Canoe Carnival weekend

Friday night, after I put the kids to bed, I was exhausted but decided to go over to Jim's house to return his waterproof camera he had lent me and enjoy the festivities. Canoe Carnival weekend is huge in Medford Lakes, and frankly it's kind of hard to explain. But every year the town gathers in groups and constructs huge floats that are canoed around the lake on platforms secured to canoes. The night before canoe carnival (Friday night) is always the "festival of lights", usually coined "mardi gras". My brother lives on this lakes, and everyone decorates their house with lights and such and have parties around the lake. Some people canoe around, others just party. My brother had a small gathering, which was nice. And really yummy mojitos!


Saturday morning I put Jason in the jogging stroller and Tyler and I walked to the farmer's market. They had extra vendors and activities, due to it being canoe carnival weekend. Tyler got to do 2 crafts: he got to make his own miniature canoe carnival float and see if it it did in fact float and then he got to decorate a little canoe. He had fun with both, while Jason had fun splashing the water all over himselves. Afterwards they both got their hands painted. Jason insisted on this. It's funny how he gets his point across without saying a word.







On Saturday evening it was finally canoe carnival. I took the boys to go visit my grandparents for a bit, before being met by my parents. We parked there and walked over to my brother Jim and Cara's, along with Marc and Jamey and Muriel and Jim. Beth and Erich weren't far behind us with the girls. There were other people as well, including a girl scout troop that had assembled a float and were launching it from my brother and Cara's place. So it was a large crowd, but very manageable compared to most houses I've been to at canoe carnival. Way more "kid-friendly" than past years. We ate some yummy food, the older kids played on the playground, and I followed around Jason. The canoe carnival didn't' get started until maybe 8:30 or later, but everyone loved it. Jason and Olivia sat and watched from chairs with the adults, Ty and Mackenzie watched from the swingset with the older kids, and my parents and their friends watched from the balcony. It was a great time with nice weather.















That night the boys weren't in bed until midnight. And yet Jason was still up at 5:20. Not fair! Late morning time I brought the boys to Al's moms place, for just a short while.

That night I asked my mom to accompany me to the lake so she could keep an eye on Jason while I helped Tyler out with his swimming. In reality Jason insisted on being with me while Tyler didn't need me much at all. Can't believe how much progress he has made in such a short time!