fun night at the fair

Late Saturday afternoon we all loaded up for a full night of the county fair. We had to check out the bunnies . . .

and of course the chicks
They fit right in - don't they!? : )

It was HOT for the first couple of hours we were there. Inside one of the buildings they had tons of things for kids to touch, play with and enjoy for free. With the heat, we probably stayed in there for over an hour until it cooled down. The girls had a ball.

Petting the baby pigs

Ava surprised us over and over that night with all the new things she was willing to try that normally would have overwhelmed her and left her crying. She's always been scared to even get one small flower on her cheek with face painting. This time she adamantly informed us she was getting a butterfly on her face. It was so sweet to watch her psych herself up as she waited her turn, "I'm almost 3. I'm big now. Ava won't cry. . . You hold my hand mommy?" She was a trooper and I was so proud of her.

The finished product- she was SO proud of herself and feeling quite good.

Then she decided to surprise us some more. Before we went into the kids building, she had refused any ride but the carousel and even got a little overwhelmed on that at first (although she normally loves them). We thought we were going to have to give away the tickets we'd bought. But our newly empowered little girl surprised us (it must have been the butterfly cheeks). She chose a ride she had to ride herself and while we put her on cautiously, she proceeded to love it and wave happily.

While we were having fun, I asked her if she wanted to ride another ride with me called the "wiggly worm." She excitedly agreed and I just prayed as we climbed in (it was both bumpy and faster than she was used to and I had visions of a bawling child for the ride).

I didn't need to worry.

Poor Kate and Olivia had been so patient watching Ava on her rides and excitedly waving and cheering her on. So we thought they needed a turn.

Of course, Ava had to go and supervise.

We stopped for a traditional fair snack of anything greasy and yummy and Ryan got a lemon shake-up. On a whim he let Kate and Olivia try it and I think he regretted ever letting them near it. They went crazy for it. I wished so badly I had our video camera - we just laughed at them. Let's just say Ryan had to get a refill.

Kate gets her fill (they drank for all it was worth on their turn)

Olivia thinks it's her turn

yum.

Kate preferred the previous arrangement

Before we headed out (after the cows, horses, ducks, chickens, rooster, peacocks and more), Ava had to try a couple more rounds on the rides.

Except the magic had ended. When Ava rode the car ride the first time, it was before dinner and there was only one other little girl on the ride. This last time around? It was full of kids who had discovered horns on all the vehicles.

My daughter does not like horns, much less many of them being beeped incessantly. I was actually quite proud of her as she didn't cry (although she wanted to). Instead, she rode the ride like this.

That was our cue to go home - broke and exhausted . . .but what fun night. : )