100% Pure Joy

Look at the delight on Natalie's face! These are pictures of my family at the Labor Day carnival at my husband's college. Mike and Natalie were on an enormous inflatable slide. Each society had a different attraction, contest, or food booth. My kids had a total blast! The weather was absolutely perfect, too. Good thing, because by the end of the afternoon we were all soaked.

Daniel got to dunk a student… I love this picture because it captures not only the student plunging into the tank, but Dan's absolute delight and celebration dance as well. Natalie also won a prize in a ring toss and a free taco donated from Taco Bell.

One really cool thing the students just loved was this huge homemade downhill water slide. They coated the side of a hill on campus with black sheeting, squirted dish soap all over it and turned the hoses on. Students went down on their backs, fronts, sides, in groups, standing up like a surfer, with great running starts, and if they got up enough momentum, plunged into a huge mud puddle at the end. It was a riot to watch. I thought my kids would be too scared, but they went down multiple times. My husband did not really want to do it (especially with about 100 students watching) but some of his students chased him down and bear-hugged him until he was soakign wet anyway, so off he went with the kids. Being in a denim skirt myself, I declined.
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The kids also enjoyed being allowed to clobber each other in this giant inflatable boxing ring. They declined to do the inflatable Sumo Wrestler attraction, though, because of the wait line. You can't see it, but their mouths are blue with sno-cones, too. It was a fantastic, classic end to our summer.