My offspring are spoiled – not by sweets, tv, or toys – no, they are spoiled by media attention. Their lives now revolve around the blogging paparazzi and even a brief hiatus is keenly felt.

“What?” My oldest two children said in shocked tones, “you only took 158 pictures of our day at the fair? Were you even trying?”

I flinched at the disgust and pity written on their faces.

“Mom,” my second oldest son said as he came through to read the blog, “where are the rest of the pictures? There are only two pictures here and one of them isn’t of us at all.”

“Yeah, Mom,” another child piped up, “how come you didn’t post more pictures.”

What was I thinking? Such an important outing and I had the temerity to permit a blog to be posted with only one family picture. Sigh. These children have no sympathy for my need for sleep. I guess the fact that their father was the one who actually authored the post cannot deflect their criticism.

Here you are, dear ones, a blog liberally adorned with pictures. I pity those of you with dial-up. Forgive me. I am at the mercy of my unrelenting, attention starved rascals.

Joshua took us through the wood carving section on our way to the RIDES.

These insignificant, little red bands allowed us to go on every ride (but two) in the entire fair. Not bad. Definitely worth the money if you’re going to be at the fair for, oh say, almost 11 hours!

Our very first ride of the day – we had the entire Ferris Wheel all to ourselves. This is where we discovered Joshua does not like heights. Suffice to say, he was not the one taking this picture.

Joshua rode the Big Slide at least 6 times. He likes a ride that doesn’t throw you around unnecessarily.

Rachel and Sarah were a team on the swings with Eli and David right behind them. I was in the seat just ahead of them so I could get this close shot. Don’t even get me started on the woman who decided to nurse her toddler while they were buckled in the swing.

We went on all sorts of rides. Rachel and Daniel were faithful companions to Sarah and David, partnering with them when they needed a buddy. Joshua was patient with the more adventuresome thrill-seekers in the family. We enjoyed seeing many friends throughout the day. I was very sad to discover I am no longer a teenager and can’t quite “handle” the rough, twirling/spinning rides of my youth. Not without some anti-nausea medicine, which Joshua saw and helpfully pointed out to me, on sale at a kiosk on the fairway.

One delight of this year’s fair was the combination of ages, which allowed Rachel and Daniel to enjoy many of the same attractions as David and Sarah.

We won’t mention poor Joshua who, at 5′ 11″, is just a wee bit too tall for SillyVille.

Of course, some rides were more comfortable than others for the older duo.

At one point, per Sarah’s request, we all hopped aboard a fast moving merry-go-round for a family ride.

Hopefully that is enough pictures to satisfy those greedy children, although I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them wonders why I didn’t just go ahead and post all 150+ photos. I’m afraid they’ve caught the mind set, “if it doesn’t make to the blog then it didn’t happen.”

For myself, I’ve found it is difficult to be ‘in the moment’ and somehow still capture it on film. That takes multi-tasking to a whole new level.

Kathy

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