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Carnivals
I forgot to write much about the two carnivals we went to.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.
The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday when
stairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.