Saturday we spent the morning at a local festival that had a lot of fun attractions – they had rides, games, booths, and lots of food, but what really drew us was the pony rides and petting zoo since the kids hadn’t had those experiences yet.  Emma heard that there would be pony rides and she could talk of nothing else. :)

She enjoyed it SO much!  She was so enthusiastic that every time she made a round toward me she would say, “Cheese!” and give me her most genuine smile.  There have been a lot of fake “cheese” smiles lately (at home) so I knew she was really happy on that pony.  And not scared at all!

This really meant a lot to me because I vividly remember the joy of riding ponies at the fair when I was a kid. I’m glad to be able to create this memory with Emma now.  :)

Next was the petting zoo!

Emma was able to pet, feed, and brush goats (baby and adult), sheep, an alpaca (or llama?), a donkey, and a pony.  It was pretty cool!

Turning 4 seems to have changed a lot in Emma – it wasn’t that long ago that she might have panicked over the number of animals and people in that pen.  There was a point when the alpaca and sheep were trying to reach the food in her cup and they were kind of overwhelming, but she kept her cool.  :)  But of course they were extremely gentle and didn’t push her at all.

Emma also rode on a carousel for the first time, and Isaac did, too.  She loved it, and Isaac didn’t.  ;-)  I was surprised at how fast that thing went around!  I was being challenged to hold my footing without holding on to something and had my arm tightly around Emma so she didn’t fly off.  Have they always been like that?

What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids at a carnival?

Impressive, right?  I love the way he shows how he did it at the end of the video, too.

I need suggestions!  :)  I was thinking about using clippers at a long setting and going over it all so it would at least be the same length… I don’t know how he would react to that, though!

I’m partial to this look:

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Do you cut your child’s hair yourself?

Edited to Add:

I did it!  :)