Apple Blossom Time

This week has been Winchester's Apple Blossom Festival.  Growing up, we had the Asparagus Festival, but that doesn't really compare.  Every day here, there are different activities, parades, and parties.  I've been looking forward to  it since last year, when I couldn't go to any of it.  We still were not able to do too much, but we did take advantage of the fun on Friday, since Jackson had the day off for Apple Blossom. 

We left around noon to check out the street fair.  Parking and getting around is always the biggest challenge with these type of things, so I decided to park at the high school, where Jackson was going to participate in the kid's race, and then walk 1/2 mile to the street fair.  Armed with lots of water, the stroller, and lots of baby snacks, we were off!

I let the kids play one game each.  Of course they wanted to play the game that had the SCARIEST looking guy running the thing.  If any of you watch Community, he was totally a cross between "Star Burns" and the scuzzy carnival worker that Britta was into.  However, Wyatt won a stuffed snake, so we left happy.

The weather has been very summer-like lately.  Warm and super muggy.  I wanted to get out of the heat for a little bit, so we went to a yummy ice cream parlor and each got a cone.

Well, apparently all of the businesses have special "Apple Blossom prices" on their stuff, so these cones pretty much wiped out the rest of my cash.  Luckily I had a couple of bucks left, so Jackson could play his game and win a stuffed snake too.  A huge rip off, but it was a fun couple of hours!

We then walked over to the high school again to check in for Jackson's race.  Here I was surprised to find that though we had to check in early, his age group wasn't going to race for three hours.  We had a looo-ng time to hang out and wait.

Jackson was so excited to run this race.  He was needing some new play shoes, so we picked out some running shoes (with laces! :) ).  On Thursday night, Jackson practiced running a mile with me (his request).  It was really cute to see him so serious about it.

Cute Anna girl, being such a trooper through it all.

Wyatt found a way to keep himself happy as well: dirt!

Luckily, our long wait was made much more fun with some friends from the ward.  Brittany and her kids came a bit later, and then Erik, Tory, and Derek came from work.  There were a lot of people at this race too.  I read in the paper that over 1200 kids ran in the race!!!  Crazy!

Playing peek a boo :)

They both look really upset here, but I don't think they were.  He says he wasn't, but Jackson looked like he was getting a little nervous right before it was his turn.

Gathering all of the boys ages 6-7.

I know this a bit ridiculous, but I got pretty choked up seeing Jackson over with all of the kids on his own, without parents, etc.  It made me realize how big and grown up he's getting!

Anna was getting pretty restless by this point.  Erik and would take turns walking around with her and watching the race.

Wyatt was adorable cheering Jackson on.  He was super loud and took his job seriously! :)

 

Here he comes to finish line!

Jackson and Austin with their new hardware :)

So proud!  When I asked him how he did, he told me during that during the race, he ran and jogged the whole time with lots of walking breaks. :) Go Jackson!

Immediately after the race, there was the fire fighter's parade.  I was so done with trying to keep Anna (who getting fussier and fussier) happy amongst all the people, so I wanted to just go home.  Erik however, convinced me to at least stay for a few minutes.  The boys really wanted to see the parade, so I gave in.

I'm totally happy I did too, because Anna fell asleep in the stroller on the walk over.  We found some nice seats, there was a cool breeze starting to blow as the sun set, and I was finally able to relax- ahh :)

 

We all loved the marching bands.  That's my favorite part.  Anna stayed asleep for quite a while, even when a loud cymbal would crash right next to us!

Does it look like I let my kids drink one of the many alcoholic beverages that were being enjoyed by most everyone surrounding us?? :)

Wyatt was a big fan of all of the tractors that came through.  Well, he loved the whole thing actually.  He wanted to know the name of every fire engine, and what station they were from.

A little before 8, we called it a night and headed home.  I'm sure in a few year's time we'll do more for Apple Blossom.  Stay for the fire works, go to the Marquee parade on Saturday (this year's featured Mario Lopez-haha), but for now we got our fill of Apple Blossom and loved it! :)