Main Street runs through historic grapevine and is full of wonderful little boutique shops and restaurants. I could spend hours just exploring all there is to see there.
During Main Street Days, Main Street is closed off to traffic so arts and crafts vendors and food vendors can set up booths down the middle of the street. We've been here before when it was packed with people but we picked a good time to come this year. The temperatures were still mild and the crowd was light.
There are several windmills along Main Street and although I have taken lots of pictures of them in the past, I somehow can't resist just a few more pictures. I guess I kind of like windmills.
We watched a recreated Western gunfight. Nicholas had the best seat in the house, on Daddy's shoulders while eating candy he won as a prize at one of the booths.
I just had fun taking pictures of the kids...
..and the typical festival signage...
There is, of course, a story behind this next picture. We all have made THAT purchase at one time (or more!) in our lives. That purchase of the item that you just have to have, can't live without, if only you had it you'd use it all the time. But then that item that you just had to have sadly ends up in the bottom of your closet buried under all the other junk or in the "appliance graveyard" in that mystery cabinet above the refrigerator. This picture is about THAT product.
Stuart and I were newly married when I saw a commercial for a set of kitchen gadgets that could make perfect meat pies. You just put the dough in them and fold them over and they would be perfectly formed with beautifully crimped edges. I just knew I would use these all the time since we are from Louisiana, the home of the Natchitoches Meat Pie (Note: you have to actually be FROM Louisiana to know how to correctly pronouce Natchitoches!). The set even came with four different sizes so I could have big pies to little baby pies. I don't know how much they were but since they were sold on TV I'm going to guess that they were $19.99. I just had to have them! Needless to say, I made a few meat pies that never turned out that great because I never found the right dough recipe and then never touched the darned things again. So everytime we see a meat pie now, Stuart has to bug me by saying, "You know, if only we had the perfect mold for making meat pies, we could have these all the time!" Thanks, honey!
We moved on to the kayaks, which was our main reason for coming out to Main Street Days. Nicholas had done this last year and he couldn't wait to get back in the kayaks! They set up a giant pool and let kids try kayaking for free.
The kids wear life vests and get a brief training on how to paddle and off they go!
Every child that rode in a kayak was entered into a drawing for prizes. Nicholas really scored with his prize of a $50 pair of water boots! We hope to do some more kayaking on our own so these will come in handy.
We were all hot and tired by now so Stuart got some fresh squeezed lemonade. It was fun watching it being made right before our eyes. It tastes so much better than the powdered lemonade we always have at home. Maybe sometime I should dig out that citrus juicer that I had to have and make some fresh lemonade for my family!
Nicholas loved the giant ice cream cone stand.
Of course after posing for a picture in front of it, he had to support the business by trying their product :)
Mommy got one too...I mean, I got one for Rachel too.
Rachel enjoyed it but an amazing amount ended up all over her face, clothes, and stroller.
Nicholas was intrigued by the old jail cell on Main Street and wanted to pose for a picture inside it.
At Main Street Days there is always a big section just for kids complete with carnival rides, games, a petting zoo, etc. Unfortunately everything takes those silly tickets and we weren't feeling like standing in line for more tickets so we limited the kids to using up the tickets we had on hand. Nicholas played games and won the typical junky prizes.
I used some of the tickets to take Rachel on her first carousel ride. She loved it.
If you have sat through this entire post and you are still reading then you must be one of my children's grandparents. Hopefully this video will make the wait worthwhile. It's a video clip of the carousel ride. Sorry, it is of the WHOLE ride but since you are a grandparent surely you don't mind watching the whole thing (because if you have to wait for me to do any video editing then you will likely never get to see it at all!) Rachel LOVED this ride so much that she threw a complete fit when it was time to get off.
Needless to say, we had to ride it again and even big brother joined us this time around.
We love Main Street Days so we'll definitely be back again next year for more kayaks and carousels.
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