Domingo and I have been looking forward to taking Nicole to the zoo, but we’re not sure she’s ready. While she loves her kitty, she became tense seeing the dog in the park and seemed scared of the ducks at the pond. With the zoo being a fair drive away, it would be an unpleasant mistake to make. We decided a good “test” would be to take her to the local county fair. 4-H (an youth organization focusing on =animal husbandry) always has a large presence at the fair so we’d get some exposure to other animals without a long drive or the expense of the zoo.

We couldn’t have picked a better day to go. We opted for the first Tuesday (Tuesday’s are $2 admission days) the fair was opened figuring we could go back next week if she had a ball. The weather was perfect: 75 and mostly cloudy. Next week’s forecast is over 100! Well, I guess there’s one aspect that could have been better. Nicole’s teething pain seems to be subsiding, but isn’t gone completely and she refused her nap. Poor Pooky.

Check out the size of those prizes!

The fair also had rides and games. At one point Domingo was trying to show Nicole the roller coaster. He didn’t realize he was standing directly in front of one of those 3 foot tall giant raccoon prizes. He was pointing at the roller coaster while she was trying so hard to reach back towards the raccoon. Luckily we’re not at the “I want it, I NEED it, I’LL DIE WITHOUT IT” phase yet and we were able to make a hasty retreat.

Looking at the parakets

We visited the birds next. Nicki tensed up when two silk chickens started fighting with each other, and gripped on tight when she saw the giant geese so we quickly moved on to the mammals. Rabbits were cool. One came up and sniffed in her direction when she looked at him, and I think she liked that. She wasn’t impressed with the sheep. All in all I think a petting zoo is more her speed. She seems to like when the animals interact with her, and doesn’t seem interested in watching them from afar. Definitely no birds.

Eventually her skipped nap caught up with her.

All in all I think it was a worthwhile experience for Nicki. She was exposed to new things and had a little ice cream treat. Still, I don’t think we’ll be back next week.

Posted in Family Life