Fun at the Fair!

We took Ainsley to the fair Friday night and she had the best time! Actually, Clint and I agreed that we had more fun than we'd had in a long time! It was a little sad seeing Ainsley so grown-up, though. She wanted to walk everywhere without holding hands (hence the Elmo harness) and she didn't want us to ride any rides with her! She wanted to go all by herself. I figured as soon as we put her on a ride and walked away that she'd get scared and jump off, but no! She would smile and wave at us! She had SO much fun!

We got to the fairgrounds a little before 6:00pm, but when we got out of the car it was SO cold and windy out in that field. Ainsley still had her shorts and t-shirt on from MDO. The last time I had been outside just 3 hours earlier, it was warm out! So, with her still being a little sick I really didn't want to have her out in the cold. We needed a little more cash anyway, so we packed back up in the car and headed home to get Ainsley some pants and a jacket. As we were leaving she was yelling, "I go Dora Carnival!" We have a book where Dora goes to the Carnival and wins a big pinata so Ainsley was very excited about going to the carnival like Dora. Anyway, we went home, got Ainsley some clothes, jacket, I picked up the camera, then we went to the ATM (which was broken!) and got back to the fairgrounds by 6:20pm! I was so happy that Ainsley was going to stay warm and that I had my camera. But we all 3 had to share a dinner since we weren't able to get any more cash.

We got our hands stamped at the gate, but Ainsley was free so they didn't stamp hers. She was almost in tears because they "forgot" to stamp her so we had to go back and get a stamp. She was SO proud of this stamp and was still talking about it when we got home! She got very sad when Mommy's washed off while I was bathing her, but she was careful not to let hers get too wet. It's mostly gone now, but she still thinks she can see it. :) Anyway, the first ride she saw that was in Dora's book was the carousel. The "horsies" are always her favorite ride. She immediately picked out a white horsie and hopped on!

This was the best "in-motion" picture I got since they were moving so fast!

She really liked these baby chicks and would say, "Cheep, cheep!"

People were laughing at her here because she was yelling (and I mean yelling) "Oink, piggy, oink!"

She wanted to hold the baby cow, but was happy enough when we took her to see the "show calves" like Bapa's!

This was by far her favorite ride. She spotted it when we walked in the gate, which was way back by the triangular shaped ride in the far right background of this picture. We were so far away it was hard to even tell what it was, but she kept calling it a "Choo-choo" so we had to go find it. All the other kids on the rides had older brothers and sisters to ride with so I wasn't quite sure what we'd do with Ainsley, but she just climbed right in and buckled herself up! This was right before the ride started. A little boy about her age came in and set by her right after I took this picture. He had an Elmo harness too so they became quick friends.

Blury, but you can see how much fun she was having!

This was a big blue dog and Ainsley's favorite show is Blue's Clues so she wanted in. However, she's always been scared of these things so we weren't sure how it would go. She got in when there were no other kids and set down for a couple of seconds, then came out crying. But then this little boy jumped in and she wanted back in. It only lasted about a minute before she came back out crying again. Big waste of $2, but we learned our lesson!

This was another one I thought she'd cry on. Again, all the other kids had siblings to ride with and the cars seated 4 people, but Ainsley was perfectly happy by herself! She even let the attendant buckle her in! She just couldn't figure out if she wanted to drive on the American side or the British side!

We had SO much fun and I can't wait to take her back sometime. She LOVED seeing all the kids showing their animals too, which my dad will love. (I used to show cattle myself) If you've never taken your kids to the fair, I highly recommend it as a fantastic family experience. The Tulsa state fair is coming up the first weekend in October and I've been every year since I was a little girl. It's a fantastic fair and not quite as big as the OKC fair, but still 3 times the size of the county one. There's lots of exhibits, shows, concerts, and plenty of seating around all of the food vendors. Great things to buy and sample too! (I always get a new purse at that fair!) Ainsley learned so much about animals and loved telling us what color and type of animal each one was, if it had long hair or short hair, etc. I wish we would have had time to see the exhibit halls and teach her about bugs, vegetables, and that sort of thing, but I guess it can wait to next year.

Also, there are a few more pictures on our flickr site (see the link on the right) if you'd like to see more.