Away II :: the Hype
The true highlight of the visit to the In-Law’s last weekend that I talked about in the last post was hands down the town’s annual Sausage Festival. This event has been affectionately talked about since Matt and I first met, eliciting immature giggles from me at the very mention of Sausage Feast. Up until now, I have never actually been to this, and I was glad our kids have gotten the chance to share in something that was importantly formative as a fun highlight for Matt as a child.
Given that, I was more than ready (as were Matt’s Parent’s) to appease the kids in as many ways possible to ensure they experienced the full enjoyment of what the festival had to offer. That included me eagerly running over to the Cotton Candy stand the moment I spotted it. Yes, this was Araiya’s first taste of the pink spun sugar. I think she liked it. Tallis, however, was not as impressed until Araiya (and Mom) had nearly polished off the entire thing.
The Grandparents had stocked up on game tickets, more excited than the kids to play all the games. Once they both realized the ticket was magically exchanged for a prize, often candy, even Tallis was eagerly grabbing for them out of Grandma’s hands, dragging Matt’s parents back to the same games over and over. They walked away with a load of cheap prizes- lei’s, several necklaces, bracelets, lollipops, a hopping frog, smarties, a princess crown and a car- all stuffed into pockets, worn or shoved immediately into their eager mouths.
A major sugar rush ensued. Not just for them, I have to admit. I indulged in some funnel cake (how can you not??). Even Matt reminisced to his childhood and bowed to the lure of playing the Pop Top game. That’s the one where you throw the rings around the soda bottlenecks and win a soda. This one was the highlight for him and his siblings as children, as they were never allowed to have a whole soda at home. Matt apparently hasn’t lost his touch, as he walked away from one round with Three sodas. We refrained from giving the kids any, as they were far over the top of their body’s ability to process more sugar. They clutched lollipops, sticky faces and red tongues, until we yanked the last bits away as we loaded into the car.
Bedtime, far missed by this point, was quite a struggle that night, sacrificed at the expense of too much fun at a one-time event. Araiya fought falling asleep, finally passing out in shear exhaustion around 11:30, only to get up at 7am the next morning begging to eat her saved Smarties for breakfast. Yea right.
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great pics! looks like loads of fun…what memories to be made! on a technical side, how do you get your night shots so crisp?
Night shots without using the flash are tough. The best way is obviously with a tripod, but that involves lugging one around and setting it up. Generally, you can get down to 1/30th of a second shutter speed hand held without too much blur. If you brace the camera against something solid you can push that to 1/15th, sometimes 1/10th. Also try pushing your ISO to 800 or above. Granted, the shots are a bit grainier at the higher ISO numbers but better than total blur or far underexposed. This series of shots were either shot fully manual (M mode) or on shutter priority (S mode) with the camera held steady against a table, poll or even the stroller. Of course I threw out many of the photos I took that night so you only see the good ones 😉