go'in to the country-go'in to the fair

Another spectacular weekend weather wise.
I so wish it could be like this all year long.
have been feeling kind of claustrophobic lately and felt the need to get out of the city for the day.
We decided to head to a country fair (in my old home town)
en-route we sort of got lost.
yeah, it's been a while.
we decided to take a totally different route and were chatting away and kind of missed the exit we were supposed to take, but happily we ended up in beautiful historic Cambridge.
Hadn't been here in ages and forgot how pretty it is.
I know a bunch of people who have decided to sell their small over priced houses in the city, and move to this area for the beautiful yet still reasonably affordable century homes set on large properties.
after driving around, I can see how tempting this would be...
Then again, I've done my time in a small town and I'm pretty content living in the city.
At least at the moment.
eventually we continued on and finally made our way to our original destination.

I remember as a kid getting so psyched about the annual fall fair.
It was pretty much exactly how I remember it from around twenty years ago- only a little smaller.
Best prize ribbon for prettiest quilt, largest pumpkin, crunchiest pickles, best jam, tastiest pie, best baby?? dang we missed that one.
best cow, best lama, best sheep shearing, noisiest rooster, stinkiest pig.
Go 4-H. go.
And instead of Tom Sawyer by Rush and Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads basting from the speakers of
"The Zipper" ride it was some bubble gum top pop music.
The Zipper still looks as freaky as it did back then.
As do all the weird dudes running the rides.
But the biggest change was the reality that wow- I'm a mom now.
The last time I walked on this ground I was 16.
Seems like a life time ago.
I found myself scanning the crowd, looking for familiar faces.
I did in fact recognize a couple of people that I remember from high-school, couldn't remember their names though.
But it struck me at how old they looked.
Then I remembered that oh yeah, I probably look old too.
'cause I am now.
and I'm a mother...a mom. yup that's me. 36, married and a mom.
Not that I'm not thrilled to be a mother, it's just that for some reason it all felt kind of surreal to me and it kind of hit me at how fast life can fly by.
It seems like just yesterday I was crimping my hair and slipping on a pair of acid washed jeans, (okay maybe not acid washed per say, more like strategically torn, patched and frayed Levis-I was cheesy but not that cheesy) a neon Wham tee, applying just the right shade of frosted pink lip stick and getting ready to "giver" at the fair.
But I couldn't be happier that I'm no longer 16 and sneaking beer under the bleachers and looking for trouble in a small town because I was most likely just bored.
Well that and man did I probably look ridiculous back in the day.
Now I'm on the look out for trouble so I can avoid it, and boredom is not a word I would use to describe my life these days.
far from it.
On the contrary, boredom seems something of a luxury at this point in my life.
who has time to be bored when you are following a very busy two year old around?

Speaking of which, lulu managed to squeak in on the height requirements on most of the kiddie rides, and she couldn't have been more thrilled.

well except when she got to sample her first cotton candy.
Now that was pure elation.
Loved it. warm fluffy pretty sugar. what's not to love?

Well that's my little trip down memory lane.
It was a fun flashback kinda weekend.
how was yours?