Snips and Snails: The Great Midwest Balloon Fest

The Truth About Boys

My boys eat fish sticks or chicken nuggets at least four nights a week. They pick their noses and were born with the innate sense that farts are hilarious. The house is always cluttered, there are always crumbs in the seats of the car and sticky fingerprints on the windows. Sometimes they like to read books; most of the time books make good frisbees or weapons. Every toy in the house is missing at least one peice, making your brother cry is good entertainment and timeout is usually worth whatever you did to get there. Welcome to the Chretien house. Mothers have this constant voice in their head telling them that they could do better, their house could be cleaner, their waist smaller, and their kids more polite. I fall into this trap almost daily, and I am slowly learning that my success not measured by these standards. I may not be the perfect mom, but I know that my boys are happy. They know that they are loved, and they love each other. All day long they will fight over the same toy, the same book, the same spot on the couch. But, when evening comes, and they have sleepy eyes, jammied feet, and sweet smelling hair damp from bathtime, I know that we must be doing something right. This blog is dedicated to two sweet boys learning, playing, growing, and finding their place in the world, and to their mommy learning how to guide them.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Great Midwest Balloon Fest

With all of June and July consisting of 100 degree sweltering "dog days" of summer, we've really been aching for some nice weather and some fun, outdoor activities. This weekend we were blessed with some amazing weather- warm and dry days and crisp, cool nights. What a welcome change! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go visit the Midwest Balloon Festival. I had never been and kept seeing ads for it and people talking about it, so I was pretty excited. I wanted to make sure we were there at dusk, so that we could be there for the Balloon Glow. This is where all the balloons are inflated on the launch field, and they use their afterburners to illuminate the balloons. It was really cool! We were a little disappointed that they didn't actually launch any, but it was still a cool sight! The boys had a good time and were really well behaved, especially considering the dense crowds and the fact that they didn't get to do a whole lot of activities because there were just too many people. Cole settled for some face painting and time in the Arts and Crafts tent, and Aiden chose to wait in line to get to climb into real military tanks! Overall, we had a really great evening.