Nothing compares to the fair.

Last weekend as we were driving to the Zoo, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the fair was in town! "I wanna go!", Christopher and I said at the same time. I have a bazillion and three memories of going to the Clark County Fair back home in Washington. I went with my parents every summer for something like 15 years. I think there was one year when I went with friends instead, probably around 8th grade when I thought I was too cool for school. I remember standing way far back in the grand stands watching N*Sync (jealous much?). You know how they yell "jump jump", and its really meant for the people on ground level? Yeah, it would have been nice if someone would have told me that. That's how cool I was. Well its been years since I've been in any sort of carnival atmosphere, so last night we hit the ATM and then loaded into the car and headed off. Eleanore kept calling it the park. Anything with rides is a park.

While we were waiting for our friend Kristen (or, Kissten, if you speak toddler) to meet us there, we took Eleanore for a stroll through the cow barn. Do you know what that means? ...Cow shit, covering the wheels of the stroller. The same stroller that was later loaded back up into the car. Need I say more? This fair was much different than the ones I'm used to. And there was no kettle corn! What kind of imposter fair doesn't have kettle corn? Even though I'm allergic, I was really looking forward to letting Elie taste it for the first time. Instead, she got a .75 bowl of ice cream. No complaints from her, clearly. That was the hardest part. Going to the fair, and not being able to eat a single thing there.

(If anyone is interested in seeing an Amy Winehouse version of the above picture, please don't hesitate to click here)

BUT, the light at the end of my hungry tunnel, was the fresh squeezed lemonade. Lemons, water, and lots and lots of sugar. I didn't care what it was, as long as it was allll mine. Whats a fair without fair food? And there was a petting zoo! Which has nothing to do with fair food, but I couldn't think of a better transition. This morning when I woke up, I asked Elie if she remembered what animals she met, and she said "Sheeep!! BAAAH!", so even though she acted afraid of them at the time, she still seems very excited about touching a wet cow nose. When it came time for rides, I said no thank you and took a step back. Me and rides don't get along. But, Miss Elie Sue got to go down the Super Slide with her Daddy not once, but twice! I could hear her laughing from the second they launched. She loved it. And I loved watching. Or, more like I loved trying to get a good picture but failed, haha. By the time we left, my feet were swollen, my stomach was grumbling, the baby was kicking, and my clothes were soaked from a combination of sweat and humidity. But there is something about that walk back to the parking lot in the dark, with flashing neon colored lights behind you, that makes you wan to stay forever.