Tonight we went to the Larimer County Fair. The clouds seemed to build at about 1 pm, but it never did rain. The sun was even coming back out as we headed east at 4:30. Sam and Emily woke up a little early from their nap and Sam was not in a great mood when we left the house. I was a little worried the evening might not go well.
As we walked into the fairgrounds immediately decided, "I need to play!" Nana tried to hold him off by showing him the Splash Dogs. That worked for awhile, but the boy was determined to play. So we headed to the inflatable slides, bounce house and play area. Luckily, there was a small area for little people and it was free!
They both got into the bouncy house, at different times. Emily did great! She made her way to the top of the slide more than once and squealed when she slid down. Sam did a pretty good job until he got pushed around by a couple of bigger kids, then he was done. After some convincing that the other slides were too big for them we moved on to something else.
TRACTORS! Sam is still in love with any kind of construction machinery and there were a whole lot of tractors that he could sit in. So we did.
Sam was just disappointed that they didn't move. Emily wasn't too interested in sitting on any of the tractors or machinery, but she did just to humor us.
Next, it was time to fish.
We didn't put any bait on but it was fun to watch the fish right there in the tank. Sam seemed to know what he was doing and unfortunately kept winding up the line.
We then headed toward the food. I knew we needed funnel cake and cotton candy, but I didn't really care what I ate first. Sam, Emily and I all got corn dogs and I was the only one who ate the corn part. I'll need to remember that for next time. We shared nachos with Papa and Nana. Then I took the kids over to the wildlife show, but they weren't really interested. I think we must have been to far away for them to really see what was going on. When we got back to the table we finished up some funnel cake.
We ran into the Smiths who we saw earlier. They had just been in to see the animals and Sam heard that they got to pet them. So... he NEEDED to pet the animals. Well, we didn't really pet them but we did look at them. As Sam and Emily walked by one of the sheep it started bleating. I wish I had a video camera because both kids really jumped. It was pretty funny. We saw sheep, alpaca, llama, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks and a couple of rabbits. Sam said his favorite animal was the ducks. I think Emily like the rooster. Papa liked the chicken with the baby chicks sitting on her back. Once we finished touring the animals we watched mama cows and their babies being judged and some cowboys on their horses. Emily waved to all the cowboys and some waved back. Silly girl.
Then it was time for... more tractors! Sam got onto more machinery while Nana, Emily and I watched some barnyard races. First we watched pigs race. Then it was time for some goats to race. Emily really loved it.
It was barely getting dark so we headed toward the carnival rides.
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| Getting a little sleepy. |
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Checking out the Ferris Wheel.
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We checked to see how tall they were before we got too far, just to see. Sam wanted to ride on most of the rides, which he was, of course, not tall enough for yet. We checked out the Ferris Wheel, tall enough with a parent. We watched some people play carnival games. Then we walked by a train ride. They were tall enough, but I couldn't justify paying $4 for them to ride a train when the one at the park is 75 cents and a much better ride. Then we saw some cars. They both wanted to ride, and they were tall enough!
It was one of the best $4 I've spent. They ended up sitting together in a car, which was probably good. Sam got in first, then Emily. Sam made sure to get out and let her inside. The attendant had to make sure that they had their seat belts on. The ride started rather suddenly but after the initial startle, they had huge grins the whole time. They loved it. Emily drove and smiled and waved. Sam tried to push all the buttons, just to see what they would do.
They both did such a great job. When did I get such big kids?
It was finally time for our cotton candy. Sam and Emily told the worker we needed COTTON CANDY with such enthusiasm. They really haven't ever had it before. (Just once at a graduation party a couple of years ago. They didn't like it.) Emily got to carry the bag and Sam was so sad that he didn't get his own. He didn't want to share!
We found a great people watching bench and ate our cotton candy. Sam made the funniest faces the first four or so tastes. I'm not sure he liked the texture. Emily loved it.
On our way out of the fair Papa was having the kids "hide" and scare us. They thought it was hilarious! It was great until Emily was running to hide inside and slid on the floor. But she recovered when she got to hide and jump out again.
What a great night. The weather was almost perfect. The kids were super excited and entertained. We had great company.
but when I really get down to it I am most comfortable in the familiar. I like my usual routine. So much so that my kids have a pretty clear cut routine that gets followed, most days. I don't scare myself often enough. Lately I have been feeling really comfortable at work. Too much so. I'm really comfortable with my principal, my co-workers and my place in my building. This is my 9th year teaching the same grade, at the same school. The only difference is the kids and I had a new teaching partner this year. I've started to feel like I need a push.
