Ben, Jenny and Benjamin: Sweeps

Ben often works on Bank Holiday Mondays so Benjamin and I usually have to find something to do alone! But this time we were lucky because the Sweeps Festival was on in our home city of Rochester and our friends Catherine and Daniel were going along too with their son Joshua and they agreed to meet up with us.
I hadn't been able to catch any of the festival over the weekend as we had already made other plans but I am so glad that we made the effort to go on the Monday which was the final day. The weather was good which was an added bonus. Benjamin and I got there at 1pm and started off with a picnic just outside the castle. Benjamin wasn't really bothered about eating his lunch as he knew there were things going on inside the castle grounds ha! So when we had finished eating, he was itching to get out of his buggy. There were lots of fun rides, stalls and games inside the grounds and I let him on a Thomas the tank Engine ride. He LOVED it and was 'whoooo whooo-ing' the whole time. I tried to get on with Catherine and the boys but was asked to get off as 2 adults in the same carriage made it too heavy . TOTAL AND UTTER HUMILIATION as I felt like the fat woman who had been asked to get off the ride....:( but at least I got to take some photos :) ....

Needless to say, Benjamin did not want to get off when the ride was over!
Afterwards we wandered around the High Street and came across this guy.....

After a little more browsing and cake and cookie eating, we went to the end of the High Street and waited for the final parade to come through. We waited a VERY long time and the boys were really well behaved and patient. I think the fact that Benjamin was treated to a large chunky cookie certainly helped! So we had time for some group shots....

Finally the parade came along and there were all kinds of dancers and performers. I was able to catch a few interesting pictures (below). Benjamin loved the banging drums and dancing and ended up dancing and clapping himself!