This week's field trip

We just got home from the county fair. Last week since I dragged the children to the local war museum, they insisted that this week, we have some fun, so I let them choose. We spent the afternoon there. The grass made me sneeze, the animals made me hold my breath, the bugs made me wave my hands about nervously, and the sky made me worry about the impending rain. We were tortured and teased by clouds all day, and we never knew when it might fall. The weather held up though, but it got pretty warm by the end of the evneing of walking on the dusty fair grounds and wandering through the un-air conditioned exhibit hall and looking at the farm animals and prize vegetables.

The hardest part for me was watching the kids get on what I was convinced were unsafe rides. They just looked old... Not to mention how high they were off the ground. It made me wish I had picked up those wholesale binoculars I had seen on the internet to see the kids expressions. One one ride, I could manage to see a very frightened face on my daughter, and then the ride almost abruptly stopped. They sent all the kids back to thier parents... I asked why it was so short and they said they were having mechanical issues. I thanked them for stopping the ride and asked for my kids tickets back... Later she told me she was scared because the ride was making a loud clicking noise.

Myself, I did the bumper cars (my idea of fun), but skipped the ferris wheel this year. I would have loved to have been up there with some zoom binoculars so the people wouldn't quite look like ants. I always regret not buying cool deals I find online, like the wholesale binoculars site I came across, as I can never find the same deal in the stores!

But did anything educational happen? I'd say yes!

We made it a point to point out how we were getting ripped off based on the fact that this fair was a major event. We discussed the enourmous profit being made on hot dogs, skill games, and rides. It's enough to make you want to run a carnival. Finally they learned that when you were not satisified (like in the ride that broke) ask for your money back.

While I enjoyed our field trip out in the open, at the fair. I am looking forward to the TV show taping we are going to next week.