This morning the we packed up the kids and the junk that accompanies them everywhere they go (water bottles, diapers…) and headed to the Long Grove Strawberry Festival.

Definitely not in the city anymore!

Long Grove has a quaint, historical downtown. At the festival, downtown is lined with food stalls, kiddy rides, and live entertainment.

The twins enjoying the music.

While the twins danced, Adam took the older boys on some of the bouncy houses that were not suitable for our 2 year olds.

It was a gorgeously sunny day and there was music, the smell of fried foods and lots of fun things for kids to do. How could anyone have a bad time?

Sadly, Ben’s tantrums reared their ugly head once again. It seems to be a certainty these days that no matter where we take him, he will have a bad time.

This one was caused by his inability to finish a wipeout style bouncy house obstacle course. He was paralyzed on top of the balls and even after a long line formed after him and Adam went in and physically bounced him on all the balls, he still wasn’t happy. He wanted to do it himself, even though he was too small to accomplish it on his own.

He ended up missing the rest of the rides because he didn’t want to do anymore rides until he conquered the big red balls.

Train ride without Ben.

Once again his trantrums put a dark cloud over the whole day. At least this time Adam was with me so I didn’t have to cover all the kids and deal with the tantrum too. Adam pushed the stroller which freed up my hands to tease Ben out of his mood by carrying him back to the car, pretending that he was on “the mommy ride”. It was a ride that bounced, spun and turned him back to normal.

Luckily I don’t think the other kids were as effected by Ben’s mood as we were. Who would notice a tantrum between train rides and trips to the candy store?

Aaron’s first cow poke. I think he likes it.