Carnival Before Chaos

I had a little flashback moment when I turned on my camera today and saw these pictures. I was immediately whisked back to a time before the nearly out-of-the-blue move. When I say "before," I mean mere hours before the whole soap opera with the shady landlord and neighbors started to unfold. These pictures, while filled with fun and action, reflect the calm before the storm.

We all had a wonderful time on that Sunday afternoon at Jax's school carnival. As a little girl, I was freakishly obsessed with the movie Grease. I watched that movie more times than I care to admit and I can still recite pretty much every line from memory. Scary, I know! Anyway...walking down the carnival midway, I couldn't help thinking of the carnival scene from Grease. It was almost like Sandy & Danny would come prancing by at any moment. Sadly, that didn't happen. I guess Travolta and Newton-John had better things to do that day.

The boys and I made the most of the afternoon. Anh and I took turns riding the rides. I don't do ferris wheels. There's just something unsettling about the idea of riding in some rickty, swinging bucket high into the air, and don't even get me started on the ride operators! Call me judgemental, but they don't usually instill confidence. I always wonder if they truly took the time to tighten each and every bolt. That's why it's a good thing the boys have Anh to counter-balance my paranoid thoughts. He didn't think twice about climbing aboard with Jax and Baylor. Luckily for Anh, Jax and Baylor were able to ride the spinning spaceship by themselves. Spinning rides are where mommy saves the day because daddy is prone to motion sickness.Anh did take one for the team on the carousel though. I guess he's immune to the slow whirl because he's never had an issue with them.Baylor took his first spin on a roller coaster that afternoon. I'm pretty sure he liked it. Like Jax, he seems to internalize his fear as opposed to crying or making a scene. When the ride came to an end, Baylor was all smiles though. Jax, however, said he didn't like it. Maybe he's the one that should have been seated next to mom.The coaster didn't leave any lasting emotional scars for Jax. Within a few minutes, he was climbing in what I know as The Scrambler with his buddy Brennan. Although, you can see from his expression, he doesn't look entirely confident in his decision.The highlight of the carnival had to be these giant "hamster balls!" I was sooooo jealous of Jax because this attraction was only for kids. Not fair! Parents should get to have a little fun too! That's okay. Anh has promised to look into buying one of these for our new pool. I hope he wasn't kidding. Can you imagine the fun that we could have with one of our very own or even better TWO?!?!