Megan, Cam and I all slept in the same double bed the first night. (well, at least to start off) It was a new experience to have a hotel room for just the 3 of us. David couldn't make it; he had to work on Saturday. I told the kids the story of The Three Pigs as we lay in the dark. Then Megan insisted that I make up a story. I always feel that my stories are all super-lame, but the kids seem to like them. One night I told the story of a farmer whose animals all decided to say "cock-a-doodle-doo", because their normal sounds were "too boring." A week later, Cam picked up a wooden chicken and said "Cluck-cluck is boring." Wow, I guess he was really listening!
In the morning I sent Megan down to breakfast with Mamie, as Cam was still sleeping. He woke about 9a, and we visited with the whole gang briefly at the hotel continental breakfast. After some effort at organization, we all headed across the street to the State Fair. First we watched a dog show, then a presentation by the Columbus Zoo. We also got to see a pretty talented juggler. But by then I knew it was time to head back to the hotel and let Cam take a nap. Megan stayed with Mamie and Cedric, and had a great time exploring almost every inch of the fair.
Finding an exit at the huge fair proved to be quite a challenge. I finally found an Information booth. The man showed me where to catch a shuttle. Luckily I remembered which entrance we had come in, and the shuttle dropped us off right in front.
Cam insisted we stop and McDonald's, so I bought him some nuggets and we sat down. He actually ate all of them! As we sat there we watched the only shower of the day. It poured- hard- for about 5 minutes. I felt lucky to be sitting inside, and wondered how the others were faring. As the rain stopped, I got Cam a sundae and we headed back to the hotel. After eating the sundae and listening to a story, we snuggled in and Cam fell asleep quickly. He slept from 2:30p until 6p, when I finally woke him.
As we headed back to the fair, I enjoyed the evening weather, and was grateful to have escaped the heat of the day. (although we were lucky to have temps only in the lower 80's!) I bought the kids some ride tickets. Megan didn't use hers until later, as we could not tear her away from the "fairy wagon" she had discovered. We got our group together, and watched a monkey show. The kids enjoyed it. So far, Cam had been very good about sitting with me quietly and watching the various shows.
After the monkeys, we headed out to find the farm animals. We found the pigs first. Cam was not interested, and became obsessed with "having a juice." So I finally split off from the others and found him a slushee... red. Anything red makes him happy. He finished off the drink as we looked at pigs, then cows. By then we were all hungry, and we found a building to sit and rest. I bought a grilled cheese to split with Cam, but he ate it all! As we ate, the sun was going down, and when we came out the fair was all lit up.
We still had ride tickets, so we headed to that area. Cedric, Aidan, and Megan chose to ride the "big slide". I was proud of them for being able to agree, and for going through the line and down the slide all on their own. Then I took Aidan and Cameron on a little helicopter ride, and Megan and Cedric headed for the ferris wheel. But apparently Megan changed her mind, and picked a funhouse instead.
I wanted to head back to the hotel, but Cameron really wanted to ride the pumpkin ferris wheel. I had told him earlier that he could, but I was out of tickets. Also, it read "Children Only". I told him "If you go on this, you have to go with Aidan. Mommy can't ride it." He agreed, so I bought two more tickets. When I loaded him on, though, he started to cry right when the ride moved. I told the man to please let him off, he could keep the ticket. But the man actually talked him into staying on; I was so grateful. He really liked his job, kidding around with all the children and walking each of them down the stairs at the end of the ride. Cam giggled at him every time he passed him on the way around.
We all walked back to the hotel, and I assumed we would go to bed. (Megan especially had had SUCH a long day!) But we ended up in our friends' room. All the kids watched Scooby Doo, and I got to play Euchre for the first time in a while. (I love cards!) As I lay with the kids in bed that night, Megan said "I'm not ti..." but fell asleep before she finished the sentence :-)
The next morning Megan went to breakfast with Mamie again. Cam slept until about 10:30a. Then he and I packed up our stuff, and we all headed to COSI. (Center of Science and Industry) I hadn't been in a while, and Cam and Megan had never been.
Megan stayed with Mamie again, and got to see most of the exhibits. I stayed with Cam in the toddler area most of the day, which he really enjoyed. We were met by my friend, Kim, and her 4-year-old, Xian. Cam and Xian didn't really play, but they were both happy enough that Kim and I got to catch up at least a little bit.
We left COSI about 4p, and drove straight through to Cincy. There were some grumbles from the kids, but surprisingly Cam was the best-behaved.
It was exhausting, but worth it, I think. Especially for Megan: she's already talking about "when we go back to the fair."
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