If you read yesterday’s post you know I was headed back to the Indiana State Fair. After I picked up my son’s girlfriend we drove to the elementary school and we picked up the kids. Then we drove to the golden arches so they could get their dinner (yes, even though it was 3:00pm). We let them eat in the car on the way to the fair. Now our Pathfinder has officially been broken in. Once you have had food (can you call it food?) from the golden arches in your vehicle the new car smell goes away forever only to be replaced by the smell of McFries and McGrease. Oh the shame of it all!
We bought the kids wristbands, which meant that they could ride all of the rides on the midway an unlimited number of times. I tell you, this is the way to go. Those kids more than got their monies worth out of having those wristbands. I took Lil Miss and Braxton (Teresa’s 7 year old son) off to the kiddie rides while Teresa took her 10 year old daughter Shelby and her friend off on the older kids rides.
Lil Miss is a brave soul when it comes to riding rides like roller coasters and tilt-a-whirls. But put her in front of a fun house or haunted house and she freaks out. Now Braxton is quite the opposite. He tries to pretend that he is a little macho man but really he is his mommy’s little baby boy. It’s rather amusing to watch. He made up all sorts of excuses as to why he couldn’t go on the Matterhorn with Lil Miss or why he couldn’t go on the Tilt-a-whirl or Ferris wheel. “That’s a baby ride” or “It’s too crowded” or “My mom doesn’t want me riding on any purple rides”. He had a million and one excuses. Lil Miss was quite the dare-devil though. She even did the bumper cars and the roller coaster.
She did get Braxton to go on a kiddie roller coaster with her though. And wouldn’t you know it, the ride broke right in the middle of them riding on it. I couldn’t believe it! The ride operator tried to push the roller coaster cars up the hill but it was too hard for one man. So he got another guy to come over and help him. Then it got stuck again on the next hill. That time it took 3 guys to push it to the station. As you can see by the look on Lil Miss’s face she was quite annoyed with the ride being broken and her being stuck on the tracks. And as luck (or lack thereof) would have it the sun was high in the sky and scorching. After they finally got off of that ride we detoured over to the snow cone stand and buried our sweaty faces in mounds of cherry and blue raspberry snow cones.
Later on we met up with Teresa and my oldest son who had arrived from work at that point. When we met up with Teresa and the older girls we switched kids and I ended up taking Shelby, her friend and Lil Miss on the rides. If you remember Shelby you know she is quite the demanding little wench. I told the girls they could get one treat of their choosing. Lil Miss chose a funnel cake covered in powdered sugar. Caitlin (the friend) chose an elephant ear. Shelby wanted EVERYTHING! She tried to wheel and deal with me. “If I get an ice cream can I get a funnel cake too?” No, just one treat. “Well can I have half of Lil Miss’s funnel cake and I get an ice cream too?” One treat you porky pig! So she decided on ice cream. But when she saw Lil Miss’s funnel cake she told the gal behind the counter she wanted one of those but make it a large and with lots of chocolate fudge on top, and DON’T forget to put lots of powdered sugar on top. Don’t you know she finished off that funnel cake before the other girls had even eaten 3 bites of their treats. That girl has an appetite like you wouldn’t believe! And even though I said only one treat each I got them each a lemon shake-up too. Come on, it was hot, they needed fluids. Have to keep hydrated you know, and while water is fine, you do need a lemonade every now and then.
I was under the mistaken impression that we would be leaving around 6 or 6:30. In fact the G-man was waiting for me to come home so we could go out and get dinner together. Little did we know that “other” plans had been made. It seems that Teresa had planned on staying until about 10pm (even though it was a school night for the kids). I didn’t find this out until 7pm though. After all, I am just the driver, right?! So we compromised and left at 9pm. I think 6 hours at the fair is more than enough time for anyone! If they had just let me known prior to going how late they REALLY intended on staying I could have been prepared and I wouldn’t have minded it. But because they told me 6-ish I had made other plans (which I later had to cancel). Live and learn, eh?
When I dropped them all off at the end of the evening Lil Miss threw her arms around me and said “I love you Gwanma” as she gave me a big hug. That made it well worth standing out in the sun all afternoon while she rode the rides. I can hardly wait until next year.
