Lisa Carnley is managing editor (and Spring Ho photographer and writer ad infinitum) of the Lampasas Dispatch Record, and still believes the festival should be staged in April. When my kids, Jason and Zach, were young, Spring Ho started out fun. I used to look forward to taking them to the carnival, the fishing derby and Kids' Day activities.

Though they liked fishing the best, it was one of the events I enjoyed the least. I spent lots of time wishing their daddy wasn't working, so he could be there instead of me.

It was bad enough that I had to avoid swinging fish hooks and swarming gnats, but praying (silently) that my kids wouldn't catch anything took up most of my time.

I did not relish the idea of removing a wiggling fish from a hook. I really, REALLY did not want to touch the creatures. And my kids did not disappoint -- me, anyway. They never caught anything. I know that's hard for a child, but I was thrilled. I could go home each year with my record intact of not having to touch a fish.

And the ducks -- or geese ... I never can get that straight -- are another thing. Fighting with them for bait, having to watch where I stepped, hiding donuts (it was breakfast time) from them ... those also were festivalrelated activities I didn't relish.

The carnival, well, that was in a class of its own.

Taking kids to the creek in 100-degree-plus weather to be strapped into seats sticky with someone else's sweat -- or whatever that substance was (I may not really want to know) -- also wasn't my idea of fun, but it was my kids'.

I would purchase a bracelet so they could ride all the rides they liked. But if we didn't get there at the carnival opening, the lines were too long, and my boys ended up spending more time waiting for the ride than actually riding anything.

After they scarfed down a corny dog, some sugary cotton candy and a large lemonade (to beat the heat), they climbed onto one of those rides that seemed to test the theory of gravity and were whirled 100 miles per hour (at least) in every direction, only to climb -- stagger may be a better term -- off the ride and ask to do it again.

I couldn't bear to watch because I knew one of my kids would be wearing someone else's lemonade before it was all over.

And those midway games. Boy, what a quick way to throw away five bucks -- all to get a piece of junk that cost about 20 cents.

But my boys felt it showed their stamina, strength and skill -- shooting a BB gun at a target that will never shred, throwing a baseball at cans that will never fall, tossing a basketball toward a net that was never designed to hold a ball -- all pointless ways to "win" a prize I knew would end up underneath the car seat or as a chew toy for the dogs.

Kids' Day activities, while fun for the younger set, left youths looking like something out of a horror movie. By the time events were finished, kids who had their faces painted looked like circus clowns after trying to rub the sweat -- and paint -- off their faces and wiping their hands on their shirts.

Children who have the energy to hop, skip and jump just to win ribbons are the same youngsters who react oh-so-slowly when asked to hurry to get ready for school or to clean up their rooms.

Then there's the parade. Sitting in the boiling sun and turning a nice shade of lobster red just to catch a glimpse of clowns who toss bubble gum too melted to get out of the wrapper, or horses that leave their mark behind (literally) -- though I have to give credit to organizers who put them at the rear of the parade. Even floats with squirt gun-toting youngsters who tempt the crowds with a cool squirt didn't satisfy. Missed us every time!

I know Spring Ho is a dynamic event for the community. The festival brings lots of folks together. It brings kids home. It is a time for reunions, barbecues and family visits.

It's also a time for payback.

Jason, who is now a father, took his son, Landon, to Spring Ho events last year -- fishing derby, parade, carnival, Kids' Day -- and now he understands. It's hot; it's tiring; it can be expensive.

But the festival also is over quickly. Enjoy it while you can, I told him. All you will have left later are the memories.

Thank goodness! I know my memories are enough. I sure don't want to go through all that again as a parent.

But as a grandparent, I had the time of my life! The carnival, the fishing derby, the parade and Kids' Day activities -- what a blast they were!

Go figure.