Today was the first day of the St. Peter annual Festival. The carnival rolled into town on Sunday night and by today, Catie was beside herself with excitement. The rides were running! We had already planned to spend Saturday taking Catie, Alexis, Nick and Cam for an all afternoon visit, but it was too much to ask her to go over and just have dinner.
"PLEASE, Grandma! I don't care if I get wet! Just ONE ride!" Of course, we eventually gave in. She had cleaned her room and done the dishes trying to make sure she had earned an extra pass. The rain didn't matter (to Catie) although Joe and I were freezing as we stood in the puddles, watching her thoroughly enjoy herself.
She found friends from school and hit the Pirate Ship first and continued to return to it over and over. It was her favorite ride. The Ferris Wheel got a try, the Tilt-a-Whirl was good for 2 or 3 rides and she was sampling a few others in between.
Andy felt sorry for us as we stood freezing and dripping and finally agreed to "watch" Catie for us. It was pretty funny when he would approach a ride and all the little girls on the ride began calling out his name. He was definitely too cool to respond, but did a great job keeping an eye on Catie and her little friends.
The pictures show it all. Look for more over the weekend as we take Alexis, Cameron and Nick on Saturday. Mike, Andy and Joe have volunteered to help and I am sure we will need a crew to keep track of all the little ones.
Although we enjoyed the carnival food, Mexican Fiesta, complete with Mexican dancers, the live band and the company of good and old friends, the best part of the night was seeing Catie smile.
