Linus' First Fair

Nothing can be more momentous than taking a kid to his/her first _______. You can fill in the blank, and most parents will agree that doing a "first" with their kid usually makes their day/week, and can maybe even make up for all the sleep deprivation, spilled milk, or poopy diapers that comes along with parenting. But I digress...

A few weeks ago the Arlington County Fair set up shop and we couldn't wait to take Linus to his first fair. Fairs were not a big deal for me growing up-- the military set one up once a year on base when we were in the Philippines, and Mattias and I played concerts at the county fair with our music school cover band, but they were in no way a nostalgic event that I looked forward to. But what's not to love? Rides, games in which you have a very slim chance of winning, super fatty foods that will guarantee acid reflux, animals, extremely large stuffed animals, white trash....

Linus was mesmerized by all the lights, colors, smells, and sounds.

So we dropped a bunch of cash for 24 yellow tickets and shopped around for some rides. First choice was the train. Linus offered up the fare, put on his engineer's cap, and enjoyed the (short) ride.

We started to run low on tickets so we went over to the free bouncy house zone.

Linus had a ball jumping around, and I had a great time watching him until I got sucker-punched on the lip through the protective netting (by accident). Mattias got the money shot.

After drinking $10 worth of fresh lemonade, we stopped for some food and to watch the pig races. Linus kept wondering about the yellow structures in the distance and kept running out to them. Finally we gave up and I took him inside to show him what these structures contained-- mycket bys ("lots of crap" in Swedish). This happens to be one of his newest most favorite phrases.

Once refueled we got back to the busy task of choosing rides. Being under 36" tall, Linus choices were limited to the carousel and the baby roller coaster. Ellyn came just in time to ride with us a few times.

I keep repeating it, but I'll never get over how a child is a constant reminder of how simple things can be wonderful and amazing. While we seem exhausted most of the time, experiences like these truly make us feel young.