The Weather is Calling for Fair

Last week was what I like to call "Christmas in the Summer". That's right, Fair time! For the kids this is the single most anticipated event between Easter and Halloween. This year we thought we'd save some cash and buy Pay-One-Price bracelets in advance. $125 covered all of our rides and admissions. Now I know some people will say, "Holy Shit! 125 Bucks?", but you have to remember we're talking about 2 adults and 3 kids so it only works out to $25 each to cover an entire day.

Problem with buying this stuff in advance is that you basically have to go regardless of the weather. Wednesday came. Opening day. The weather was awesome. Sunny and warm. A great day for the fair. If only it hadn't been Wednesday. I checked the forecast and it was calling for sunny on Thursday, rain on Friday, cool (12C) and cloudy on Saturday and rain on Sunday. This is not good. OK, we then come up with some alternate plans.

If things don't look good for Saturday when I check Thursday afternoon we'll go Thursday night since it will be warm and sunny then.

Thursday comes and with it a new forecast. Rainy Thursday. Cloudy Friday. Cool and cloudy Saturday and rain on Sunday. Oh well, maybe they're wrong. Nope. Thursday is a wash.

Friday comes and it is rainy. Saturday is now calling for partly cloudy and warmer (16C) and still rain on Sunday.

Saturday morning arrived and we looked out the window to see a miserable, cloudy looking morning. The weather was still calling for partly cloudy and 18C. The fair is a go!

The midway opened at 12:00. We headed out shortly after noon, skipping the parade so we could get there as close to noon as possible. It turned out to be perfect fair weather. It wasn't so cold that you needed a jacket and it wasn't so hot that you had heat stroke by the time you went home. There was a light breeze and the only rain we saw was a couple of drops as we were walking to the car to go home.

The kids went bonkers for the rides. Especially Number Three. This is the first year that she was really INTO the rides. The other two kids had a perpetual issue in which Number One wanted to go on a ride. Number Two wanted to go also but not with Number One. She wanted to go with Mom or Dad only. But if Number Two went with a parent, then Number One wouldn't want to go. The other parent couldn't go with Number One or Number Three would be left alone to wait. This happened over and over. Sometimes it was Number One who wanted to go with Mom or Dad and sometimes it was Number Two, but every time it sucked. Number Two must have started crying 400 times, because to her that is how to get shit accomplished.

We sat down for a snack of Chip Truck chips and a rest. Number One managed to get about a gallon of ketchup spread on every inch of her jeans by simply eating a tray of fries. It's truly mind-boggling sometimes.

Fast forward to around 4:30 when we met up with the family of one of Number Ones school buddies. We were able to pass her off to these people for a couple of hours and it only cost us $10 (we gave Number One the $10). This gave us an opportunity to split. Jules wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home. So we did. Number Two and Jules had a nap as soon as we got home and I hung out with Number Three.

An hour and a half later we were fully charged and ready to go back. We hooked up with Number One and did all the rides over again. We got home around 9:30.

We all agree that this year turned out to be the best fair year yet. Not bad considering how iffy the weather was.