Our First Fishers Freedom Festival

This weekend was the annual Fishers Freedom Festival. We sensed that it was a pretty big deal here so wanted to participate and get to know our new community a little better. Sometimes having a two year old can limit one's ability to participate in things but we were pleasantly surprised this weekend.

Addison did pretty well on Saturday when we took her to the park and walked through the giant tent of booths. Of course she enjoyed that; people kept handing her free suckers! Plus there was a Karate booth there with a couple of mascots (a panda and a tiger) and I later found out she thought she'd seen Tigger in the "tunnel" at the park. It was a very hot day though so there did come a point in time when it became quite apparent we needed to go. It was ok; our bags were overflowing with all the free things we probably don't need.

Yesterday after a fantastic morning at church (Addison is finally loving her class!) we went out to lunch with several people. For some reason Addison never got antsy and we found ourselves not leaving the restaurant until 2:00. Since the parade was set for 4:00, I decided to give her some quiet time watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and skip the nap so we would be able to get to the parade in time. We met up with our friends, the Naylors (who Addison adores). She enjoyed the parade, and especially enjoyed the stuffed Aaron's doggie that Sarah Naylor snagged for her. By the time the parade had ended it was about 5:30 and we had two paths to choose from. Do we just go home, eat dinner, and put her down for an early bedtime, or do we do something crazy like take her home, put her down for a nap at 5:45 so we can stay up for the fireworks? We decided to try the later and it actually proved to be successful. These were Addison's first live fireworks (she's never stayed up late enough for them). However she knew just what they were because as soon as they began she yelled out "Disney World!" (I think she's watched the intro to Disney movies a few times...). The noise didn't bother her a bit (I didn't think it would) and she really seemed to enjoy them when she wasn't being distracted by the 10 other things that kept catching her attention. (She was a little ADD watching the fireworks.)

In spite of our odd schedule yesterday, she went down for bed really well (at 11:00) and slept solid all night and is only now starting to stir at 9:00. What a relief. Experimenting with a toddler's routine and sleep schedule doesn't always go this well!


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