And The Fair Came To Town

Here is a little known fact, apparently,if you are four, you can wake up in the middle of the night with an EXTREME desire to have a nightgown fashion show. At least, that is the reason for me being awake at 4:30 AM. I was jolted awake to the screams of "MOM, I have to change into my Tinkerbell gown, not this one, MOM! come quick!!" So, off I ran (stumbled!) to help her change her gown, because, heaven help us, she could not sleep one more minute in the gown with cows on it, not one more minute!

Since I was awake anyway, I decided to let you all in on our night at the fair. It was great. Well, my hubby and daughter thought so anyway. I was a bit miserable, cold, stuffy head and although I have no proof, I firmly believe I had a bit of a fever as well. Nonetheless, we went to the fair.

We arrived around 5 PM, just as the gates were opening and met our friends S, S and P. P and Hannah have been in Sunday School together since infancy and are both only children. We parents had decided that the two only children needed fair rides buddies, so we arranged to go at the same time so they would have a friend. It turned out marvelously. Hannah is no stranger to fair rides, she has been a big fan for the last two years, P had not ridden any before, so having Hannah available to give her some courage was a plus. She liked most all of them, although the roller coaster was NOT poor P's favorite. I don't blame her, I would have screamed too -- I hate all those rides.
They did ride the Merry Go Round, Little Nemo, The Flying Fish, The Dragons, the Big Slide and finally the Ferris Wheel. Hannah has wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel since last year when I told her she had to wait until she was four. I think she has asked me at least once a month since then when the fair was coming and could she ride the Ferris Wheel this year. Seriously, she has a love of all things scary. I hate rides, I hate heights, I hate speed... she is my complete opposite. Thank goodness her daddy likes these things as well.
After a trip through the Petting Zoo (her Pa Nate would be so proud, Hannah's favorite animals were the goats!) and a pony ride, P and her mom and dad left the fair, and we of course, stayed. Hannah begged to go back to the slide, I begged for a funnel cake and we both got our wish.

While sliding for the 100th time of the night, we ran into our church's youth director, his wife and their daughter who is Hannah's age as well. Those two girls took up together and we spent another major portion of the night walking with them and watching our two "tomboy" girls in action. The Cars, The Motorcycles, The Ferris Wheel (again), the slide, the slide, the slide...did I mention they liked the slide?

We also ran into several more couples from church and elsewhere, all our kiddos are about the same age, so we adults just stood around and watched the kids play. It was fun, in an exhausting sort of way. The fair was not crowded, but the red Georgia clay was messy and oozed beneath our feet. The music was great, one of those crazy rides played 80's music all night long, so you know I was completely fine, well, except for the coldness of the wind, the stuffiness of my head and that tiny bit of fever that caused me to shiver every now and then. It was all worth it though, the look on my child's face as she rode the rides, well, it was worth every minute of discomfort on my end. Every bit.