Another FAIR Summer Evening

As if Jones's first day of Kindergarten wasn't excitement enough, tonite we took the boys to the Haywood County Fair. It was even more fun this year than last! Freddie suggested that Jones should pick the first ride, since it was his first day of Kindergarten (I've mentioned before that my younger son's heart is ten sizes too big, haven't I?). Not surprisingly, Jones picked the train, which goes approximately six inches per minute. Jones loves it, anyway.

As we watched the boys ride, Jeremy reminded me of a time when Jones loved it so much that he screamed like Yosemite Sam with his hair on fire when it was time to disembark the ride. I can't say I was sad to see THAT habit get broken.

After that, they rode all the usual suspects (minus the Merry Go Round, which, let's be honest, is subpar, because it doesn't have a porcelain horse with a rifle painted on its side, a la Dollywood's "Pow Pow Bullseye"). There were the motorcycles (Freddie's choice), the tractors (Jones's choice), and, new this year, the RACE CARS, which Jones decided to ride as soon as he saw that they went slowly and not fast. Jones does NOT like fast rides, which is probably why the aforementioned train is such a perennial favorite.

As we cruised the midway, Freddie spied a game with a Spider-Man prize. He, breathless from the excitement of his discovery, asked his daddy if he'd win won for him. Jeremy is still high from his success at that balloon dart game he played last year, so he was only too happy to oblige his baby boy. When we asked the game attendant how to win a Spider-Man, however, she said all the kids had to do was catch a single fish, and they could fish until they caught one.

Suddenly, those early mornings spent fishing Lake Chatuge this summer seemed like great preparation for this moment. In a flash, Freddie had caught his fish. Jones had, too! They were exhilarated to take home a(nother) Spidey and a giant blue fish ("whale") that Jones named "Jim."

I imagine we've got two, three years MAXIMUM before the bright lights of this mini-Midway lose their luster for our growing boys. Until then, I'll keep looking forward to these nites out at the start of every Indian Summer.

a FAIR Summer Evening: 2017

It's comin' on Fall here in the mountains of North Carolina. That means two things: the Black Bears are back on the field at Pisgah Stadium, and the County Fair is coming to town! 

That's how we spent this beautiful, 73 degree evening in Indian Summer We took the boys for their third-annual visit to the midway. They've been so excited all day. It took less than an hour for us to have all the fun we wanted to, and as we walked around, I kept thinking to myself how I can really track Jones's development through our visits to the fair.  By way of review ...

The first year, at almost 3, he pitched such an explosive fit when we told him it was time to leave that I honestly thought I might just leave him there behind the Porta-Johns and give him over to a life on the road. Any kid with that kind of lung capacity would have to make a great carnival barker. Making the evening all the more ... memorable? ... was the fact that this fit was being pitched as we tried to haul his melting-down derriere up a hill so steep it felt straight up and down. My calves are still on fire, as are my nerves.

The next year, at nearly 4, he didn't pitch any fits when it was time to leave. He DID, however, scream for MOST of one of the rides. He started out fine on it; the trouble started a few seconds after the ride did. We later realized what freaked him out was the - VERY loud, VERY obnoxious - horns being honked by kids who had no clue what the buttons they pressed were doing to my baby boy. 

Now that he's less than two months from turning five (can you even believe that?), he didn't pitch ANY fits, coming or going; he was as polite a child as I have ever seen, and when those reprobate kids started honking those confounded horns, he covered his ears and dealt with it like a boy who's about to start Preschool should. Honestly? I have never been so proud. So, so, so, so very proud. This reminder of his growth was even sweeter after a week that started out sorta sucky. So our evening was more than "fair." It was FANTASTIC.

It was made all the more awesome by Jeremy's attempts to win the boys something stuffed playing darts. Never in nine million years would I have pegged Jeremy as the type of person to plunk down $20 to win his boys some toys we could probably buy for five, but after going 14 for 15, Jeremy ensured his boys came home with a stuffed puppy and a light-up sword a piece. I'm pretty sure this is one of the major ways daddies win hero status. 

On the way home, we shared a bag of pink and blue Cotton Candy, which the boys called "Cloud Candy" on account of my saying I felt like I was eating a cloud. I have a feeling that's what it'll be called for as long as we're attending the Haywood County Fair, and that's just fine by me. 

Fair-ly Awesome

After we went to Sky Top on the 28th, the boys and I picked Jeremy up from work and went to the Haywood County Fair. There was a sheep show going on, and since he's seen the sheep-shearing episode of "Tec" about ten thousand times, I thought Jones might enjoy watching it.

As it turns out, we saw lots of livestock and checked out the antique tractors, but we didn't watch much more than a few seconds of the sheep show.

The best part of the evening, though, was dinner. We ate a spaghetti dinner in the hall where they had the music acts performing. While Jones ate (and ate and ate) spaghetti, the rest of us listened to the music. Then, Freddie started pushing his stroller around, which he found absolutely hilarious.

Just before we left, we thought we'd give Jones another shot at a fair ride. He didn't do well AT ALL when Mom, Daddy, and I took the boys to the fair in Simpsonville. Determined to force him to overcome his fears, though, we bought enough tickets for both boys to ride the train one time. Jones was, surprisingly, all for it. He didn't act nervous AT ALL as we stood in line. In fact, he was as brave as could be ... until he found out I wasn't riding with him.

Since we knew Freddie would ride the ride - and that he didn't have any idea that that's what we were waiting to do - we decided to use Freddie's tickets for me.

Jones did GREAT ... until the ride stopped. Let me put it this way: Big Brother needs to learn the concept that all good things must come to an end. His post-train ride fit prompted our immediate departure from the fairgrounds with the promise that he would never EVER ride a train again if that's how he was going to act when the ride was over.

I'm sure that really got to him.

Anyway, by the next morning, I'd recovered enough from the previous day's festivities to take both boys to the Tractor Pull back at the fairgrounds. I have a feeling we've got ourselves a late-August tradition in the making.