Ama and Maya came up to Alaska from Oakland, CA and we had a great time at the State Fair in Palmer!
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| Kadin and I spent the night camping in Palmer and then rode our bike to the Fair the next day. Yummy pizza for dinner! And then off to explore the woods and the lake! |
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| Kadin and Maya, about 10 minutes after they'd met. |
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| We had a choice between posing with an alligator, a turtle, a snake, and a macaw and Kadin was adamant about the bird. He was a little nervous about it being on his head but it was an excited kind of nervousness, especially when it suddenly flew to the ground in an explosion of red feathers. |
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| Next, we saw the pony circle and Kadin took off without me to check it out. He sat all by himself on a pony named Ringo and was enthralled. |
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| And then the "petting zoo", where Kadin got to play with some "kids" who were just as rambunctious as he is! |
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| After all the animals, it was time to check out the rides… Kadin had never been on them, but the first one he saw was the giant Ferris Wheel and he was super excited for it. Absolutely no fear; in fact, I had to keep a hand on him so he wouldn't go too close to the edge. (The gate was locked, but I wasn't taking any chances!) |
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| We were deciding on our next ride, when he saw the green train… AKA the Wacky Worm Roller Coaster (for younger kids). It was awesome!!! Just fast enough and curvy enough to put a huge smile on his face. And when it stopped, he cried, "Mas, mas, mas!" But we had to go meet up with Ama and Maya and so, no more Wacky Worm. |
After the yummy pizza, we played on the dock near the lake and Kadin's imagination went wild… First, the dock was a big boat, a discarded bait lid was the power-on button, and we steered through the waters avoiding monsters, sharks, and crocodiles (and sometimes saved them and their babies too). Then we were in the woods and the alder leaves were icecreams and he served up all his favorite flavors: frozen banana, berry, strawberry. And finally, he would ask me to cry and then bring me things to cheer me up… 💚
There was a crazy show with a guy, 2 border collies , and 2 monkeys. The monkeys rode the dogs like horses, with saddles and everything, and the "cowboy monkeys" had to round up a few sheep. Afterwards, the guy talked about how he rescued the monkeys (I can't remember from where) and then walked around the audience letting everyone meet one of the monkeys. Kadin was so excited and kept running around the fence to get closer.
Here, Kadin is checking out everyone else on the ponies and horses and is telling me how he doesn't need me to have a hand on his back like the baby in front of him. He's such a big boy now!
