A day at the fair

Yesterday afternoon the whole family went to the NC state fair. We had a good enough time that I think we are going back next year, although perhaps we will leave Luke at home with a sitter.

We went right after Eleanor's school. Michael picked up Eleanor, I drove Luke and Amanda. Through an amazing bit of timing, we met in the parking lot and walked to the fair together, about a 10 minute walk (not bad at all, really). I had meant to get to the fair much earlier and see the parts that Eleanor and Michael claimed not to be interested in (the animals and crafts, mostly) but I was running a little late.

Our area has been in a serious drought for the past few months, so I am not complaining that it rained (hard) on us as we were getting to the gate. But it does seem a bit hard that we planned to go to the fair on the one day in the past 3 months that we had a rainstorm. Fortunately, the rain was scattered, and the clouds soon moved off to water another area. We took the opportunity to see the "Village of Yesteryear" exhibit, where there were craftspeople doing traditional work: wood turning, spinning, weaving baskets, hatmaking... This was my favorite part, I could have stayed there all day. Eleanor seemed fascinated by the work that was being done---her attention span was shorter than mine, but she would ask the workers what they were doing instead of just hanging back.

We then proceeded to the rides area. When I was growing up, my parents took me to the MN state fair a few times (my dad grew up blocks away from the fair) and we always stayed away from the midway. I remember my mom telling me that the rides weren't safe, and that the games were all rigged, and the animals and crafts were more interesting anyway. I never quite believed her, but I didn't protest too much. I don't remember going on any ride other than the ferris wheel. I remember my dad buying a pink crayon type thing that, when you rubbed it on your glasses and wiped it off, would prevent your glasses from fogging up (no small thing in MN winters)---there were miles and miles of people trying to sell things to fairgoers. I also remember going to the honey exhibit, thinking, "Some kids get to go on _rides_ at the fair. What am I doing here?" We seemed to spend hours looking at cows, which always confused me because we didn't have any farmers in my family that I knew of.

Now that I am a parent, of course, I find myself hating the midway. It's too loud, there is too much opportunity for children to get lost, there is too much money wasted. Unfortunately, this is where my children want to hang out, and their father seems to agree that the rides are the real point of the fair for children.

After I took the girls on the ferris wheel, Eleanor found a bunch of kiddy rides to go on, Amanda rode the merry-go-round (she was quite pleased). We ate dinner, which is complicated at the fair since Amanda has many food allergies and I am avoiding dairy and soy for Luke's benefit. Then Amanda, Luke and I walked back to our car to go home early, and Michael and Eleanor stayed a bit later for a few more rides. I think Amanda didn't really understand where we were going until we got back to the parking lot, almost to our car. "I don't want to drive! I want to go to the fair!" She protested vigorously all the way home.

I asked Amanda what her favorite part was. Her: "The aventure." Me: "What?" Her: "The aventure rides," by which she means the ferris wheel and merry go round. I am pretty sure that Eleanor's favorite part was the rides as well, especially the bumper boats and the caterpillar roller coaster. I think Michael's favorite part may have been the NC State Ice Cream =). Mine was the Ferris Wheel. Luke hated the noise, but he sure enjoyed looking at all the people and seeing what there was to see---he was alert through everything, riding in the back pack.

Like I say, we'll be back next year.