WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!

We left the house for the State Fair at approximately 9:45am today and arrived home around 12 hours later. I'm exhausted, achy, sunburnt and about $100s lighter.

This was the first trip for all of us to the State Fair. Even though all 4 of us have been raised less than an hour away from where the State Fair takes place, none of us had ever ventured there. I don't think any of us would have went this year if it wasn't for the munchkin asking to go and us figuring this could very well be the last year for it, so off we went.

I don't know if it is because we are spoiled by our County Fair or if we have very high expectations or what, but I will admit...none of us were overly impressed with the State Fair. :( I know that many people may disagree with us, but there were maybe only a few more rides than the County Fair and maybe a handful of different things to see, but there were a lot less vendors then what we have at our County Fair. We walked around for first couple hours we were there, then did some rides to please the munchkin, then decided we should grab some lunch. Of course before we made it to lunch we found the $.50 chocolate milk that I read about here. The munchkin was going to milk a cow too, but the farmers told us it would be about 5 mins before we could so we ventured to see the police horses first because there was no one around. Well, apparently we were wrong because when we returned to milk the cow there were probably 40 people in line. Where they came from...we have no idea!

We grabbed some lunch and after 2 failed attempts to get some fair fries, we hit the midway again. The munchkin had a blast riding rides for several hours! Of course, there were a few rides he wanted to ride that he needed someone with him, so we bought a book of 22 tickets for $25 (he had an all-day band for $25 too) for just this case. Well, I did the tilt-a-whirl with him, and my aunt did the ferris wheel with him. Then my other aunt made mention that they had seen the Himalaya and the munchkin wanted to go on it. Memories of years past (my teenage years) flooded back. That was our "choice" ride every year and all night long when we went to our County Fair back in the day. I was so excited to introduce the munchkin to the Himalaya!! (Of course that wasn't the name of it anymore, but that is what I know it as.) So the ride starts, backwards, and something went wrong inside of me...I totally freaked out.

As you know, with being my size I'm going to be a tad-bit thicker than my 46lb 7 year old! So the bar wasn't as tight on him as it was on me. I told him he had to hold on for this ride. Well, my child has no fear, unlike his mother who dreams of crazy things to fear and one of her fears is her child dying in a freak accident. (This has been a long term fear of mine, even before I had kids and steams from a crazy realistic dream I had years and years ago in high school.) So when my son refused to hold on as we are whipping around at extremely high speeds (which later I estimated at 210mphs. LOL) I grabbed a hold of his left thigh and gripped on to hold him in the seat. At one point the following conversation took place:

Munchkin: Mom, let go of my leg.

j'lynn: I can't

Munchkin: Mom, please let go of my leg.

j'lynn: I can't. You might fly out of the seat. Please hold on.

Munchkin: This is so fun......

j'lynn (in her head, screaming): WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ride then stops so it can go forward at the same crazy speed. I stopped gripping his thigh, fearing that he will probably have a hand print bruise on his inner thigh and he promised he would hold on. In my scrambled brain I believed him! So wrong on my part! As it restarts, he lets go loving every single minute of it, and now I have to find a better way to hold on to him. So as we whip around at break-neck-speeds I attempt to put my leg over one of his legs, or my arm across his chest, but my hands are slipping and he is fighting my trying to get him safely under some part of my body. I feel myself sliding in the seat, fearing the worst...realizing that it is okay if I die on this ride but that people would be really pissed if he died.

This frickin' ride lasted HOURS! When we finally exit the ride, my body is shaking, my heart is pounding, my head is ready to explode, and I want to sit on the ground and thank the lord that we didn't die! While my son asks if we can go on it again! Of course my response was: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!! I need a drink of something, I need to calm my nerves...I need to stop shaking and get my heart under control. That's when we find real fair fries and I drown my near death experience and fears in a bucket of greasy fair fries and a large Diet soda!! Thank god for us coming off the Himalaya alive and greasy fair fries!

We also moved back to the kiddie rides, saw the petting zoo, pig races and the birth of a calf! I only made it back on the tilt a whirl one time for the rest of the night. I decided that I am officially old and wonder what the hell I was thinking at 16 when I would ride the Himalaya 50 times a night at the County Fair!

Later we did run in to a young man who informed us that last year there was a kid who was injured on the Himalaya and another little boy who almost fell off a different ride that goes upside down in a circle. So my fear of dying wasn't so far off base now was it!?!