Firefighter's Fair

The Firefighter's Fair started today and runs all week at the fairgrounds in Sebastian. There was a great deal on ride tickets for kids today, so we decided today was the best day to go. Normally, ride tickets are about a dollar per ticket, with most rides requiring three or more tickets. The deal we got was a $12 wrist band for Andrew that was good for unlimited rides between 1:00 and 7:00. We figured Andrew would easily get our money's worth of riding.

We got a late start, but it didn't matter because a brief but heavy rain shower past through and we didn't want to get soaked. The shower past and the forecast looked pretty good, so we headed north. We arrived sometime around 2:00 and bought our tickets to get in, and Andrew's wrist band.

Andrew was very methodical about the rides he wanted to try. We started a counterclockwise loop and he picked each ride along the way and rode it one time before moving on to the next. This continued all the way around the midway. He rode the big slide, ran through two obstacle course fun houses, rode in a monster truck, rode a caterpillar roller coaster, flew on the swings, and drove the bumper cars.

By this time, we were all starting to get hungry. We came prepared with snacks, so we got our hands stamped and left the fair. Back at the car we ate chips, Goldfish, and Starburst candy - one highly yummy and lowly nutritious lunch. As we munched our munchies, it started to rain - great timing.

Quickly, 5:00 was approaching. We wanted to see the fire fighter demonstration, and it was starting soon. Luckily, the rain stopped, so we headed back into the fair. By now, the showers had completely passed and the skies turned blue. The demonstration was fun. The fire fighter invited four kids to join him up front. He separated them into teams - boys against girls. Both teams had to connect a hose to the 'truck', roll it out, connect a nozzle to it, and put out a 'fire' in the building. They also had to use a water-filled fire extinguisher on the fire. The boys won, so they got the honor of shooting the fire cannon at the crowd. People started to move back as they climbed the tower. When the girls pulled the alarm, the canon blasted the crowd with confetti rather than water. Andrew thought that was pretty cool, but the boys on the tower were disappointed.

After the show, Andrew ran into one of his classmates. He followed her and her friend around for the next half hour or so. They went back to the fun house obstacle course and ran through it again and again and again. Finally, his friend had to leave, but Andrew wanted to continue. He must have ran through the fun house another dozen times before finally deciding to move along.

We made the loop once more, and found ourselves back at the swings. Andrew loves the swings, as is quite evident from the look on his face below.

By this time, 7:00 was nearly upon us. We told Andrew that he had time for just one more ride. I thought he'd go for the fun house one more time, but he wanted to do the bumper cars again instead. He did and that was the end of his magic wrist band. Needless to say, he was very upset about that.

Soon, his frustration turned to hunger and he was ready to eat some 'real' food. I was proud of the fact that I hadn't spent any money, other than admission and the wrist band, all day. Well, that soon ended because Andrew wanted a corn dog, lemonade, and funnel cake with powdered sugar. Oh, my poor budget!

We had a great time, and Andrew got to ride a lot of rides and play with a classmate.