Day 238 -- Calhoun County Fair

Tonight, we decided to take the kids to the Calhoun County Fair, in Marshall, Michigan.  It's only ten or so miles down the road.  We have gone every year since Dharia was a brand new baby.  This was the most fun I can ever remember having at a fair.

To start, the Calhoun County Fair is a completely different beast than the Jackson County Fair.  The emphasis is definitely more livestock-oriented, rather than the carnival gangster theme that I have noticed is becoming increaisngly more common in J-town.  We spent a large portion of our time walking slowly through the animal barns, stopping to pet any animals we could.  AJ's favorites were definitely the BIG horses, Clydsdales and Percherons.  The bigger the better.  One was so tall that he was resting his chin on the rafter of the barn.  He brought his head down and gave AJ a little horse kiss/sniff and she was delighted.  Dharia struck up lenghthy, detailed conversations with several horses and Breslin gave his own unique names to many.  A few of my favorite horse names that Breslin doled out were Fast Car, Donuts, and Elephant Kisses. 

Naturally I LOVE fair food with a passion.  We had some of my favorite items tonight together.  We split pizzas and elephant ears.  The kids shared popcorn.  At the end of the night, Breslin and I shared a caramel apple.

Tonight was the first year that the older two kids seemed old enough to really  enjoy some of the carnival rides.  My favorite moment of the evening was probably when they decided that they wanted to ride the dragon rollercoaster.  Breslin spent the first couple of laps holding on with white knuckles, eyes as big as saucers.  Dharia spent the entire ride with the biggest grin on your face you have ever seen, laughing with abandon and wanting to go again as soon as she exited the ride.

This is about as close as you can get to a picture defining the differences in their personalities.

But, eventually, even Breslin lightened up and had some fun.

When I took Dharia to the bathroom, Breslin found a little train ride and was getting on.  AJ reached to go on, but while Colby pulled her back, the operator said that she could ride next to Breslin if she wanted.  So, Colby strapped her in and she stared at him in disbelief.  He said it was almost as if she thought it was too good to be true!  So, Colby's favorite part of the night was seeing AJ and Breslin ride the train together.  I missed most of it, but he took lots of pictures for me!

Oh my word.  How cute are Breslin and Dharia riding this train together?

We had told Breslin and Dharia before we left that we expected them to be very good listeners.  We told them that if they couldn't use their listening ears, then we would have to go home.  They agreed and they did an amazing job of listening all night.

When Breslin and I were walking up the lane after we got our caramel apple, he asked me where we were going next.  I told him that we were going home.  He looked at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen and said, "But, I want to stay here.  But, mommy, I was a good listener!"  I reached down and hugged him and told him that he had been a fantastic listener, it was just time to go home because it was getting dark and the animals needed to go to sleep.  That seemed to be okay with him.  In my head, I was thinking that I might just have won some kind of mommy award for skirting that little problem. But he told me that he would like to come back tomorrow, when the animals wake up.  Outsmarted again.

As we continued our walk, we passed by tons of old tractors which made his face light up with joy and one of the people from the group gave him a pin for his shirt which he proudly wore all the way home.  Especially when Dharia caught sight of it and wanted one.

I am so thankful for a night full of memories.  It is so fun to get to know my kids more and more, to see the things they love, to learn the things that make them excited, to hear what their little minds are thinking out loud.  I am so grateful that I was able to be with them tonight and experience this with them.  I had so much fun.

Thank God for the Calhoun County Fair! 

Dear Lord, thank you for a fun night at the fair.  Thank you for my kids, who made it the memorable experience that it was.  Thank you for giving me such amazing children who bring such joy and laughter to my life.  I am grateful for the opporutnity to get to know them better tonight.  In your name I pray, Amen.