Fun at the Fair

Yesterday, Jon and I headed out to take our little girl to her first fair. Being that she adores our cat and dog, I was pretty excited to see her reaction to all of the animals. I was also happy that Jon finally wasn't dragging his feet as I convinced him yet again to go to the fair. He likes the food, but not such a fan of me insisting that we go through every single animal barn.

I was a tad nervous about our timing when we left. A) Amelia has finally started taking a regular 2 hour nap around 12:30 and we didn't leave until after 11:00, therefore, I felt that we were in the tired and cranky danger zone and B) Rain was predicted for the afternoon. Upon checking the radar, it looked like what might come through would pass pretty quickly. However, thunderstorms pop up at the drop of a hat during hot Midwest summers, so you can never count on dry weather if it's humid.

Overall, it was a great trip. Amelia is not always a big fan of her stroller, especially when tired but we had her in and out so she could look at animals, and she remained pretty content:

See the gold thing in the stroller tray? That is a junior deputy badge that some very smart sheriff's deputy gave to Amelia while Mommy stopped at the bathroom. Good job, sheriff deputy, passing out pokey pins to babies. Glad my tax dollars are paying for that.

Among our first stops were the cows, pigs, baby animals, and sheep. She particularly enjoyed the baby chicks. I'm certain that if she were given the chance, she would have squeezed the life out of one or two of them. Aww, isn't that cute?

 

Next were the horses, where I was somewhat terrified that a horse would bite my child's hand off. Hence this expression:

Once we found a horse that she could touch the side of, far away from it's enormous gnashing teeth, we were both happier.

For all of you who are saying "OMG, why is Amanda so orange?!? Ugh, does she use a lot of fake tan lotion or overdo the tanning beds?" No, friends. I have no idea why I'm that color. Must be a weird reflection of the sun off all the animal manure onto my naturally tanned skin. I'm overly tan from my recent increase in outdoor running. I will be equally pale this winter.

We moved on to see the rest of the animals:

After that, Amelia was getting pretty sleepy, but you can't go to the fair without eating some greasy fair food. We only had a $20 bill between us, so I gave it to Jon so he could get what we wanted (Um, he bought Chinese food. At the fair. Clearly does not understand the essence of fair food) while Amelia and I scoped out the other food stands.

Right about then, it started pouring. SIGH.

So, there was my husband, chowing down his Chinese food (so wrong, I tell you) while Mommy entertains the baby. It rained. And rained. And rained. It stopped long enough for us to venture back out, me still trying to determine what to eat while Jon bought a corn dog.

It started pouring again.

DOUBLE SIGH.

So, we hid in the beef and swine show barn while it rained. And rained. And rained. Jon's tummy full, Amelia excited by the rain. Here she is, playing on the bleachers and watching the rain with her daddy, while I fumed that I was hungry.

It also rained long enough that Amelia got hungry. And so, I fed her, on the bleachers, in the beef and swine barn. Seriously. You can add this to my list of places I've breastfed my daughter: Olive Garden (right in the middle of the dining room), baseball game, bowling alley, sports bar, ice cream parlor. Don't freak out, I use a cover. Unfortunately, Amelia generally believes that we are playing peek-a-boo and attempts to whip it off her face when she's done eating.

Anyways, nursing was enough to relax her, and she fell asleep. I gently placed her in the stroller, and when the rain stopped, we left. Sans fair food. At that point I just wanted to get home and dry off. Avoiding the fair food also gave me a good excuse to have peanut butter mousse and a glass of cabernet for dinner last night. All in all, a good day at the fair.

** A side note: Yesterday a mommy blogger that posts for Baby Center quoted me in her article and also linked to my blog! I'm super excited as Baby Center is a pretty popular website in the pregnancy/baby/motherhood world. It's probably as close as I'll ever be to experiencing popularity or the life of a celebrity. Check it out here: The Dark Side of Lactivism by Evonne Lack.