McKenna's first Carnival!

Dave was off of work, school, and clinicals for 5 days straight and we wanted to make sure to spend some fun time together as our little family of 3 before it becomes a family of 4! Luckily the St. Paul's Carnival at the beach was in town and provided just the fun we were looking for!!!

I did not have high expectations in going. My thoughts were that we would just walk around, maybe play some games, people watch, and eat a funnel cake :) They had a kiddie-ride-section at the carnival, but I was not going to assume McKenna would be interested at all in riding any of the rides. Our girl is not the bravest of 2.5 year olds and a lot of times does not recover quickly if hurt/scared/bothered, etc. I just knew as soon as we encouraged her to get on a ride, she would be the kid screaming her head off, willing the ride to stop, and we'd have to just stand there watching in horror as our kid is being scarred for life :)

Ummm...I was TOTALLY wrong!!!!!!

The first ride we saw was this little train ride. We simply asked McKenna if she wanted to ride it and she automatically said yes without any hesitation. I found myself holding my breath and whispering a prayer as Dave set her inside the train, buckled her seat belt, and stepped back. McKenna shared her seat with a little friend, so I was hoping this would provide her with a little "peer pressure" to be brave!

She had a BLAST!!!!! She didn't waver one bit. She could have ridden that choo-choo train a thousand times without batting an eye at us! I was SUCH a proud Mama. I know it totally sounds silly, but it was a really big deal on how brave she was! She waved triumphantly each time she passed us, and we waved wildly back at her like psychotic first time parents :) I think the girl could have asked for a pony after getting off this ride and we would have said yes because we were just so thrilled!



Next was this "fish merry-go-round" as McK named it. This one made me just as nervous (again- I know this is silly sounding), if not more, because she didn't have a "wheel" or "handles" to hold on to and the fish jerked up and down as well as went round and round. She also didn't have a friend to keep her company and it just didn't seem all that "safe/stable" :) But again we asked her if she wanted to ride and she said practically put out her hand for the tickets...so I held my breath, whispered another prayer, and waited for the herky-jerky-ride to start, along with McKenna's tears. The ride started and so did McKenna's smile...no tears, just complete confidence radiating from my little red head. She did have a death grip on the front her fish, but she was just as happy as can be. WHEW!!!!

McK is an expert on the carousal, so this ride did my heart good to take a break from beating so insanely fast and worrying :)

She met another new friend, Olivia, on the PINK motorcycle ride. By this time I had calmed down and didn't worry. She enjoyed this one just like the others.

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's McKenna & Superman! This was the last of the fun for Miss McK and it was a good one to end on. On this ride she not only waved to us but to all the other parents watching. She showed us just how brave she had become and lifted her hands up off the bar a bit as if to say, "Look Mom, no hands!" :)

There are moments when we just look at her and realized how fast she is growing up. She will look REALLY big once her sister comes into this family, but she is and will always be our little girl. This night just seemed to be a real eye-opener in how big she is becoming. It's a good feeling with only a tinge of sadness. We are proud of our brave, little red head and are excited to watch this confidence and independence grow.