My folks took our family to the fair this year. As usual, it was a lot of fun. The only unfun thing was dad having an injured eye. He got a scratch on his cornea and it was ulcerating, causing him a lot of pain, and the drops he has to put in hourly were also painful. It was in his “good” eye, which rendered him, effectively, blind.
They got ride-o-rama bracelets for the three kids the kids and Zach, so Zach could help, especially on the bigger rides Zane wanted to go on.
We have a photo of him looking forward and happy on this ride, but I was tickled by the picture of him smelling the ride before settling in. One of those quirks inherited from both sides of the family. (Even Zach’s dad, Zane’s grandpa, was known for smelling everything. lol)
Before Zach & Zane split off to go on big rides, Zane rode a few of the kid ones with Zora.
One of the only rides that Zane has never really liked is the carousel. When he does ride, he rides on the bench, but he prefers not to ride it. I actually agree with him on this one. I can ride the wildest roller coasters and other adrenaline rides, but the carousel gives me horrible vertigo and I hate it. Zora and Zach both love the carousel.
Dad and I hung out with the kids and mom for a while, until the brightness and the dust was just more than he could take. We found a spot just off the midway, in the shade and away from the people where we sat for most of the afternoon. I realized later that the hours long conversation was the longest uninterrupted conversation I have had with my dad in decades. We also laughed at the idea that he could never have guessed, when I was Zora’s age, that I would ever sit still for that long.
As darkness fell, we headed back to the cars, with one last stop: the train. Mom has taken this ride every year since she was a little girl, she always took us every year, and now my kids have gone every year. However, I don’t remember being able to go in the “coal car” part of the train, so I am a little jealous. We ended up going on the last loop of the night. I think the kids behaved better than the “grown-ups” this time.
And, as we pass by a “photo board” thing, we decided to give it a shot. I will leave out the nice photos because the bad ones were so much funnier.
Our family’s submission to “awkward family photos” website (a website of horrible family photos). Zane was not really into the photo thing, as you can tell.
but we did get one last smile out of him before leaving.
) When they came over she insisted on digging out all of the old birthday party left-over supplies for a more festive experience. Steve & Nora were here too, but they might shoot me if I posted the pictures, since I kept catching them with full mouths and mid-expression.
