All By Himself

Randy took the weekend off from the ER so that we could spend a little bit of family time together...something we definitely don't do enough of due to one thing or another (ie. Randy's work schedule). We were out and about Saturday night and discovered that a small carnival had set up just outside of town. Of course, it didn't take long for Josiah to start with his "pleeeese", "pleeeeese, daddy", "pleeeese, mommy", "I wanna go" once he saw all of the lights. It was late and past Laney's bedtime when we drove by so we promised that if it was still going on on tomorrow (Sunday afternoon/evening) that we would take him. Well, it was...so we were off.

Funny thing was that before we could go, we had to make sure that everyone was dressed warm, ready to handle the 55 degree weather. Boy, did my blood thin quickly or what!? 55 degrees and I'm needing a sweatshirt and gloves. Unfortunately, we had packed most of our winter gear away....but fortunately, I knew where the stuff was. I pulled out a fleece pullover and hat for Josiah that when it had been gifted to us it had been too big. I dressed Laney in a warm sleeper and pulled out Josiah's winter hat from last year for her (I planned on wearing her in the Baby Bjorn zipped up in one of Randy's sweatshirts so that she would be extra warm). And Randy and I pulled out our heavy sweatshirts and jeans. Okay, now we're ready.

Josiah was itching to get released from his car seat the minute we parked the car....just a few feet from the rides. He did really well and held Randy's hand whenever we were walking between rides. We bought Josiah the "ride all you want" bracelet (it was the same price as buying 20 tickets)....and in retrospect, it was a good purchase....he had so much fun!

Not only did Josiah have a blast, but the first ride of the evening (riding on a motorcycle, of course) was the first time that he's ridden ALL BY HIMSELF. Randy and I were very nervous since he'd never been on a ride without one of us by his side. We thought he would be scared and start crying as soon as the ride started....well, we should have given him more credit. He wore a smile, ear to ear, the moment his motorcycle jumped forward.

Now for pictures.....

He started off releasing just one hand, but a few minutes into the ride he was comfortable with doing the "rollercoaster wave". It was so funny to watch because after watching him do it a few times, a couple of other kiddos found their courage and copied him.

Josiah was very interested in riding on the ferris wheel..."I wanna go way up in the sky". And because I am fearful of heights I was wearing Laney, Randy was the blessed one to accompany Josiah on his very first ferris wheel ride.

There was also a band playing Mexican Cumbia music. Josiah loved watching the musicians playing their instruments, particularly the guitar, drums and piano. Excuse the slight bouncing...it's hard for me not to dance along. This is just a small glimpse into what we hear around town when we drive with our windows down. :-)

We had a fun night, a little cold, but a lot of fun! Even Laney enjoyed looking around at all of the muchas personas (many people) and luces bonitas (pretty lights).