Thursday, September 22, 2011

We Made Our Escape

Last Friday we went ahead and "Made Our Escape" to the Puyallup Fair. We did not go on free day this time, and that was a good call. It's much less crowded on a pay to get in day. And all three kids are still free, so it wasn't too bad. Of course, I had to have Grandpa and Grandma Tractor meet us there or the whole trip wouldn't have happened. Three kids plus one Mommy at a fair of that size is a recipe for a lost child...or three. Aren't those four day old piglets darling? Nora adored all the animals. We spent a lot of time in the cow barns and with the pigs. She couldn't get enough of the animals. But she wouldn't touch that baby pig. Later in the day she conquered her fears and had a blast in the petting zoo. She especially loved the "coot" and sooooffft" baby chickens and baby bunny.


We had a couple of shows that we wanted to catch for sure. The first was this "Big Air Mountain Boarding" show. The kids had fun watching the mountain board dudes do jumps and flips and get some gnarly, mad, wicked air, yo.
Next up was the street performing, juggling, slack line walking entertainer. Wait, is that my boy standing beside him? Yes, yes it is. He didn't even give Ezra a choice of whether he wanted to join the act or not. He just walked right up, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in. A few weeks ago, before kindergarten started, Ezra probably would have run back to me and hid. But now he bit his lip, stood there shaking in his boots and took it like a man. After he made eye contact with me and I have him the "it's okay" look, he calmed down and had fun.

The well balanced performer picked the right helper--Ezra threw the (unlit) torches with perfect aim right at him. Yes, he did juggle lit torches while riding a "suicycle" on a slack line. He also juggled knives up there. He gave Ezra $5 for helping him.
The lovely and talented aerobatic artist on the silks. It was soothing to watch her pose and twirl in the air. And a little overwhelming to think how much strength it takes to hold yourself on two long silk curtains.
For the end of the act those three men went about fifty feet up and juggled together. I was getting nervous at that point.Then things turned crazy. That boy there climbed up a pole eighty feet in the air without ropes or even nets below him. He swayed back and forth and held his hands up in the air. And then he did a hand stand. I nearly threw up. Ezra was on his knees in the stands with his hands over his face--but he was peeking between his fingers. Three little girls in the front row got up and left because they were too scared to watch. Wimps, I tell ya--we're all a bunch of wimps. But he lived, don't worry. He claimed he turned out the way he did because he was home schooled.
I think that show was the highlight of my day. Other than the eighty foot pole part. Oh wait, I think actually that the chocolate shake I got in the dairy barns, er the food portion of the dairy barns, was the highlight. Or the funnel cake my mom shared with me.

She wasn't too sure about the cotton candy. Ezra and Caroline were. It's the whole reason they went to the fair.
We met up with our good friend Ange and her Mama Michelle.
Who wants to be a fire fighter? At that age--who doesn't?

Going fishing in the "Get outside and Play!" tent.
Usually we go to the Fair just for Mutton' Bustin. This year the kids both said they'd rather not do it. Then Ange wanted to, so they changed their mind and decided to give it another go. However, once I had paid the non-refundable ten bucks a kid, nerves struck.
"I don't want to do it mom!" ~Caroline
"My tummy is telling me not to do this!" ~Ezra


There's Ange racing away on her sheep. Just after I snapped this shot she hit the ground and the sheep stepped on her thigh. It ripped a big hole in her brand new jeans. Bugger!
In the above shot Ezra is saying "no, no, no". The announcer guy usually says "no way, take him off" if he hears a kid saying that. Thankfully, he couldn't hear him and that nice cowboy there kept saying "You'll be fine" and let the sheep go anyway : ) Bless his cowhand heart!
Hey! He got right in the way of my shot, maybe I don't like him quite so much after all! Caroline said "NO!" loud enough for the head honcho cowboy announcer to proclaim "That child does NOT want to do this" and not allow her on a sheep.
This is how we all felt by the end of the day. I wish I could say it was still light out when the day ended, but I'm afraid we stuck around until bed time. Had to get the $9 admission worth!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my dear, that last pic, too cute ;) so sad to miss the fair this year :( ~Cath

Unknown said...

Looks like you guys made the most of the fair this year! We didn't hit any of the cool shows, the acrobatic stuff looks entertaining (and scary)!