The Adventures of Xavier and Bennett: Rogues Hollow Fest 2009

August 7 and 8th, Doylestown held its annual street festival and parade. I was scheduled to work that evening, but with the help of two great friends at work (Sara and Annette!) I was able to take some time off to see Bennett in his FIRST PARADE!! Alright, so he was just walking with the Vacation Bible School group from church, but still...this is big-time stuff in the land of parenting.

Here are some pictures of Xavier, Nick, and Nick's parents waiting for the parade to begin. Xavier was seriously loving all the attention he was getting.

X has made great strides in tolerating crowds, noise, and commotion in general. Chaos no longer makes him anxious, instead he deals with it well, and really, I'd go so far as to say that he enjoys it. Two years ago, the parade was a challenge for him. This year, he was totally enthralled. He laughed and shrieked with happiness through the entire thing and kept saying "MORE!" He was especially thrilled with the bands. We all know how Xavier loves music. :-)

Here's Benny, walking by us in the parade. Actually, at the moment I snapped this, he saw us and promptly decided he was done walking because he had spotted a giant Spiderman balloon and came to me to beg for it. HA!! That's Aunt Court there right behind him, with the classic, "Oh-my...what is Bennett up to now!?" look and body positioning. All adults tend to have this particular expression and stance at some point when interacting with Ben. I love him, but he's crazy fast and curious. ;-)I can't look at this picture without laughing.

After the parade, we met in the church parking lot to have a treat. Here's Clara...

...and Ben (wearing the shirts they made at VBS)...

...and B and Gabe enjoying their ice cream bars...

The mini horses had their trailer in the parking lot. Ben and Clara were excited to watch them walk by.

And Bennett snuck in a little pat. :-)

Mallory and Xavier entertained each other for awhile too. She's a glasses thief. Sneaky girl is distracting X, getting him to laugh at her, so he doesn't expect what's coming.

Now, she quickly moves in for the swipe...

...and success!! (so funny - look how pleased she is with herself! and how bewildered, yet patient, X is ;-)

Saturday night, Nick and I risked our lives to go out onto the roof to catch the festival fireworks. Well, Nick wasn't risking his. But, clearly, I am clumsy, and therefore was risking mine. I guess it was worth the gamble though, because there was a perfect spot right through some trees where we could see the entire show.