big eli

saturday morning ended with a ride on the ferris wheel.
as matt and micah got in line all kinds of memories swirled inside my brain.

12 years ago on april first, matt asked me to marry him on a ferris wheel in iowa. there was a small carnival going on in the parking lot of our local mall and he grabbed my hand and walked me over to it. we went around once, then twice and i looked off into the distance pretending that i didn't know what was about to happen. i noticed he was digging around in his pocket and when he pulled out a little box we were at the top of the big eli.
in a mall parking lot.
in iowa.
and he was telling me he loved me and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.

fast forward 12 years and the next time matt is riding a ferris wheel called the big eli it is with our children.
in a parking lot.
in florida.
isn't life crazy and special all at the same time?

12 years...
sigh

full circle.

fun in the son

this saturday to raise money for the gym that trinity is trying to build, the church hosted a carnival. complete with rides, games, a dunk tank and lots of food. micah had been counting down the days until we got to go. he also woke up saturday morning at 6:30, got dressed and put his shoes and socks on so that he was ready to go. we didn't leave until 9:30! by the time we did get there though he was ready and could hardly decide which ride to go on first.

beatrix reminds me of myself when i was little. red faced instantly when there is heat. she was pretty scared of the rides, but she had alot of fun playing in the dirt while we were waiting for micah.

micah watched the carnival go up in the church parking lot for a whole week. he would come home everyday and tell me what was new and what he couldn't wait to ride. the rock wall was VERY high on his list.

he did it too! not all the way but it was pretty high for him.

these are matt's senior boys. you may be wondering what is going on in this picture.
the church asked matt to be in the dunk tank saturday for a half an hour. these boys came out just to get a chance to dunk mr. harrison. here they are offering a ball to micah.

finally got him. the pastor told us that matt made almost all the money from the dunk tank in a half an hour. the boys kept going back and getting more tickets. it was pretty funny and i wish i had a video of it because the amount of razzing that matt was doing...well let's just say under normal conditions i don't think they would have missed.

going to try to get daddy wet.

got him with the third ball.

beebs giving it a shot.

"i'm so excited!"

i was there too. (grin)

now don't judge me, but i let my daughter go on a ride and she cried most of the time. micah rode this airplane ride 3 other times and every time he rode it she cried cause she wanted to go on it. i finally just put her on it and let her deal. she cried for a while and then matt and i started cheering her on and by the end she was smiling. sometimes you just have to let them see what it is all about.