A Day at the Fair

Today I was up for an adventure, so I took the boys to the San Diego County Fair. Joseph was so excited to go when he heard there would be animals there, and the animals didn't disappoint. I was a little worried that all the good will was spent before even getting through the fair gates after searching for the well-hidden and unsigned free parking lot (regular parking is $8!) waiting in line to get on the free shuttle, struggling onto the bus with two small boys and a folded up double stroller (thank you, helpful people around us!), waiting in line to get a ticket, waiting in line to go through security, and waiting to get into the grounds. But we got there, and things immediately improved. We found a quiet little bench where I could feed poor screaming Caleb and Joseph could snack on some grapes, and amazingly a little train ran by to keep him occupied.

We then, of course, headed straight for the animals. We made one initial loop through all the houses to scope out the goats, cows, pigeons, and chickens, and then returned to the goats. Joseph was completely enthralled by the goats being milked, and stood there staring for almost a half hour. After much indecision, he finally went into the stall next door with three very small, cute goat kids, but got a little freaked out when they started licking his hand and jumping on him, and made a quick exit by sliding along the wall to the gate. He was very cute and excellent company most of the day, and enthusiastic as always. For his part, Caleb slept almost the whole time, and you can't ask for better company than that at a fair from a six-month-old. Other highlights for Joseph were the woman filling up the water buckets for the goats to drink, the horses, the tractor, the collection of old Tonka trucks, the collection of giraffes, riding the shuttle busses, and the turtles (I must say the turtles were strangely active for turtles. The desperate looking way they were trying to escape from their enclosure was very unsettling to me, if captivating for the kids.)

For me, I got to bust through the home and hobby displays towards the end, and even spotted the lovely blue scarf that my friend Rachel wove that won second place. I'll never forget how completely amazed and inspired I was by the Utah State Fair I attended several years ago, having never been to anything similar. I was so impressed by the vast variety of peoples' talents and interests; to think there were experts in so many things I had never before considered! The things they whittled, or wove, or grew - it really just lifted my spirits to think of so many people quietly fostering so many talents. But today just wasn't the same experience. This fair seemed a lot more commercial, with the (relatively fewer, from what I could tell) talent competitions practically barricaded by food booths and games and rides and vendors. It seemed less like a celebration and more like a commercial event. The whole time I was there I was just thinking how glad, glad, glad I was that Joseph hasn't learned obnoxious buy-this-for-me behavior yet, because there was absolutely no escaping the barrage of stuff to buy. And it just seemed a little too much for me, especially with the $11 entry fee. I mean, we're paying to be sold to?

But really, it was a success, what with the goats being milked and all. And I should win an award for not pushing my luck to far and leaving with everyone still happy.