Parades, Races, Fishing and Partying- OH MY!

This weekend was filled with so many fun activities. I'll warn you now that this post is full of too many pictures and information, but I had a hard time narrowing down my choices!

We started on Friday at the Grand Parade with Mom and the Coffields. The weather was glorious, and the kids loved the parade. We had a lot of fun!

Saturday morning started at the Small Fry Parade, where we watched Paul march with his Pre-school. Lee was thrilled to see him, and Paul was surprised to see us. He did a great job!

After a pit stop at Jack's Java and a visit with friends, we headed over to the Catfish Races. This event is sponsored by the local paper, and it raises money for Adult Literacy. It is always a lot of fun, and it is a big success each year.

While waiting for it to start, Lee stole Matt's cap so he could look like Alvin. I guess that makes Matt Simon!

Matt's catfish raced in the first heat. He shot out of Matt's hands, and then he stalled in the middle.

Matt tried to nudge him along.

It didn't work. He never would move, so Matt's fish didn't win the race.

But his Catfish name won the Grand Prize! Each business or organization names a catfish and writes a tall tale about the fish. Matt chose the name B'Rock O'Haula for his name, and he won!


I raced the fish for the Quota Club and won our heat. So between Matt and me, we won 3 gift certificates! We were so excited!!

We left the Catfish Races as soon as we raced our fish, so we could make it to our next event...the Junior Fishing Rodeo. This was Lee's first time to go fishing, and he loved it. The fish were not biting much today, so Lee didn't win a prize. But since he seemed to like it so well, we'll plan to take him fishing again soon.

Daddy helped him cast to avoid other fishermen, but he wanted no help reeling it in!

Then it was time for a break! The event lasted 3 hours, so we packed snacks and drinks.

Our last event of the day was not Fish Fry related. It was Paul's 4th Birthday Party! He had this awesome slide, a pinata and a pony to ride!

Hayes was the last kid to bat the pinata, and he was the one who sent the candy flying!

Lee was thrilled with all the candy!

See??

Paul had a John Deere themed party. It was so cute! After he blew out the candles, he took the tractor off the cake and licked the icing off of all the wheels. He was so funny.

Hope got to party too!

Her mommy said no to the cake and ice cream though.

She loved playing with Uncle Matt's whiskers.

Paul's Pawpaw offered the kids a pony ride at the end of the party. Lee worked up the nerve to ride after some of the other kids had a turn. He loved her.

We started the day at 10:00 and got home at 7:15, so it was a l-o-n-g day, but we all had so much fun. We don't know what we're going to do with ourselves now that Fish Fry is over. We'll start longing for swimming pool weather now!