Carnival Fun with PapaGranmaStevie

Last night we partied hardy with PapaGranmaStevie (what the kids call Dad, Mom, and Steve to differentiate which grandparents they're referring to). Every year the kids' school throws a carnival complete with Toilet Fishing, jumping castles, junk food galore, and a live band that loves the singers and songwriters of the 70s. This year, PapaGranmaStevie made the trek across town to have some fun with us.

In true Kirsten form, I forgot...no, forgot is the wrong word...I purposely left my camera at home because I thought "Hey! I have this awesome new phone with a great camera. I'll just use that." But, I didn't. I have nothing to show for last night except a mild ringing in my ears (yes, the music was LOUD).

So, I've taken the liberty of creating a few images from some pictures I took at last year's carnival, as well as some artistic renditions of the fun we had.

Let me preface this post with noting that since I started the weight loss contest with my fellow employees (which has now ended and I WON!), I have removed refined products from my house including all desserts, sugar, processed foods, etc. If I didn't make it, we don't eat it. (Which helped me lose 26 lbs to date, by the way.) I make it a big deal on Sundays to make a special dessert because if you have desserts everyday, it's no longer a treat; It's a staple.

(Stepping down from soap box) I had to note that because the kids also have treats on special occasions, such as the school carnival, which is why they went on a full cotton candy-nacho-soda-Eegee-popcorn binge. I don't think they even played games this year. All tickets went to junk food. (I've created sugar hoarders!)

So first, we did this:



Then this:


And some of this:


Then this again:


And some more of this:


And finally this:


Then we moved on to some fun while nursing ourselves back from the junk food coma.

(These pictures are from last year, but ask Steve...it looks exactly the same as this year.)

Here's my Ethan. Goodness how they grow in a year! This year Alex chucked them right into the holes. Tha's mah boy!


Alex and his fire hat he got from his school that day. (Last year)


Yay for prizes!


This picture is from last year, but I've added some "Where's Steve" features to it this year. Here's how the picture would have looked if I'd actually taken one.

There's mom and Kate popping up to say "Peek-a-boo!" Steve wandering around hoping no one he knows sees him there, and Dad and Alex sharing some smoochies.


Here are the boys on the jumping castle. Nice AIR Steve!


Inflation did some damage this year. The Cake Walk was 3 tickets instead of 1 like last year, so we had to bail a little bit earlier. But fun was had by all! Thanks for coming PapaGranmaStevie!