Fun in the Sun, Concert in the Park

Today was the long-awaited Fun in the Sun event at Root!  Brian was pretty excited about getting to go to school in his swimsuit, knowing there will be a lot of fun, messy, and wet activities today!  We started out with some breakfast in the classroom, and Brandon got an early Father’s day gift from Brian.  The kids did some morning activities while us parent volunteers got things set up outside the classroom.  We set up a bunch of different stations, from sponge races, to water balloon baseball, to paint water guns, to shaving cream madness, to bubble scavenger hunts.  Brandon was awesome, being the only dad there, he did all the heavy lifting for us, us his organizational skills helped a lot with the layout.  We had some extra time, and I’d found a bunch of sidewalk chalk that had been left outside among the clover, so I made some decorations for the stations that were on the paved areas.  When the kids came out, they were so surprised!  Mrs. Boswell organized the kids into groups, and they rotated through each of the stations.  We had to be a little quiet, since it turns out there was some end-of-grade testing going on, but the kids really had an awesome time!  Brian particularly loved the shaving cream and the paint water guns.  I helped out at the paint station, and Brandon had the sponge races, but after awhile, things sort of devolved into chaos and we all sort of helped out everywhere.  When it was time for things to wrap up, Mrs. Boswell let the kids use up the last of the water balloons all together (I was really glad we made so many, so they could do this!)  Then, as the kids were getting dressed and cleaned up, we helped clean up outside.  We were glad to be there to help out Mrs. Boswell, who had only recently been released from a long stay in the hospital, following a gall bladder surgery that had some complications.  The kids settled in and watched and episode of Wild Kratts, one of Brian’s current favorites!  You can see him getting down during the theme song. 😉  We headed out and went to work around lunchtime.  But that wasn’t all we had in store for today!

After work, we collected the children and went over to Neomonde to pick up supplies for an excellent middle eastern picnic.  The kids sang along to “Pompeii” by Bastille while we waited in the car, one of their favorite songs.  We were meeting the Orazis for an outdoor concert at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheater.  The theme was John Williams music, featuring Star Wars predominantly (sort of like the concert that I’d taken Brian to before!)  We met up with our friends, who had staked out a spot, and enjoyed a lovely picnic together, as the concert started.  It was a beautiful evening, not too warm, and not too cool, and the food and the company were just the best.  The 501st was on hand for photo ops, and I took the kids around to see the characters and let them pose for photos!  The Orazis had brought a box of Moon Pies for dessert (that was Nico’s idea!) and we all enjoyed those as the sun was setting.  Brian and Kendall probably hadn’t had one before, and they really got into it!  Jen had remembered the fun thing I’d forgotten to bring, a bunch of glow sticks for the kids!  That was really fun for them, especially as it got darker, and their attention spans got shorter, as the evening went on.  Brandon and I started thinking, we should probably look into getting some lawn chairs like the Orazis have.  It’s fun to sit on the blanket for awhile, but the chairs sure started looking nice after a couple hours!  We did make it all the way to the end, though, and the kids played with those glow sticks all the way back to the car (not a short trek!)  I ran into my friend Joni on the way, who I hadn’t seen in years!  That was a nice surprise to end the evening with.  All in all, a perfect early-summer day!