Aleah playing in the fountain.
Yesterday Brian came home at 1:30 and we went to the fair. It was hot but lots of fun. We hit the animals first. We saw some blue eyed horses (fairly common in paint horses). They looked really freaky. I fell in love with the 6 month old calves. I don't know if I would be able to kill them when they grew up. They had a couple of newborn calves there and they were still so skinny they looked sick. We liked Guernsey cows - they are a milk breed - and made ourselves homesick over Indiana.
There were lots of cool play places for the kids - They (Brian too) had a blast climbing on this wooden train.
While they played on the train Kate and I posed for a self portrait - notice the cool wrap? She loves arching her back and looking up.
It was our first time at the fair grounds so we wandered a little. I loved looking at all of the cool things the 4-H kids had made. On the way home we were talking about Emily doing 4-H and noted that the 4-H projects and the Young Women projects overlapped. Anything you would do for 4-H would count for Young Women's and vice-versa. I think we really need to do a better job of showing off what the Young Women do. The 4-H kids have a whole fair to show what they do. I personally am motivated by appreciation and competition. I would have loved to show something in the fair. Anyway...
This was one of the best things I saw at the fair. This guy just herded his geese around - great!
Other cool things we saw included - the most awesome blender demo, demo bee hives and a life sized butter sculpture of a cow. We headed out of the fair at 8pm. It was weird how the fair had changed. The strollers were on their way out and teens to 30's were on their way in. Girls were dressed to attract attention and everyone over 21 was buying a beer. There are two different fairs. It is literally like night and day.
It's not the fair if there is not a big Chicken.
Then there was the big question at the end of the fair. Was it worth $5 per person to go on the Farris Wheel? $25 for 15 minutes of ride?
I never bought into the idea that "kids are sooo expensive." I always figured you just had to go about it the right way. Diapers, crib, stroller and clothing are the main initial expenses. You get everything you can at garage sales and just add in the $30 a month for diapers. When they start to eat real food, buy a few boxes of cereal and just grind up your own food. By the time they are eating tons of food they are using less diapers so it all evens out. Clothes - continue to buy at garage sales and clearance the year before - they'll grow into them. Shoes - sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and buy them.
My first hint that kids could cost more came as Emily began to eat more and we couldn't share with her and Aleah when we went out to eat. Now both Emily and Aleah eat a lot and there is Colleen. We have definitely graduated from being able to order just two entrees. Kids cost more to take out.
I have come to realize this summer that the big cost of having more kids is in the entertainment department. I feel almost light minded thinking about it. Entertainment is fluff - if it costs a lot then just don't do it. But I feel that swimming is a necessary part of summer. Since we didn't go swimming right after we moved her (think baby) we didn't bother to buy a summer pass so now every time we go I have to ask myself whether it is worth the $12 or $20 depending on the pool for a few hours of swimming.
After the Farris Wheel question I thought next year we would have the kids do "fair chores" and we could put all of our earnings in a jar and buy a $25 wrist band for rides. Do-able. Times 5, plus entrance fee, plus a snack of fair food. It could be a $200 entertainment expense! While it is affordable if saved for, it makes me ill to blow that much money on fun. It would make me feel better if it was just me going and spending $50. :) But $200 is a chunk of money that should be spent more wisely.
Don't even get me started on the expense of going to the movies with the kids. We don't take them yet (Aleah got scared watching Mulan this afternoon) - but $7 a person - plus the treats you sneak in yourself is $40 for an afternoon. That is a month's worth of diapers! Thankfully there is a $2 theater here so it will be less if we go there. Anyway...
I want to do fun things with my family and it is starting to hit me that as they get older and don't "get in free" anymore entertainment costs will go up. Oh well, I still think we will go to the fair one more time this year. I didn't get to see the home economics building or the Little Hands on the Farm Exhibit! :) We'll go while Brian is out of town and save more $!
7 comments:
Tell me about it!!! We just went on a four day/three night trip to Oregon--I shudder to add up the cost--with just the two kids; imagine what it would have been if all of you had been at home (no wonder we always went to Anderson Island and counted ourselves lucky to afford that)! Blake and Eric both eat more than I do--no pawning Eric off with a kid's meal anymore. In fact, it was I that ate the kid's meal at Ikea while he ate an adult one.
I saw the cow made out of butter on the television while I ate breakfast at the motel and hoped you would be there enjoying the fair.
As an aside, the Young Women do have an wonderful way to showcase what they have been doing in their Personal Progress. It's held yearly and called "Young Women in Excellence." Even with advance notice last year it was like pulling teeth to get them to participate; perhaps this year will be better. Many of the girls have completed wonderful projects; wish I could show what I have been doing (Kate's quilt was not one of my projects but sure could have qualified). I just need to finish reading the Book of Mormon (again) to complete the value Virtue and I'll receive my medallion--hopefully the week after my birthday!
We won a free pass to Roaring Springs, but ended up giving it away because we didn't want to pay to get the rest of the family into the park.
I'm still trying to decide if it is more cost effective to pay a babysitter or to just take the kids with us to do stuff.
We've started saving our pennies so we can do Disney in 2012. But for the most part, entertainment for us has come to mean Redbox and a shared ice-cream cone. Lame. And we only have 2 kids... one that's still "free."
Good for you for biting the bullet and doing the fair anyway.
I know entertainment is expensive, so we try to pick and choose wisely.
HOWEVER, my point of commenting was to say... WE WANT TO GO TO THE FAIR WITH YOU NEXT YEAR!!!!
Since we've moved to Iowa, I've wanted to go to the fair. If it is as close to you as I think it is, I'd love to visit with you and then hang out at the fair. KEEP US IN MIND.
Devon
Leila - I loved the pictures, especially of the goose herder. Was he wearing a kilt?
I hear you on expenses. I remember that when I was first married, Kyle & I could go to Ninfa's and split a spinach enchilada plate for $8.99. We had plenty of chips, some yummy food and cold water. It was dinner out for under $10. Yay! My children, on the other hand, shudder at not getting milk at a restaurant (though a glass is the same price as a half gallon at the store) and they think they should walk out of a restaurant stuffed with food.
That said, I think money spent on the fair can really pay dividends in that you're paying for an experience ... and it seems like experiences stay with us even longer than stuff. So if I had to choose between buying a new toy or going on a ride, maybe the ride will be something that they remember in the long run. I also think spending money in the name of creating family traditions is worthwhile - that will also stick with them.
But I hear you on the pain. I took $20 to our county fair ... and burned through it in as many minutes. And that was with my parents paying for all the milkshakes!
I loved the 4H booth at our county fair too! I kept telling my family that the fair showed the two extremes of "youth today". We had surly immodest teens smoking with their friends & acting ridiculous and then we had the teens who made their own grandfather clocks and raised reindeer in the 4H shed. I thought it looked amazing.
I hear your friend Bonnie on getting girls to YW in Excellence. Pulling teeth indeed! But I agree that recognition would be a huge boost. I hope you do get Emily involved. I am really enjoying the Cub Scout manual for Graham because it has so many amazing activities that are exactly what I want my child to be learning & doing. I bet 4H has the same kinds of options.
My favorite line from this post "I personally am motivated by appreciation and competition."
Me too. I'm glad I'm not the only one who can admit it. And when we saw all the 4H projects, Truman got excited to do something next year, which I think is a great part of the competetition.
I love all your thoughts about the co$t of entertainment. Hooboy. I don't want to write about how much I agree right now, because I want to have a pleasant afternoon :).
competetition = you know, the right way to spell it
Post a Comment