The Rowes in the Rose City: Doing What We Can

It's pretty difficult (although not impossible) to get out and do things as a 4-person family these days. However, it's much easier to divide and conquer -- especially when nana Noma is around to help (which is basically whenever we ask, thank goodness!).

So on Wednesday we split up into teams & Avery & I went to the fair. This was our 4th annual outing to the Clark County Fair here in Vancouver, and Avery had been asking to go for the last 12 months -- no kidding. Every couple of weeks or so she'll ask "Are we going to go to the fair again soon? How about today?" I think it really left an impression on her last year because she and I took off for the afternoon in the middle of Jordan's ACTH (steroid) treatment for Infantile Spasms -- which was a very low point in all of our lives (23-hour-a-day shrieking). But at the fair Avery & I got a break for about 4 hours, which was absolutely heavenly.

Finally fair time rolled around again, so we did the same again. Last year she was all about the pigs and the horses. This year she still loved the pigs, and wanted to pet the dairy cows (not the beef cows, don't ask me how she knew the difference!), and was vaguely interested in the horses. But the highlights of the fair this time were the rides & the "radio" (rodeo, which was just Mutton Bustin' & Bull Riding).

When we first got there she went straight to the Ferris Wheel, and didn't change her mind after over 10 minutes in line. She wasn't scared at all to be that high up, but she did scold me a couple of times for letting go of the safety bar to take some pictures. Then we went on the roller coaster. It wasn't a huge one, but big enough to give her a little scare (on the way down, that free-fall feeling). But she still loved it. After those 2 rides I was a little queasy, so we wandered around to look at the animals and get some cotton candy. When we got back to the rides she wanted to go by herself -- no mommy allowed! She went down the big slide, on the swings, the tea-cup like bears, the train, and the bumper boats all by herself.

On the way to the bus to go home I let her do one more fun thing: play a carnival game. She threw 15 whiffle balls, and 2 of them landed in a red cup, so she got a stuffed animal prize (like she needs more stuffed animals): a surfing penguin. She won it all by herself! Then we took the bus home again (way cheaper & easier than driving and parking there), which was an adventure in itself.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures (Note: the scab under her nose is from falling off the swing-set trapeze last Saturday).

Okay, let's get going!

Hold onto this bar for safety!

We did it!

We did this one too, but I couldn't really take pictures while we were zooming around!

Believe it or not, she told me at the bottom she didn't like the bumps because they slowed her down.

On the Lollipop Swing with new (temporary) friend Josie (she's 5.5 years old, and they had a blast kicking and swinging on this one).

Hmmmm, I wonder if this bear is going to spin clockwise, or counterclockwise. . . .

Avery just LOVES these baby pigs every year. I admit, they sure are cute!

Avery calls the llamas the "funny looking camels" -- no matter how many times I tell her they're called "llamas"

This year there was a new pony company at the fair, so her old favorite Ginger wasn't there. Didn't matter -- she just called Tiki "Ginger" -- and I don't think Tiki really cared.

Mutton Bustin' championships. These were the 10 finalists from earlier in the day. The objective of Mutton Bustin' is to ride on the back of a sheep for as long as you can. You have to be at least 5 years old to sign up (and I think the oldest was 7). I guess Avery will have to wait 2 more years for her turn. All ten finalists got a new bicycle at the end of the competition -- the winner's bicycle was presented to him in the arena.