The Fair

We went to the fair in Winston on Thursday. Years ago, right after we moved to North Carolina, we went to this fair. On my birthday. And lost the kids. Or maybe just Travis. I know we lost him. Anyway, we had to report him lost and they kept watch for him (being stolen, obviously) at all the exits. It was terrifying and awful and it put me off the fair for years. Even though we did find him. And he was just fine. (He'd been having a great time riding all the rides with his "ride-all-the rides-wristband and had no idea that he was Lost.)

So, some years have passed (eight or nine), and I'm pretty much over the trauma. Once again we bought them "ride-all-the-rides" wristbands, but this time we actually set them loose at the midway, telling them only to stick together and to meet us at the clock tower in two hours. And off they went!And I didn't even worry.

Actually, I did worry that the smells of the midway would make me lose my lunch. Ed and I wandered off to the livestock section. Which also smelled pretty... smelly. But the cow show (young heifers, as I understand it) was amusing and the Percherons were impressive, and the pig race was pretty entertaining. And then we found a shady bench by the bandstand and listened to a very sincere local artist (using the term loosely) singing about how we needed to turn to Jesus. Which, eventually, I did, and, as promised, He answered my prayer. She was replaced by The Mighty Eliminators, who were just fine, which was a good thing because the kids showed up after two hours and requested an extension. We gave them another hour, and they took an hour and a half. Because the Ferris wheel got stuck, or something like that. But that was okay too, because Ed and I waited near the guy who was offering to guess people's weights or ages or birth months for only five dollars. Or three, if they wanted to win a really small prize if he guessed wrong. That was sort of fun to watch. 

(Travis, with what he claims was a fried cookie. He took the midway pictures.)

These are sheep.

And this was a nine hundred dollar chicken coop! Ed was willing to pose in front of it just to get in a picture. He's funny.

And before the pig race was the swimming pig! He really didn't seem to mind, and he was pretty cute.

And you can almost see the racing pigs here!


Home again, home again!

And a little Finny!

And Emma. She really does love being cuddled, but it appears that here she is ready to go off and do something else. Being so cuddlesome is such a burden.