Take me to the Carnival

The day trip that my kids and I most look forward to is the carnival. They wait for this event all summer. I have to admit that I do too. When I was little we didn’t go to the carnival or the fair. I could hear music from the concerts at Great River Days when I was at my grandma’s and there were times where I Sat on her front lawn listening to the music. In high school my best friend’s parents purchased an extra Fun Card pass to the Mississippi Valley Fair and asked me to go along with them. I spent that week at the fair and fell in love with carnivals and fairs. The music, the games, the rides, the food, and the people. It was such an interesting place. We watched a guy take a log and with only a chainsaw turn it into a soaring eagle! We saw Little Texas, Sawyer Brown, Trisha Yearwood, and others in concert.

Back to present day. I don’t take my kids to the big fair. We go to the smaller ones. My middle child doesn’t do to well in large, noisy crowds so I try to make sure that we can have fun without him getting sick.

We start our day out by picking up Frank, an older friend who does not get around much anymore. I think he looks forward to going just as much as the kids do. He has used his walker in the past but now he has to use his wheel chair. Quinlan chooses to stay with Frank because he doesn’t care for the rides. He pushes him around in the wheelchair while Jessica runs off to ride as many rides as she possibly can.

Wyatt pulls me toward the rides for the younger kids. The flying saucers are one of his favorites.

We all meet back up at the midway to play games and grab drinks before we head down to the Ping Pong Drop. Kids who have registered wait patiently while a guy with a bucket of ping pong balls gets into a cherry picker and rises up into the air. He then drops all the balls, the kids scramble to find one, then take it over to the prize table. The number on the ball decides the prize. I have seen kids walk away with bikes and televisions. We usually get some sort of outdoor activity. My kids have brought home soccer balls, basketballs, ring toss games, and golf games.

Then it is off to the weenie dog races. The kids like to see all the dogs and it is a fun way to relax after a day of walking. After the races we head back to the midway to get Elephant Ears for a friend who never makes it to the carnival and maybe a few more games.

After taking Frank home the kids immediately start talking about what they are going to do next year.

Do you have any annual day trips that you take?

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