Most people don't know that Bikes, Blues, and BBQ, a bike rally that started in Fayetteville in 2000 as a fundraising event and is now a HUGE event that many people in Fayetteville don't even attend, has a special place in our heart. Brad and I reconnected in front of Walton Arts Center during Bikes, Blues, and BBQ 2003 and that night I knew I would marry him! We had to wait though, 2 days later he deployed for Iraq but our connection was SO strong that we decided to date long distance and see what God had in store for us! Fast forward 2 years and we celebrated together with our family and friends (a sort of joint Bachelor and Bachelorette party) at Bikes, Blues, and BBQ the weekend before our wedding!

Fast forward 7 more years and we are here celebrating with our little family of 5.... celebrating in a much different way but it is still festive for us! One thing we really missed when we lived in Louisiana was the bike rally that brought us together! Then we had Owen and took him out, as a baby, to see the bikes. Then we had Addyson and Brad seemed to miss 2 rallies in a row because of work. Funny, like I mentioned earlier, most people in Fayetteville avoid the rally, they hate the traffic but not us. No, it was always a trip down memory lane so when Brad missed it we were SO bummed!
Now he has a new job, we have 3 kids, and the rally is huge.... but we still went! Last year we discovered this Mexican restaurant you can sit on the balacony and watch the bikes. It is by the baseball stadium and away from the craziness of Dickson street. A perfect combo for us!
We made a night of it.... Brad even left work early so we could head out before the night got too wild for kids! : ) We took a seat in the corner and settled in for a while.... maybe too long since Addyson decided to start making slop in her water...... known as feta water.....
See, when Brad and his brother were younger his parents would sit them at a different table in restaurants and they would get into trouble..... they made slop out of stuff on their plates and added who knows what to their water.... feta water..... so when Addyson started in on the "fun" I knew she came by it naturally. And even though she was making a HUGE mess, she was quiet and she was actually pretty cute.....
until she started drinking her feta water from her napkin.... yuck!!! Check please!!!!
From the restaurant we walked across to the baseball stadium parking lot where they had vendors and bikes.... lots to look at. We are not in the market for anything but the kids got a kick out of seeing all of the stuff!!!
And we looked for their favorite bike.... this one took top prize since it was SO colorful!!!!
Then we stumbled across the perfect game, Progressive insurance was there with one of those water gun games where you race other players.... and it was FREE!!!! Perfect!!! We played several games.....
and we won prizes!!!! Yep, the game was free and the kids got prizes! It was perfect! Owen got a hat and pencil and Addyson got a scarf, bear, and sucker! We were leaving.... I thought the guy was kicking us off the game after winning so many times..... but Owen wanted to play again....
So we asked and they said we could play as many games as we wanted to!!!! So he played.... and played... and played!!!! It was a great night... fun memories made and fun memories relived! We love Bikes, Blues, and BBQ!!!!