The Grand Kids Festival

This past Saturday Zach and his mom, Merri, got Luke out of the house and met Aiden and I at a kids festival in downtown Galveston. Travis was working and Linsey stayed home with Kenley. Of course, the first thing we noticed when we walked in were the pony rides. I always feel so bad for those ponies, but I knew Aiden would really enjoy it. Merri treated us to the rides and Luke rode the pony right in front of Aiden's.

As the pony trotted along, Aiden slowly tilted to one side or the other, then I would center him back on the saddle. There were a couple moments when Aiden whimpered. I don't know if the ride was painful, or if he was afraid of falling off, but then the moment would pass and he was thoroughly interested in riding this animal. Of course, when it came time to get off, Aiden started crying. I was having flashbacks to the Houston Rodeo Carnival.

It was only $5 to get in, but Zach and I were laughing that everything that interested the boys the most were the free things. They loved the petting zoo, although it wasn't as neat as the one at the Rodeo. These guys were coralled separately and you had to feed the animals through the fence. That meant you couldn't reach some of the animals, some were usually being fed by another child already and the rest were full. Aiden still enjoyed it. I think enjoying facing fears was the theme of the afternoon. Neither of the boys wanted to get very close to the Nesquik rabbit, but they both were interested from afar. After growing accustomed to the large strange bunny, they were willing to give him a high five. Then Luke kept going back for more staring from a distance.

They had various simple things for the small kids to enjoy: a sandbox to play in, banging pans (see below, Zach is touching base with Linsey)...

... and of course the bubble station was right next to the sandbox. Aiden kept touching the bubble wand to his mouth, so he was a sticky mess by the end of this exhibit. At least he had fun!

After walking around and collecting free hacky-sacks from another exhibit, we settled down for a moment to eat corn dogs and watch some extreme bikers. Then we headed to the Strand to cash in on a buy-one-sundae-get-one-free coupon for the Nestle store. I have not been in there since they opened, so I was pleased to see they offer a sundae with a fresh baked cookie (you choose the flavor) at the bottom. Ugh, makes my mouth water just thinking about it again!

Again, it was Merri's treat. It pays to have grandparents in tow. ;) We shared our sundaes with the boys, and sadly Merri dropped her cone on the ground the second she stepped out the door. At least she had a fresh baked cookie to turn to!

Aiden ran all the way from the festival to the Nestle store and back. Needless to say, he was rosy-cheeked and worn out by the time I plopped him in his car seat for the ride home. A little girl stopped us just before we got in the car and offered her flower balloon to Aiden. It was so sweet! I was ecstatic to have something to entertain him with the crankiness quickly approaching.

When we got home, I let Aiden play in the water outside while I watered the plants. Then we went inside to give him a bath. We still have the windows open, so it was a little warm in the house. I let Aiden run around in a diaper while I went through the goodie bag from the festival. I wish I knew how to load videos from my camera onto the computer. I got the funniest video of Aiden playing with the Easter Bunny Nano Bug. It's a little robot bug that moves by vibrating. It looks (and acts) like a colorful cockroach wearing bunny ears. Aiden jumped out of the way every time it came near him and more than once he attempted to smash it with the egg it came in. Oh man did I laugh.