If you read yesterday's Very Important Post ( If you haven't, you really should go read it right now) you know that it's county fair time. This is possibly the most anticipated event in my children's secular calendar. At least for the dynamic duo all events are gaged as being before or after the county fair.
This year we went whole hog and got Nate, Max and Rebecca wristbands so they could ride all the rides they wanted. No more pesky tickets to keep track and no quandary over what to do with the last couple of tickets. Jake, never a big fan of the rides, elected to blow his money on the midway amusements.
All four had a very good time. Max and Rebecca teamed together for most of their rides, resulting in the very cute driving Miss Rebecca photo op. But they were not always together. Rebecca got to ride the ferris wheel with her Daddy. She looks so cute nestled in next to her father. At this point Max was in a bit of a snit. He saw all the loot Jake was collecting and wanted to play games too. I explained that it was an either or proposition, ride or play, we were not going to pay for both. In the end I did let him and his sister play one game apiece. Rebecca was happy either way, but Max was pouting and refusing to go on any more rides. So Max and I watched while Rebecca went on the ferris wheel with Larry.
Nate, meanwhile, went (again) on the Paratrooper. He was absolutely getting his money's worth with the the wristband.
Sometimes it was a little tricky for him to get on a ride. A few, like the Paratrooper, did not allow single riders. You had to buddy up with someone before you got on. I had a hard time keeping Nate in line, he kept drifting off and I kept steering him back. Finally, a girl roughly his age wandered by and I locked eyes with her mother. We pushed our respective charges towards to ride and off they went.
You can just make out Nate in the picture, his gondola is the second one in on the top from the right. You can't see his grin, but I promise it's there, splitting his face from ear to ear.
Once Nate was done Max got over his snit and wanted to ride the ferris wheel. We ambled on over and just missed getting on after Rebecca and Larry got off. The ride started up and we waited for our turn. Rebecca then wanted to ride the merry go round. It was right across form the ferris wheel and I was able to snap a few pictures before our ride started. She loves it and no trip to the fair is complete without at least one shot of her on board. I'll tell you more about our ferris wheel adventure in a little bit.
Then it was off to dinner. Max wanted to do more rides, but he agreed to sit down and eat. It was nothing spectacular, except for my dinner that I got from the local grange. It was an honest plate of bbq with some outstanding coleslaw and a rich buttery biscuit. Nate topped off with some funnel cakes while Jake went for shaved ice.
Then we went for our old standby the barrel train. I was happy to see that the full sized tractor was back, belching smoke and rumbling along. This year there was a new addition to the tractor exhibit. You could go for a hay ride. Admittedly the wagon was bereft of hay, but I didn't miss the scratchy hay bales. It is far nicer to sit on a smooth wooden bench.
We then parted ways. Nate was hot to go on the zipper, but Max and Rebecca wanted to play in the agricultural tent. They love rolling about in the corn crib and burying each other in the corn. So Nate went off with his dad and Jake stuck with the dynamic duo and me.
We ended up waiting a long time for Larry and Nate's return. Nate had the same problem before, no singleton riders aloud. They waited a long until the operator finally waved Larry on sans ticket. Nate loved it, Larry was happy it was over. They returned to the tent to find the dynamic duo ready to go on a few more rides. I left Larry in the tent with the older boys and took Max and Rebecca.
But before the rides we had to see the animals. We inspected the baby chicks in the farm implement tent (I really don't know why they are there) and declared them cute. Then visited the poultry tent were Rebecca and I got to pat a silkie chicken. Our last stop was the pigeon tent and we got to see some very unique birds. The prettiest was the fan tailed.
Then it was show time.
We hit quite a few rides in a short span of time. One was the dragon wagon which is just a simplified roller coaster for the younger set. I really like how I got the lights of the ferris wheel in the background. Afterwards I tried to herd them back to the giant slide and homeward, but Max pointed out that I had promised him one ride on the race cars.
He was absolutely right. He had seen Rebecca go on it while he was up in the ferris wheel and he wanted to go too. I told him we would go after dinner. So we made our way across the midway.
We got there just when the last car got filled up.
So we had to stand there and wait our turn.
And I'm so glad we did and that I had my camera. I got what I think is one of the best photos I have ever taken of the two of them.
They were completely focused on the ride, waiting in calm anticipation. The lighting was just right and I was able to frame the shot between the bars of the side rail. When I took the photo I knew I had something special. I had to do almost no futzing with the color or do much in the way of cropping. Some times a picture just comes together on its own. You just have to recognize it when it happens.
Now about our ferris wheel adventure. This year I was very brave and went on the ferris wheel with Nate and Max. While we were going around I shot a little movie to kept back the thoughts of doom going up high always gives me. I'm not incapacitated by heights, but it's not my friend either.
I just love Max's little declaration at the end. It was the best fair ever.
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