TFest 2012

Summer has officially started!  The Turkey Festival was this past weekend, and our kids were old enough to enjoy it a little more this year!

We started by going Thursday night since it is Buddy Night...two people ride for the price of one!

Steph and the girls met us there.  Here they are on the ferris wheel, riding at the same time as Greg and Max.

Festival!

Steph said later that Anni really just wanted to get down and walk around the car!

Nora and I got our turn the next time.  She loved it!

While waiting for our turn on the ferris wheel, Nora kept looking over at this dragon roller coaster.  "I want to go on that!" she kept saying.  So after the ferris wheel rides, Max, Nora, and Elena all went on it.

Whee!!!

Max was all smiles until about the third round from the end.

I don't have a picture of it, but he started to get 'that look' on his face, like he was not feeling well.  I wasn't surprised, as he really does not like getting dizzy!

Elena, on the other hand, had a huge grin on her face the whole ride!

Max stuck it out and did fine, but I think he was glad when it was over.  From there Elena and Nora rode the wiggle worm while Greg took Max on the bumper cars.  Those I know he liked!

Neither Greg nor Steph can handle circles, so I took Elena, Nora, Max, and Anni on the merry-go-round.

The girls loved their horses!

And Max loved his deer!  Anni was pretty stoic throughout the ride, but I'm pretty sure she loved it. :)

Greg didn't want Tirzah to be left out, so he took her on the super-slow train (Max and Nora rode it last year and looked bored out of their minds).  She was about as expressive as Anni!

Max was SO excited to ride the motorcycles...I think he remembered them from last year.  Nora and Elena shared the pink one (go figure), but I don't have any good pictures.

The last ride of the day was the alpine slide, as usual.  Max went down BY HIMSELF, which floored me.  He told us later, "It was fun, but it was a little bit scary."  You could definitely tell from watching his face as he came down!  The girls had to take turns going with Greg...once again, Tirzah didn't get left out.  This time, though, I think she at least smiled at the end!

I should put in this note:  I didn't expect Tirzah to like anything because this girl does not even like to swing.  I mean, at all!  You put her in a swing, and she might sit in it, but if you pull back and let go, she will stiffen up, start shaking, and shriek.  I think she finally likes to slide, though, which is why I was okay with her going on the alpine slide.

Walking back to the car after a fun Buddy Night

Friday night we went back to get our turkey sandwiches and strawberry shortcake and walk around a bit.  Nora and Elena got hearts painted on their arms, and Max got a dinosaur.  Here he is trying to growl like a T Rex!

On Sunday afternoon, we joined the other Rassis on our usual corner to watch the parade.

Waiting for the fire engines to get the parade started!

We got to see Katy in the band (but didn't get to hear her play!) :( ...

...as well as Caleb with the Roboteers.  They shot T-shirts out of the cannon that he is working on in this picture.

Here he noticed his corner of fans. :)

They had a different water-spraying tank than usual this year.  Kate and Lincoln stood on the roadside, wanting to get wet....all the other kids were running away!

Nora wanted to show Grandpa all of her candy!  Keep in mind this is only about a third through the parade!

Love Seth's crooked sunglasses.

I know I'm biased, but I do love this little girl so much!

Oh, and this little cutie, too!

Aaron Schock's people definitely win for the brightest part of the parade!  They were struggling with some of those balloons...we loved the breeze, but it was not the best for them!

Max with his balloon and some opened parade loot.

Tirzah watched from her spot in the shade with Grandpa.

The three oldest Keever boys walked with the 4H group and made sure to throw us some candy!

Max and Nora were not sad to see the motorcycles leave!

That night, Greg and the kids went through the candy stash.  The final count was:

62 Tootsie rolls

32 suckers

15 Smarties

7 bubble gums (thankfully Greg took these to work!  Gross!)

2 boxes of Nerds

31 chewy fruit candies

10 fruit snacks

18 hard candies

Basically that all adds up to a great bowl of 'incentive' sitting on top of the fridge! :)

We also got one of these:

Have you ever eaten one?  They taste good, but you have to get past the SUPER sour first layer.  Greg asked the kids if they wanted to try a piece of candy....well, what do you think they would answer?

Max was not pleased.

As he would say, "I don't love it!'

Nora, undeterred by Max's response, still wanted a lick.

"Augh!"

"Daddy, that's too spicy!"

Greg ended up eating it, of course, and I have a REALLY good picture of his face...and he even knew the sour was coming!  I'm going to be a nice wifey, though, and not post it....for now. :D

Turkey Fest, you were fun.  We're glad you came, and we're glad you're done!