Fair-ly Insane


So it's that time again. The fair is in town. And every year we're all excited, like, "Ooh! Let's take the kids to the fair!" ... Like it's our parental duty, like our children would be deprived and their childhood bleak if we didn't attend this annual festivity.

Honestly? I don't know why we even go. I mean, we schlep the kids out into the triple-digit heat index at one million percent humidity and pay exorbitant amounts of money just to get into the gates - then fork over even more scrilla so we can buy umpteen-thousand tickets for rides that go around and around for like two minutes while the kids sit on them looking bored and waving occasionally while we call their names and snap blurry pictures on their way by. Then we pay yet again (ka-ching! ka-ching!) for food that gives us a week's worth of calories in one sitting, which gets picked at and largely wasted by the boys, and then pay more for games like "pick a plastic duck out of a kiddie pool and win a cheap crappy prize," because heaven forbid the games take tickets like the rides do. And then we listen to the kids complain about his prize being bigger than miiiiiiiine and I wanted the bluuuuuuue one and threaten them that if they whine one more time we'll leave and then actually end up leaving because they whine again (usually about being thiiiiiiirsty and needing a driiiiiiiiink because it's hoooooottttt) and hello, we've got to make good on our threat. And as soon as we get in the car, the negotiations (okay, fighting) over the carnival prizes ensues, which doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because twenty minutes after we get home the prizes will deflate/break/otherwise be rendered useless anyway.

And to add insult to injury? I've gotta give them a bath afterward. Not to mention ... my hair gets frizzy.

But oddly enough, every year Curtis and I think it's worth it to endure an hour or two of all this just for the ten minutes or so when the boys are actually enthusiastic and excited. It's like we get amnesia and forget how taxing the whole ordeal always seems to be.

I know. It makes virtually no sense.

I do sometimes get good pictures, though. Like the sign that I thought said "cooter."  And hey, if it's potential blog fodder, I'm all over it like dust on a carnival prize.


Comments

  1. Jessica Armstrong LasaAugust 2, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    Save yourself a couple benjis and don't go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We torture ourselves every year too. There is just something about going to the county fair that is a must every year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hate the fair (ours comes in September), too. And still I go nearly every year.

    You know what else I hate? I'm just gonna say it... Disneyland! I freaking HATE that place. And yet I go every year. This year I actually bought 3 day passes (they were a good deal... sigh). Jonah and I have been once and neither of us is particularly eager to use up our other 2 visits.

    As much as I like to plan a good outing, I find that the cheap, easy stuff, like spending the day swimming, is way more fun than the over-hyped, expensive stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Are you kidding? Your kids don't mind the heat so much and they have no concept of the cash you're dropping. All the know is that they're having a blast. They will have memories to last a lifetime. I know some of my best memories from my childhood were around all the fairs that my parents used to take us to. We don't have them here and I miss being able to provide that experience to my kids.

    So enjoy - even if it is hot and expensive. The kids will remember you fondly for it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. we have the firemen's fair end of august and i can walk to it. at first it was me wanting to go every night. now it is them and i want to avoid the chaos and money draining place. but it gets me everytime, such a small town love of mine.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You should tag posts like this as "Don't make THIS mistake again" and then you can re-read them before you decide to go once again. :)

    ReplyDelete

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