Apple Ride

This post is a cute one to write. =) It's about Ainsley. She's awesome. (exhausting, challenging, unique, yet sweet Ainsley). LAST Summer, we went to the local County Fair/Festival thing. It's a pretty big deal around here and draws LOT of people (such fantastic people-watching!) from around Virginia. While there LAST summer, Elise was 4 1/2, Ainsley 2 1/2, Mitchell not quite 1. Elise rode a couple cute little rides and LOVED them (no surprise, there). Ainsley was too short to really ride anything, but we commented on how closely she was watching Elise have so much fun. We told her that maybe 'next year (as in 2011), maybe you'll be big enough to ride them'. Fair enough, right?
Fast-Forward to Fall 2010 and we say something to Ainsley about her birthday being a few months away and she launches into a whole explanation about, "well, soon, when I turn 3 ("Free"), I might be big enough to go to the Festival ("Festibull") and when I get there....I...can...ride...the APPLE RIDE.!!!" If you know Ainsley, you can picture her getting all excited, speaking slowly and quietly, building up the suspense to...the...APPLE RIDE! And she has full hand-talking going on, too. When she gets animated in storytelling, it's so great. We often have to look away because we're laughing so hard at her little mannerisms...adorable.
Anyway, so it went like that all winter/spring. ANYTIME someone would ask her how old she was, comment on how tall she is, etc... she would launch that same description about "when I get bigger, like maybe next summer, I may be big enough to ride the Apple Ride with my sister Elise". She explained it to her teacher at preschool, many neighbors, the checkout people at Kroger, Home Depot, her Pediatrician, etc... For an entire year we've been hearing about the buildup to the Apple Ride.

So, when we realized the Fair was in town, we planned a trip, kept it a secret, and laughed to ourselves about what would happen if Ainsley still wasn't tall enough for the ride, if she was too scared, or...EEEK... what if the Apple Ride wasn't even there?! ...would've been tragic...

We loaded them up one afternoon mid-July, headed to the Fairgrounds, and told them along the way where we were going. They were so excited and couldn't even sit still. It was great. We got there, walked a mile to the rides, and it was PERFECT!



Lots of smiles on that precious little face. She was ecstatic the whole time... kind of reverent, actually. =)

Elise wanted to do the huge burlap sack slide thing. She loves those kind of things. Daredevil. She was proud that she "won", too.




Mitchell was a little overwhelmed with all the sights/people/noise/etc... but was really happy overall. He was really just stoked to 'keep an eye' on all the sippy cups and snacks in the stroller!


The girls also rode the DUMBO ride, which they LOVED. Elise liked being in charge of the up/down movement... Ainsley just liked screeching the whole time.



Finally, Ainsley got to ride one thing by herself (just to prove she is a Big Girl like Elise...) and she picked this boat thing. It was so fun to see her acting a little nervous to get started, but then start chatting with the girl next to her, and then get over some fear and just LOVE it.


PURE JOY!!!!