Children's Fest

Since it had been raining ALL week, Saturday was definitely a day we had to get Ryan outside. It was a beautiful day to do just that. There were a few options we considered, including a car/truck show but we opted for the outdoor Children's Fest. It was suppose to have lots of activities & costumed characters. We got there about an hour after it started and boy, was it packed! I'm sure every parent had the same idea though..get their kids out of the house! Of course, what did they have right in plan view of the entrance? The moon bouncies. Normally, we would let Ryan spend as long as he wanted (up to a point) in them but we noticed right away, they cost money. We could either pay $3 for one time, one bouncy  or $10 for a wristband which I gather were unlimited...but we knew if we let him do that, we probably would never get him to leave without a fight. So, we bypassed that area without a meltdown. There was plenty to see and do. We met several therapy dogs whom are brought to the public libraries & the kids are allowed to read to them (this builds up the kids self esteem). Ryan (well, Mommy did) read to one of the dogs and then went around to pet them.

this was one of the sweet dogs

Then we saw a couple costumed characters

although not sure who this is...

He LOVED Curious George

And then got to go on a Pirate Ship with Daddy. When they got off he ran up to me and said "I got treasure!" And showed me his gold coins. Dean said he got to (pretend) drive the ship too.

We went to many booths, Ryan got to either make little things like bookmarks or a worm from a stick  or play a game such as a bean bag toss for a prize. We really wanted to take him to the Home Depot tent to make a project but the line was LONG. For all 3 hours we were there! So, we weren't able to do that but Ryan (and us) had a great time. His favorite by far was getting to get inside the firetruck!

he was pushing all the buttons too..hehe

They had a toddler area with lots of toys & ride ons but Ryan was too tall to go in there and he was not happy. We had to divert his attention to the playdoh area and then bribe talk him into getting a big ice cream with sprinkles. So that's how we ended our day.