Monday, June 30, 2008

Hooray for Hand Sanitizer!


Rob and I recently took the chillens to the Orem Freedom Festival. I love to pry my family out of the daily grind and do something totally different as often as possible. I think that allowing my children to crawl through a filthy, portable "fun house" definitely counts as something different. Their favorite ride was definitely the "Big Slide" (such clever names these carnival people come up with). It's the one where you hike up one million narrow metal stairs that have been screwed together moments earlier while holding a dirty potato sack in one hand and clutching your child in the other. Once you get to the top there is a carny (definition: an "interesting" looking person missing a significant amount of teeth with dirty yellow finger nails, an over sized T-shirt, and long stringy hair, unless they are female in which case the hair is short like a boy's and they have no bra). The carny was sitting on the steps that lead us to the top of the slide and we had to maneuver our way around her as we awkwardly situated our potato sacks and children into the sliding position. Conveniently for us there were four slides that sat side by side. With the children on the two inside slides and Rob and I hovering over them on the outside slides, we counted to three and shoved off. It was actually really fun! The best part by far was the intense squeals of joy coming from the children. Maggie shot off ahead of us and finished first. As we hit the bottom, the kids both stood up clumsily, slipping on their potato sacks and screeched "AGAIN! AGAIN!!" Unfortunately the line was 35 minutes long and we had other filthy activities to participate in (see pictures). After that there were more rides that appeared to be duct taped together and Tiger's Blood snow cones. It took me a minute to get over the name. I almost vomited when I read it in the list of flavors, but Charlotte assured me it was delicious. Over all it was a very fun day that we will most definitely make a tradition. I would recommend it to anyone that can pack up the hand sanitizer and be prepared to look the other way as their children roll through more germs than you are willing to imagine.

7 comments:

Holly said...

Ah yes the germs... but have you ever thought by being exposed to some germs your children will develop a healthy immune system, be sick much less often, miss less school, be supper smart, go to an ivy league school, be a world renowned doctor or lawyer and you can live off them for the rest of your life?
It could all happen because of a few little germs... ;)

Jennifer said...

Well it looks like fun and I'm sure the kids slept like logs. It's great to have a little dirty fun every now and then.

Kristin Nuttall said...

I think you forgot the best part of summer fest, running into your childhood friend Kristin and lending her some hand sani

Katie and Travis Melser said...

Those carny descriptions are right on. . . we went to a carnival here a little while ago and it sounds spot on. Of course, the people attending our carnival are less than desirable as well. Too much fun for the kids to pass up though, we were ready to leave before they were.

Susan said...

Looks like so much fun! Did you stay for the fireworks?

jayna said...

Such adorable pictures! Oh Carnies...Your description of them was oh-so-perfect! Love you Lills!

Diana & CJ said...

Do they hold hands like that all the time. They are precious (as Gretchen would say). Weird how I remember things like that, but she did always say that.