A day at the fair!

Those 16 seconds about sum up our Wednesday afternoon and evening, only multiply the noise and number of people and level of over-stimulation as the evening progressed, as well as the parental exhaustion as the hours ticked by.

It's been a yearly tradition for the last 4 years or so to go to the fair the week of Kali's birthday.  It couldn't be more different than how we spend the other 364 days of our year and even Kali admitted this year that she wouldn't want to do this every week; once a year is enough.  We get our dose of noise, an update on the latest fashions (wow, they are so unappealing), an overwhelming exposure to all sorts of interesting and unhealthy smells, and for those that ride rides a good shaking up!

Thanks to the summer reading program, we get into the fair free. But the armbands for rides are $20 each and so it easily becomes about the most expensive family outing of the year.  It was not a hard decision for me to watch others get shaken up this year (even if most rides hadn't noted that they weren't recommended for pregnant women - we were chuckling while envisioning what our midwife would say at our next appointment if I had done some of the rides and Spark was in a very odd position upon her examination). I actually think I got the better end of the deal, as it was more than a little entertaining to watch Jason ride around in tea cups and bananas and a caterpillar train, usually the only adult on the ride.  I didn't have to pay anything and was quite entertained.

We went early this year as I'm a sucker for "getting our money's worth" out of something.  There is no doubt we did as the girls more or less rode rides constantly from before 3:30 p.m. until after 10:30 p.m. with only a short break to see some animals during the one rain shower and then for a birthday picnic supper along the sidelines of the frisbee dog show.

There was only one moment of sadness the whole evening, which was when I neglected to check height restrictions before the girls got excited about the bumper cars.  Alida's tears quickly dissipated with a ride all by herself in a banana. That opened the flood gates to her riding rides all by herself while the older crew took in some of the "more advanced" rides.

We were joined for dinner by the Tangly Woods crew and Jason got to have some adult company on rides for the post-dinner fun.  I had a brief renewal of energy after filling up on picnic foods, but that energy tanked around 11 and we finally were able to pull the girls away.  Alida fell asleep on the last leg home and we all tried to join here as soon thereafter as possible.


As I watched teenage couples walking around hand in hand, I felt so glad that those kinds of events weren't a part of Jason and I's courtship.  I'd hate to feel the need to frequent fairs and win crappy stuffed animals to rekindle the early spark we felt around each other! We named the area that you have to walk through full of games you play to win prizes "harassment hollow" this year.  That is definitely up there with my least favorite aspect of the fair.  I really can't imagine how much money some families spend for an evening out, and where they go with the large stuffed crocodiles and plastic blow up bats when they get home!

We came home with tired feet, fun memories, and a bunch of dirty picnic dishes.  And we'll look forward to next year!

And, last but not least (before I bring this blog posting marathon to a close), a Spark update: She's growing!  She's head down!  We are at 33 weeks today!  She gets hiccups and seems to host daily dance parties and aerobics sessions.  She gets kisses from her big sisters.  The excitement to meet her is definitely building in our home and while my daily discomfort grows I'm not wishing these days away.  I have always loved being pregnant and the feeling of a little person moving around inside me is like no other. I hope to savor the weeks remaining and by October we will be ready to welcome her with opens arms (and we'll be wishing for a frost to put a stop to tomatoes!).