This afternoon we ventured up the street to the traveling fair to see the sights and take in an adventure. Well, WHAT an adventure!! I paid $15 for 15 tickets and all the rides for children Rianne's size were 2 tickets per ride. The first thing she goes on is the carousel. I knew that was going to be the case because she just LOVES carousels. Okay fine .. I give the man the 2 tickets and I get on and stand beside her horse so I get a free ride .. yay me!
When the carousel was over she decides she wants to go on the little train ride. Hmmm I had my doubts that she'd last because she isn't good with new adventures and she's never been on a ride like that before. I put her in a train car and it goes and she loved it!! Yay .. score for a new experience. I was impressed with her and the big smile on her face was priceless and melted my heart. I should have brought the camera. 20/20 hind sight right there!
She then proceeds over to a little ferris wheel and it's all enclosed and it goes slow. Just perfect for the child thrill seeker. The problem is .. Rianne is NOT a thrill seeker.. not in the least. She gets in and there's another child in the same cage as her so I thought she would appreciate the moral support. I thought wrong. By the third time it went around she was in hysterics and the man had to stop the ride and let her off. So much for the ferris wheel. That was just the start it though. We walk more and she sees something similar to the thing she used to play on at the West Edmonton Mall at Play Park. It has a bounce house, rope ladder, suspension bridges and a slide at the end. She gives the man her 2 tickets and goes in and right off the bat she doesn't climb the rope ladder portion so the man lets her by-pass that section and let her go up the stairs. That's when she came to the first bridge, chickened out and came back down the stairs. Then she met up with an older girl who took her back up the stairs and held her hand going over bridge #1. There was a string of kids behind her because she was going so slow. She was timid of bridge #2 as well because it was higher than the first one. She got to the top of the slide and refused to come down so she crossed over the second bridge, going the WRONG way and stood on the balcony there and cried. The man running the thing had to go get her. O.M.G .. leave it to my child to be petrified of these types of situations.
So when all was said and done .. I was out those 4 tickets because they weren't refunded due to non-completion of the rides. Not their fault and it's their way to make a quick buck I suppose. I'm sure she's not the only child to freak out on rides but she was the only one I saw at the tie while we were there.
We make our way back to the train where she rides again. At least I knew she liked that ride. Here's where it gets rather comical. They don't play the "typical" fair music. You know what I'm talking about .. those old organ tunes like "The Entertainer" and such. Nope, here they were playing dance music. Rianne is sitting on the train waiting for it to go and low and behold Lady Gaga comes on singing "Poker Face" and Rianne looks at me and says " mommy that's your favorite song. It's Poker Face!!!" then the child starts singing along. The ride starts, she's sitting in the seat of the train, arms stretched out across the back of the seat .. belting out "Poker Face" .. Ahhh what a proud moment let me tell ya (insert sarcasm here).
Then we were off to the carousel once again. This time she chose a gray horse as opposed to the black one the first time around. Around and around on an old rickety carousel. It made her very happy and me slightly queasy but for her smile it was well worth it.
Then lastly she rode the train one more time. She was the conductor this time and got to press buttons that didn't do anything. Maybe they did back in the 1950's when the rides were in their prime but not anymore.
On our way out of the fair I bought her a sno cone. It was her very first sno cone ever and she chose a cherry flavoring. She sucked and munched on that thing for the next 30 minutes ...
Oh what an adventure!!
**PART DEUX**
Like one adventure wasn't enough, we went back to the fair grounds when my mother arrived after supper. Again we paid $15 for 15 tickets and yet again she had to be rescued from a piece of equipment. This time it was the smaller one and this time I had the camera.
Exhibit A:
Here she is being rescued by a kind employee. She was having an absolute melt down and yet when she got out of the mess she was in she wanted to go back in .. which caused yet another bigger melt down when I refused to let her get herself into that situation again. We re-focused her to the little train ride and carousel where she remained for the evening and then got another sno-cone on the way home.
Here are a few more pictures:
Rianne likes staying up until it gets dark enough for the solar butterflies to come on. Sometimes she stays awake but most times not because they don't come on until it gets dark enough and right now that's about 9:30-ish. Last night was one of the nights she got to see them because it was so dull out they came on a bit early.
She was in my bedroom window overlooking the flower garden where I have them all strung up in a tree. They were twinkling and blinking and she was acting like it was first time she's seen them (it wasn't). At one point she said to me .. "oh Mommy they are so impressive" ... whoa, say what?? I don't know where she picks up these words and is able to use them properly in a sentence but she stunned me with this statement. I laughed and said "yes Rianne they certainly are impressive" .. then she went to bed .. all impressed with her solar twinkling butterfly lights.
Who is this Jones family that everyone is trying to keep up with? This post has nothing to do with me personally trying to keep up with anyone .. it's about the Province of Nova Scotia .. Halifax in particular attracting big retail chains and keeping up with bigger cities.
This post comes on the heals of me discovering that there is going to be a Bath & Body Works store opening in the Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth this Summer. I love that store and I have been sending a wish list to Jon in Edmonton to pick up soaps and stuff. Now I'm happy that I will get to shop at the store personally when it opens .. and when we get to Halifax. We don't get there often even though it's only about an hour away. Now we will have a good excuse to go .. at least another excuse. My other passion is Old Navy .. for myself and for Rianne as well as Gap Kids and The Childrens Place for her clothes.
Now, if they'd only get an IKEA in the HRM area my life would be absolutely perfect!
Trust me when I say that the title of this post has nothing to do with the song by the Four Seasons. It was just one of those nights when nothing went right for Rianne.
I stayed up late watching "Deadliest Catch" and then "Ghost Rider" came on and I was chatting with Jon at the same time .. having a relaxing night that went into the wee hours of the morning. After midnight Rianne woke up in a bad mood claiming to be hot. Well there have been hotter nights that didn't bother so I don't know what bee got into her bonnet last night. I opened her bedroom window but Gilbert clawed it and made a hole so I had to shut it again. Who wants June Bugs in their room right? My next option was putting a fan in her room. Problem, the fans were in the basement and filthy rotten dirty. I cleaned up one of the less dirty ones and took it to her room. She settled for a little while and then I heard her up and coming down the stairs again. That's when I offered her a Mr.Freeze so she sat on the couch in the silence and ate it. At that point I was after turning off the television so she didn't have any distractions or excuses to stay up.
When she finished her ice treat she went back upstairs and I followed her shortly. I just got myself tucked into bed and she started having another hissy fit. Why? Because she no longer wanted the fan on. I turned the fan off and went back to bed but it was mere moments later I heard the pitter patter of her feet coming into my room. I was too tired to argue with her so I told her to go get her pillow and get into my bed. I think that was the only way either one of us was going to get anything resembling sleep last night.
After it was all said and done, she slept until 8:30 this morning and for that I am very thankful for.
Lesson learned: DO NOT let her stay awake late enough to see the flickering solar butterflies in the tree because it just screws up her routine completely!!
______________
Earlier in the evening yesterday we went to the street corner and watched the Children's Parade. It was cute but it would have been a lot better if they weren't all in one big gaggle. I only took 3 pictures because that's how long it was. There was no spacing so you couldn't get a good look at the children individually in their costumes. It gave us something to go out and watch though so kudos to Westville for having it on a different day instead of cramming them in with the big parade that's coming up on July 1st. I also got to meet some people who have been living on my street for the last 40 years so little by little I am meeting the neighbours. Horray for Summer!
I must be out of my ever loving mind to be even considering this contraption. Have you seen those strollers for cats?
Before having cats I saw them at a pet store in Edmonton and thought it was a great idea and very functional for getting your cat out of doors for fresh air while keeping them safe at the same time but could never imagine pushing one through the street.
Maybe I'm getting a tad senile but I think I want one for Tabatha and Gilbert. You see, Rianne loves pushing the cats in the stroller. I unpacked her Quinny Zapp stroller a couple of weeks ago in order to transport the little man I was babysitting and she was zooming around the house with either one cat or the other so she may very well enjoy taking them outside for walks in a stroller of their very own.
Here's where it gets questionable ... people will think it's adorable that a child is pushing her kittens in a special stroller. I have visions however of her giving up on the chore half way through the walk, leaving ME to push the cats back home and the town folk will think I'm a complete nut.
It's funny how things are just darling when a child does them but as soon as you reach adulthood that same task seems ridiculous and straight jacket worthy. Life would be way more fun if we could just throw caution to the wind and keep living as carefree and a child.
If you have one of these cat strollers ... have you been reported to the mental hospital as a possible candidate yet? or .. if you have seen such a site in your town .. have YOU been the one to call the authorities to report a possible escapee?
Rianne and I are heading to CBI in a couple of weeks and I'm sitting here wondering how many street parades I can cram into our time there. She loves watching parades and frankly it's free entertainment so why not take in what you can since the price is right.
Mabou Ceilidh days end just prior to Inverness Gathering days so there's 2 parades right there. I haven't been to a Mabou parade since I was a kid. The month of July is packed full of festivals from one end of the County to the other so it should be a good time.
Friends, family and festivities ... what could possibly make a Summer any better?
Yes .. we had adventures or what I like to call adventures because frankly, just getting out of the house is an adventure lately and since we are trapped in Westville we have to make the best of it.
Yesterday we went to the playground and then to Foodland. After supper I put Rianne in the tub while I folded clothes. When I went to get her out of the tub .. lawwwwdyyyyyyy there was water everywhere .. even out in the hallway. I gave her a big lecture and then she told me it was Tabatha's fault. I didn't believe her ... until .... I saw the wet paw prints leading to my bedroom. Yes, my 4 year old told the truth and the only thing yet to be determined is if Tabatha fell in or if she was pulled into the tub against her will. I had to tell Rianne to towel herself off while I caught Tabatha in a towel and dried her. What a fiasco!
Today we went to the local thrift store where I discovered it was sale day and we filled a grocery bag for $5 and Rianne got a little Disney Princess suitcase that she pulled all the way home. We stopped at the post office where the only mail was junk but she insisted I put the stuff in her suitcase so she could take it home. Too cute to argue with her so we brought the junk mail home and it now sits in the recycle pile.
We stopped in Lawton's Drugs and she was still pulling her suitcase telling everyone she was taking the mail home. We walked by the display of Kinder eggs by the cash register and I told her she could get ONE egg and she responded "no thank you mommy. Chocolate makes me crazy" ... SAY WHAT??? I thought the cashier was going to fall over laughing.I was rather stunned to say the least. We left the store and she didn't have a chocolate egg. Shocking!
We walked home and dropped off our "loot" and then we went to the playground for a bit before walking to Foodland for some fresh fruit and a few other things. On our way home we stopped at the corner store where Rianne got a slush. It looked sooo cool and refreshing but I restrained from buying one for myself. I cooked supper and after we ate I mowed the yard, worked up a good sweat and burned approximately 488 calories in the process. Yay me! Now if my arthritic ankle stops aching I could be more active and burn even more calories in order to keep up with the weight loss.
Soooo now Rianne is in bed and I'm sitting here watching television, relaxing. Busy day today .. we should both sleep good tonight. There's a little kiddie parade in town tomorrow evening at 6 PM so we will have an early supper in order to get out and watch it.
Here's the little diva as she looked this morning .. adorable in her braids:
.JPG)