All’s Fair

It’d Fair Week here in our lovely county. That means 4H and FFA’ers are culminating their year’s work, greasy fair food is available in large over-priced quantities, and there is all manner of people out milling about the fairgrounds.

With Kevin’s impending backpacking/hunting trip (more about that in my next post) we opted to go out to the fair opening night. Plus, this was also the night of the All Star Monster Truck show and we thought the kids might find that entertaining.

As soon as we got into the grounds I casually asked Jack what he and sister would like to see first expecting he’d say tractors. He surprised me both with his answer and memory when he announced he wanted to see the trains. I didn’t think he’d remember the model train building as we only see it once a year…but I guess it stuck. He was awestruck to say the least.

Emilie enjoyed the trains too, but at that point she was still a little put out that we wouldn’t let her “go swim” in the “pools” (aka – the hot tub/spa display) she has seen on the way in. We made it up to her though by letting her pet all the critters that were brave enough, or just didn’t care, to be cuddled by an adoring two-year old. This year cows were top on her list. I can see her wanting to do the 4H replacement heifer project now.

Once all the animals had been sufficiently loved on we moved along to the tractors and farm equipment. Jack inspected and named each piece he came too. He also was fascinated with the antique farm equipment displays. That whir-hiss-pop some of the old machines make just had him enthralled.

Eventually, we were able to talk both kids out of the tractors by bribing them with food. Unfortunately, just as we picked up a couple of slices of pizza Jack spotted a big display of Hesston equipment that we hadn’t seen yet and his dinner was all but forgotten (Emilie was more than happy to eat his dinner for him). The Hesston display had big pictures of equipment hanging up and after Jack named each one the gal working the display called over to one of the dealers that she was going to fire him and hire “the kid” because he knew it all and was cuter.  Jack then proceeded to chat up the dealer and name all the equipment he had on display. When he wrapped up with the Swather the dealer decided that Jack, as an obvious future farmer, needed a Hesston baseball cap. Jack has been wearing it proudly all week.

We wrapped up the evening with a trip to the monster truck show. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous. Both kids can be skittish around loud noises so while we knew they’d like seeing the big trucks, we weren’t sure how they’d like hearing them. Fortunately we brought the ear ‘muffs’ we use when we go shooting. Each kid wore a pair and did great! The only downfall was they made the kids yell louder because they couldn’t hear themselves talking. Thankfully no one notice since it was a monster truck show and the kid merely contributed to the already loud din.

 

We didn’t make it through the whole show but that’s okay. About halfway through Emilie was getting fidgety and Jack announced he was ready to go home. If there is one thing I’ve learned with kids it’s not to push your luck too much. Get while the gettin’s good and everyone is still smiling!

Yep, it was a fun year out at the fair and I’m already looking forward to next year.