School Picnic Time

We all know how much I love going to St. Gabriel's school picnic.  This year was do different.  I started talking about the rides and what a carnival was a week before to get Gabe excited.  The  morning of the picnic, Scott and I really talked up how much fun the parade will be and the motorcycle rides. 

After a quick-ish stop at Donut Drive-In we headed to our spot around the park to eat and get ready for the parade to start.  This year was a little different.  We arrived a little later and only saw the parade once.  Which was good, we didn't need to get that much candy (we ended up with way more ending at the end of the parade).

As the parade went by Gabriel was a little shy about grabbing candy.  Once Scott helped him he wouldn't stop running out to get every. single. piece. of candy thrown at him.  Bennett wasn't too sure about all the noise and kids and stayed close to me throughout the parade.  The good part about being at the end of the parade was the old-time fire truck parked right in front of us and Gabe has his own private tour.   Lucky boy.

After the parade we got some tickets and started for the rides.  The motorcycles were first.  Gabe talked a big game about going on these all morning and was very excited.  Well, excited until Scott buckled him in and walked away. 

The terror on his face - zoom in on this one

After the terror of the motorcycles popping a wheelie and going in circles wore off, we opted for the safer ride, the Merry-Go-Round.  Of course we couldn't ride the horses - we had to sit on the bench the first time.  Then after watching Uncle Mike go, Gabe was ready to try the Merry-Go-Round a second time.  This time we had to do a horse since the bench was taken by Uncle Mike.  Gabe and Bennett loved riding the horses.  Maybe the rides were a little scary this year.  I'm sure next year he will be a little more excited to spin around. 

Since we still had a bunch of tickets left over we decided to play some games.  The trustworthy Duck Pond from my youth was still rocking.  And everyone is a winner at this game, what could go wrong?  Well we ran out of tickets and we had to pull children away from the booth. 

Since it was 90 by 10:30am we headed down to see the Birch's before walking back to the car.  Mathew was the only one home, so he got extra Gabe and Bennett time.  The boys love playing hockey with Mathew and they have a new appreciation for playing the piano. 

Mozart they aren't

I think it was a good thing Mathew was the only one home.  After a long walk back through the picnic to the car, we all were hot and ready for a/c and lunch.  Until next year school picnic, the unofficial South City holiday.