This weekend was another one of highs and lows, the inevitable shift of seasons that bring warmth and sun one day, clouds and rain and cool weather the next. We had a blast on Saturday, spending every moment together and with dear friends as we enjoyed the carnival that has become an annual April tradition. And with a sigh of relief, we admitted that the idea of the carnival is often much more fun that the actual carnival. Maybe the realization has to do with how quiet our house is most of the time. Sure, there is the pounding of feet or the raised voices of several little boys, but the background noise is often minimal. There is no television blaring, often just the sounds of birds and breezes and the occasional car driving down the street, but really it’s pretty quiet in our home. The sheer amount of noise and stimulation at the carnival was a little crazy-making!
The boys obviously enjoyed themselves, and it’s fun to see them race around from ride to ride (or in Oliver’s case, in desperate search of a face-painting station — he had his heart set!). Milo was finally tall enough for the bumper cars, so the highlight of his day was sitting next to Andrew and chasing after his buddy Jack. Andrew and Alex had a healthy dose of friendly competition and aggression as they chased each other. It was pretty great.
And if you’re wondering, the answer is no, we did not ride the whirling-wheel-of-death: 
Emil’s favorite ride was the motorcycle merry-go-round (he has an alarming obsession with motorcycles, oh dear) and Oliver’s moment was being brave enough to spend his last 3 tickets on the dragon roller coaster, which he rode all by himself!
These guys…
The beautiful and lovely Maggie
The highlight of our weekend was spending the afternoon with these great folks. Seriously so much fun, those four, and so easy to be around. We are looking forward to many more of these cook-outs.
Sunday was cool and rainy and the boys were so glum and whiney again. I’m beginning to think that they are re-adjusting to all the outdoor time after this past long winter. We need to toughen them up and build up those walking legs!
I hope you had a great weekend. Happy Monday.
Are the deck and playhouse in the last picture yours, and if so are they pictured in any other posts? I would love to see it from other angles! We are extending our deck this summer and I’m looking for inspiration. 🙂
Yes, Stephanie, the play house and deck are ours :). Here is a picture of the playhouse when it was brand new:
http://www.crumbbums.com/?m=201208&paged=2
And here are two more angles of our deck:
Here from the back door: http://www.crumbbums.com/?p=5114
http://www.crumbbums.com/?p=2405
The dragon ride “car” is straight out of Explorers, the Ethan Hawke movie form teh 80’s!
I LOVE, how the dad’s are so stoked on those bumber cars! “It’s for the boys.” Yeah, right. Dads rule!