A Day at the Fair

When I was growing up we spent a couple weeks each summer in rural Ohio with my mom's parents (Ella is named after my grandmother) on the farm my mom grew up on. I loved the farm and spending time with my grandparents and the multitudes of cousins who lived nearby. For Labor Day weekend we decided to make a trip home with my parents to visit with family and for Ella to meet more of her cousins (she has decided that the "older" cousins are mine and the kids are all "her" cousins.) She had a great time seeing the fair and petting the pigs that her cousins showed at the Fair! She really is a city girl, the first thing she said to me when we walked into the poultry barn was, "Mama, it smells in here." That said, since she LOVES pigs, we had to walk to whole barn and look at each and every one. She also got to pet a goat, named Ziggy and turned to me immediately to ask, "Mama, can we get a goat?"

It was really nice to see our family and despite a really scary encounter with a galloping and spooked horse, Ella just loved all the family, the jumpy house/slides at the fair and the pond and swingset at Aunt Rosie's house. She got to show off her gymnastics skills to Uncle Don and Grandpa Bob at the park and Aunt Kay sent her home with a doll that we now play with every day!

One amazing thing, Ella took the 5 hour drive each way SO well. No whining or crying, she just played games and chatted the whole way there. We didn't even break out the portable DVD until well into the trip home so she could watch the new Ariel movie. One really funny thing, since she is newly potty trained she was great on the trip so on our first trip to the bathroom after she had to "hold it, hold it" for a pretty long time, she got a giant tootsie roll lollipop as a treat. We happened to stop at the same gas station on the way home two days later and as we pulled in she told us, "this is where I got my lollipops." Sometimes I find the memory thing spooky!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday!!!