Carnival

Our summer bucket list always changes throughout the summer. Some things are added and others are deleted. The local fire companies in our area each host a six day carnival. A neighboring borough had theirs last week, and this week our borough is having their carnival. Naturally there weren't any carnivals last year. When Nadia was young we took her to three carnivals that were held within 10 minutes of our home. We used to buy her a hand stamp for the ride, but the price for those has risen quite a bit over the last 10 years. I don't recall exactly how many years it's been since we've attended a carnival, but it's been long enough that Oliver didn't remember what it was like. I've tried to do a few little things this week to make this week special for the boys while Nadia is in Oklahoma, so I agreed to their request to visit the carnival in our town last night. I don't plan on returning for a long time,

but at least now the boys should have a clear picture in their mind as to what a carnival is like. Milo was a big fan of the carnival as he loves to be at places where there are other dogs. I've never been inclined to give the kids money to play a game at a carnival as I realize it would be cheaper to buy the prizes at a store, but I did give Nadia money to play a game at this same carnival once in the past just so she would see that usually you don't get much for what you pay. Last night I paid for Oliver to ride two rides and for Ian to ride one ride and throw darts at a balloon. He was hoping to win a stuffed animal, but naturally that didn't happen. Lesson learned (I hope anyhow). Speaking of the bucket list, we've accomplished almost half of the items so far, and our summer will be half over near the end of this month.

The weather has been much cooler this week, which was great when Oliver and I took a couple of walks with Milo, but the boys didn't swim nearly as much. I got a text from a mom late on Tuesday afternoon saying that they had arrived safely at the university in Oklahoma. I have to say this is one of the very few times in my life I've wished that Nadia already had her own cell phone.

Yesterday I used a coupon for a free DVD rental at Redbox to get Tom & Jerry for the boys to watch. Tonight I'm taking them to see a production of Alice in Wonderland. Nadia would have been in this show if the performance dates didn't conflict with her trip to Oklahoma. She knows a lot of kids who are in the show.