Halloween IV: The Return of the Halloween Carnival! (and Ben's cough...)

I tried to make the title sound scary. I don't think I have a talent for that...
Halloween Night, we had plans to go to a carnival! Yes, us, as a family, get out there to a public event and enjoy the festivities. Novel.
Poor Benny-boy got a horrible cough that just rattled his whole body. Under strict advice from our family doctor, who I highly trust, Ben was to spend the next few days inside with very little exposure to outside air. Something was just buggin him in the lungs like crazy and he needed to take a reprieve from all things that could possibly involve dust and grossness in the air.
So, Ben and I stayed home, cleaned house and played peek-a-boo a LOT. JC, Bethany and James headed off to this sweet carnival. A friend of JC's at work has inlaws that host this huge carnival on their property every year on Halloween. It's free to get in, but donations are welcome and anything they make goes toward "doing Christmas" for a family that otherwise may not have one. I love it. Fun with a cause. In my world of multi-tasking I just love when fun has a purpose. :) So, cheers to the people who put this on!
As a side note, this whole week I was in a bit of a sulkish state, though I tried to repress it as much as possible. I had gotten it into my head that I was going to go visit my sister, Katie, in Provo. I wanted it to be my Christmas present, early. I was feeling the need for a break and Katie is in her senior year at BYU...clearly, this qualifies her for a break as well. Busy, busy, stress, stress...this is her life lately and I just thought we both deserved some fun times. Anyway, I started trying to make it work and then, emotionally, on that Wednesday, informed JC that there just wasn't a way to make it work financially. It is ridiculously expensive to fly to Salt Lake! Especially on short notice. Anyway, long story short, I surrendered my self-given gift of a Provo trip. Thursday, JC called me in the middle of the morning and says, "I can't talk much right now but I have the best news! You are going to visit your sister. For free. Make sure your mom can help watch the kids while I'm at work and decide what day you want to leave and when you want to come home. Bye." ....uh....WHAT??? Anyway, turns out JC was telling a patient of his how bummed I was feeling, wanting to go visit my sister and not being able to and this patient just happens to work for Southwest Airlines. Says to JC, "How about if she goes for free?" Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, I'm going to Provo!!! This sweet lady shared a buddy pass with me...just because. I was so humbled by her generosity. And so darn excited!
SO, this has relevance because I decided to leave that Sunday, two days after Halloween. Ben and I spent much of that Friday Halloween Night trying to get the house in working order and get my traveling things in order so that I would be able to leave my family with peace of mind. But, as we were doing that...here's what the rest of the bunch was up to!

The kids found a tire swing straight away. So cute. Oh, and Bethany had decided on being a cow for "real Halloween." (her costume from the year before) And James wanted his monkey costume from the year before. Easy enough!

...I just have to point out James' dimple...

Bethany, being super-cow on a big-kid swing. Apparently this is how you swing when you can't quite hoist yourself up.
I don't use the word hoist very much. It just came out.


Our little monkey

They got to play some fun carnival games that were right up their alley. I was so glad the thing was geared toward young kids...you don't find that very often! Here I believe they are trying to get balls into the buckets for a prize. (it would help my commentary immsensely if I had been there!)

James, bowling!

Looks like it's good!

Bethany's turn!

Good arm!

I'm pretty sure this game is about taking care of a wedgie issue...

Okay, how cute is this "ring toss"??

Looks like it's winding up to be a great throw!

Monkey James found a sand box...a very large sand box...

And apparently, this was more appealing than all the games!

Little Cow lost her hat! But, now we can see her lovely face as she joins Monkey in the sand.

James braved getting his face painted! He told this lovely lady he wanted a cat on his cheek. He looks just a little nervous, but look at Bethany's hand on his arm! Calming him right down. It's stuff like that that just melts me...
When the face-painter had a hard time reaching over to him, she pulled him onto her lap, which he surprisingly was fine with!

The finished product...and one winking eye...the artist seemed to think she "butchered the cat" but I think it's lovely.

They ended the evening with a carnival classic...fishing!

...checking out their prizes...

The kids had a lot of fun...couldn't stop telling me all about it! I'm hoping we can do this again...all of us...next year! It's always fun to have something the whole family enjoys and it's even better when it supports a good cause. I am sad that Ben had to miss it this year; He probably would have enjoyed watching everyone play and running around, trying to keep up! But, like I said, we played a LOT of peek-a-boo. And, for a one-year-old, it doesn't get a lot better than that!

We hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween this year!