Now that it’s officially summer, it’s also the season of the mall fair. You know the kind, the little ones that travel around and set up for a week in parking lots outside shopping centers. When we went to visit my parents for Father’s Day, Hayley spotted one near them and wanted to go right away, but we had no time for stopping that day. Luckily for her, there was one nearby this past weekend so we were able to take her on Saturday.

The last time we went to a fair, she was only about two years old and she was too nervous to go on any of the little rides so we just took her on the carousel a few times; she enjoyed that. This year, she’s a Big Girl, so she went on pretty much every ride that fits her age group, and she had no problem with it at all.

She also showed me that she’s her mother’s daughter. I am terrified of heights but I will go on any roller coaster. And when I get off the roller coaster, I talk too loud, I have too much energy, and I usually find myself screaming at people about how I would really like to get in line for the next roller coaster RIGHT NOW, COME ON LET’S GO! Apparently, this is Hayley too. First we went on the kids’ roller coaster together (and it was pretty good, actually, I totally enjoyed it!).

Then she got off and, like I do, she was loud and excited and wanted to go on the Pirate Ship.

That was a total No Way In Hell. I don’t think she’d be tall enough to be allowed on anyway, but she couldn’t go on alone and there was not a chance that either George or I were going on it with her. She was really disappointed. But then she ran around going on all the other rides and we went on the roller coaster again with the remaining tickets at the end of the day.

All in all it was a lot of fun. I always wondered if going to fairs would be boring as a parent since you can’t go on all the big rides, but it was great to watch her. Even Breanna had fun because she is still young enough that she didn’t know to be outraged that she was missing out on all the rides. For her it was just fun to watch and she enjoyed yelling “Hi Ay-lay!” every time Hayley went by. George went on a strawberry-shaped version of the Tilt-a-Whirl with Hayley and Breanna thought it was hilarious – she kept laughing and saying, “Dada! HAHAHA!” every time they whirled past.

And then we stopped by McDonalds where Breanna got to play on the slide, so at least she had a bit of fun too.

You can see the whole fair set over here.