Grill Fest Friday

Here's some pictures from Friday night at Embry's school. I'll narrate along with the photos...

When we arrived, we dropped off our guacamole and cake and picked up name tags. The event was supposed to for all of the new families to get acquainted with the other families at the school. So we were assigned a table (all set up in the playground and decked out with balloons)and a veteran family to sit with. Our partner family has 5 kids at the school including twins in Embry's class, so I was looking forward to meeting them. Unfortunately, they did not sit down to eat until long after we had finished, so I never got to meet them.

Shortly after we arrived they began the games. They also had face painting, but Embry, for some reason, is never interested in that sort of thing. But I didn't have to ask twice if she wanted to try the cake walk. Here she is walking in a circle to the music and waiting to see who won. She won on her third round, but was having so much fun that she just stayed in line and kept playing.

Finally, after she was tired of playing, I reminded her that she never collected her prize. She picked out a chocolate cupcake and she actually waited to eat it, until we sat down.

Matthew was less interested in playing games, and more interested in the grass and leaves. The picture below was him climbing up my leg to get to the camera.

We waited in line for some food, but by the time we got to it, the hot dogs were all gone and so was our guacamole (a huge 2 quart Tupperware full!). But there was tons of other food, though, and most of it was new to me and to Embry. Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, German, and lots more. She filled up her plate and she ate almost all of it! We were shocked. She never eats anything for dinner, let alone strange food she has never seen before. She finished quickly because while standing in line she noticed the ponies in the parking lot. She patiently waited for us to finish, and we made our way down to the animals. The people who brought the ponies also brought a few other animals for the kids to look at while they waited their turn. There was a duck, a chicken, a rabbit, and a goat. And then it was her turn..

She had the option of riding in a cart with some other kids behind a donkey instead, but when given the choice she said, "No, I want to ride the big one... by myself." I thought for sure she would get scared once we got down there and not want to do it, but she continued to surprise us and hopped right on. She took a slow lap around the parking lot as it was getting dark, and thanked the lady walking the pony when she was finished.

After the pony ride we went back up to the school building for some dessert. Even after eating her cupcake, and a big meal, Embry had room for a brownie and I grabbed J and I a couple of cream puffs (Yum!). We decided to leave shortly after because it was half an hour past Matthew's bedtime and he was getting pretty crabby. Embry cried because she had just got on the tire swing (her favorite thing on the playground) while I gathered up our dishes. We left earlier than most, but we noticed that not too many people brought their kids that were Matthew's age or younger.

Everyone was wore out but had a great time, and I know Embry will be looking forward to the next school event.