COUNTY FAIR

I haven't been to a county fair since 7th grade when my friend J convinced me to ride The Zipper with her ... and then barfed her green slurpy all over me as the old cage tossed and turned for nearly five minutes. Not a fan. Nor am I a fan of barnyard smells. And I don't like the way my body feels after ingesting deep fried fair food.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to take the kids to the local county fair this weekend. But I guess that's what being a mom is all about ... overcoming my own dislikes to provide new experiences for my kids. Of course, JP was in love with all of the animals. He and A saw the cows and sheep and horses and pigs. The hot temperatures and smells were getting to be too much for AA (okay, I admit ... she was fine; it was me!), so we waited outside the buildings and smiled at the interesting passerbys. We joined them again to tour the Miracle of Birth center. We saw baby chicks, piglets, and sheep while the rest of the party was witnessing a cow give birth. The baby animals were actually quite cute ... and my attitude about our outing quickly softened.

After washing our hands and wrists and elbows very thoroughly, it was time for a snack. We let JP have his own chocolate malt. He was so excited!

We ended our afternoon at the fair with one ride. Thankfully JP was content with riding the Carousel. I enjoyed seeing how happy our kids were.

All in all, we had a fun afternoon. Although I'm not ready to call this outing a new annual tradition, I just may be up for going again next year.