Every October, the parish Fair arrives. This sort of marks the fall season for us down here in the south. To get to and from my house, one must pass the carnival scene daily during Fair week. When my children were young, we never missed our yearly trip there. However, as they grew older, we didn't make as many trips to the Fair; with the exception of when Caitlin was a cheerleader. The cheer competition always kicks the first night of the Fair off. Needless to say, it had been quite a while since we had actually stopped while passing those festivities on our way home. This year would be different...we had another child in the family now.
Justin called me earlier in the week to ask if we would like to go to the Fair with them. It took me about a nanosecond to reply, "Heck yea...Parker would be there, wouldn't she?" In the meantime, Ryan and Caitlin decided to come home for the weekend as well; they would be going to the Fair with us too. In all of my excitement about getting to attend the Fair after all of these year, I had forgotten one thing...the Fair was dirty. Oh my goodness...did we really want to take our baby there? And if we put her in her Cadillac of a stroller, the wheels would then get Fair dirt on them. The night before, Robby and I had passed the Fair on our way home and there were literally hundreds of vehicles there. These hundreds of "Fair Attendees" had hundreds of germs...What to do? What to do?...I was now conflicted about attending the Fair.
Despite my worries, about dirt and germs, we all decided to head out to the Fairgrounds on Friday night anyway. Upon arriving, memories came flooding back. As we walked toward the barnyard, I couldn't help but remember Justin showing his 4-H pig, Mr. Oink. Walking through the barnyard, I told Sarah that we too had a rabbit, horse, pig and chickens at one time. After looking at all of the cute animals, the crew became hungry...the Fair tends to have that effect on people. Off they went to get chili dogs and fries...Parker and I did not eat Fair food. Parker was actually awake by then and I was enjoying talking to her. After the carnivores were finished eating that nutritious meal, we headed to the Midway.
With lights flashing and plenty of noise, we entered the arena of games, rides and food. Although they had just consumed those chili dogs and fries, I watched this unspoken agreement between Robby and Caitlin and knew exactly where they were headed first...the sweet food concessions (MORE carny food?!). Now, I wasn't quite sure that was a good idea, considering Robby eats Tums like candy, but what the heck...let them go for it! Of course, Robby had to purchase a candy apple, while Ryan (our dental student) remarked to me that he hoped his dad didn't pull an entire tooth out eating that apple. Next, I noticed Caitlin pondering what she should order. She could not resist the aroma of the funnel cakes, deep fried and covered with powdered sugar. OK...I'll admit that I took a couple of pinches off of that funnel cake, myself; it was yummy! As we continued to walk through the Midway, we stopped intermittently for photo ops...Hey! This WAS Parker's first Fair, after all. She finally became tired of riding in her stroller and I took her out. Turning her back against me, she became fascinated with the lights. And to my great amazement, all of that loud noise did not appear to bother her as much as it bothered me.
Dark was falling quickly, as we made our way back to our vehicles. Poppi (Robby) was now holding Parker Ann, and as I glanced over at them, I noticed that they were gazing into each other's faces. I knew he hated to hand her back to her parents. However, as he kissed her sweet little forehead, I heard him whisper a promise to her... Poppi would make sure that she got to ride a pony at next year's Fair.
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