Huge Bear of Kindness

A few weeks back we took my sister's kids to the state fair. My friend gets free enterance tickets because she's a state grunt. We went last year too but with more people. Our party consisted of me, Mandolin, my friend, my nephew, my niece and my brother-in-law. Last year we spent a small fortune on food, drinks, and rides. This year I was set against that. I told the kids that I'd buy one snack, three rides apiece and took in water to drink. I've been on a mission to "become healthy" since my hand gimpy issue, so Bert wouldn't recognize me if he saw me today. I'm smaller, with different hair and I smile a lot. Apparently, it's working because people who know me don't recognize me. Because of this, I refused to spend money on pure crap while at the fair. I didn't eat anything deep fried etc. This was a struggle because my sister's kids have been raised to only eat toxic waste. My nephew actually looked at me and said "I can't drink that, that's water!" He drank it after he was thirsty enough though. Jilly was a bitch and didn't give in.

Anyway, The day we went to the fair was free day for people with significant physical and mental disabilities, so every "differently abeled" person in the state was there. I'm open to differences so I wasn't bothered. As we went into the gate, a man stopped us and gave us his "ride all day" pass, which was very expensive. It was a nice gesture ruined by my brother-in-law being scared by the man because he was severly disabeled. I felt like super momma having "the talk" after thanking the man. You parents know the talk, the one you have with your kids about not pointing at people who look/act different. I never thought I'd have to have it with a 23 year old man and not the kids. Anyway, we bought a second all day ride pass because it was actually cheaper and the tickets for three rides. 2 minutes into our trip and I'd already covered half my promise.

We went off to see the animals, petting zoo and all sorts of other baby safe but free stuff. I love Mandolin, but she's a baby, you don't need to spend money to make them happy. A man in the cow barn loved her, so she got to pet a pretty calf until she was satisfied. I got the kids lunch and had the soda fight. I brought in a BIGASS bottle of water with cups (never drink after young children) and refilled the bottle at water fountains throughout the day. The kids rode many rides and we got to people watch. I love to people watch. Something about the fair allows people to wear things no one should wear out in public and behave in odd ways. I had the time of my life playing "fat or pregnant." Although we can't be sure, I won the game but my friend came in a close second.

At one point, a man waled by with a teddy bear the size of my car. Mandolin was so enthralled that her uncle took her to talk to the man. My kid has no issues talking to strangers if they're holding toys. The man explained that he won it playing a pool game and the carnie running the game sid he was the only winner that day. They talked for about 20 minutes while my friend and I watched the older kids. I mostly stood outside a ride with one kid and she stood waiting for the other. Three adults and three kids is a good balance. This was at 4pm or so because we adults hadn't eaten yet. Later we adults ate and took a tour of 4H etc. then let the kids ride rides until 9:30 pm. Just as we were getting rady to go, someone started yelling "MANDOLIN" throughout the crowd. We were confused because it's not a common name and we didn't recognize the voice. the man from before went back to the pool game and won a second teddybear the size of my car to give to Mandolin because he thought she deserved it. I was so shocked. We didn't know this man from pete. He won the bear and then walked around the fair for 2 hours looking for us hoping we hadn't left. It was so sweet. The man explained that he won the first bear for his great-grand daughter and he figured that Mandolin was someones granddaughter and so she needed a bear too. The bear took up the entire back seat of my car and weighs a ton. I'll have to take a picture of it and show you as soon as I get a new camera battery. It currently lives on top of Mandolin's playhouse. So Mr teddy guy, if you're out there, thanks for the bear, Mandolin loves it and it was one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for me/my family.