Ivan up on an elephant

Ivan down on an elephant

Ivan with his tall, green apple slushie

Friends waiting to go on the rides

Waiting for the bumper cars in the bright sunshine and heat

Sweaty, bumper car selfie. Ivan steered and I pushed the gas peddle. He wasn’t tall enough to go on by himself because he wouldn’t have been able to reach the peddle. There was a lot of spinning in circles, but he loved driving himself.

Ivan also won a stuffed penguin that he has named Flippers in a carnival fishing game. Flippers came home and Ivan had him join a stuffed animal meeting with 13 other stuffed animals. Then Ivan read him two stories – Go Away Big Green Monster and The Egg. He slept snuggled with Flippers last night.

But when asked what his favorite part of Grove Fest he said, “It was going on Zero Gravity. Oh yeah!” He also liked breaking a board at the karate class demonstration we stopped at and playing in the Train Station fountain. He threw a penny in and wished for me to not ever be bossy. Not my favorite wish – since “bossing him” is a parent’s job. We talked about it and he revised to wishing for me to not ever be grumpy with him. Seems unlikely, but a good wish.