water fun!

a cool new water park (think sprinklers, not slides) recently opened up close to our house. they had a grand opening on thursday that we weren't planning on participating in, but in the end we were so glad we did! they had invited a bunch of important people to take part in the grand opening - the mayor, some city of richland peeps, donators, and even big top the clown! the most well-received of these was, of course, big top! he had a loooong line of kids waiting for him to create a balloon animal for them. elise got a butterfly and lucas and emma got swords. he is one talented guy. my cousin had her concession trailer there and gave away free popcorn to everyone, which was also a huge hit! the park is amazing...something like 5,000 square feet of play. wow! and, the best part...it's only minutes away from my house! the kids had a lot of fun even though they weren't dressed for the occasion, and a snapshot of us ended up in our local paper. (check out pages 2 and 6. if you're wondering, the thing on my neck is probably a bug or a piece of food. i checked and there is nothing on my neck anymore. and, elise looks grumpy because she was scared of the guy-in-a-bunny costume that came to visit.) can't wait to go again!