First Fair

We took Amelia to her first state fair yesterday and she loved it. We met some friends there and Amelia wound up riding her first roller coaster. It was one of those kiddie coasters, aptly named the Dragon Wagon, and if we were by ourselves she probably wouldn't have gotten to ride it. We strapped her in with Livia (who had already ridden it) and Amelia LOVED it. By the end she had noticed that some older kids had their arms up and she let go with one arm and was smiling, screaming and waving that one arm over her head as much as she could.

When we first met up with Livia, she was already in the little kiddie jungle gym thing that has a big slide as an exit. Amelia wanted to go in so badly that Daddy said he'd go buy some tickets. I told her that she needed tickets and Daddy went to buy some and she promptly pulled out the admission tickets we got when we paid to get into the fair (and which she had tucked away in her pocket) and started running toward the entry so she could go in. I was momentarily shocked that she had heard me over the loud carnival music AND understood what I meant, and then made that connection! I had already forgotten about the tickets in her pocket. I had to get over my shock quickly and grab her before she got to the entrance, though.

We also took her on a pony ride - one of those where there's about six or so ponies attached to a round thing and they walk in a circle. We picked an Amelia-sized pony whose name was Shadow. She enjoyed her ride and leaned over to pat Shadow as we loped along. Meanwhile, another girl who had to be at least 6 was totally freaking from the moment her mom put her on the pony and by the end the pony was spooked. I felt bad for both of them - that girl should not have been forced to ride in my opinion.

I should back up and say the first thing we saw (after a potty stop of course) was a humongous Smokey the Bear. She tried to climb him but only managed to get up on his foot and hug his knee. We went to the little tent and she asked for a sticker. They gave her a slip of four and she carefully peeled one off and handed it back to them - not realizing they meant for her to have all four. It was cute, but before you go and think she's all honest and sweet, she then slyly took one of the plastic (also free) bracelets without asking, slipped it on her wrist and walked away. (Later when she was climbing up the children's jungle gym to go down the very big slide, she held her wrist close to her so the bracelet wouldn't fall off. This rendered her left arm useless for climbing - silly girl.)

Later we stopped off at the wildlife tent and inside there was a tree made of bark and inside was a spiral staircase leading to a slide. Amelia loved it and we had to literally drag her away after 15 minutes.

Before leaving the fair, we stopped by the PBS tent. There was a real-life Clifford in front and she hugged him, then hugged him again, then hugged him again. We dragged her into the little courtyard where they had wooden cut-outs of the Super Why character (and some others from various PBS shows). She had a blast running from Alpha Pig to Super Why to Princess P. She'd run to each one and yell their name. It was so cute. [As a side note, Daddy does this thing with her where he says, "Princess P!" and she replies, "At your service!" - It's from the show and it's so cute, especially since our last name starts with P.] Anyway ... Amelia kept straying outside the courtyard to give Clifford extra hugs and he didn't seem to mind, but we knew it was time to leave.

On our jaunt through the parking lot Amelia said, "Go to fair tomorrow!" and I told her, "No, go to fair next year." She seemed okay with that ... but we're going to have to start saving to afford all the rides she'll want to do next year! Actually we'll just have to go on the day that offers a one-price ride all you want bargain, but that won't help us with the games she noticed, wide-eyed at all the great prizes, as we walked through the Midway looking for the pony rides earlier in the day.