Sunday, July 13, 2008

Note to Self: Let Daddy Go on the Rides From Now On - Johnson County Fair Part II

It's late, and the girls are fast asleep. Daddy is conked out on the couch just like he was at this time last night, so I thought I would go ahead and get our fair post in for today. We made our way over to the Johnson County Fairgrounds tonight. Jeff's parents joined us again this year for a night at the fair. Elaina was counting on her PawPaw to make sure she got to ride some rides. We got there at 6:30 p.m. and we stayed until it closed down at 10:00 p.m. We had a great day.

We intended to start our evening with the hot air balloon race. We went to this last year, and Elaina loved it. Balloons were supposed to start setting up at 6:30 and the lift off was set for 7:00 p.m. We made it over to the grounds ten minutes before lift off, and it was obvious that it was going to be extremely delayed. The balloons hadn't started setting up yet. We were disappointed, but we knew we couldn't waste a lot of time waiting around.

We decided to head over to the rides and get started there. Thanks to PawPaw, Elaina was able to ride several rides, and Emily was able to join in on a couple too. Elaina and Emily went down the big slide in sacks with PawPaw and Daddy. The Ruddle family met us over at the rides, so Elaina and Hannah got to ride some rides together as well. Emily even got to ride a ride with Hannah. All three of the girls were able to ride the carousel. They are so cute together. Hannah is almost exactly two years older than Elaina, and she has always been Elaina's little mother. They have a great time together, and it's so fun to watch them be girlie. It was pushing 8:00 p.m. and because of all the excitement, we hadn't taken time to eat any dinner. The girls were happy and not complaining, but I thought we better finish up the rides for the evening so that the girls could get some food in their tummies. We decided to end the rides for the evening with the double ferris wheel. Yes, the big adult ride double ferris wheel. Mommy volunteered to ride with MawMaw and Elaina. Heights have never bothered me until this summer. For some reason, I climbed the steps to the top of a pool slide at a friend's house earlier in the summer, and I was really nervous about the height. Then, a couple of weeks ago when I was on the ladder painting, the gutters, I was nervous again. I had thought to myself that it was strange because heights had never bothered me before. Well, the double ferris wheel did me in tonight. Elaina was THRILLED! She was woo-hooing and squealing the whole way. She was even yelling down to her friend Hannah on the ground saying, "Hannah, look!" We were WAY up there and swinging back and forth, and Mommy was being the big baby! I was holding so tight onto Elaina's leg trying to be a big girl and show her that Mommy wasn't afraid. I was very excited when it came time for us to exit the ride. My stomach was turning. From now on, we'll leave the rides for Daddy.

After we settled down from the rides, we had some good fair food and headed over to the animals. This was Emily's favorite part and Elaina's least favorite. Emily loved making her "universal animal sound" to all of the animals. Her favorites were the turkeys. Elaina was okay with the pigs, definitely did not enjoy the cows, but really loved the rabbits. We didn't spend a lot of time with the animals tonight. We'll spend more time with them later in the week.

Look out! These girls are crazy tractor drivers!

Elaina and Emily going down the Super Slide with PawPaw and Daddy.

Elaina on one of her favorite rides - the motorcycles. Jeff thinks it's in her blood.

Elaina and Hannah enjoying the fair!

Elaina and Hannah

Emily and Mommy on the carousel.

Elaina petting her favorite animals at the fair - the rabbits.

Emily talking to the turkeys. She decided to just go ahead and sit down for their conversation.

1 comment:

The Knight Family said...

Oh wow, you guys had fun! I just love all the pictures...and I'm so proud of you, Stephanie, for being a brave mommy on the ferris wheel ;)