Ancaster Fair Fun!

We went to the Ancaster Fair this past weekend.  We had a great time.  My children are all at good ages for the fair at 5, 7, and 9.  Ella went on the merry-go-round, the tea cups, and a 'fun slide' that she said was too fast and 'freaked her out'. 

The boys went on a roller coaster, the Sky Drop, and (above) the Zero Gravity. I thought for sure that ride would make them puke up their hot dogs.  It spins them around and then tilts up and down while spinning.  They're not even held in very tightly.  The ride operator said, "They're held in by centrifugal force."  Centrifugal force?  That's good enough?  They can't throw on a seat belt?  The entire ride I was saying to myself, "Bad Mom Award to you!  How can you even let your children ride this thing?  IF they survive, they'll get off all nauseous and sick and the Fair will be wrecked for them forever!"  (They had begged me for hours to let them do it.)   They got off the ride, eyes wide, and yelled, "MOM!  That was the most awesome ride ever!  LET'S DO IT AGAIN!"  Whew.   Dodged a bullet there.

It really made me notice again the differences between boys and girls.  And not that one is better than the other; of course not.  It's just interesting.

So all three did the fish pond, and got to pick out an inflatable.  My oldest son picked out a large sword.  My middle son picked out an even bigger 'Super Bat'.  (Like a baseball bat.)  My daughter picked out a 'My Little Pony'. 

Then, while we were waiting for something, the boys started whacking each other with the inflatables.  (Of course I had just told them NOT to whack each other, but they couldn't help themselves.)  Another little boy walked by and saw them.  He was holding an inflatable Spiderman.  He didn't know them at all, but suddenly he walked right into the middle of the whacking and joined in.  These three boys were all happily whacking each other while my daughter was sitting on the grass quietly petting her pony.  (She also fed it and put her brother's sweater on it because it was 'cold'.)

We also went to the Demolition Derby.  Again, I thought - boys:  driving falling apart cars around and banging into each other for fun; girls: a Fair 'ambassador' wearing a tiara.

Hmmmmm.  We sure do complement each other!

 

Supercrawl Hamilton 2012 - Hollerado!

I went to Supercrawl for the first time last night.  It's a street festival all about art and music.  A main street was completely closed to cars and there were vendors, open houses, music venues and art galleries everywhere.  It was amazing!

The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.  There was a mix of all ages and people.

I saw the Hollerado show.  It was so high-energy and crowd-friendly; I loved it.

I was able to explore all these great spaces in Hamilton that I didn't even know existed.  We were able to tour the beautiful cathedral with intricate woodwork and stained glass windows.  Everything was free.

We ate fabulous samosas, enjoyed a decadent peanut-butter pop (PB covered in chocolate and skor bits), and had a taste of yummy green smoothie.

James Street - you'll see me again soon!

 

Cape Hatteras - Pamlico Sound

We were just in Cape Hatteras, a place I'd never been before.  It's in North Carolina, in the United States.  We stayed in a big house on stilts with another family.  It was amazing!  It's a beautiful place.

Our house was on the Pamlico Sound, but you could walk to the beach.  I was glad we were on the Sound, because it was much calmer and shallow for ages which was great for the kids.

The Sound is great for windsurfing.  Our friends are big windsurfers.  My husband and I tried it and I liked it!  Once you got the sail up and in the right direction (which is harder than it sounds) the wind would take you and it was like a fun ride.

It was great to be by the water and under the big sky.  At night it seemed that we could see thousands of stars.  One night we did a midnight kayak.  You just have to do this to understand.  It's a great experience.

I've never seen so many crabs in my life!  We also went to the beach at night and there were lines of crabs standing there on the beach, staring at us.  Not something you see everyday.

The drive was long to get there - 15 hours.  There was a low point.  There always is, right?  As long as you have good moments to balance out the bad, that's really all you can hope for.

Anyway, one of my sons was whining because I told him to do something other than stare at a screen.  This was a huge problem, apparently.  I launched into a huge speech.  My voice rose.  I exclaimed, "When I was young we didn't even have DS's!  Or DVD players!  We played word games in the car!  We sang songs!  And played hang man!"  I warmed to my theme.  "We didn't have screens in the car and"  - I paused for the grand finale - "LIFE WENT ON!"

I sounded about a million years old.  And that's probably how long it will take before anyone listens to any of my speeches again!