i'll have three tickets to extended naptime please

once the campers had their t-shirts properly decorated, we scooted over to the cashiers town square for a day of fun at the festival.  before we staked out our seats for the music and the fireworks that night, though, we turned the kids loose on what seemed to be an eighteen-acre land of entertainment.  there were monkey bars:

slides:

and really cool poles that made jack think he was a fireman.

(too bad he had to have papaw help hoist him up so he could actually exercise his new-found fireman skills.)

there was a fantastic old red tractor there, too, that i decided i really needed for some sessions coming up.   but hard as i tried, i just couldn't figure out how i could get it back to alabama with me.  I-85 doesn't seem very tractor-friendly.

but the highlight of the playground was most definitely the tire swing.  it may look pretty tame...

but let me slow my shutter speed down just a bit so you can get a feel for what it was really like.

it looked like so much fun that i decided to give it a go myself.  abby and i were having a nice little ride...

that is until man of muscles came along.  josh thought we would enjoy a bit of a more, um, adventurous spin on the old tire swing.

**i would like to point out to all you fellow alabamians that i was wearing a sweatshirt in the photos above.  in case you're not familiar with said clothing, a sweatshirt is designed to keep one warm when the weather is chilly outside.  it was heaven.**

jack was digging the swing, but what he really wanted to do was play chase with daddy.  wish granted, my son.

while the guys ran off some of that unbridled boy energy, izzy and i slowed it down for a game of "make this face".

smiley face:

crazy face:

kissy face:

and my personal favorite (and izzy's specialty)..."do your eyes":

"make this face" is a game of ultimate focus and concentration, and it must have taken it out of izzy because this is how she spent the next thirty minutes on the playground...

when the troops started to fade, we spread our blanket and perched our chairs in the grass near the stage so we could listen to the music.  and let me tell you, you ain't heard nothin' til you hear "sweet tater" rip it up on their gee-tars.

stay tuned, my friends.  you don't want to miss this!