Jam packed day

It has been non-stop all day. Ben had school this morning. Liam and I took care of several chores and then picked Ben up early to meet friends at a bounce house. After jumping for over an hour, we headed home for lunch and break time. I decided to try out the new "break box" concept on the boys and prepared these boxes ahead of time.
This one was for Liam.

And, this one was for Ben.

I'd say it was pretty successful. They were very excited about the boxes and happy to head to their own rooms. I was able to watch Liam on the monitor and he explored all his goodies for a good bit and then "read" his books for awhile. Ben also remained in his room (except for a quick trip to the bathroom) and told me about each item in his box later in the day. He was especially interested in the "little statue".
I told them that their break boxes would change regularly but they were only allowed to look at them during break. I think I will get a timer for each room so they know how long break will last.

After break, we headed downtown for the local festival which started today. First stop was a train spotting. We are pretty lucky that the tracks run right through the middle of town and we can see many trains a day if we hang around downtown.

Cutest Toad in Town.

There is a large area set up for young children on the courthouse lawn. This sand pile was a huge hit with the kids. Check out the concessions in the background.

If I hadn't had my eyes glued to the boys, I would have been able to do some amazing people watching. The crowd was pretty small at this point but it was starting to pick up. Rob joined us shortly after we left the sand pit. Good thing, it was getting harder to keep an eye on both boys.

I am not much into carnival rides, which is a large part of the festival. But, apparently it is tons of fun. Check out these smiles.



That is Ben on the left.

And, me and Liam in the middle. There were some big squeals of delight coming down that slide.

It is hard for me to justify the expense of these rides until I get to see the sheer joy on the boys faces.

Really.

They are having THE.BEST.TIME.

That was it. Three rides. We called it a day at the festival and headed to dinner. Ben refers to eating out as "Going to a meeting". On the occasion that Rob and/or I go out to dinner, we do not refer to it as "going" to a meeting. In fact, we purposefully say that we meeting friends for dinner. (Establishing that it is important for mommy and daddy to do things with other people too.) But, apparently the "meeting" friends part stuck the most and now Ben wants to go to "meetings" too. So, we headed out for tacos. Yum.

When we got home, the boys wanted to go for a bike ride. We jumped on bikes (Liam in the adventure ship) and went for a long ride. Perfect finish to a perfect day.

In Ben's words, "that was the best day ever".