Walking like a penguin

Last night, I was nearly bursting from the seams wanting to go to the county fair.  A PIG race!!!  How exciting.  I had never been to one and in my imagination it was going to be monumental.  I was under the impression that it was a one night thing and Monday night  was THE NIGHT.  

Well, Al was not interested.

Mary was not interested.

But, YES, Leia would go with me. 

How exciting!!!  We were going to the fair!

This IS NOT my photo.   I have "borrowed" it.

As I drove over to pick up Leia, it occurred to me that this would be her first time at the fair.  Well, that made it even better.  I would get to experience this with her AND take pictures of the pig race.

We decided that she wouldn't need a stroller, no she was 3 1/2 and she could do this without one.  So, with a sippy cup of ice water and a bag of Chex cereal we started off for the fair.  

Again, NOT my photo.  I have "borrowed" again.

We parked in the grass lot over by the Ferris wheel.  She was SO excited about the big circle.  She kept asking when we were going to get on the big circle.  I told her that Grandma was not getting on the circle.  It was a very big sensory overload on this little person as we walked through the midway to get to the animal barn.  We had to stop every few steps just to take it in.  When we arrived at the barn it was a whole new world.  She petted sheep and had some concerns about a sheep who was being blow dried.  Then..on to the pigs.  Wow.  She petted pigs and spoke to them like they were her best friends.  After that we moved on through the goats, roosters & bunnies.  

We had quite a time. 

But, where were the racing piggies?

We asked and were told that we needed to go to the pioneer village.  That is no small walk for Grandma, let alone our Leia.  She asked me to pick her up and together we fought the crowd at the food row.  

And then...she became very excited...there was a monkey, a REAL monkey...and he was taking money.

Why, of course he was.  Don't all monkeys do that?

NOT my photo.  Borrowed.

She was tickled with the monkey.  He only took quarters or dollars.  Obviously he is an upwardly mobile business minded monkey.

We, being economically minded, gave him a quarter.

Have you noticed that I have NO photos of my own on this blog today?  Do you know why?  Let me tell you.

In all the excitement to get to the fair to take pictures...I forgot to put the card in my camera.  Yup, I had a heavy camera with NO CARD IN IT.

Leia stopped by a tent and she was shown how to make a bracelet to remind her of her Christian heritage.  She loved that.  She was getting hot and so was Grandma.  We started looking for a place to get something to drink.

We were almost to the pioneer village!

And the pig races!

At this point, I would like to thank GOD for Jack Fivecoat.  Jack & Nancy were working the Ham & beans tent at the fair.  Jack was sitting on a cooler out by the walkway talking to people about getting a drink of lemonade.  He was so kind to Leia.  He has such a big heart.  He asked her if she would like a "push up".  She needed cooling off in the worst way by that point in time.   With an orange push up in hand, she was much better.  All the noise and new sounds were getting to be a bit much for her.  

It was at this point that we noticed that we had completely missed the piggy races.  It really didn't matter at that point.  We were having fun.

Not my photo.

 We bought some caramel corn in a gallon bag and headed for downtown pioneer village.  We looked at the looms and the candle dunking (said hello to Scuba & wife).  We watched the threshers run the machine.  She was amazed by the straw that came out of the machine.  

Not my photo.

It looked like a huge bird's nest.  She stood and stared at that for the longest time.  She was mesmerized by the motion of the straw as it landed in "big nest".  

To end out our trip we went through the new round barn.  It was beautiful.  Perfection.  But, Grandma was pooped at this point.

It was a straight shot to the car from the barn.  The problem was that we were all the way at the other end of the parking lot FROM the barn.  

So, we start across the grass lot.  

Leia has decided to "walk like a penguin".  

Bless her heart, she was in another world, her own little world. 

I had to stop mentally and tell myself that I needed to enjoy this time.

There I was ten minutes until sundown with my beautiful granddaughter after a wonderful time at the fair.  The view was incredible.  The corn fields and the blues and purples and pinks in the clouds were breathtaking.  I had her sticky, sweaty little hand in mine as we "penguined" across the lot.  At the midpoint of the lot, she stopped and looked at me and asked how far it was to the van.  I told her we were halfway and she told me we were done and we could walk the regular way.

We stood next to the van and watched the big circle for a moment before we got in the van.  She asked for her giant bag of popcorn and settled in for the ride home.

I am SO blessed.   

So, to sum up:

Blow dried sheep.

No card in camera.

Ninety degrees.

No pig races.

Jack Fivecoat.

Popcorn in a bag.

Penguin walking with my grandbaby.

What a wonderful night.