The Fair!

We had our county fair on Labor Day weekend. We haven't been in quite a few years so we decided we'd better go and let the kids go on some rides. We also visited the petting zoo while we were there and the kids totally loved it. It's so fun to see their reactions to real live animals! And of course Mandie was the cutest. There is nothing in the world like watching a one-year-old discover what an amazing world they live in! I didn't really get any "good " pictures of her with the animals, but I'm putting these up anyway.

Here she is touching a bunny

This is the look she got on her face when she saw the HORSEY!

And here she is leeeeeeaning as far toward the piggies as she can. It was just so stinking cute.

And I LOVE this picture! How cute is she?? She really loved the carousel. She's totally just old enough to be able to enjoy it. She got that she was riding a horse, and she thought it was so cool to see Dad and the kids pass by every time we went around.

Here's Jess and Missy on a little car ride
And Nat, Josh and Dad on the cool big kid ride.
The kids' attitudes about the rides really said a lot about thier personalities. Nat is totally big enough now for any ride and loved them all. She really wanted to be able to spend her own money and choose how many rides to go on and buy some treats, and I was telling her that in 2 or 3 years she'll be big enough to come with her friends and (yikes!) no parents! I have many fond memories of going to the fair with my friends.

Josh was pretty timid about the rides. We'd ask him if he wanted to go on something and he would say no, but then with a little convincing he would go, and he LOVED them all. Never got scared at all.

Jessica wanted to go on EVERYTHING. Nothing looked to scarey. But then when she went on a couple of the bigger rides, she wasn't too happy. They were a little too scarey after all, and they bothered her very sensitive tummy.

Missy was very picky about what she went on. She wasn't as brave as I'd expected. She's so loud at talkative at home that I forget how timid she can be in public. She also took the decision of which ride to go on very seriously. She wanted to know all her options, have lots of information on them, and then take a lot of time thinking it over.

These kids are all so different and interesting! I really need to work on getting to know and understand each of their personalities better. I was just reading something (I think something churchy) about how you're supposed to tailor your approach to child rearing specifically for each individual child.

Yeah. Gotta get on that.