The Danleys: Fair Food and Hoppers

This past weekend we went to the Gwinnett County Fair…. Hayley was craving some fair food… which mainly consisted of boiled peanuts and cotton candy… Emma and Payton were excited about the rides…. well Payton was anyway. Emma was a little scared of most everything. We started down the aisle with all the kiddie rides and Payton jumped right on… no adult… and without her big sister. Emma had a few issues and constantly called on Hayley to ride with her. Hayley loved it… don’t let her tell you differently. We even got on the Ferris Wheel…after I convinced Emma that she had indeed ridden it before and was not scared. All in all we had a great time. Before we left we decided to go finish off our tickets and ride ONE last ride. The girls picked a ride called the “hopper.” This ride takes the kids up about 2 stories and starts dropping them down a little bit at a time. The girls hopped on and got ready to ride. Payton had watched with such enthusiasm she knew just what to do. Emma on the other hand decided she had not signed up for such foolery and ‘hopped’ right back up. No problem for Payton.. she has new found independence from her sister and decided to stay one. She was obviously the youngest one on the ride and as they lifted her up she flashed the thumbs up sign to Hayley and I with e huge smile. We cheered her on emphatically. Then came the moment we were waiting for… they started to ‘hop’ her down…. I can’t not describe to you the look of terror that crossed poor Payton’s face and sympathetic mother that I am… I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She grabbed on to that bar so quickly and the look on her face was purely hysteria… for those on the ground too… people were passing by pointing out the “little girl in pink!” and laughing. The ride worker was really great. She kept Payton on all THREE times they went up and down. To Payton’s credit she never cried and kept her composure. I wish I had kept mine long enough to snap the picture of Payton on her ‘hop’. Pure hilarity.