County Fair

Last weekend was the big County Fair. We took the girls on Saturday night. Having only attended the State Fair in my lifetime, the county fair was a new experience...a lot smaller and more crowded. The girls have never been to the fair, so we were excited to show them all the livestock barns, rides, games, and food! Much to our dismay, rides and games have skyrocketed in price!!! And poor Lily was just 1 or 2 inches shy of being able to ride most rides (they don't count anything for sheer weight). But, she was able to have a go on the carousel a few times. Her reaction to the livestock barns was very interesting...I've never seen a child so scared of animals. Isabella has always thrown caution to the wind with everything. Only now does she show a hint of reluctance and fear at select things. Lily, on the other hand, has always been a big scaredy-cat. The child has always hated animals, even toys that move and talk on their own. So, I shouldn't have been surprised when she recoiled with extreme horror at the mention of petting a comatose lop-eared bunny. This poor rabbit was lying on a crate, open for all the fair-goers to ooh and ahh over, and pet. Bella, of course, jumped at the chance, and Lily liked looking at it, but every time I tried to guide her hand to its fur, she screamed like a banshee. It was all downhill from there. Every livestock barn we entered, I had to immediately wheel her out. Pigs, sheep, goats, ponies, cows, rabbits...all of them were off-limits. I did, however, force her to go in the cattle barn because it was our only way to get to the rides without backtracking all over the fairgrounds. There was a calf in there that wasn't a baby, but it also wasn't full grown. It was keeping itself content by suckling on its owner's fingers, and kids were approaching it to pet it. Jason took Bella up to check it out, and she walked away saying, "I don't like that cow...it just sucks." We were beside ourselves with laughter.