Off to the Fair

Last night was a beautiful night... clear and cool and so we decided to visit the Altamont Fair, which is all this week. I have always loved the Altamont Fair, which is like a three-county agricultural fair with animals, attractions, music, a midway and lots of food.
There is a funny family story about the Altamont Fair... as a child, at the end of the school year we would practice addressing envelopes by writing our own name and address and the school would send us tickets to the Fair during the summer. Every summer I would be sooo excited to get a piece of mail and would beg my mom to let us go check out the fair. But, having the Dickins-esque childhood that I did (ha ha), the Fair was declared off limits for being too hot and "FILTHY!!" by my grandmother. I finally did make it to the Fair (insert swelling background music and a gentle tear rolling down the cheek here) with my parents when I was college age and loved it, but it was kind of filthy.
I have dragged Dan several times during our marriage and he is totally out of his element there. I, on the other hand, have always had a secret dream of being a farmer and absolutely revel in it- the animals, the people, the farm machinery, the smells, and the "this is the highlight of my summer" atmosphere. I really can't explain it except that I have great respect for people who can care for animals and work hard and enjoy simple pleasures in life... I think I enjoy the unpretentiousness of it all.
But Dan is a good sport and comes along. We went after Dan came home from work and first enjoyed some fair food and then started walking around. We saw lots of animals and vendors and even listened for awhile to a great live rock band. Both girls were dancing and clapping and having a great time. Jenna is particularly fun to watch as she dances by stomping one foot and waving her elbows around like a chicken. Michaela has a lot more style and claps well to the beat.
We came upon a small circus tent and a show was starting in ten minutes. People were pouring into it and we decided to check it out, thinking it would last about fifteen minutes or so and be kind of hokey. Well, it was AWESOME!! It was called the Zoppe Family Circus and they are a real old-fashioned Italian circus family that travels around the Eastern US. It was a fantastic show, with a great clown and dogs and horses and different family members doing circus-y stunts. It was also really funny and Michaela was roaring with laughter. They have a website www.Zoppe.net where you can check them out. After the show they mingled with the crowd and you could hug them and get your picture taken with them. I knew how much Michaela liked it because she wanted to hug Nino, the clown who was the main character, and that would generally terrify her. Heck, I even hugged Nino and told him how much we enjoyed the show.
After the circus, we enjoyed some fried dough (a fair isn't a fair without it) and went on a quest that only parents of small children could understand. Earlier in the evening Michaela had spotted kids wearing a hat of loop of paper with a feather stapled to the back, sticking up, like an old Indian headdress. It was an ad for a water purifying system vendor that was there giving them out. Let me say this: it was brilliant marketing because we spent about 45 minutes searching for this booth, with Michaela asking approximately every five seconds where we could get a hat, can we find it, can she get one, etc. We asked three different families if they remembered where it was and finally the last mother and her tween daughter took pity on us and offered to give Michaela the hat they had. I thanked them profusely and saw the understanding in the mom's face of parents desperate to appease their children.
After spending the 20 bucks to get in, watching this circus show for an hour, seeing all the sights, and enjoying yummy food, it was the three-cent hat that made the night a hit. That is the joy of children.

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This is an excerpt from an actual conversation I had with Michaela this afternoon. In the spirit of Dave Barry, I am not making this up.
We were driving in the car home from my parents' house. Jenna was low-level whining because I had given her a few broken pieces of an Oreo cookie there and she wanted more and I said no. She continued the whining throughout the conversation, which contributed to my lack of patience.
Mommy: Jenna, stop whining. That's enough.
Michaela: Why is Jen whining?
Because I gave her Oreo cookies at Gam's and she wants more.
Where did she eat them?
In the kitchen.
But where were they?
In the pantry.
Where?
In the package near the other treats.
Can I have some?
No, we're going home. And there are only crumbs left.
Why can't I have any?
Michaela, there are none left. There are other treats besides the Oreo cookies you can have there.
What's an Oreo cookie?
It's a chocolate cookie with white cream in the middle. (At this point I begin to really wonder if my brain will explode and how people can have the patience to deal with this and not scream.)
Oh... I don't like those cookies.
Arrrghhh!