The Carnival
I took the boys to a carnival on Saturday night. It was an afterthought actually. One of my good friend's daughters was part of the singing entertainment that evening, and she'd (the daughter) rang me on Saturday to ask what I was up to that evening *hint hint* I always like to be at one of her performances. She's only 16, but has the voice of an angel and I hate missing out on her singing. The very first time I heard her, she was singing at the College Music Festival...she sang "Angel" by Sarah McLaughlan...sitting next to me was her mother, who sobbed so loudly through the entire performance, I would've been surprised if she'd actually heard her daughter singing at all. Anyway Jess rang me that afternoon to drum up some more audience for herself...apparently the night before she'd sung to a crowd of 6 people. 6! This carnival is only around for part of the school break, and it being the first night (and fairly chilly at that) I suspect most people hadn't realised it had started yet, and those that knew, couldn't be bothered leaving their warm homes for it.
Anyway, taking into consideration some of the drama we've had this week, I decided the boys and i could do with an evening of fine entertainment and relaxation. We dressed warmly and headed out of the house for some fun. Quite frankly, after the thoroughly enjoyable concert of watching Jess in action, I became extremely bored. Maybe it's my age. The boys seem to enjoy it.
15 spent a fair amount of money on the rifle stall (actually they were machine guns apparently). He seemed to rather like the idea of shooting things (should I be worried?). Never won anything though.
We had a lengthy conversation in front of the ticket booth. I needed to know what rides the kids wanted to go on, before I got upto the window obviously. Both kids wanted to scrutinise these rides in action before they stepped onto any contraption that was going to throw them around. Fair enough. I can understand that...Besides a couple of very lame, slow moving carousel things, I don't have the stomach for having my body flung about at g-force speed. All that does for me is make me hurl my stomach contents into the air. Which brought up my next statement. "Would you two please hurry up and make some decisions??!...because I'm not going to be forking out money for anything you wish to eat, until AFTER you've had your fill of showground rides." (I am nothing, if not practical about such matters.)
Years ago, when there was just me and the boyfriend (the one I eventually married)...this exact same carnival was operating way back then too...and I spent my time standing around watching HIM go on whatever his adrenalin junkie body felt the need to be part of. Sooo, keeping this experience in mind, the boys and I wandered about looking at the various rides. This 'wandering' was dotted with little bits of information from the past that I dropped in to help them make their decisions.
"I sat here and watched someone stagger off this ride and barf on the ground at my feet" (they opted to leave that ride out)
"I watched the expression on your father's face change while he was on this one....someone hurled while they were almost hanging upside down, and the momentum of the ride threw the vomit back over the people behind them" (another ride they chose not to get on)
(I wish I'd learn to shut up sometimes)
Eventually, they made some decisions, I got to buy the tickets and go through deja vu by standing at the bottom of these rides and watch my children get flung about. There was no hurling involved, the kids had huge grins on their faces during the rides, and finally they got to eat.
The pants I'd chosen to wear that night, kept slipping down on me to the point where I was continually having to hike them up or trip over them....this was making me irritable. I'd already stood on the cuffs of them so many times i wanted to find a pair of scissors and turn them into shorts. In retrospect, I guess I should be pleased they were having trouble fitting...WW would've been proud of me.
Irritable or not...the pants and the cold weather and the indecisive children aside...it was worth it to watch them both laughing so hard and forgetting about the rest of the world for a few short moments. And THAT was what it was all about for me....mission accomplished.
Anyway, taking into consideration some of the drama we've had this week, I decided the boys and i could do with an evening of fine entertainment and relaxation. We dressed warmly and headed out of the house for some fun. Quite frankly, after the thoroughly enjoyable concert of watching Jess in action, I became extremely bored. Maybe it's my age. The boys seem to enjoy it.
15 spent a fair amount of money on the rifle stall (actually they were machine guns apparently). He seemed to rather like the idea of shooting things (should I be worried?). Never won anything though.
We had a lengthy conversation in front of the ticket booth. I needed to know what rides the kids wanted to go on, before I got upto the window obviously. Both kids wanted to scrutinise these rides in action before they stepped onto any contraption that was going to throw them around. Fair enough. I can understand that...Besides a couple of very lame, slow moving carousel things, I don't have the stomach for having my body flung about at g-force speed. All that does for me is make me hurl my stomach contents into the air. Which brought up my next statement. "Would you two please hurry up and make some decisions??!...because I'm not going to be forking out money for anything you wish to eat, until AFTER you've had your fill of showground rides." (I am nothing, if not practical about such matters.)
Years ago, when there was just me and the boyfriend (the one I eventually married)...this exact same carnival was operating way back then too...and I spent my time standing around watching HIM go on whatever his adrenalin junkie body felt the need to be part of. Sooo, keeping this experience in mind, the boys and I wandered about looking at the various rides. This 'wandering' was dotted with little bits of information from the past that I dropped in to help them make their decisions.
"I sat here and watched someone stagger off this ride and barf on the ground at my feet" (they opted to leave that ride out)
"I watched the expression on your father's face change while he was on this one....someone hurled while they were almost hanging upside down, and the momentum of the ride threw the vomit back over the people behind them" (another ride they chose not to get on)
(I wish I'd learn to shut up sometimes)
Eventually, they made some decisions, I got to buy the tickets and go through deja vu by standing at the bottom of these rides and watch my children get flung about. There was no hurling involved, the kids had huge grins on their faces during the rides, and finally they got to eat.
The pants I'd chosen to wear that night, kept slipping down on me to the point where I was continually having to hike them up or trip over them....this was making me irritable. I'd already stood on the cuffs of them so many times i wanted to find a pair of scissors and turn them into shorts. In retrospect, I guess I should be pleased they were having trouble fitting...WW would've been proud of me.
Irritable or not...the pants and the cold weather and the indecisive children aside...it was worth it to watch them both laughing so hard and forgetting about the rest of the world for a few short moments. And THAT was what it was all about for me....mission accomplished.
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