A fair to remember

Josh and I broke one of our adopted parenthood rules. (We stole this from you, CraigB.) "Never let your kid ride something that took less than an hour to construct." Yep. We introduced Hudson to the Indiana State Fair AND let him ride not one, but two of those insane rides.

Insane because they definitely were constructed in an hour and they cost 3 tickets (a.k.a. $3.75 EACH). The first ride of Mama-stress was a green caterpillar rollercoaster. Hudson barely cleared the 36 inch height requirement, and naturally he loved ever minute of it. Initially, we stuck to our guns and told him only one ride. Hours later, he had broken his father's tough stance with a string of "Pweeze, pweese, pweeze, Dada, can we ride the ferris wheel?" Dada had the money ready, so I sent my first born and dear husband up into the sky in a swinging little bucket. Seven minutes of heart palpatations and another $7.50 later, they were safe on the ground.

One thing I love about little kids is that they wave at everything they like. Even if the thing is an inanimate object like a train or an airplane. And, even cuter, if the thing is an animal. Hudson walked around all day waving at saddle horses, tractors, and sheep. I loved it!

Lately I have figured out that my level of tiredness can be assessed by how I climb into bed. Pre-baby I would get into bed in a civilized manner: sitting down first, then lying down. When I am tired, I sort of crawl in: hands and knees landing on the bed together. But more recently, in my weeks of complete and total exhaustion, I have been doing something completely different: I totally faceplant into bed. Face hits the pillow before any other body part is horizontal. Tell me that you haven't ever been there too... Anyway (yes, this does have a fair-related point) I felt quite the kinship to an animal that I met at the fair. This Grand Champion sow is my new kindred spirit. I guarantee she also, out of exhaustion, did a faceplant into her bed there.

But yet, I was so jealous when I saw her. There she is getting to feed her youn'uns laying down. Heck, I think I heard her snoring on the job. And there were no worries of correct latch or sore nipples or exact formula mixing. Her little piglets (all 14 of them!) knew what to do. She is one lucky lady.

All said and done, it was a fantastic fair day which we survived safe and sound.

Driving north on I-65 last weekend a couple days after our fair trip, Josh said, "Hey, look!" It was the green caterpillar ride in its many parts on the back of a semi. Ugh! Next year, we are taking the kid to Kings Island and avoiding fairs altogether.