FIBArk weekend

kennedie & i made our way to salida, my hometown, this weekend for FIBArk - an annual boating festival, complete with carnival, parade, live music, merchandise & food tents & yes, a beer garden :)

i think in my 26 years since my family moved to salida, i've missed this event only a hand full of times. 

we got into town on friday afternoon, met up with my sister (auntie t.t. as she is so lovingly referred to by her niece) & headed downtown. first stop - free face painting booth :) 

after taking a look around the park, we grabbed some ice cream & headed at the bridge to see what was happening in the water. kennedie enjoyed watching the free style kayakers practicing in the hole - she also wanted to go play in the water, which mommy wasn't going to let happen after our last river encounter (see previous happy birthday grandpa post). 

auntie t.t was trying to make kennedie smile & look at the camera at the same time

t.t. had a 10 yr high school reunion to go to - whoa is she old ;) - so kennedie & i headed back grandpa's. we went out to dinner then headed back to the house so kennedie could get some shut-eye & mommy could enjoy the beer tent & live music with auntie t.t. (our DD), uncle matt & their friends who were in town for the festivities. the park closed down at 10ish so we went over to a local bar & were thoroughly entertained by both the techno-style band but mostly by the intoxicated people dancing to the music :)

saturday morning was parade time! t.t & her friend katherine met us at grandpa's house & we went down to grab a sweet spot on the street to watch! kennedie loved the parade & collecting all the candy that came with it :)

here are the picture captions  - from top row l-r (they're kind of mixed up!) putting some candies in her bag; checking out the stash so far; patiently waiting for the parade to begin - row 2: collecting her goodies - mommy liked the floats throwing little bags of gold fish; kennedie liked the candy better; group photo - row 3: enjoying her first ever icy pop - thrown from a float - very smart on a hot sunny day!; wasn't anticipating the clown hug - she just wanted to give him a high five; showing off her blue tongue after a sucker

after the parade, we stopped at amica's for lunch. lunch was followed by walking around the park some more in hopes of kennedie napping in the stroller - which worked for a while. during her short nap mommy & auntie t.t. played a fun game just outside of the beer tent! 

guess what game it was?

a giant connect 4!! mommy won :)

after kennedie's short lived nap - she was woken by the awesome karaokers - and mommy's failed attempts to get her to nap some more, we headed to grandpa's to chill & watch a movie - curious george. we went back down to the park to watch the hooligan race & so that kennedie could enjoy the 'kid's oasis' - they fenced off the park part of the park (if that makes sense) and put up some jumpy castles which she just had to get in! however, a bouncy castle full of kids is quite different that her own that she gets to play in by herself - therefore she spent most of her 2 1/2 minutes inside telling the kids to 'be careful kids' & 'stop kids stop' hence the short duration of her jumping. she found solice in the clown who made balloon creations & chose a green sword (really?) from him. 

that's her pirate face - arg!

kennedie played at the oasis - in the sand & on the swings - until past bed time! so we grabbed some park food for dinner & headed home. mommy, grandpa & grandma carla enjoyed some 'enhanced' hot chocolate (odd choice you might think, but the wind was pretty chilly while we were out!) while kennedie ate her left over pizza & an orange for dinner. 

overall we had a fantastic FIBArk (First In Boating on the Arkansas) weekend!