October 24, 2014

Balloon Bob


Pushing or foregoing naps is always a risky proposition with kids. I constantly find myself balancing the rewards of any outing against those risks of the disruption to our schedule, but I've discovered that I am much more willing to upturn a good nap routine with the second child than I was with the first (and I can only imagine this increases with each additional kid... because hello, we can't all just sit around and wait for the baby to wake up, can we? We can't!). 

This tenuous border between fun and exhaustion often means everything is super-perfect-happy-great, followed by epic melt-down-drama-nightmares, causing us (momentarily)  to regret  any attempt at an adventure. Our visit to the Harvest Festival was no exception to this pattern, and the final unraveling all circled around 'Balloon Bob'.

We learned the hard way that once you suggest the possibility of a balloon animal to a 3 and 3/4 year old, there is just no turning back. We also discovered that while balloon artists may have many impressive skills, time management is not necessarily one of them. After nearly an hour in line and countless popped balloons (I could seriously feel my nerves rising with every explosion!), a whole bunch of tears, and a very tired baby, Little Smith finally got to make his request for a 'blue spider'. The body was whipped and twisted together in pretty fast time, but the legs (oh the legs!). James quickly assessed how much time we were looking at for an eight legged spider, counted the kids in the line behind us, and amended our balloon to an abbreviated 'four legged spider'. Everyone was grateful!

I thought this balloon creature looked like a grasshopper, but Little Smith was adamant that it was a 'breviated spider, and he was totally smitten with that thing. Roo wanted to grab it too, cue the melt-downs... and then they both passed out in the car on the way home, with our four legged spider sandwiched between them. It later deflated by my mom's wood stove, and yeah, a few more tears may have been shed. Highs and lows, highs and lows :)

See all our Harvest Festival joy here

3 comments:

  1. Hahahaha! Oh I remember those meltdown days. Still, they make the best memories, really (though they are a pain in the neck at the time). What sweetie faces your babies have!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha ha! Oh, Lilly! I am laughing so hard right now... I HATE HATE HATE balloon animals. They are the bane of my existence, because they are always waited forever for, then the cause of many fights, then they pop immediately. I hate to be a party pooper, but whenever I see a balloon animal station, my spirits fade. Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Balloons are there simply to torture parents as far as I'm concerned. ;) Oh my gosh, your kids are so adorable. Look at her in that hat! I can't even...

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.