YAC hosts Military Family Appreciation Carnival

The event is sponsored each year by the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Department's Youth Activities Center (YAC) as a special way to say thanks to the military community.

''We are out here today to celebrate our military families and to show them how much we appreciate them with our annual carnival. We held it in the Navy Exchange parking lot this time because our Youth Activities Center is under renovation right now and we thought we'd get a lot more traffic out here and have a lot more families stop by and enjoy the activities,'' said YAC Director Megan Elliot. ''We have inflatables, games, arts and crafts, popcorn and are passing out some bags with goodies and information in them. It's been really good turnout. I think a lot of the people are surprised to see that everything is free.''

Some of those new activities at this year's carnival included a special appearance from Jacksonville Suns Mascot Southpaw and a spin around ride that made people somewhat dizzy.

''We're here today because it's family fun day. I'm gone quite a bit on deployments so we try to keep active and do family type events. We are really enjoying the baseball game and the spin around thing,'' said DCC(SW) Tom Gust of USS John F. Kennedy, who was with his wife and son.

The children also enjoyed getting free balloon characters from Joey the Clown and creating arts and crafts at a special table set up by the NAS Jax Child Development Center.

Two-year-old Lucy Manner practices her jumping skills in the bouncy inflatable.

''I'm here today because it's a way to honor and thank the military families for all they do. I'm manning the arts and crafts booth. We have several different projects the children can do depending on their age level,'' said NAS Jax Child Development Center Edu-cation Technician Lead Angie Benitez.

Overall, the carnival was a huge success and hundreds of kids and parents left with smiles on their faces. ''I'm here today to have some fun with my 3-year-old son, Ciro. We've had some popcorn and went on most of the inflatables although he was a little disappointed that he wasn't big enough to go on the spinning ride. And , the clown made him a sword balloon,'' said Capt. Ken Brinsko of Naval Hospital Jacksonville. ''We're really having a great time.''

Several patrons also received gift packages during the carnival.

''We are giving away Disney packages, Ringling Brother's Circus packages and a Schwinn kid's bike donated by the NEX. Lots of good stuff just for coming out to the carnival,'' added Elliot.

The next celebration for military children will be in April to recognize the Month of the Military Child.

Around and around they go. Two kids take a turn spinning around on one of the rides.

Joey the Clown makes a special sword balloon for 3-year-old Ciro Brinsko as his dad, Capt. Ken Brinsko of Naval Hospital Jacksonville looks on.