after which, Xandra once again insisted she wasn't scared & wanted to ride. Round 2: give the operator her tickets, go in, choose a seat, start to climb in,.... chicken out, operator hands the tickets back to me, and we walk away in shame. 

Honestly, although I was a little embarrassed, on the inside I was kind of happy she's such a scaredy-cat. Festival rides aren't exactly known for their safety record... (though the 2 she chose were pretty tame). 

After a bit more walking around, and spending outrageous amounts of money on festival food & a couple of home-made hair bows, we made our way home. The kids still had some energy to burn, so we headed outside. 

It was a little bit of a difficult evening without daddy home. The kids were a bit hyped-up on sugar, so Milo didn't get much of a nap, and Xandra flat-out refused one. That led to pretty cranky kiddos. I took a little over a hundred pics while they were out in the backyard, but the 2 above were honestly the only good ones... Xandra was constantly making faces (there is one I caught that I may have to put up just for future blackmail purposes) & Milo just ran away from me. 

Matt did very well at the festival- he handed out about a thousand balloons, and schmoozed like a pro. The festival ended at 8 on Saturday, but he didn't make it home until almost 10 because he's a talker! He ended up being the only person running for council (out of 8) who thought of getting a booth. I hope it pays off in the end!

***For those who have been following along- we chose the family picture of all of us standing to use on the campaign postcards. They'll be sent out to the voters in our area in the next week or so...***