Last night we went to my mom's house. Her town has a back to school celebration called "Night Out America," and since school started back on Monday, they had the festival of sorts last night. We went with my Mom, Grandma, Jana, Katie, Emily, and Corey. Donnie met us after he finished at school.
It is alot of fun - we went last year too. They have a giant slide and jumping houses set up for the kids. At one point, the Princess house came tumbling down and they were yelling for everyone to get out. Some of the kids were screaming and running around confused so Katie went through the house and helped all of the other little kids out before making her escape. She was quite the hero.
They also have clowns, a fire dog, Elmo, and Curious George walking around for photo ops. Sydney wanted to look, but since they were bigger in real life than on the television, she kept her distance.
The Army had a rock climbing wall - which none of us attempted.
They have a stage where live bands perform - I heard two Christian "rock" bands (remember, this is the South). One is the same group that performed at the 4th of July festival at a local church, and the other was a group of young guys. They were probably not even old enough to drive, but they were talented. Their songs had a nice rhythm, but their lyrics sounded more like commercials for athletic shoes than hymns of worship. Anyhoo...
Then they have things from all of the local restaurants and businesses that wish to participate. Here is a list of some of the things they were giving out for free:
Home Depot: Construction aprons and assemble-it-yourself projects. They even had a "workshop" area set up where you could put your item together, using their stuff. Sydney chose a wooden tool box.
Hampton Police Department: I still can't understand why they were there, since we weren't in Hampton. Anyway, they gave out coloring books on safety and crayons, and key chains.
The Henry County police and McDonough police brought in a helicopter and special vehicles for display, and they handed out little badges. The fire department brought in their trucks and handed out hats.
A tanning salon had a "Pluck a Duck" game set up where you could win candy, lotions, leis, and even money. Sydney won a candy flower. It was gross.
Gold's Gym handed out key chains and coupons - as well as info on the gym.
Henry County Parks and Recreation Department handed out t-shirts.
Another group - I don't know if it who it was exactly - gave out school supplies to all of the kids, according to what grade they were in this year. My niece in elementary school received a lot of cool things, my niece in middle school got a notebook and pack of paper. I guess elementary school really is more fun.
There were a couple of other groups around for hobbyists - model cars, vintage cars, other random things - and businesses just there to give out info (like ADT home security), but the main reason we went was for this next group:
Cici's Pizza gave out free slices of pizza.
Longhorn Steakhouse gave out steak and onion petals (YUMMY!).
Nathan's Famous gave out hotdogs, corndogs, and lemonade.
Gezzo's Grille gave out mini fijitas.
Chick-fil-A gave out Chicken strips and their new sauce (really good).
Hooters gave out hot wings - and magazines. Can you believe this place has a magazine? I wondered about the men who openly picked one up and then went off to show it to their wives...
One church gave out snow cones, and another gave out ice cream and otter pops (like from an ice cream truck).
Another church gave out popcorn, and one gave away drinks.
Target gave out blinky lights for your bike, pencils, teddy grahams, chocolate chip cookies, drinks, and coupons. Target drinks were actual Coke products, not the cheapy generic brands which have way too much sugar.
There were coolers of water set up all around the place - since it was out side and over 90 degrees, plus the humidity kills you...
All in all it was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to next year's already!
Sydney really enjoyed her fireman's hat - she refused to take it off even hours later!
