State Fair

Giant slides, cows, tractors, veggie racing, popcorn, superb milk, horse pulls, did I mention tractors?... all were part of Jonah's first State Fair experience on Sunday. Our friends, Kristin and Ryan, joined us for the experience.

We thought we were getting there early enough for a Sunday morning by getting there around the time the gates opened, but we were mistaken and ended up finding some (free) street parking about six blocks from the fair grounds. We brought Jonah's wagon, but mostly for the purpose of hauling water and bags because Jonah usually likes to walk.

I had been talking up the Giant Slide with Jonah prior to going to the fair because it was something I remembered fondly from our trips to the Barnstable County Fair when I was little (though I think it was called something else), and I was pretty sure we could ride it together.

Jonah was excited from the second he saw it. With each step up the stairs, his anticipation grew. He watched the other riders with great interest. We turned our hats around for better aerodynamics, got seated, and away we went! The entire way down, he shouted "WEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Here are some pictures. You can see nearly the entire trip down in our photo album.

Jonah was very excited from the moment he saw the slide!

...and we're off! "WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

"Is it over already?? Again! AGAIN!!"

Jonah didn't want to look at Mommy... he wanted to figure out how to go back up!

Ryan took part in a fitness thing to jump rope for a full minute and really impressed us. Unfortunately, he only went for 30 seconds because he thought he had gone the full minute already.

After this, we made our way to the cattle barn to check out the cows. Jonah got to see the different kinds of cows and talked about the different colors with Mommy. He got to see some being fed and even one getting a bath.

Cows!

Moo.

Agriculture is an important part of the fair.

Insert corny caption here.

Alas, his zucchini with the sunglasses didn't win the race, but he had fun!

And then we got back to livestock, checking out some sheep judging, and then Michelle, Jonah, and Kristin watched the cow milking demonstration while Ryan and I picked up some milk from Herb's Superb Milk House (only 25 cents a cup!). Unfortunately, the line was so long that we missed the milking demo, but we did get our milk fix!

"Yummy!" (banana flavored)

"Oh wow! That's good stuff!" (cherry vanilla flavored)

Then on to the Coliseum to take in some horse pulling before getting lunch. We were intrigued by the setup with a truck that the horses pull. It appeared that before they pulled the car, they lifted so much weight. They then had to pull the truck so far.

We think The "Horsepulling Dynamometer" is an old Ford International. Thanks, Grandpa G.! would know...

2700 and 2900 didn't seem to be an issue for the horses, but when they got to 3100, the eliminations really started.

We took a little break to take in some lunch. The crowds got to be a bit too much, though. It was impossible to move and no longer any fun, so after a pass through the nature park, where Jonah got to sit on an old International T-6, we opted to leave.

Jonah and Mommy after running through a fountain to cool down.

Jonah didn't want to get off, especially after waiting forever for another kid to finish his turn before he could get on.

Paddling Along

Lunch in a canoe? This is a first!

We decided to adventure out with Jonah in a canoe rented from Laacke & Joy's a couple of weekends ago, uncertain how he would react to being in the boat or if he would behave and sit down during the trip. Our goals were to introduce him to the river, see the city from another perspective, and enjoy a pleasant afternoon, whether that be for 15 minutes or a couple of hours.

We shouldn't have worried. Jonah was a great passenger in the canoe, starting off the trip sitting in front of me in the bow (meaning I could really only row from one side). He enjoyed going under all of the pedestrian, car, and train bridges, calling for "another bridge" as soon as we passed under the previous one. After heading south from Laacke & Joy's, we headed west past the Harley Davidson Museum and tied up next to some fallen trees to eat a picnic lunch. At this point, we moved Jonah to the center of the canoe, where he stayed for the remainder of the trip.

Relaxing in the shade with Daddy.

Checking out the scenery.

After lunch, we headed a bit further west before turning around. We were sensing that Jonah was beginning to get tired (it was approaching or past his regular nap time at this point). He put his head down a few times on the yoke such that we thought he had fallen asleep sitting up, and then he leaned back onto the floor of the canoe as if prepared to take a nap (we helped him out by covering his eyes with his hat):

I just had lunch and I'm out on the water. Isn't a nap in order?

In the end, Jonah didn't fall asleep in the canoe, but it didn't take long at all for him to fall asleep in the car on the way home (all three of us took naps of varying lengths at home). When we asked him later in the evening what he remembered of the trip, he surprised us by noting "dead fish." Dead fish had been rather plentiful at the beginning and end of our journey (north of Knapp), but we hadn't realized that he'd picked up on our conversation about them, which just goes to show that you don't know what sticks out in the mind of a toddler!

Our "big boy"

Our little guy just keeps growing up. Right now he is on a "big boy" kick where he wants nothing to do with anything he thinks of as being babyish. He will have no more to do with toddler plates; it's all about a "big plate" even though the ceramic plates Ben and I use at many meals are physically smaller than the plastic plates he used to use. Using toddler-sized silverware doesn't always fit with his plan, either.

This fascination with "big boy" activities translates to activities at the park as well, where he has begun to resist the toddler swings. Remarkably - at least to our minds - he has done quite well with the regular swings (they sit pretty low to the ground at Enderis Park), and even managed to stop it by himself and dismount successfully a couple of times on Sunday. Here's some video showing his thorough enjoyment of the swing:

For some time, major sources of enjoyment at Enderis Park have been the ramp to the field house and the stairs up and down on the west side of the field. This weekend he discovered a new activity: walking the "ramp" on either side of the stairs.

I'm sure we'll see even more of this emphasis on being a big boy in the coming months and years. Don't grow up too quickly, Jonah! We want to hold on to your "little boy" moments!