What's Genny For?

No Fair

The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry. —John Steinbeck

I had the apple pie baked, frozen, and ready to go to the county fair and a plate full of cranberry muffins wrapped and ready to go. Mathman was camping with the older redheaded minions kids at our annual church campout so I had to take the three youngest with me to drop off my entry. Easy, peasy, right?



No.

Firstly, I'm horrible at directions. So I use my handy phone app, complete with voice directions, to find the fairgrounds (same county as mine, different town).

Halfway into the 40 minute drive, my 1-year-old starts crying. And. she. won't. stop! She's not hungry or poopy or thirsty or hot. She just doesn't want to be strapped into her carseat.

I grit my teeth and drive on until we make it to "the town" I needed to be in.

Turns out, even my smart phone didn't know how to get to the fairgrounds. It had me circling 'round and 'round on a gravel road, looking for a 4th Street that flat-out didn't exist!

About this time my 3-year-old tells me he needs to poop.

Great.

Why don't kids ever listen to their mothers and go to the bathroom before heading out on a long drive?

I circle around for the third time, find a parking spot, and drag all three of the littles into a hardware store. Thankfully, they have a toilet he can use. I hold on to the baby while the 3-year-old takes his sweet time, chatting to me and his sisters and generally enjoying his "bathroom vacation".

Finally he finishes. I take the opportunity to ask the cashier if she knows where the fair is.

"Turn right and follow the road on down. You'll bump right into it!" she says with a smile.

Stupid phone had me turning instead of going straight!

Load the kids up again. The baby sets to crying as soon as she's strapped down. I stubbornly continue on and discover...there isn't a single, blasted place to park my boat-sized van. The area in front of the fair is a beehive of activity with people and cars coming and going. I take one look at the crazy going on outside my window, cast a glance at my three passengers, and immediately turn around and head off toward the campground where Mathman and the older kids are waiting for me.

Sometimes, you just gotta know when to give up, right? I mean, I just couldn't imagine pushing a double stroller with a baby and 3-year-old while juggling a frozen pie and a plate full of muffins and keeping the 5-year-old from getting distracted and wandering off, all while trying to find the building accepting food entries. No, this drop-off either required another qualified adult marching at my side or I needed to go alone.

So I get to the campground and Mathman is pleased as punch to scarf down the cranberry muffins for me. The pie? Well, that was set next to the fire pit to warm up and shared with all our friends at the campout.

This was just another reminder that life is NO FAIR!