I’m summarizing TWO big events in one post because I’m so far behind on what’s been happening around here. Last weekend was a big one for our family! On Friday night, we went to the kiddie carnival in Athens for the first (and most likely ONLY) time this summer. And, on Saturday, we spent most of the day at Joe Wheeler for the annual Dvorak family reunion. It was a jam packed weekend full of hot weather, lots of sweating, good food, and fun with friends and family.
Last Friday, I believe the high temperature was like 97 degrees. Travis got home early that day from work after going to a dentist appointment, and decided to try to cut the grass before we went to the carnival. Not the best idea ever in such high temperatures! He came in feeling terrible and it carried over for most of the rest of the weekend. Thankfully, we were still able to go to the carnival after he started feeling a little better. The Lovelesses were planning to come, but they ended up not being able to at the last minute, but the Hoods still met us there. Of course, Brooklyn loved riding the rides with Nathan!
We got there before the Hoods did, so we let Brooklyn ride something by herself first! She chose the airplanes! We actually got a few smiles out of her this year as opposed to last ;)
She picked out the purple plane herself and wanted to hold the gun the whole time…haha
Nathan and his family arrived after Brooklyn finished riding the airplane ride, so they hopped on the swings together next. I think Brooklyn thought we were waiting for the cars, so she was a little upset to get on the swings…but she ended up enjoying it like we knew she would!
Next up, it was time to ride the cars! By this point in the evening, the lines were getting longer, so we had to wait a little while for this ride. I think it was worth the wait! See the little girl in the orange car? Yep, it’s Savannah–riding her first carnival ride!
She did great on the ride overall! She started leaning a little too far back in her seat, so they ended up stopping the ride for a minute to straighten her up (and she didn’t appreciate a strange person touching her, of course!), but other than that, she seemed to enjoy/tolerate it! ;)
There’s Gabriel!
Hey! A smile from Brooklyn the Stoic!
Savannah was okay with the volunteers as long as they didn’t get too close ;)
A little smile from Savannah too!
Riding this car…
…wears me out!
After the car ride was over, Brooklyn and Nathan went over to ride the “scrambler”. It’s Nathan’s favorite ride (I think), and Brooklyn loves it too!
Savannah hung out in the stroller for a few minutes that evening, but she mostly wanted to get down and go!
(She practiced walking all over the front yard before we left for the carnival. It was too cute!)
Daddy and his littlest girl :)
After the scrambler, it was time for a snack break: snow cones!
They both picked red instead of purple. Brooklyn surprised me and didn’t want to finish hers….
…so Little Sis got to eat some too! Normally, she makes faces when she eats something cold, but I think it tasted good to her because it was so warm outside!
This was the final ride of the evening—the “umbrella” ride! Nathan hadn’t done this one before, but I think they both enjoyed it!
Of course, Brooklyn didn’t feel the need to hold on to the bar. No fear!
Cheese!
We tried a quick photoshoot after the last ride. We considered it a success to get all 4 kids to sit on the bench and stay put–who cares if they are looking and smiling! :)
It was a pure coincidence that all the kids showed up wearing red and blue that night!
Love this girl!
At this point, they announced that they were closing down all the rides due to (heat) lightning in the area. There was never any rain or thunder, but I think they were just being extra cautious. So, we hopped in line for cotton candy and called it a night after that. Brooklyn was being extra silly at this point—it was way past her usual bedtime!
Yum! (Brooklyn called it “cotton balls”…haha)
We had a great evening at the carnival, and the girls did really well overall. No major meltdowns, so we considered it a win! I was hoping to do the carousel with Savannah, and Brooklyn wanted to ride the roller coaster, but there’s always next year! :)
The next day (Saturday) was the annual Dvorak family reunion at Joe Wheeler. We were aiming to get there by mid-morning, but of course, it was almost 11 by the time we arrived. Since having kids, we can’t seem to get there much earlier than that!
Group photo: We were missing Debbie, David, Lauren, and Quinn, but I think everyone else was there!
Katie brought a small play yard for the little ones. Savannah spent a few minutes in there, but she is in that stage where she does not want to be contained! Vivie is getting so big and cute!
The new hit this year at the reunion was a blow-up pool for the kids! They played in it before lunch and off and on all afternoon. By the end of the day, the pool was full of grass and dirt…haha!
Travis still wasn’t feeling great that day either, so he and Savannah took a little nap in the chair together.
Grandpa and Brooklyn worked on a puzzle together for a few minutes, but of course, she didn’t want to sit still long enough to do the whole thing. There was too much to do!
There was a small playground nearby, so we went to play on that for a few minutes after lunch. I think this was taken right before Brooklyn had an accident…ugh. Apparently, there wasn’t time to go potty either ;)
Uncle Allen brought a pinata for the kids, so they took turns hitting it with a stick. It was pretty entertaining to watch!
Even Savannah took a turn! :)
Graham couldn’t break it open either! (We eventually had to call in the “big kids” to take a turn…and finally it broke!)
Savannah walked all over the place that day and only took one short cat nap. She really did great for probably being so tired!
At one point, Brooklyn ended up back in the pool with her clothes on…haha. That pool provided lots of fun all afternoon for Graham and Brooklyn!
It was a great day overall! I wish Travis had been feeling better, but he toughed it out :) Reunions are a little different these days; we do more “kid chasing/supervising” than anything else, and it’s more difficult to actually catch up with anyone, but maybe we will get back that one day when the kids are a little older. We used to enjoy playing tennis at the reunions, so I’m hoping we will get to do that one year soon too :) Â I’m reminded every year at the reunion how thankful I am to have married into such a great family that enjoys being together!
