Labor Day Fun-er or something . . .

Monday was a wonderful Labor Day if I've ever had one. It was a beautiful day, it wasn't too hot at the Wellsville Founders Day Parade, the booths contained Sub Zero ice cream (which if you have not yet had the opportunity to experience it, you are truly missing out on life) and the Little Buckaroo Rodeo was as always enjoyable-except for the dreaded critter chase. But I digress.

At the parade I didn't see so many of the floats as I was watching my children run hap-hazardly into the street after candy. One thing I did lean, is that my Emma has a good heart. If she grabbed more than one candy, she made sure that Allie had caught one too, if not, one went into Allie's bag. They didn't run after candy if they noticed another kid running after it first and they were very generous at sharing their loot with the lazy adults who sat in the shade while they did all the work. I really love my girls!


Lunch eaten and over, we went down to the square to check out all the booths. It was fun and the girls got to go on super fun rides like a train and a balloon drop. Grandma Scanlon thought it would be a swell idea to get their faces painted . . . wait, what is that I heard you say. That would be correct, I DID major in theatrical make-up. And yes, my father-in-law is quite the expert himself. So why would we pay someone else $5 to do something that I am quite capable of doing? Good question. At the time I reasoned that it'll only take a second and the girls will be happy. After waiting for a good 15 minutes, Grandma volunteered to wait in line and I went to get Sub Zero Ice Cream. Oh, I was in heaven. Should have splurged for the large, medium was just not enough satisfaction. When I got back to the face paining tent 30 minutes later (if you can do math, which most of you know is my nemesis, that's 45 minutes total), my children were still waiting in line to get their faces painted. And who is that little girl in the chair-someone who arrived 10 minutes after we got in line? And why would that be? Okay, I admit, I snapped. A lot.

Observing the tent I was already a little put out at their professionalism, or lack there of. They were going slow, had too many options for efficiency, crummy brushes, zero organization, etc-they were already in the dog house from my well trained make-up eye. Seeing my sunburned children who had patiently waited in the heat for nearly an hour made me loose it. I grabbed my girls and told them that they were leaving, mentioning out loud, to no one in particular, that the wait time was ridiculous. As Emma and Allie sobbed and wailed I reminded them that I majored in make-up and could do anything these yo-yo's could in half the time and stormed off, hysterical children in tow. Promises of a face painting and ice cream soothed their feelings, so that's all good. I'm only glad that I didn't notice one happy surprise or I really would have lost it-they were re-using their sponges on each kid. They didn't wash or disinfect them between! The mood I was in, I really would have laid into them, so even though the need to be told, I wasn't in the frame of mind to do it.

After an exciting afternoon, and my later embarrassment at my behavior, we went to the Rodeo. Emma did the mutton busing! She rode a sheep and fell off doing a full flip! As soon as I get a copy of the video I will post it. Allie rode valiantly in the stick horse race and got second place! All kids 6 and under get to participate in the critter chase which consists of chickens, rabbits and kittens at one end of the corral and 50 kids on the other, they let the critters go and the kids have to catch them. What you catch you keep. Emma proudly came out of the chase with a rooster bigger than Kyra! Since Clearfield recently passed an ordinance that you can't keep chickens at a normal residence Branson (which she has named him) now happily resides at my parents ranch along with Barbie (which she named the white rooster that someone gave us as they tried to escape the rodeo) and unknown, Josh Barlow's catch.


Thanks to those who came to play, come next year for those who didn't and forgive this seriously long entry. I'm trying to stretch my writing muscles!