With summer in full swing, we've started the summer festival circuit again. A few weeks ago we went to Long Grove's Strawberry Festival and late June brought the Downers Grove Heritage Festival, while this past weekend was the Iowa Falls Fourth of July Riverbend Rally. Looking back at last year's Heritage Festival blog entry shows a nice milestone of how much Benji has grown and changed in one year and also how he has stayed the same.
Last year he was just getting the basic idea of the games at some of the booths. This year he figured out that many of the booths had free things to put in his pockets (we convinced him that the candy giveaways were just fun colorful things to put in his cargo shorts pockets) so he liked going over to the tables to see what they had for him. At one booth he got a balloon, which I suggested we tie to his belt loop so he wouldn't lose it. That backfired as he was confused and looked like a dog chasing his tail. Last year we couldn't get him away from the basketball hoop; this year he loved that game again but he also found more games to try. Many booths had bean bag toss games and he was really fond of those. He figured out if he stood right at the edge of the board he'd have a pretty good handicap and could play without anyone's help. And we were at the festival early enough in the day that Benji could play most of the games over and over again without waiting (as a bonus it wasn't nearly as warm as it was later in the day). There was so much to do among the community booths that we never went across the train tracks to the pay games and carnival rides.
Last year Benji could recognize his numbers and so had a great time pretending to play Bingo. For the past several months, we've been practicing with a Disney DVD Bingo game in the basement so he was ready to go in this year's Bingo tent. He had a hard time keeping up with the speed of the game's call so we ended up giving him a dead card from an earlier game for him to play along with (that also eliminated any questions about whether or not he was gambling). He definitely listened to the numbers being called and marked them appropriately; he just couldn't mark them fast enough.
Again this year Benji loved festival food. In Long Grove he was introduced to fried Oreos (which he called donuts) and at Heritage Fest he stole Mommy's chocolate fondue. This year he is far more verbal than last year and told us "I love chocolate" instead of just stealing it. In either case, he had an adorable messy chocolate face. He also had a grand time holding Grandma and Grandpa's hands and swinging and jumping between them. And he even got a pony ride!
Benji met a celebrity at the Long Grove Strawberry Festival.
Benji won a few free movies, but being able to spin the wheel was the big prize as far as he was concerned.
Oooh! Duckies!
The first of many bean bag games Benji tried at the festival.
See those cargo pants pockets? By the end of the day they were full of candy and trinkets.
Benji shows off his prizes — one flag sticker for each hand!
Pony rides!
Look mom, no hands! No Daddy hands, that is. Notice Benji is actually riding by himself.
Hooray! A basket!
Benji decided Mommy's fondue was delicious again this year. But this year he could ask for it by name — chocolate!
It's all gone, Benji.
Where's that number?
Maybe Daddy should mark the numbers instead.
What number did they just call? Do I have it?
Benji was looking for the basketball game all day long. While bean bags and Bingo were good, shooting hoops was the best.
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
