Western Days

It was Western Days here in Elgin the past few days. Its a city wide event with a carnival, parade, pageant, sporting competitions, crafts and fried food.

For us, Western Days is about the softball tournament. We entered last year with a rag tag team and had fun. This year, a more competitive team was formed.
We spent all day at the fields and had a good time. The team went one game further than last year.

In the elimination game, the team was down 10-5. They rallied back. With two outs, it was 10-9 bases loaded.... The hitter nailed  a great hit, but the short stop stretched and sno-coned the ball for an out. Heart Breaking to say the least.

 Trevor played outfield. We had several tents set up back here the entire day. They played games at 10am, 3pm, 4 pm and 6 pm.

 Trevor's last at bat. I moved way up to get these pics.

Here's this years team. Some we had just met, others are Elgin friends!

For the kids, Western days means the carnival. We have been driving by it as they set it up and as much as Trevor and I despise these type of amusement rides, there was no getting out of taking the boys to ride some rides.

The boys with Ryan and Cindy. They are spending the summer with these guys while I work. 

 How sweet is this boys face? His first roller coaster! 

 He held on the entire time!!! 

 Next was the spinning strawberries. They needed an adult, so Marissa, their other mother this summer, rode with them.

 If you look really closely, you can see Hamilton at the far left, with his hands close to his face. Not sure if he is scared or not. 

 Trevor had to ride this ride with the older boys. It was that back and forth crazy spinning ride. The boys loved it, Trevor, not so much! 

Hamilton was excited to do the dirt bikes since he wasn't tall enough for the previous ride. 

 More sweet boy pictures.

 Hollister thought it was funny to say, "Look mom!, No Hands!"

 For Hamilton, next was the fast cars. He had some boys join him. He was completely fine with that. He would even smile at the camera when their mom was taking pictures. It was so funny. 

 Hollister and Trevor were riding the Ferris wheel while Hamilton was driving. 

 Hamilton wasn't thrilled to ride the merry go round, but we had to get rid of the last tickets. He is riding a rooster. Come on, how is that not fun! 

 See, by the end, he was happy! This was moms one ride. I know, such a daredevil! 

It was a fun, hot weekend. So, today, we are relaxing and cleaning house. Except Dad and Hamilton. They headed up to see the remaining teams in the tournament. And of course, the rest of us are not shocked by that at all.