Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old.
~~~~~Mary H. WaldripLast weekend I had my grand babies,
the Wool Fest was going on a few miles from here. It had been several years since I had made my way through the throngs of people that attend the festivals such as these. People, mud, people, animals, people, goods for sale, people, food, people, you get the idea...
What once started out as a local gathering has now become known world wide. Yes, I do mean world wide. I've heard tale some even plan their vacations around it. Eh, me, not so much. Though it did provide me with a opportunity to get Hunny Bunnies and Booger Butt out of the house. I figured that they would love the animal section at least. I had wanted to go over to look at some locally made wool skeins. I had plans for making something.
Called Hunny Bunny 1's Daddy, DB. He would come out to help me keep track of the youngin's. Momma had stopped by to park her car here at my house so that she wouldn't have to deal with the traffic and the quagmire the parking fields had become after the rain on Friday morning. Good thing they were using the Northern Elem. School as a staging area for the buses that were running shuttle between Butler, Kincaide Lake and Falmouth.
We had been watching for the buses to pull into the parking area so as to not have to wait too long. Forming a human chain of linked hands, off we trekked. All the babies were excited about riding the school bus to our destination. Listening to them chatter away about what fun it was to be on a school bus made me smile. 'Cause, Let me tell ya... I don't miss riding school buses.
I seem to recall the last time I had parked my derriere on one of those yellow behemoths was when one of my kids had taken a field trip to the Cincinnati Zoo or the Omnimax Theatre at the Museum of Natural History. Yep, many moons ago.
On the lane and half (not two lane for sure) roads that wind their way along the Licking River, we scrapped by cars with the sides of the bus hitting the limbs of trees and brush that grew along the edges. But the driver delivered his cargo safely to the entrance to the Wool Fest grounds. Without any doubt, one of the first areas the kids wanted to see was the farm animals.
Hunny Bunny 3 (Ryleigh) thought the chickens were too funny. She would've taken one home with her if she could've.
Hunny Bunny 1 (Makayla) isn't too sure if the Brown Jersey cow is safe to pet or not. But she did anyway.
Booger Butt (Scottie) had his fingers and hands touching every animal that was in the tent. That child isn't scared to pet any thing.
This boar hog had to be one of the biggest pigs I've seen in a long time. You can't tell it from this picture but he was well over six foot in length and had the hugest head on any one animal I've seen. His name was "Pork Chop". Ewww baby...
Mr. Turkey Gobbler sang us his song. And fluffed up his feathers for us as well. I think we'll have fish for Thanksgiving dinner.
These guys were pretty cute, if not smelly. There were several pens with these guys. Even had miniature horses in one of the pens. I forgot to take pictures of them though.
After we left the animal area, we all caught a whiff of the food booths. Uhm, yeah.
I'm hungry or
I'm thirsty became their battle cry. Walking down the way, we found chinese, bbq, blooming onions, french fries, corn on the cob, open fire grilled turkey legs, steak sandwiches and fish frying. And that was just a few of the booths I saw. Oh, and pizza. Booger Butt had to have pizza. After everyone had decided what they would eat, we stood in line to place our orders and moved on down to the next item on the list. I think I could have bought groceries for a week with what I spent. Steak sandwich for Makayla, catfish for me, French fries for Ryleigh, knowing she would help me with mine. DB wouldn't eat anything as he has become health conscious with his eating. As we wandered our way to the seating area, we found Momma who followed us to our seats. After getting the kids situated, I again had to go stand in line for the forgotten drinks.
We had enjoyed listening to music as we ate. Too soon the kids were ready to rid themselves of some more energy. To cap it all off, ice balls had to be procured and carried along. The two older youngin's found somewhere they could sit and munch on their ices. It didn't take Ryleigh long to decide it was too cold for her to hold or to eat. Uncle Dan'l came to the rescue.
I think it was Ryleigh's nap time as the thumb and blanket came into view. Not that the blanket is ever very far from her hands. Soon afterwards, we strolled along side the creek where the blacksmith, grist mill, sorghum makers were stationed. DB stopped to purchase some of what he thought would be local honey. Turns out it came from the Lexington area. Hopefully he will still get the allergy benefits from the honey bees had made just an hour away. Lordy! From the last time I had been there with Daddy to buy honey, the price sure has gone way up.
The long tents which housed the many wares of crafters and others alike were quickly gone through. As dusk was descending and the temperatures were falling, we trooped back to the bus boarding area for the ride home. I do believe the babies enjoyed their first foray into the Wool Festival.
And so it goes......
