Movie and Parade

The end of summer offers many opportunities for us to participate in area small town festivities.  Being a small town girl myself, I LOVE these gatherings.  I love parades.  I love the occasional corn-dog and cheese curds.  I love randomly running into people I don't normally have the chance to visit.  I love being out in the fresh air and sunshine.  And, I love passing on these small town traditions to my kids.

Last night, we attended a "Movie in the Park."  A neighboring town was showing Puss in Boots on the big screen, but first, the evening opened with a magic show.

Look who was called up on stage to help; that would be Sweet Pea.  She did a great job!  I had just made my way back to our seats when I heard the magician say, "What's your name?"  And then I heard this little voice say, "Pumpkin."  So I turned around and took another picture.

No kidding, I was about to sit down when Cucumber was called up to assist.  Monkey said, "Sit down.  I'll take this next picture."  I had no sooner settled in when I saw this.

Yep.  Monkey was coerced up on stage as well.  This magician guy was good.

Eventually, it was time to show the movie.  Sweet Potato was the only one not with us, as he was spending the night at a friend's house.

The fresh air and late night knocked the kids out well into this morning.  We ate breakfast, got dressed, and headed in the opposite direction to another neighboring town to celebrate "Twine Ball Days."  Seriously.  This is some good stuff!

Settling in for the Twine Ball Parade.  Grandma (under the umbrella), Honey Bunches, Sissy #2, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Cucumber (giving the peace sign), Sweet Pea and Gummi.

The world's largest twine ball (rolled by one man), sits encased behind our group in the photo above.  The number of people who show up for this festival is remarkable.  The parade was fun and the kids collected candy equivalent to their body weight.  In years past, the parade has passed by twice, but the number of units increased so much this year that we only saw each unit once.

The giant Twine Ball even offered a shady spot to eat a "walking taco" for Sweet Pea.

A final note to our day. . .

We made our way home from Twine Ball Days, mid-afternoon, and the kids were exhausted.  After naps, we had planned on attending Reconciliation.  On the way to church I asked the kids if they wanted to recite the "Act of Contrition".  I explained that they can always write down what they want to share within the sacrament. Sometimes it helps us to remember all we want to say if it is written down.

Honey Bunches:  You mean like what Dad did the last time he went to Reconciliation?
Gummi:  Yeah.  He had three pages that he brought into the confessional.
Cucumber:  Whoa!  What the heck has Dad been up to?