Eighty-One Dollars Worth of Fun
Update: I feel perfectly fine today. Weird, huh?
We went to The Fair today. Not the big fair, but the Spring Fair, held on the same fairgrounds as the regular fair. Earlier in the week we'd talked about going, but then I decided it was just going to be too expensive and the kids already did a lot of fun things this week.
But this morning, my husband returned from taking Babygirl for a ride in the car and reported that the weather was nice and that he was thinking about taking the boys to the fair. So we all went.
Admission: $26 (And that was half-off)
Ride Tickets: $15 for 20 (4 or 5 tickets necessary for each ride)
Lunch: $26.25 (for me and three boys)
Games: $13.75
The kids each had between $10 and $15. They were eager to spend it on games, but I insisted that we first watch a demonstration. We walked all the way across the grounds, found Barn J and arrived in time to watch Border Collies demonstrate how they herd animals. In this case, they were herding about five ducks with great stealth and skill.
The woman asked if any child would like to volunteer to herd the ducks--to demonstrate how difficult it really is to get the ducks to go through the various obstacles. YoungestBoy raised his hand and was chosen along with another boy in a red shirt.
Watching them chase the ducks was worth the price of fair admission. Ducks quacking, kids laughing, ducks scattering. When a duck is separated from the remaining ducks, they call it a "duck split", which YoungestBoy thought was very funny. He pictured the duck in a bowl with whipped cream and chocolate syrup on it.
But enough educational stuff, Mom. There were games to play, rides to ride!
I went on a ferris-wheel type ride with YoungestBoy and TwinBoyB. TwinBoyA opted not to ride. He is not fond of rides at all. While we rode, TwinBoyA played a game involving a dart and won himself a stuffed animal. YoungestBoy and I played a game involving balls and racing horses. I won, but of course, gave him the animal (an orange monkey). Then we had a string of bad luck and lost dollar after dollar after dollar playing games. In disgust I said, "We may as well just toss our money down that drain!" (We conveniently passed a storm drain at just that moment.)
Kids are optimists, though. I wasn't, but most kids are. They were sure they'd win, so they kept spending until their pockets were empty. Even my pockets were empty by the time we left. We did manage to bring home four little stuffed animals and one poster.
My husband pushed Babygirl around in her stroller the whole time--he mostly just kept her moving and that kept her happy. She put on her very sad face when we first entered the fair gates, but when she spotted the animals--llamas, sheep, dogs--she cheered up. She's a slow-to-warm-up baby. (She immediately went down for a nap when we got home. I'd like to nap myself, but I have other kids to take care of and a mountain of laundry with my name on it.)
YoungestBoy and I rode one more ride--some contraption that circled around and then swung up and down. I think it was called a "hurricane." I don't know, but the centrifugal force kept YoungestBoy plastered to my side and caused an ache in my neck. At the peak of the excitement, I had a sudden vision of the cars being flung into the air and grabbed the bar a little tighter. YoungestBoy thought it was great fun.
When we left, YoungestBoy said the day had been the best day of his life. I guess that was worth $81.
On the way home, my husband's cell phone rang to report that our friend in the hospital has been moved from one hospital to another. He's undergoing emergency surgery for a brain-bleed. This does not look good. So, my husband's at the hospital. I feel so sad for our friend and his family. Sigh.
We went to The Fair today. Not the big fair, but the Spring Fair, held on the same fairgrounds as the regular fair. Earlier in the week we'd talked about going, but then I decided it was just going to be too expensive and the kids already did a lot of fun things this week.
But this morning, my husband returned from taking Babygirl for a ride in the car and reported that the weather was nice and that he was thinking about taking the boys to the fair. So we all went.
Admission: $26 (And that was half-off)
Ride Tickets: $15 for 20 (4 or 5 tickets necessary for each ride)
Lunch: $26.25 (for me and three boys)
Games: $13.75
The kids each had between $10 and $15. They were eager to spend it on games, but I insisted that we first watch a demonstration. We walked all the way across the grounds, found Barn J and arrived in time to watch Border Collies demonstrate how they herd animals. In this case, they were herding about five ducks with great stealth and skill.
The woman asked if any child would like to volunteer to herd the ducks--to demonstrate how difficult it really is to get the ducks to go through the various obstacles. YoungestBoy raised his hand and was chosen along with another boy in a red shirt.
Watching them chase the ducks was worth the price of fair admission. Ducks quacking, kids laughing, ducks scattering. When a duck is separated from the remaining ducks, they call it a "duck split", which YoungestBoy thought was very funny. He pictured the duck in a bowl with whipped cream and chocolate syrup on it.
But enough educational stuff, Mom. There were games to play, rides to ride!
I went on a ferris-wheel type ride with YoungestBoy and TwinBoyB. TwinBoyA opted not to ride. He is not fond of rides at all. While we rode, TwinBoyA played a game involving a dart and won himself a stuffed animal. YoungestBoy and I played a game involving balls and racing horses. I won, but of course, gave him the animal (an orange monkey). Then we had a string of bad luck and lost dollar after dollar after dollar playing games. In disgust I said, "We may as well just toss our money down that drain!" (We conveniently passed a storm drain at just that moment.)
Kids are optimists, though. I wasn't, but most kids are. They were sure they'd win, so they kept spending until their pockets were empty. Even my pockets were empty by the time we left. We did manage to bring home four little stuffed animals and one poster.
My husband pushed Babygirl around in her stroller the whole time--he mostly just kept her moving and that kept her happy. She put on her very sad face when we first entered the fair gates, but when she spotted the animals--llamas, sheep, dogs--she cheered up. She's a slow-to-warm-up baby. (She immediately went down for a nap when we got home. I'd like to nap myself, but I have other kids to take care of and a mountain of laundry with my name on it.)
YoungestBoy and I rode one more ride--some contraption that circled around and then swung up and down. I think it was called a "hurricane." I don't know, but the centrifugal force kept YoungestBoy plastered to my side and caused an ache in my neck. At the peak of the excitement, I had a sudden vision of the cars being flung into the air and grabbed the bar a little tighter. YoungestBoy thought it was great fun.
When we left, YoungestBoy said the day had been the best day of his life. I guess that was worth $81.
On the way home, my husband's cell phone rang to report that our friend in the hospital has been moved from one hospital to another. He's undergoing emergency surgery for a brain-bleed. This does not look good. So, my husband's at the hospital. I feel so sad for our friend and his family. Sigh.
posted by Melodee at Sunday, April 18, 2004
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