This week we made our first family visit to the Johnson County Fair. John thought I was a little nuts in suggesting an early-evening outing. "What's there to do?" he wondered. I wasn't sure myself, never having been, but I thought Ed would like the animals and tractors. It's one of the few local county fairs that doesn't charge admission, so the only thing to lose was the 10 minutes of driving time. Not a big risk.

It turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable--especially because Ed was too young to demand much in the way of anything that cost money (rides, food, games, etc.) He would have spent the whole time climbing on the tractors if we hadn't steered him toward other sights. But the biggest impression came in the first animal barn we visited. If you ask Edward about the fair, he will tell you: "I saw cows pooping!"

Indeed, we did, up close. This is no zoo-like set-up. There is a narrow walkway through the barn with cows on either side, some penned, some tied. John said he probably could have stood in the middle of the walk and reached out to touch a cow on either side. While we were looking at a few who happened to be facing away from us, nature called. Ed was in awe. He could not stop talking about it and when we left the barn, demanded to be taken back to see more cows pooping. The pigs in the next barn were OK, but no poop, so no real interest. Blog readers will be relieved to know that the cow pictures came out too dark so only pigs here. He also saw a sheep "getting a haircut" but I think he was still confused about why the sheep didn't look like the fluffy white creatures in his picture books. There were only two rides that were age-appropriate for Edward so he rode one and then we told him the other one was resting, since it was basically the same thing but a ladybug instead of a boat. He selected his own seat and chose to ride backward so as to man the artillery.

The above tractor was too big for climbing, but there was another area with smaller ones and "tractor lawnmowers" that he enjoyed. Then two of the three Kenyon men enjoyed a climb on the fire truck from a smaller town south of here. Ed got a badge. John tried to conceal his envy.
Daniel enjoyed the fair from the stroller vantage point, and actually fell asleep toward the end of our visit. Next year he'll be on the run, I'm sure.

And speaking of Daniel, he had his official six-month check-up yesterday (as opposed to the doctor visit on his actual six-month birthday, which was for pink eye.) His doctor once again extolled the virtues of "squishy" babies and was very impressed to see him sitting up unassisted. He weighs 21 pounds (90th percentile) and is 28 inches long (84th percentile.) His head circumference is catching up, but still only 65th percentile, what a slacker.

A new car seat has been ordered for Edward so that he can hand his down to Daniel, who only has one more pound to go before outgrowing his current seat. The safety rule is that babies must ride facing the rear until they are 20 pounds AND one year old. Congratulations to Daniel for achieving the weight milestone six months early! Why doesn't Daniel get the new seat? Because seats that can face both forward and backward are more expensive. Ed's current seat can be used in both positions, so we'll now turn it around for Daniel and get Ed a seat that he can use from now until he can just ride with a regular seat belt.