The FeNaClNG Festival is on the first weekend in August every year in Karratha. I would be lying if I said it was only the kids who were excited about Fenacle this year...when you have lived in Karratha long enough you get excited too!
I thought I would try to make Harrison and Sienna appreciate the cost of rides, treats and showbags so, two days before the festival I gave them both the opportunity to earn tokens. They both worked hard doing jobs around the house with each job earning them one token. Some of these chores included; making their beds, tidying their rooms, unpacking the dishwasher, putting the bin out, putting on a load of washing, getting washing off the line, folding a basket of washing, vacuuming, sweeping, windexing sliding doors, etc.
Harrison ended up with 24 tokens and Sienna earned 14. We then told them that a ride at Fenacle was worth 5 tokens, a showbag was 5 tokens, a slushie or treat was 2 tokens and to play a game in sideshow alley was 2 tokens. They took their tokens with them in their pockets and handed me the right amount when needed. They were very good at remembering to pay their tokens - Sienna kept trying to pay them directly to the salespeople and I had to explain that real money was still needed!
We got to Fenacle just after 10am and saw the Rodoni's standing out the front of the umbrella painting station. YARA sponsors 'Arty Brellas' every year at the festival and the kids can paint an umbrella for free. Emi told us they were taking registrations for different times during the day so I lined up and registered for 10.30am. We had a quick walk around then came back at 10.30am, luckily Alissa fell asleep in the pram so I could focus on helping Harrison and Sienna.
First they applied dye to the umbrellas.
Then they decorated it with paint
Tom and Milly were in the same session as us - so I had a good chat with Emi, while Clinton sat with Mick in the chairs outside the tent and waited for us
Time for some glitter!
Sienna was then desperate to spend 5 of her tokens on a lolly filled showbag. After getting her a showbag, Harrison used 5 of his tokens to drive the go-karts. I love his facials around the corners as his go-kart slid out.
By then, it was getting really hot! I bought myself a hat while looking at displays of camper trailers and tents. We bought some lunch and tried to find a patch of shade to sit in and eat...it was MUCH better in the shade. After lunch the kids used some more tokens to buy slushies...Sienna is also clutching her showbag, she insisted on keeping it close throughout the day.
We then checked out the Rio Tinto tent which was pretty cool, they had the drivers section of a train for kids to look inside and sit in the drivers seat. A lady with a walkie talkie on the outside would talk to the kids in the train...here's Harrison getting embarrassed to talk to her on the radio!
Harrison thought the train was awesome. We saw our friends Erana and Mick at the Rio Tinto tent, Mick works for Rio and will be driving the trains soon.
Clinton and Mick having a chat inside the train cart while Harry played with all the buttons
Around the Rio tent was a little railway with a train for the kids...here are the kids waiting for a ride (and they didn't need to use up their tokens, it was free!)
Mick giving Harrison a high five on his way past...I just missed Harry's hand
Then onto the Woodside stand - where we saw the Pilkington's! Here is Harrison and Michael playing a game.
Alissa was so excited to see her buddy Emily! They are in nursery together now. (check out her pink tongue from drinking a slushie)
We went back outside and bumped into the Rodoni's again!! We joked that we were stalking them. Tom had just won a giant stuffed snake that Emi was left to carry around for the rest of the day!
Tom, Sienna, Milly and Harry wrapped in the snake
The kids then put in a token each to buy some fairy floss!
Sienna then went on a little kids ride and we put Harry on it for free as she didn't want to go on alone...as you can see - Harrison was thrilled! We saw the Rodoni's there again...Tom and Milly had just been on the same ride.
The bumper cars were next door so Harrison and Tom went in one together and Mick and Milly went in another.
Harry and Tom thought that bumping into Mick and Milly was hilarious!
Sienna then wanted to try to win a stuffed toy like Tom's. Harry and Sienna got some tickets and if they had the right numbers on them they could win a prize. Clinton and I were confident that they wouldn't win with only 5 tickets between them....we were wrong. Sienna won! She wanted the "sad puppy".
Alissa was thrilled to cuddle the "sad puppy" in her pram!
Harrison then went on the bungy cord ride - Sienna wanted to do it too but she didn't weigh enough.
The "sad puppy" came in handy as a seat as well.
I convinced Harrison and Sienna to go on the mini dragon rollercoaster...it started off well...
Then after the first lap Sienna looked like this...
Poor Sienna, the man running the ride noticed her distress and stopped the ride so we could get off.
Harry finished the ride!
Sen still managed a brave smile once we had got off...poor thing!
By this stage we were starting to get tired and over it! Sienna said, "I'd like another showbag but I've run out of tokens so I guess I can't get another one, o'well lets go home". That made me happy because it showed Sienna had understood that once tokens (or money) have run out you can't buy anything else and those tokens need to be earned. Yay!
Clinton went to look at some cars and boats while the rest of us watched 'Fairy Queen Caroline' (much to Harry's disgust). We spotted Bryan and Emily watching too so, Sienna and Emily started to dance together.
Alissa was the big surprise, she ran up to the stage and danced her heart out! I got a couple of videos on my camera of her dancing...so cute.
Sienna won a Fairy Queen Caroline DVD - which surprised me as Sienna was mainly watching instead of dancing.
I think Alissa is saying "come on girls, get into it like me!"
Cutie Emily
Still dancing!
After the show we started to head to the exit, then I realised we had the hat Emily had been wearing so I left Clinton with the kids and ran the hat to Amy who was in the 'Arty Brellas' tent with her kids. I got back to Clinton and we started to walk out when I looked in the pram and saw that Alissa wasn't there. We hadn't strapped her into the pram after 'Fairy Queen Caroline' and she had obviously taken off without Clinton noticing. Clinton and I told Harrison and Sienna to stay next to the pram while we both went in different directions to look for Alissa. Clinton ran back to the Pilkington's and got Bryan to help with our search. I went back to the stage because a dance group had started performing and I thought Alissa might have headed back there again. The crowd around the stage was huge though and there was no way I could see Alissa properly. By this stage Clinton and I were both panicking and saying lots of silent prayers. I then ran to the police stand and asked two officers to help me (by that stage I was crying and nearly beside myself), they were very kind and told me to take them to the last place I'd seen her. When we got back to the pram I could see they had found Alissa! Such a relief!
A school teacher had found her near a fairy floss stand...at least a 100 meters away! Harrison spotted the teacher carrying Alissa (who was crying because she's terrified of strangers - go figure!) and thought Alissa was being kidnapped. Harrison immediately started running towards the teacher to save his little sister when Bryan saw Harrison running and spotted Alissa too. Poor Harrison was pretty shaken up by the whole thing and could talk about nothing else for the rest of the afternoon.
Thank goodness for prayer, kind strangers and friends like Bryan who helped immediately. I will now put my phone number on Alissa if we ever go in big crowds again (and I'll always fasten her seatbelt in her pram!). It was a bit of a scary and dramatic end to our day at the FeNaClNG festival...we all came home and collapsed on the couch - physically and emotionally exhausted. But at least Alissa was safe and sound and wasn't lost for too long! Hopefully she'll be less inclined to run away from me in the future...
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