Mary Mary Quite Contrary

The theme for this year's Old Windsor Carnival was Nursery Rhymes. All of the schools and youth groups in the village put together a float (with a lot of help from local sponsors and parents).

Abigail rode on the Old Windsor PreSchool float and their nursery rhyme was Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. Abigail was one of many ladybirds (aka ladybugs, depending on which side of the Atlantic you live). There were flowers, bumblebees, butterflies, spiders, and scarecrows. It was beautifully decorated. I am envious of people who are so creative. Mostly I'm just glad their children go to Abigail's PreSchool.

We dropped Abigail off at 12:30 and went to get Sebastian's haircut (Steph - you will be relieved!). He looks so handsome. We used to fight with him each time we went. He would cry and fidget. He hated it. My little boy has grown up. He sat in the chair duly checking out every angle of the proceedings in the mirror. He never fidgeted and only complained once about the itchy hair clippings. He told the lady exactly what he wanted. When she was finished, he tipped her.


We returned to our home to grab lawn chairs and raced to the parade route. We made it just in time and I raced to take photographs. We got in the car and parked over by the recreational ground and positioned ourselves and our lawn chairs at the end of he route to catch it all again. I took loads of photos. You can find them all here on Flickr.

That is Abigail's childminder, Jackie as the Queen of Hearts. Her daughter, Georgina is the farthest on the right sitting.

This is our village bobby on the beat, Nick Preston. He has served our village for 25 years. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. It really makes a difference knowing that he's watching out for you!

We proceeded to the recreational grounds for the announcement of the float winner. Our little Abigail's float won The Grand First Prize! I know it was all because of one little ladybird that was just as cute as can be.

There were loads of stalls to see all raising money for the various organisations in the community: Scouts, Brownies, Women's Institute, the local boy's football club. Some had games, or bric-a-barc to sell. It was all very well done.

We rode some fun fair rides. Sebastian loves the bumper cars and Abigail really enjoyed the rides which is quite a difference on last year when she screamed blue murder. This year she squealed with delight. Her big brother took quite good care of her.

Abigail loves getting her face painted (which Sebastian hates) and she became a tiger (dressed as a ladybird) for the day.

We enjoyed all the typical fair food: candy floss (cotton candy), chocolate covered marshmallows, and ice cream.

We took a break and sat on the grass with Jackie (the child minder) and her family whilst the children tried their feet at some football games. They both won some prizes (more chocolate) but I think they had some help and some partial judging.

We returned home exhausted from the sun and fun. What a GREAT Saturday!