"It's Comin'! WooHoo!", How to Be a True Fair Lover, and Who Would Have Thought a Parade Could Be So Dangerous? - Johnson County Fair Part I

After a a few days of constant pleading from Elaina ("I want to go to the fair!"), we have finally convinced her that "it's" (The Johnson County Fair) is almost here. It's coming. It's on it's way. Last year at fair time, Elaina was 18 months old and Emily was just 2 months old. Elaina loved the fair. She had a blast. She rode a lot of rides for being so little and wasn't fearful of any of them. Mommy was a bit uneasy about some of the rides she rode for being so little. We drive past the fairgrounds almost every day, and when the fair was over, the pleading began. We knew we were in for a long year if every time we drove down the main street in town, she was going to ask to go to the fair. Well, the year has come and gone, and the fair is back! Elaina is PUMPED! Well, let's just be honest, we are all really excited about our upcoming fair week.

For those of you who haven't experienced the Johnson County Fair, you're probably wondering why we are so excited about an agricultural fair. It is so much fun! Great food, fun rides, a lot of animals, and we always end up running into people we only see usually once a year - at the fair! I have to admit that my best friend, Jill, has transformed me into a true fair lover. Over the last seven years of our friendship, she has taught me how to really enjoy the ins and outs of the fair, especially the grilled pork on a stick and the one dollar chocolate milk shakes at the Farm Bureau Building. Now, being a farm girl and all, she is the most dedicated fair attendee that I know. In fact, she always makes sure that their family vacations do not coincide with fair week. So, I'm sure I made her proud this past March when I actually called the JCF office to find out the exact dates of the fair before scheduling our own family vacation. We can't miss the fair! We always end up spending time with them (The Ruddle Family) at the fair each year, and we always have so much fun!

Today was the opening day of the Johnson County Fair. We thought we would go downtown for the parade, thinking Elaina would love it just like she did last year. Well, Elaina didn't love it so much. She loved it as long as she was sitting on her Mommy or Daddy's lap, but she did not want to get down by herself. Emily, on the other hand, enjoyed it very much. She stood by our chairs and watched. She especially enjoyed all the candy that Mommy was collecting for her. There was a very scary moment though. We aligned our chairs with the other parade goers. We were about ten minutes into the parade, and I was continuing to pick the candy up off of the road. I noticed that the little Murat convertible cars were on their way, and they usually always do a fast little race pattern with their cars. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, these are teeny tiny convertible cars that a Murat member sits in to drive around and do little stunts in. Anyway, as I'm picking up the candy and I see this group coming down the road, I thought to myself, "After I pick up this candy, I'm going to pick up Emily and have her sit with me. Even though we're not in the way or anything, I probably better pick her up just in case she gets scared when they rev their engines." As I'm thinking this, and still picking up the candy, my back is to the road, so I don't see what's going on behind me. I start to lean down to pick up Emily, and Jeff says, "Pick up Emily!" which he had also suggested that I do just a few minutes before that as I was picking up the candy. Later, he told me something was just telling him that she needed to be picked up. I see Jeff's face, and I can tell something is going on. He starts to push his legs out in front of him. All of the sudden I see one of the Murat convertibles come within no more than a foot of me and Emily. Seriously, thank the Lord that I picked her up just a split second before that because she would have been hit. The Murat member swerved to barely miss Jeff and Elaina sitting in the chair as well. We were sitting right next to a road barrier the the police department put up to block off traffic, and the Murat convertible ran right into it and ended up in someone's yard. He wasn't injured and was able to get his convertible back into the parade route with the rest of his comrades. As he drove by us he said, "Sorry to scare you all." I thought, "Scare us?" It was a bit more than a scare. I'm just so thankful that no one was hurt. It seriously took our breath away. What a way to start off our fair week! Whew!

Be sure to check the blog often this week as I hope to post after each of our visits to the fair.

Watching the parade. Elaina was a little nervous with all of the loud noises.

Emily enjoyed playing with all of the parade candy we collected. We're glad that she's not old enought to really miss it since she isn't allowed to eat any of it.