Oysterfest this year came on the heels of Halloween, giving us four back to back days filled with excessive fun, merriment and junk food.  After arriving home from Urbanna yesterday morning, we promptly crawled into bed and pretty much stayed there the rest of the day to recover from so. much. fun.

The weather was warm this year – I was so excited about those fleece lined tights I recently bought for the sole purpose of wearing them to the fire truck parade Friday night only to not need them.  I didn’t need a jacket either, which felt strange.

Tim was nice enough to let me capture him representing the spirit of Oysterfest Saturday afternoon.  The visor with the fake hair, the pvcc piping mini-marshmallow gun with oyster in hand.  That’s it, right there, in a nut shell.  Oysterfest.

Some of the usual crowd didn’t make it this year, although we had some new additions.  Ryan, aka Guitar Shop Ryan, aka ‘my boyfriend’ showed up and fit right in – he joined in the jam circle with Nick, took the children to the field of fried food on Saturday – sharing his fried pickles, fried snickers AND turkey leg with them – and he made sure all us mamas had full drinks.  He’s the collective boyfriend after this weekend.

A large chunk of vendors were missing from the field of fried food, leaving it looking a little empty.  This guy, playing his trumpet while he lassoed himself on his unicycle was new to the Saturday parade this year.  We were impressed.

I rolled out some new pickles to the bloody mary table this year – beet & asparagus, as well as new versions of the ever popular green tomato & green bean pickles.  All were well received as were some of my new jams.

The wine herb jellies, nice on their own, also paired well with the lamb roast Ryan grilled for dinner. The Rum Raisin Apple Pie jelly I made last week was so good I may have eaten most of a jar by myself and am definitely making another round this week with that third bushel of apples sitting in the hallway.

Oysterfest, when the carnival atmosphere in town is merely a sideshow to the fun we have going on in the back yard.  It was the first year with the addition on the Smiley’s house – the garage is attached to the house now, there is another full bathroom with a luxurious spa shower and far more room for the wild pack of kids.  With Halloween the night before Oysterfest this year, Saturday, the longest day of the year to us grown ups, was long to the kids this year as well. Edie girl actually voluntarily took a nap – that’s how exhausting four straight days of full on fun was.

And so, having had our full of fun, oysters, fried food for the time being, we settle back into the swing of real life.  At least until the next holiday.