It's fair week again. For most of my kids the fair is like Disneyland. They love the rides, the music, the activities, the people, the food. My little Carter is another story. When I told him we were going to the Fair he said, "I'm not going- that place is scary." When I asked him what he didn't like about the fair he said, "there are too many people there, and animals. It smells bad, and it's loud and the rides are scary". So I let him stay with Grandma. One persons fun is another's torture.
In year's past my sister has spent the entire week at the fair with her kids doing 4H and we would normally join her a few times a during the week. This year my sister is in Africa so I drove the kids out to the fair on my own for an all-in-one day packed full of fun.
As soon as we arrived the kids started begging to go on rides, so I told them we would save the best for last and I made them look through the 4h building and the rabbit/ poultry barns. Philip loved the Lego trains and I wouldn't be surprised if soon he had a new obsession. The girls ran around checking out all the toy colletions comparing what they owned. It was funny I had to force them to go into the building and then force them to leave, doesn't it always seem to be that way with kids. In the Poultry barn Addie just loved all the chickens. She cracked up at their cock-a-doodle-doo's. I think she would have brought home a silly looking chicken with curly feathers if she could have hid it in her shirt. Actually I think if I was a chicken that's what I would look like with crazy curly out of control feathers flying around me. Sadie was not impressed by the birds at all. In fact she kept saying let's get out of here I can't breathe in this place. She is so 8 years old right now.
Next we checked out some vendor booths, and then into the barn to look at the cows. Later I found out we had just missed a baby calf being born. If only we had gone down the middle row in the cow barn instead of walking past- I could have let my kids be horrified by the miraculous sight of birth. Oh well maybe next year! We did go back into the barn later in the day and got to see the cute baby calf all cleaned up, and the proud mama still licking her baby. It was adorable.
I finally decided two hours of the kids begging was enough torture for us all and we finally went to get the kids ride bracelets. The kids went on tons and tons of rides. Addie's favorite was the Carousel Horses, Philip liked the big slide and Tori and Sadie really like the Dragon Wagon roller coaster. It was quite a disappointment for Sadie to find out she was still too short for the Sizzler. She was sure she had grown enough in a year to be able to ride it but when she backed against the sign and saw she was still 2 inches two short tears began to well up in her eyes. I felt bad for her but was also a little relieved... I didn't want to have a dizzy daughter puking so early in the fair day.
When I saw the kids eyes spinning in circles I knew it was time for a break from the rides. The smell of all the fair food had the kiddos hungry again. Luckily I had plenty of snacks packed to keep them satisfied. Our next stop was even a productive one. The masons and state patrol had teamed up to put on a free "chip program" for kids. They took the kids finger prints, dna swab and teeth imprints to identify them incase the unthinkable ever happened and the kids went missing. They even do a little video interview with the kids and give you a dvd. And as a bonus we were given coupons for free ice cream from the dairy women.
As the kids ate their ice cream we wandered through the pony and draft horse barns. The girls were full of joyful giggles as they read off the names of each pony. We stopped outside the barn to pet what Addie referred to as the "giant horse". The horse to a liking to Sadie and when she turned her back to him he leaned over and took a big sniff of her hair. She must smell good because he kept coming back to her.
On our way back towards the rides we stopped and played some sfree little kid games at the north county CTK kids carnival. It was a pirate theme this year and Addie was quite excited about all the little prizes she won. The girls all got their faces painted and Philip had a cross tattoo put on his face. The games were kind of cute they got to dig for treasure and hit a ship with a cannon. Addie loved the fishing game as always. The big girls thought it was a bit babyish, but they were more than happy to search for candy and prizes in the haystacks.
We headed over to the small stage and watched the cute 16 year old magician who mesmerized Philip. He was quite the talented showman. Philip got a couple playing cards from him and spent the rest of the night doing "magic tricks" turning 1 card into two. It was begining to get dark and time to head home. But there is just one stop that you have to make when you go to the fair... the famous poffertjes pasteries. Our last treat of the fair. We then wandered through the last animal barns to see the sheep and the pigs. We were surprised to see some pigs that had gotten in a fight and were covered in scratches and cuts. Who knew pigs could be so violent. My kids had been so great all day long, but I could tell they were begining to get a bit fiesty too, so it was time to head home. It was a wonderful day. I was very proud and impressed at how great all the kids behaved today!
Who knew you could have so much fun with some shaving cream a tarp and a sprinkler. I'm just so thankful Susan let us make this mess during therapy instead of in our own yard! The kids were in a white fluffy cloud from heaven. It was like full body fingerpainting. Then as soon as they would get all slimy and slicked up they'd race through the sprinkler and clean off so they could do it all over again. Now thats some serious sensory input!
