Friday night my boss, Isabelle, had a few of us from work and our kids over to her place for a cook out. Steaks, chicken, music, glow sticks, lol. It was great! We stayed out until 1030 or so...Gwen was a monster the next morning but she LOVES Isabelle and was helping her make the salad and carry things to and from the kitchen. Isabelle also lives directly on a train line so about every 25 minutes a train would pass and Gwen would come running onto the deck to watch. She is obsessed with trains. Mason was there too. Mason is Lauren and Dave's 4 year old son. I work with Lauren and we all hang out a lot. Gwen and Mason love (and sometimes hate) each other. :)
Anyways, Saturday morning we went to the park, played around forever, napped - which is really fun...family naps, wow - amazing. Finally we went to the carnival over in Denville, NJ. Denville is a cute little town a lot like Pella, IA actually with Norman Rockwell-ish main streets and shops. We love it. Too expensive to live in, but cute to visit. They had a huge carnival that we took Gwen to and she rode every single ride she was tall enough to ride...even the dragon roller coaster!
She screamed and cried while on it and we felt like horrible parents (I even filmed until I realized she was so upset) but she asked to go on it, so we let her. We didn't stop the ride because we kept thinking, "It's almost over, it's almost over..." and yet it went around about 6 more times. Hardest 3 minutes of my life actually. Funny part is, the ride stops, Jason goes and gets her, she comes down the steps and asks to do it again! WHAT?
Here are some of the great shots I got of her having a good time. I used a filter on these photos and I really love this style.
Gwen even played a few of the carnival games and let me tell you she is GOOD at Roulette. It was a $1 per pick and she could pick between 1-20. I gave them $2 and she picked #s 12 and 16. They spun the wheel and like clockwork it lands on 12. She was so excited about winning it wasn't even funny...she got this HUGE ball (purple of course) and once it fell in front of her every time she reached for it she kicked it and it would go further away...repeat this about 3 times and we were chasing her down because she wouldn't stop! It was too cute. Very proud of her and she can go to Vegas anytime to win money as long as she does not get married - on a whim of course.
Sunday rolls around...no pun intended. :) We had another nice family nap...not even kidding, it was a weekend of mid morning family naps and I already miss it. We went over to Lauren and Dave's place to swim in their pool and cook out and try to find some fireworks. Of course it was the only day it rained on the whole weekend but there was no lightening and the kids didn't seem to care at all - they still swam. Actually, they not only swam, once they were dried off, they got back in with their clothes on and thought that was absolutely hilarious. We tried for fireworks that night but since it rained everything got postponed.
We did end up getting some fireworks on Monday night back in good 'ole Denville - we laid out on my Central College blanket (love that thing!) and watched them from about 930 to 1030. Gwen said, "These booms, they scares my ears" and covered her ears the entire time. She is so dramatic, lol.
I will say, even with a weekend full of family naps we were all exhausted and Monday AM was a HORRIBLE morning for all of us. Crying, yelling, not wanting to wake up...and that was only Jason! Kidding, it was Gwen, but still, you get the picture. I think even though our little 3 yr old is up for adventure and loves playing, she really needs her sleep for us to keep our sanity. :)
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