Life Lessons Learned at the County Fair

Last night we ventured to our county fair. We are not fair people but the community band I play in was performing and we had fair passes. A little sidebar on the county fair...our county fair was ranked #1 in the state last year, even over the state fair. It's huge. We did not grow up in this county so we are still getting used to this love of the fair. Anyway...
Kory and Ash took Jay-R to every animal barn while the band played and then got some yummy fair food. Jay-R had an ear of corn on a stick and some Doritos...healthy combination, I know, but Daddy was in charge of dinner. Ash had a cheeseburger and chips and Kory had pizza. They listened to the end of our concert and then we visited with my parents and some friends. We walked toward the apple dumpling stand...my favorite fair food! The kids and my dad also got ice cream. Jay-R's eyes were huge as he took in the rides, the games, and the people. We had already told the kids no kids b/c we are going back to Cedar Point in a month plus there is something about fair rides that makes me nervous. They just have never seemed safe and sturdy. Anyway, after touring Ashleigh's 4-H booth and watching the huge model train that was set-up, we headed down the midway to let the kids play a game. Jay-R wanted to do the water gun race. Daddy helped him as he raced me so of course with just us, he won. He opted for a stuffed dog. Then, Ash wanted to play the "toss the ball into a bowl to win a goldfish" game. Kory gave Jay-R a $1, too and they both played. Only, guess who won? Jay-R tossed the ball, it bounced, and landed into the bowl. Ash was trying so hard but no such luck. Ash was not at all happy that her 5 year old brother won, and she didn't. They exchanged some sibling rivalry words that went something like "I won and you didn't"..."You're gonna kill that fish!" (he was shaking it up a little too much...poor little fish!). Ashleigh was unhappy and walked ahead of us as we trekked back to the car trying to avoid the mud ruts from the previous day's rain. Once in the car, I used the fish experience to teach her a life lesson..."Life's not fair." Things don't always go the way you want them, too. Adults deal with this all the time. Two people want the same promotion. Person A has more experience, education, whatever but Person B still gets the promotion. Before we were even out of the parking area, the two had reached an agreement that they would take care of the fish together. Jay-R said, "Ate, you can see my fish." Then, he gave her the fish to see. He named the fish Jay-R...too cute. Ashleigh did make an interesting point...this is the first time in Jay-R's life that he has his very own pet. Guess who got to stay up last night making a permanent home for the fish...yep, mom and dad. One of the joys of parenthood!