Jamboree Days

This weekend was the Picture Butte's annual Jamboree Days. This year was the 50th anniversary of the Town of Picture Butte. Mike was busy all weekend so he missed out on the fun. It also meant that I was doing this by myself.

The festivities kicked off with a tractor pull and a dance, neither of which we attended. What we did attend on Day 1 was the fireworks. The fireworks were scheduled to start at 10:00 p.m. The boys' bed time is 8:30. To prepare to keep the kids up I planned a late supper followed an hour or so later by cookies. It worked pretty well. Kenny, who remembered what fireworks are, was excited.


I was a little worried about how my 5 month old baby was going to handle this, so I called for help. I was lucky enough to catch my sister as she left work at 9:00 to come and join us. Giving her just enough time to drive out and have a snack while I got the kids ready.




The fireworks are only a couple blocks from the house so we decided to watch from the front lawn. Shortly before 10:00 we headed out to set up and wait for the show to start.

Kenny and Auntie

A very sleepy Alex

When the fireworks started we couldn't see too well due to our neighbour's trees so we moved a few yards to Afton's car. Where we could see most of it. What we couldn't see was mostly behind a weeping willow so the effect was that of a "burning bush".

It was a great display. As it was the 50th anniversary, they put extra money into it. Both of the boys loved it. Hannah was completely indifferent. She was looking at the car and the grass as often as she was looking at the pretty lights. I am glad I didn't take her closer though. It was loud enough as it was.


The kids were up past 11:00 that night but it didn't stop them from waking up before 7:00 the next morning.

Saturday was a cold and rainy day. We bundled up warm and walked the three blocks to the parade even though I couldn't find the umbrella. We got there early and it was cold so we walked up and down the block a couple of times before we picked a spot to sit. We found a nice tree to sit under.

Alex and Kenny

Hannah and Kenny

Tuned out that we had chosen a spot right at the end on the parade, but only half a block away from the beginning. As the boys couldn't wait we walked to the end of the block to watch and collect candy.

There was a lot more competition at this parade that there was at their last so they didn't end up with as much candy. Kenny did however slow the parade down to retrieve a candy from the middle of the road. There was a bit of a gap and Ken decided to go for it. Luckily the float was far enough away to see him and stop while he ran back to me.


Once the parade had passed we worked our way back down the block so we would not get caught by it on it's way back. We could have waited like some others for a second go, but why bother.

There were some childrens' activities schedule on the other side of town, but I decided that it was too far a walk on a wet day so we went home to enjoy our loot.

So ended our participation in Jamboree Days. The boys had fun, and we were kept just busy enough to not drive each other crazy while Daddy was away.