Where The Turf Meets the Surf

Yesterday we went for our annual visit to the Del Mar Fair. We had a pretty good time. It wasnt too hot or too crowded. Still, I came home thinking it didnt go as well as it had in the past. I think Ive narrowed down the reasons why.

For starters, the boys are in between rides. Let me explain: at the Del Mar Fair there is a little kid area where they have a ton of rides for kids under 7 or 8 and then there is a big kid area where they have lots of BIG rides. In years past, weve gone straight to the little kid area where the boys have always enjoyed themselves. But this year, those rides seemed really dorky to Seamus. He wasnt into them at all. With this unexpected fact looming, we decided to brave the big kid area. They had some monster rides there - many that twirl you all over the place and lift you high off the ground. Matt and I could tell that Seamus was not ready for most of those rides, but thankfully there were a handful he wanted to try. That's when we ran into our second bump: Finn would not dare go on any of them. He was visibly afraid and quite adamant about staying off all the big kid rides. Acckkkkk! Its rough when you have one kid wanting to go on a ride and another who is begging you not to go. We decided we had to split up and while that was ok, it wasnt ideal. I would have preferred we enjoy the rides as a family or at least the boys enjoy them together, but that wanst happening. After circling the area we finally came upon a ride that both kids wanted to do: the bumper cars. Yes! But once again, we ran into a problem: the kids were too short to ride it alone. Last year at the little kid section, the boys LOVED the bumper cards. They ganged up on Matt and had a fantastic, car banging time. This year in the big kid area, they werent able to drive their own car and that, unfortunately, was a deal breaker.Bummer. Truth be told, Seamus was too short to ride alone on practically all the big kid rides. That was a little crushing for my normally self confident 10 year old boy.


There were lots of positives though. The boys were really into games this year and each of them won a few stuff animals. If they had a choice, Im guessing they would have spent their entire day throwing ping pongs or darts or baseballs for hours. A couple other highlights were the rock and gem exhibit and the livestock area. Since the kids were little, we have been checking out both those areas in detail. This year was no exception. One new thing we experienced was paying to see this gigantic horse named Hercules. When I entered the tent and actually saw him, I was shocked. He was HUMONGOUS! Ive never seen a horse that large in my entire life... never though horses could be that large.

And of course there was the food. You can smell its deliciousness as soon as you pull into the parking lot. Matt and I were surprisingly good yesterday. Each of us only bought funnel cakes and neither of us could finish them. It was sooooo goood though. Yum. The kids ate boring stuff; hot dogs and french fries. I would have liked to eat some brisket or pulled pork or a blooming onion or some fried mozzarella sticks but smelling them was enough for me. I cant figure out if Im thankful for that or not. ha ha




This year the fair threw us some curve balls. We went into it ready to enjoy our normal, status quo plan and instead had to hurdle many unexpected issues along the way. None of the problems were any one's fault. The kids are just growing up. Next year we'll be better prepared and Im sure with some tweaks we'll be running ship shape once again.

Happy Wednesday.