A not so perfect night and a perfect day

You would think that an almost 3-year-old would enjoy a rodeo. I guess not our Erin. She would have enjoyed it IF she was the one riding horses and anything else on four legs participating in the show. We found that out on Wednesday night when we took her to the Strawberry days rodeo.

The weather was kinda nasty. The wind blew and rain loomed on the horizon, but I figured we'll just dress warm and bring umbrellas. Erin appeared to be excited to get close to all the animals. It is too bad that mine and Andrew's understanding of close was not the same as hers. She kept running along the fence trying to find the entrance into the arena until she saw how all other BIGGER kids got onto the rodeo grounds to catch that cash cow and ride the sheep. At that moment she darted in the direction of the gate. By the time Andrew got to her she was ready to swing her leg over that 4 foot entrance gate. The kid is fast! The next half hour was spent by Erin attempting to get into the enclosure with calves or sneak back onto the arena. Pook kept crying, kicking, whining and so forth. At that point Andrew took her home and I decided to stay by myself to "get out of at least one of our tickets some value back". I enjoyed it, though it would have been way more fun if Andrew were there.



The next day was Andrew's company's annual picnic at the Lagoon. Erin was coming with us for the first time. I really hoped that the night before was not an indication of how our fun Thursday would go. Despite the fiasco at the rodeo Lagoon day was absolutely perfect and wonderful. All three of us had a wonderful time!

We went later in the day as Erin would not last from morning till evening. For the first time I planed for everything, forgot nothing and came organized. At least that's what I though until I got out of a car in the Lagoon parking lot. That's when I realized that the tickets stayed on the kitchen counter at home! My glimmer of hope that Andrew grabbed the tickets died the moment I inquired about them! Andrew did not have the tickets. I was ready to cry and curse at the same time. To put it in the words of Ann of Green Gables - I was in the depth of despair. Erin was chirping about getting on the ferris wheel (where on earth did she learn what it was called and that you could ride on it?)and just beamed with happiness and curiosity. I could not crush this happiness by pointing out that buying new tickets was out of the question. However, the day was saved. Another set of tickets was delivered for us by Andrew's coworker in charge of the event and after a 15 minute delay we entered the park. The rest of the day was perfectly splendid.


I love her delighted expression! We started by riding the ferris wheel


Erin got to ride with papa




She stayed on this ride for a few turns. I love kids rides! They have NO lines!




Andrew got to get catapulted. Though it turned out to be not as adrenaline rushing as being slingshotted last year


Andrew also got to drag race


We all got to ride the carousel


Erin came back to this ride three times

We also went to the water park, the picnic and rode a train through the zoo. By the time we were done it was getting dark. I really can't think of anything what would have made the day more perfect.

Ta ta for now!