Applefest!

We were worried that we might not make it to Applefest in Bayfield this year, even though Auntie Dot, Grandma and the cousins were visiting and we planned  on meeting friends there.  It rained and rained all weekend, but the precipitation had dwindled to a drizzle by Sunday morning, so we loaded up all the people, umbrellas and raincoats and went for it!  I’m glad we did, because it was a lot of fun, as always, and it would have been sad to miss out.  Because of the weather, there weren’t as many people:  still a lot of people, but not as many, so you could actually navigate the streets with a group of eight children.  Only occasionally did someone get lost.  After about a half and hour or so, the drizzle dissipated, and we were left with a beautiful overcast day, and the PERFECT place along the street to watch the parade.  If you are a long time reader, you might recall that over the years we have had a lot of difficulty finding a good parade watching place, but this year we nailed it!

We staked out a patch of curb right next to a tiny little park where our troupe of kidlets could run and run off the sugar energy before the parade actually started and then hop right down on a comfy blanket to be entertained.  (YaYa and The Banana had just “had words” before this picture was snapped, and little Sammy never quite made it into the picture, but it’s mostly complete with kidlets!).

Upon arriving at Applefest, the two dads immediately headed to their favorite food places:  cheese curds, apple brats, caramel apples, apple cider, corn dogs, and I’m not even sure what else!  Our crew had a lot of food!  My favorite stop is always the apple pie sundae booth.

There may have also been a deep fried twinkie on a stick.

The Banana drank so much apple cider and water from her special new water bottle that she had to go to the bathroom three times during the parade.  Mr. SP and Mr. TOF also had to go to the bathroom during the parade, at separate times of course, which meant that Dr. Peds missed a great deal of the parade.

I had made the mistake of telling Mr. TOF a week in advance that when his cousins came, we would go see marching bands at a parade!  I should have known better.  Mr. TOF had seen a video clip of a marching band a few weeks ago, and ever since he’s been obsessed.  He asked if it were time to go to the “band place” every hour, every day, all week long.  When he woke up on Sunday morning and we told him “This is the day!” he was flying high.  The parades and all of the marching bands did NOT disappoint.  He loved it.  There were a few initial moments at the beginning of the parade when the very loud police and fire vehicles drove past that were a bit concerning to him.  He backed up away from the curb to the sidewalk and snuggled in next to Dr. Peds until they passed.  

Thankfully, Mr. TOF loves rescue vehicles, so his fascination with what was driving by made up for their noisy sirens that clipped in and out .

Every year I love the teensy students in this band from Butternut!  They always make me homesick for small schools in North Dakota.  The short, younger students are interdispersed all thoughout the band.  I love the euphonium player with the braided pony tail in this quick snapshot, along with the excellent small drummer (He was really very good!)  You can tell that those shorter students are holding their own with the older kids, and I LOVE that.  I just want to scoop them all up and start teaching again.

Mr. TOF wholeheartedly loved all the marching bands, and he’s been playing “band” all week:  waving flags, blowing whistles, carrying around drums and oboes, and finding various things that he can recycle into marching band hats.

We brought a chair for Grandma Kathy and the very, very pregnant Auntie Dot.  She’s such a trooper.  We can’t wait for that baby to arrive.  Mr. TOF kept asking her to take it out of her tummy right away.

KaKa loves YaYa.  YaYa loves KaKa.  Who doesn’t?  She’s incredibly irresistible.

 

Before we drove back home we made a super quick stop at the apple orchard to pick up a few bushels of MacIntosh apples for making applesauce to go along with the smaller bags of honeycrisp apples we had already bought on the street.