Fall Festival

On Saturday morning Michael went and worked at a skin cancer screening at a women's symposium in Carlsbad that he had volunteered for a few months ago.  And I went to a little meeting at our friends' house about organizing hikes and nature activities as part of the "Family Adventures in Nature" club we've been a part of for the last couple years since we moved back here to San Diego (I think I'm going to try to plan a hike or some kind of outdoor activity on a Saturday maybe once a month or every other month -- I want to be involved in it, just don't have much free time to commit). 

After we got home and had lunch, we got to go to our neighborhood's big party of the year: the Fall Festival. It's a little crazy how big this party is -- with carnival games, fair rides, a zip line, bands, bounce houses, and food trucks, it's a pretty big production. I told Michael our kids are going to grow up thinking that all neighborhoods have events like this. But at the same time, the family parties are always really fun, and it is nice to have a sense of community with everyone coming out and spending time together and getting to know more people who live nearby. (And I guess if we're going to live in a neighborhood where we have to pay HOA fees, we might as well have benefits like fun family events). 

Anyway, we had a great time. We arrived at the festival around 1:00, walked home and had some dinner, and then returned and stayed until the festival ended at 8pm. The boys enjoyed the ferris wheel, the other smaller rides, and of course the zip line. I went on the Merry Go Round with Couryland, then later on the bumper cars with the three youngest boys, which they loved. And Michael went on a spinny ride two times in a row with two of our boys, but it made him feel sick, and he felt pretty bad for a while. I guess we're just getting old or something, cause that kind of thing wouldn't have bothered him when he was a kid. :)  

The boys of course insisted on playing all the carnival games until they won cheap stuffed animals. I think Isaac got a purple stuffed monkey, some got small stuffed snakes, several of the boys got pigs in varrying sizes, and Kolby ended up with a 2 foot long flamingo. 

Bumper Cars!

The boys have so much fun running around at these things with each other and their friends. Kolby was palling around the whole time with a new friend from his homeroom class at school who also lives in our neighborhood. 

It was a nice, enjoyable long day with the family.