Going to the fair

I have a friend who has a knack for getting free tickets to places. I've never asked her if she has "connections," as in, "I'll put in a call to my Uncle Guido." But seeing as we get to take advantage of the free tickets every so often, I just take them at face value and say thank you.

Last Monday night, that friend offered us free tickets to the fair. We didn't tell Biscuit where we were going until we were on the way. We didn't want to get his hopes up in case something happened. But once we got there, he was pretty excited.


I thought for sure that Biscuit would meet the required minimum height standards this year, but alas, he still has another inch to grow. All he could ride was the carousel (as long as an adult went with him) and the giant slide (as long as he rode down on an adult's lap).

We took him on the carousel twice, complete with a minor tantrum as we were exiting after the second ride. He was NOT ready to leave his carousel horse behind. Then he rode the giant slide twice -- once with Jeff and once with our ticket-scoring friend.

We had fair food for dinner (giant corn dogs, fries, chicken on a stick, giant turkey legs), played a couple of games (Jeff won a little red bear that Biscuit named Buddy) and were just generally over-stimulated by the lights and sounds.

As we made our way over to the petting zoo, Biscuit saw a horse and wanted to know if he could ride it. It was a full sized horse, so I told him that the horse was too big. "Can I ride the wittle horse?" Biscuit asked. So we got him a pony ride.

He was so excited when we told him he was going to ride the pony. But once he got into the saddle, it was all serious business. I guess he's seen too many cowboys in the old Western movies. Jeff walked beside the horse while Biscuit was riding, just to make sure he stayed put in the saddle. The ponies were on a harness that moved in a circle, and as they started, Jeff realized that to keep up, he'd be taking a brisk walk. But Biscuit was happy.

"I'm a good horse rider," Biscuit told Jeff. And he was.

I thought Biscuit would be fast asleep by the time we got home, but he was wide awake, talking the whole way. Hmmm. Wonder where he gets that from?!?