NAS Jax holds annual Month of the Military Child Carnival

The event is put on each year by the NAS Jax Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Department's Youth Activities Center (YAC) to show military children how much they are appreciated.

The event featured numerous inflatables that provided lots of jumping, sliding and bouncing, a spinning ride to get the kids a little dizzy, face painting by the staff of the Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC), games, free sno-cones and lots of giveaway gifts.

"We are here today to celebrate Month of the Military Child. It's a day to recognize the children and what all they go through being part of a military family. We celebrate our military families each November and this is the time to celebrate the kids," said YAC Director Megan Elliot. "We had a great turnout today. In fact, we planned for 600 sno-cones and actually ran out before the event ended. It's been a great day and the kids seemed to have lots of fun and that's what this is all about."

Four-year-old Amya Perkins puts a plastic ball on a cone blowing air to see if she can score a point.

Making the rounds through the crowd was special guest South Paw, the mascot for the Jacksonville Suns. Entertainment was provided by the Social Affair Dance Studio, with members demonstrating a variety of dances for the appreciative crowd.

"We are here today to celebrate the military child. It's a time to acknowledge the children and get the families together for some unstressful time," said Donna Bowling. "We really like all the games."

"I like the spinning wheel at the Dave and Buster's booth and want to win another prize. I won a whoopee cushion earlier but I tried it out on my mom and I put it on the wrong side and boom, it broke. So I'm hoping to win another one," added her son, Joshua Bowling.

Some kids get a little dizzy on the spinning ride.

As the kids ran around checking out all the activities, parents watched and smiled. "This is really a fun event and great for the kids. We just happened to be here today and didn't realize this was going on but the kids are thrilled. It's great that MWR puts on these types of events for military families," said HMCS(FMF/SW) Tony Lyle of the Marine Corps Security Force Company at NSB Kings Bay, Ga.

Sponsors for the event were Dave and Busters, VyStar Credit Union, Adventure Landing and the Social Affair Dance Studio.

Neither MWR, nor the U.S. Navy or any other part of the federal government officially endorses any company, sponsor or its products or services.

Jacksonville Suns Mascot Southpaw greets three-year-old Taylor Thompson during the carnival Saturday.

Dancers from the Social Affair Dance Studio perform for the crowd.

Keysha and Nathalie Ramos Resto slide down one of the inflatables that were available for the kids at the carnival.