We have some new friends that we have started spending more time with outside of our playgroup morning and when they suggested this, I was really excited to check it out. I haven't been to the Dutchess County Fair in several years and while it is a lot of fun, it can be quite expensive to do much of anything once you are inside. The Ulster County Fair is much smaller, but you pay one price to get in and then get access to all the rides. They also have a really awesome kids play section, some free games, space to picnic (and it isn't a problem to bring your own food in), and all the traditional fair type food, games, and animals.
We met a little before the fair was set to open and I followed Jesse there. We got everyone and everything unloaded and headed in to get tickets and start our day at the fair! Caden and Gavin were so excited to be together and to be going to the fair. It is a lot of fun to watch them together, they are so much alike. Dane and Sophie were just taking in the sights of everything going on around them.
As we entered the gate at the fair, it was exciting. It is a bit of sensory overload with the bright colors, lights, sounds, and people (even though it was first thing in the morning and there weren't that many people, it doesn't seem to take many people for it to sound like thousands). We decided to just start walking around and head in the direction of the rides to decide where to start. Gavin had never been on a ride like any of these, so I was really hoping he would enjoy it and that Dane would be ok not being able to go on more than a few. I think it helped Gavin to have Caden because they were able to do most of them together without Jesse or myself having to ride with them. Dane was able to ride a couple with Gavin and I rode two with him so he wasn't totally left out. It was a bit hard to negotiate at times because they didn't always want to go on the same ride but overall they were both really receptive to what the other wanted to do and did ok with the couple of lines we had to wait on.
We played a couple of games that the boys were guaranteed to win (because neither of us wanted the potential meltdown from our 3 (Gavin) and 4 (Caden) year olds when they didn't win the ones that required specific skills or paying close attention, etc. They had a blast fishing and then picking out a stuffed fish to take home and then popping balloons with darts and picking out another stuffed animal to take home. We also did a small sand art for them to take home which Gavin did far better than I anticipated picking out the colors and filling his flower on his own. It was cute to watch as he carefully picked out which color bins to stop at for his flower.
They loved playing in the kids section. They had a small hay bale maze, a corn "sand" box, practice roping a steer, pretending to milk a cow, and a few other learning games and some informational boards up. We had a great time resting there after having spent the morning on rides and playing games.
After checking out a few of the tents and the fire fighter set ups, we headed back towards the rides. Thankfully, Dane took a nap when he was ready and it was a cool enough day, that wearing him in the Beco was not too hot. He took a good nap and woke up in a great mood, ready for more playing.
The day was filled with so much fun, it felt like it flew by. We stopped to have a snack and realized it was already 3:45! So, we had our snack and decided to do a couple more rides and then pick up some treats (namely funnel cakes/fried dough and lemonade). They boys were less than pleased it was time to pick our last few rides, but we made the most of it to enjoy some more fun before we needed to head home.
By the time we were headed home, it was already 4:45. The traffic getting out was a bit better than getting in, so we managed to get home by 5:30 to have a quick dinner before our nightly routine of bath, books, and bed began.
After an awesome day and so much fun, it was a huge bummer to get home and start unloading the car to find that the Beco was no where to be found. I looked everywhere, hoping that maybe it was still in the basket under the stroller. I didn't really think about what I was loading into the car at the end, I was just trying to get it all loaded so we could head home, but as I thought about it later, I definitely don't remember pulling it out, or it falling on the ground as I unloaded the stroller. I had it all day, until the end of the day because I wore it half of that wearing Dane and I know I put it back in the basket of the stroller. So I am not 100% sure what happened to it in the last 30-45 minutes (at most) whether it managed to fall out without me noticing (not sure how that would happen, but I guess it is possible) or if someone saw it, recognized it and snuck and snatched it (no idea how someone would manage that), or if I have just lost my mind. However it happened, it is now gone. I will check with the fair to see if someone found it and turned it in, but I am not sure how likely that is. I am really bummed because I use it basically every day still, it has been such an awesome carrier for me and it is nice that I can even wear Gavin in it if I really need/want to. Plus it doesn't help it isn't easily replaceable because they stopped making this particular model and they don't make the print in the two lines they currently still make and trying to find a used one in that pattern would be near impossible. A very sad end to the day. I am far more attached to it than I even realized.
At least the fair was awesome. Gavin and Dane had a great time and we look forward to going again next year!
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