Weekend Recap: The Belle City Fair

Growing up in small town Missouri, nothing defined summer more than seeing the fair roll into town. We lived adjacent to the fairgrounds, and every year I would watch as the carnival crew assembled each and every ride, anxiously counting down the hours until it began. The world was a much simpler place back then, so our parents let us run wild throughout the fairgrounds, racing from one ride to another while stuffing our faces with greasy carnival food. It was the best part of summer.

I have very fond memories of summer evenings spent at those fairgrounds but, as an adult, my experiences have been somewhat different. The joy and excitement of the carnival has dwindled for me over the years, but seeing Taylor's face light up at the sight of those bright lights was perhaps more enjoyable than when I was able to experience it as a child myself. She had a blast riding all of the kiddie rides, but her favorite had to be the big red firetruck that went round and round.

She squealed with joy when she spun in the twirling bears, and she'd let out a nervous/excited giggle every time we went over a hump on the big pink slide. But her favorite thing of all was running around laughing and playing with her cousins. These girls are three of a kind, a little traveling circus that provides entertainment wherever they go!

The kids rode rides all night on Friday, so we decided to take a break and watch the entertainment on Saturday night. The little girls had so much fun singing, dancing, and stealing bites of Papa's caramel apple during the concert. When the show was over, Logan went home with Granny while we took the rest of the kids to the carnival. The three amigos were having the time of their lives which meant we had to practically drag Taylor out of the park, whining and crying, of course, because it was way past her bed time.

Logan also got in on the fair action, but his experience was a little different. Since he's too small to actually do much, he spent the evening being passed around between family members and staring at all of the bright lights. He was such a good boy, never crying or fussy, even though we stayed out far later than he liked. He loved watching the rides spin through the air and gave big belly laughs to anyone who would pay him attention. I can't wait to watch him run with the big kids next year!

It was a memorable weekend that we won't soon forget (especially a certain two year old who is still asking to ride the firetruck just one more time). The fair was good to us, but we're glad to see it go. It may take weeks to recover from the lack of sleep and bellyaches, but it was totally worth it.