A trip to the fair
Today I took Hambet to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. Normally I would have gone with my husband, but we couldn't figure out a good time to do it -- last year, we went the first weekend and some of the exhibits weren't up yet. The year before that, we went on the last weekend and half the exhibits were being taken down. Going during the week proved to be a good time as far as everything being up, but I still didn't get a chance to leisurely stroll around contemplating the prize-winning zucchini because Hambet was with me (and he was determined to leave me behind.)
I love fairs. Forget the midway, I love strolling around and looking at all the animals and being glad there are kids in this world as happy and normal-looking as these 4-H kids. (A couple of boys set up their goat stall with a hilarious "Monster Goat Barn" theme: "If it's tense, and under pressure, and about to burst....MILK IT!" I am not recounting the jokes very well, but trust me, it was funny.) Hambet liked looking at the animals in their stalls, and sheep-shearing held his attention for a minute or two, but he really liked the petting area, especially when he got to feed the animals. He wasn't sure about the pony ride at first, but after the first lap he started to get into it. (I still don't think he fully understood the significance of a pony ride.)
It didn't seem like there were as many booths this year. Usually you can come away with buckets of literature and pencils and weird little toys, but not this year. Maybe I just wasn't looking as hard.
After a couple of hours, Hambet was starting to droop. I revived him (and myself!) with a strawberry milkshake so thick that the straws kept collapsing, and we headed off to the midway. Our destination was the Fire and Rescue display. Hambet got to see fire engines up close (including the tower engine, with its tower fully extended), and when the fire fighters gave him a little plastic helmet, I think his little cup of joy ran right over. They had an inflatable slide shaped like a fire engine, so he got to scramble around on that for a while. Finally I poured him into the stroller and we headed on home. I am getting ready to take him up to bed, and I suspect he's going to insist on bringing that hat to bed with him.
