Halloween=More Free Fun

As promised, we hit up another free fall festival last weekend.  Several of the activities and games were duplicates of the festival we went to the week before, but toddlers don't know the difference.  What I'm going to do to entertain my children when they're old enough to mutter (cue whiny voice) "We already did this, moooooom!" is beyond me.

More candy (though I was a bit more liberal in accepting it this time around)

More petting zoos (only this one was much better monitored.  No traumatized barn yard babies this time around)

More games.

And more bounce houses.

But this festival did have a few things that the previous one lacked.  

Like Hudson, who missed out on the last one.  (Not that he really cared.)

And face painting...

One of my sons chose a manly rainbow to sport on his cheek.  

The other son had no idea what was going on.

And for the locomotive lovers in the family, there was a kiddy train that took you on a thrilling ride around a football field.  It's a tossup which was more exhilerating: the field train ride or the parking lot hay ride from last week.  But again, toddlers don't really know the difference.  I do love toddlers for that very reason.

This is how exhilarated I was:

But then I reigned in my excitement and got ready for the ride of my life, while Mr. Congeniality treated the whole thing like a parade and waved at all the onlookers.

Another free perk that I enjoy at large gatherings like this one is what I fondly refer to as "Who's Kid Is This?"  It's when you let your child whose skin color is different from yours run freely in a large crowd.  Hang back not too far but far enough to watch people's faces as a seemingly parentless child roams about.  Concerned bystanders rarely assume that said child is in fact quite monitored (albeit by a mother with a somewhat twisted sense of humor).  This game can also be enjoyed at the grocery store or Target.

I'd also like to make a note to self that inviting along your professional photographer friend is a great idea when doing fun things with your kids.  Then you might actually get quality shots of them, which is entirely too difficult to do while carrying an overflowing bag (because you refuse to pay money for a real diaper bag with zippers) and wearing an infant on your front.

 

 

Then there's also the possibility of actually being in a picture or two.  Now there is legitimate photographic proof that I am in fact part of this family.  

So Halloween Part II was a wild success.  I am certainly getting my money out of the $17 total I spent on the boy's costumes.