Well, it’s time for another video! I know you have been waiting all week to see footage of the next stop on our cross-country adventure. Well, wait no longer! When we last left off, we were leaving our friends’ in Floyds Knobs, Indiana and heading further north. Our ultimate destination was Niagara Falls, but we had one more stop along the way before we reached that goal. We traveled through Ohio’s Amish country, even made of couple of wrong turns along the way, but we eventually arrived at our landing spot for the evening-Berlin, Ohio, or more importantly, the Holmes County Fair complete with pigs, carousels, and funnel cakes.
Again, to read the vacation journal regarding our evening with tractor pulls and livestock, go here. Otherwise, enjoy the show!
Last week, they started setting up a carnival in the middle of town…on a road that we drive daily. Coincidently last week, I began getting bombarded with requests to go.
Tuesday night I had the kids loaded up in the car and on our way to Sam’s Wholesale when, of course, we had to drive right down the middle of town…and pass the carnival, lit up and hopping with kids. Edie saw that it was open and started pleading for me to let her out of the van. Well, I conceded to her requests. I like to think it’s because I am a super fun mommy. But my spontaneity probably had more to do with the fact that Ken had been out of town for two weeks, and I was running out of ideas on how to keep our minds off of how much we missed him. The late night trip to Sam’s was more of an excuse to get us out of the house. We can buy bulk items anytime, but a carnival…now that’s special.
So I quickly swerved off the main road and found rock-star parking. The weather was perfect with only a slight chill in the air. The baby had just been fed and would be content for several hours. It was as if it was meant to be, and I was getting super high marks for the “Cool Mommy” award for which I was gunning.
We walked up to the booth, and I thought, “What the heck? Why not splurge and go for the all-you-can-ride wrist band?” I stepped up to the counter and handed the carnie my VISA, to which he unsympathetically replied, “We only take cash.” What?! Cash?! I didn’t have any cash! But what I WAS going to have was a screaming three year old! He didn’t much care about my predicament and stuck by his cash demand. I started to scramble, and Edie couldn’t help but notice that we were walking away from the carnival.
Now I know most people just think you run to the ATM – no big deal. Put in your card and get some cash. Problem solved, but we don’t do that in our house. In that situation cash would be spent without record, and for a girl who budgets every dollar and tracks every penny, that is not allowed. Yes, I know…I run a very tight ship. We do have an ATM card with the pin number safely unmemorized and tucked away in my crazy efficient filing system. I am not completely opposed to using the ATM in this circumstance, but by the time I went home, it would be super late. This is what I get for trying to be super-spontaneous fun mom…truth be told, I don’t pull it off very well.
As I was loading Edie back into the car, I tried to explain that I didn’t intentionally get her hopes up and crush them in five minutes. I even tried to bribe her with a trip to the ice cream store where they would take my VISA, and then we would go back the next day, better prepared, with cash. She was very understanding of how terrible I felt and just quietly sat in the back seat crying as we drove away.
“Mommy, why can’t I go to the carnival?”
“Because Edie, I don’t have the money tonight to take you, but I will tomorrow. And I PROMISE we will come back.”
Whimper. Whimper. Sniff. Sniff. In the most pitiful voice imaginable, “Mommy, we can go home and get all of my monies out of my piggy bank and then go to the carnival.” She was referring to the seventy-eight cents she had earned helping wash dishes over the past month. The money she very carefully saves for only two special occasions: the church offering plate and fish food at the zoo.
I have never felt more like a dog, and I decided in that moment, she was going to the carnival TO-NIGHT. Even if it meant having to go back home just to get the stupid code, then to the bank, and back to the place we just left. Even if she would be up way past her bed time and grumpy the next day. And so help me, even if she would have only french fries for supper at ten o’clock, she would have them on the way home from the carnival!
And that’s just what we did. And she did get the all-you-can-ride wristband. And she DID have a wonderful time…and she got to keep her seventy-eight cents.
Just wanted to let you know that a new video has been added. Ken finished the producing the birthday movie and loaded it up yesterday for your enjoyment! (And of course, to show off our little one.)
