The Three 'F's' - Family, Fair, and Farm

We've been keeping busy up here in the North country. On Sabbath we went to church in Norwood. It's their last Sabbath in the facility because the owners are remodeling the space. So it was a bit of a special day. We had great fun at Sabbath School (which puts the FLA Sabbath School to shame, really) and the potluck was a big hit for Calleigh. I got her a bit of this and a bit of that, not knowing what she would want to eat. So I ended up with a plate pretty full of food. She ate it all and outate every kid at the table. It was quite cute because she sat at a little table with a bunch of other kids. She looked like a grown up kid - - save for the fact that she eats with her hands! By the way, that's her looking at Bruno and not at the camera.

We left shortly after 2 to head up to North Conway. Calleigh fell asleep soon after the trip began and woke up about halfway there. I was hoping for a little longer but what can you do. After an emergency poop stop (for Calleigh in case you were questioning that) at a gas station, we were again on our way and Gigi had to bring out a sugar free lollipop to entertain Cal. It was her first lollipop and it proved to be a good distraction albeit it a very messy, sticky one.

We arrived at our destination not long after 5 and every one had already gotten there. Everyone included Shawn, Camille, Lori, Kelly, Steve, Alison, Heath, Shannon, Toni, Devin, Leigh, Mia, and three dogs (oh yeah, and a cat. I never saw her but my drippy nose sure knew she was there.) We ate supper, talked, and played some Dutch Blitz. In between all that, I put Calleigh to bed which proved to be a big challenge for the second night in a row. She didn't want to sleep. After about 45 minutes, Gigi took over so I could run to Walmart. I needed to get some Calleigh supplies. She finally went to sleep for Gigi but awoke in the middle of the night for awhile. So Cal and I didn't get exactly get the best shut eye.



Sunday morning it was time for the fair. It rained most of the day on Saturday and Saturday night and in the morning it was spitting. Thankfully, Leigh was able to purchase a rain coat for Calleigh and I stopped again in the morning at Walmart to get her some boots - - sadly, the same exact ones she has at home but I didn't have the foresight to bring. Fortunately, the rain didn't turn out to be a big factor at the fair. It sprinkled a little here and there and it definitely wasn't sunny, but we were comfortable. In fact, it probably worked out for the best since it wasn't so crowded. We saw a lot of animals including sheep, horses, cows, pigs, and goats. We went to a petting area and I tried to get Calleigh to pet some goats but she hung on to me pretty tight. She did pet a sheep briefly however. Calleigh's favorite thing at the fair was the carousel. It was the one ride she was able to go on. When it ended, and I started removing her from the horse, she wouldn't let go and started crying hysterically. Ah yes, you've got to love the temper tantrums. Her other favorite thing was the puddles. Because she had on her boots, we actually let her go in the puddles and she was happy as a pig in the mud. At the end of the day, she had a little mishap and ended up on a rear in the puddle. Of course, I had a change of clothes so there was no harm.

The big draw at the fair is the pig scramble where they let out 10 piglets and 12 kids chase after them to get them in a bag. It happens in a little indoor stadium. It was at 11:30 so I decided it was a good time to put Calleigh on the boob. In less than 5 minutes, she was sound asleep and missed the whole scramble although every time the crowd clapped, she would jump.

Another thing we saw at the fair was a neat little cottage for sale. Just like the one we're planning to build in Nova Scotia. I would say more but I'm sure Alison will write all about it on Wednesday at www.cousincottages.blogspot.com on Wednesday so you can read it there.

We enjoyed the food the fair had to offer. Most of us had soup in a bread bowl for lunch will Calleigh ate pizza. Some of the others were big into the desserts but I refrained. And this doesn't really go with the topic of this paragraph but I wanted to add that we had to get a wheelchair for my mother about halfway through the day. Her knee was killing her and I felt so bad that she had to walk so much.

We left the fair to return home at about 3:45. We were tired out and felt we had seen most of what we wanted to see. Calleigh fell asleep soon after we got in the car and slept until about 5:45 when I woke her up. If she slept any more than that, I knew we would have a tough time getting her to bed. A few minutes later, we stopped at a restaurant for supper. Calleigh was pretty grouchy until the food came. Food always perks her up! If she were a little older, I would be disturbed by that statement. She had an ice cream and cone for dessert. I didn't give her much of the ice cream but she was pretty distracted by the cone so we were happy to let her play with it when we got back in the car. Needless to say, she was very messy by the time we got home at 8:15 so we had to throw her in the tub. She finally got in bed just before 9. She started crying once she got in her crib as is her usual the past few nights. But this time I refused to give in and I laid on the bed and let her cry. After a few minutes, she gave up and went to sleep.

This morning we had another fun outing planned. Kathy and Bruno joined us at 10 at Lookout Farm which is the oldest continuously functioning farm in the U.S. It opened in 1651. Pretty neat, huh? Anyway, at this farm you take a train ride through all of these trees where you can get out and pick your own apples, pears, nectarines, etc. They have a big play area for the kids and a bunch of animals. We made an egregious error by not putting on Calleigh's boots. There were a ton of puddles and mud and Calleigh had it all over her pants and sneakers in no time. I spent a lot of the time trying to keep her out of the puddles but it was a very difficult task.

They had this ride for little kids which is basically a small train. Calleigh went on it with Bruno (although I ran beside it the whole time). She was so cute because she couldn't quite touch the steering wheel but she learned forward the whole time trying to hold on to it because that was what Bruno was doing. She clearly enjoyed the ride because we had another little trantrum getting her off it.

Our last task at the farm was picking peaches. This place is filled with fruit trees - - it is unbelievable. The trees are small and much of the fruit is near the bottom so even Calleigh was able to pick a peach. She was intrigued with all the fruit that was lying on the ground and kept trying to pick it up. Of course, that was the rotten stuff and she finally got the point that she wasn't supposed to touch it. She kept saying "Dirty, Dirty" as she picked it up anyway.

We left the park at 12:45 and I fed Calleigh lunch on the way home to keep her awake. It worked but then once we got home and I put her down for her nap, she would have none of it. She didn't end up going to sleep until after 3. When she woke up, Gigi took her to get some corn from the farm stand. So for supper, Calleigh had her first ear of corn. It went very well. She chewed and played with that thing for probably a half hour and didn't want to give it up!

Tonight she went to bed with barely a whimper. Yay! I think we're getting back on schedule.

So that brings you up to date on things. I tried to add some videos of our festivities but the video function doesn't seem to be working on blogger right now. I'll have to add some later.