The Fair 2009

What a great fair this year. For those of you not from around these parts the fair is a very big deal. It’s our major social event and it’s just a whole lot of fun. This year the Reid’s were sweet enough to let us take their little boy Clay which made the fair a hundred times more fun for Teagan. We got the boys ride bracelets and I told them to ride as many rides as they could. They were glad to do so.


Poor Jade was acting really grumpy. She wasn’t responding to people when they would talk to her. I thought she was just in a mood and then I remembered that she hadn’t eaten since lunch. I grabbed her a corndog and she perked right up. Poor thing apparently we were starving her. She was happy to hang out with us adults (for the most part) while Teagan went on rides.


The way this usually works is Ian will go to the auction with his Dad, late morning sometime. He will hang out while his dad buys a few animals. Chat with the farmers and laugh at the festivities. Apparently these auctions can get interesting. They are served lunch there. They chat some more and buy some cinnamon rolls. By the time all this is over it's 3 or 4 o'clock. That is when we show up.

I was so proud of myself. For the most part I was able to get ready while taking care of 5 kids under 6 years old. Pretty much wash face, check on baby, moisturize, check on baby. They are the best kids. I'm afraid Cindy's littlest was well overdue for a diaper change when she left but I think we did pretty good. It was a really great test to see how Jade reacts with babies. She was awesome. She would climb up in my lap and want to help feed the baby. When she was on the floor she would bring her toys. I'm not worried at all.

We met Ian's parents at the fair. Then it was the normal fair activity. Walk a few feet then talk to someone you haven't seen forever. Walk a few more feet and talk again. When we finally got to the rides the boys would pick one and I would go with them then we would come back and pick another. That way the group (Ian and his parents and brothers) always had an idea of where we were at. When it was Ian's turn he never came back. I should have explained the rules. So we set off searching for he and the boys.


When I was gone taking the boys to a ride Ian won Jade at stuffed dog. It's in the pictures here. She was pointing at them and Ian won it for her on the first try. She held on to it the rest of the day. Only setting it down to pet real animals. It's a strange shift when my husband is winning prizes for the other woman in his life and I couldn't be prouder about it. Very sweet!

The boys rode a ton of rides and we went to see the animals. Jade was getting restless so she went ahead with Ian's parents. The only animal we have found that she does not like is pigs. She of course steered clear of them this time too. I noticed this year they were drinking out of bottles like hamsters. So as if they were strange enough to Jade then there is that.




Here are some pictures of her with the goats. They were her very favorite. The pictures really don't do justice to how much she would laugh and squeal. The goats would lick her face and she just loved it. The boys seemed to like the bunnies and chickens the best. That is where they spent most of there time just stopping off at the pigs to see Andrew Barnards and Clay's Sister's pig.

Apparently I never paid attention but I don't remember seeing the bantam chickens when I was younger. Many of them laid eggs that would be perfect if you were dieting. I'm not sure the point of these mini chickens but they were pretty cute. As we were walking over some friends stopped us and said it was almost time for Teagan to be in 4H. Ian said no way but he said doing chickens would not be so bad. He just doesn't want to get stuck taking care of animals for our kids.

After the animals it was time for some food. We split up. Ian went to get chicken on a stick and I went to get curly fries. Somehow we also ended up with funnel cake as well. I think we have all seen fair curly fries. A huge mold of fries cooked together. Well Teagan and Clay massacred these fries. I had to go and pull some out risking getting bitten. After dinner we hung out in the kids town area. Jade had a blast and Teagan and Clay stacked big blocks the whole time making a chair out of them.




Next it was time for more rides. There were two rides Teagan wouldn't go on with Clay. We were a little upset with him because Clay was his guest and he was making him go alone. Plus the rides weren't that bad. I mean there were kids younger than Jade on one of them. This was during the first go round. After some food he was braver and was willing to give it a try. Apparently he was still nervous because Clay kept putting his arm over Teagan's shoulders. I really wish I had gotten a picture.




We were really proud of him being so brave by the time they got to the front of the line the ride was shut down but hey he tried. During this second round on the rides the boys found some cool looking baby rides. We pointed to one and they were excited to go on it. They ran ahead and by the time we got to the ride they weren't there. I was a little freaked out but they knew where they should go if they got lost. We found them two rides away. We still aren't sure if they misunderstood or if that ride looked better. By the time they got off we were all calmer and didn't think to ask.

They wanted to play games and get icees but I made them wait until the end. They played the water pistol game and one where you catch ducks. Both had a prize no matter what which was pretty cool. We grabbed icees for them and some kettle corn and called Clay's mom. We snacked while we waited for her. All and all it was a really great fair and so nice to see everybody. I hope we can borrow Clay again next year. By then we will need a friend for Jade too.