The Norwalk Oyster Festival

i benefited from someone else's misfortune this week. bradley was sick on thursday and friday so he worked from home both days, and i absolutely LOVED having him home! since monday was labor day, bradley was only in the city 2 days this week, so we kind of capitalized on his presence with early dinners, long lunch breaks, and bea making frequent check-ins on daddy. i hope he works from home for good someday, he actually gets a lot done, and we are pretty good at leaving him alone to work for the most part (despite bea running into the room just to make sure he's there every so often). even though we let him work all day, it's just nice to all be in the same place at the same time.

anyway. since bea and i didn't leave the house much thursday or friday, and bradley was home both of those days, we all woke up this morning prettttty stir crazy. it was time to get out. we remembered seeing a ton of carnival equipment being set up earlier this week and some signs for an "oyster festival" this weekend so we looked it up online and decided it would be the perfect saturday outing!
the fair grounds aren't far from our house (1.5 miles), and most of the parking listed online was about as far away with shuttle services to the grounds so we just thought it would make the most sense to walk. especially since parking was like 15 dollars. #nothanks
BUT YOU GUYS IT WAS SO HOT!!!!! i walk 3-4 miles everyday for my choice of exercise, so i love to walk but oh my goodness gracious this whole walk had ZERO shade and it was like a hundred million degrees and stiflingly humid. but we made it there alive. and noticed a lot of street parking along the way. BUT OH WELL!
there was no shade once we got there either so our first order of business was to find a tent somewhere. and we did. under which was a MINI CIRCUS! with a show that started in just 5 minutes!!!

i've never been to a little rinky dink circus before and i'll tell you it was super cute and a little bizarre. bea was pretty enthralled at first but then the music made her a little scared. i know on instagram i totally blamed the crying on the clowns buttttt i lied. she was crying because the russian stunt performing family had loud weird music.

 and then was still crying when the clown came on. and then she got over it and wandered around and before i knew it she was on the little stage and i had to run and get her. so that was fun. anyway the little circus was cute, there was this little russian couple that did outfit change stunts; the lady would like step into a hula hoop with a tinsel fringe shade around it and step out in a totally different outfit. and the outfits went from long to short and then to long again so i really have no idea how she did it. it was really interesting to watch them, they were so proud of their craft and i just really appreciated it. it was interesting to think of what a life as a russian circus performer in america would be like. i'd love to learn more about it. they just looked like they absolutely loved what they were doing. where did they learn to do it? was it a family tradition? were their parents also circus performers? so many questions.
anyway, besides them there was a clown and then there was a canadian 12 year old boy who did some crazy balancing stuff with a great deal of flair (i really do admire circus workers for the pride they show in their work!) and then the russians did some hula hoop stunts and that was basically it. it didn't last long but being in the shade was reallllllly nice.
we then decided to get some tickets to go on a ride or 2 with bea. if you wanted to accompany a toddler on a ride you had to get your own ticket which i thought was kind of stupid so we only went on the carousel and the tilt-o-whirl but it was still fun.

this is the closest i could get her to smiling. she was just SOOO HOTTTT! she really was a champ. and she kept saying "neigh! neigh!"

if you can believe it, it was hotter inside that thing than outside. but she got a real kick out of  it! i'm glad bradley took so many pictures because i couldn't see her face while we were on the ride!

she looks pretty chill but i'm telling you guys, she was THRILLED. i mean it.

we walked around for a bit in between to check out the booths and stuff but seriously it was just so hot we were DYING! there was literally no shade except for that circus tent and a craft beer tasting tent (so, no.)

the universe must have sensed i was really missing philly this week! it brought me a rita's!

when we just couldn't take the heat anymore we decided to take the lonnnnnnng, hot walk back home. luckily, we passed the splash pad on the way. i wanted bea to get wet so she would cool down, she was so hot and sweaty it was kind of breaking my heart. so i picked her up and ran under one of the spouts with her (IT FELT SO NICE!) but she hated it and freaked out, as per usual at the splash pad, but i wasn't about to give up on such a hot day. so we just kind of sat there and watched her until she finally decided to get wet (which is a big deal for her, she NEVER likes to get wet at the splash pad). she ended up getting nice and soaked, and played in the water for quite a while.

mostly i got pics from behind because THOSE LITTLE BUNS, AMIRIGHT?! she actually let me do her hair today!

we had to drag her away, and she whined the whole way home. luckily though, there was no meltdown of mass proportions. which surprised me, even though it shouldn't have. bea is really great about not having epic, public meltdowns. maybe she is just still too young for them but even on days like today where we skip a nap, she keeps it together. the only meltdown bea usually has is at breakfast when she can see her bread before i put it in the toaster and freaks out because she wants toast NOW or when she sees me making oatmeal because, you know, NOW. i'm sure if i just fed her before she was absolutely starving in the morning she wouldn't do that. or maybe she would. i don't know. but that's really the only part of the day she ever freaks out. the rest of the time she is really easy going, which i always take for granted and really shouldn't. i don't realize how great she is on outings until i see other kids her age and realize she's the only one keeping her cool for the most part. meltdowns may come later or they might not, who knows. maybe they just aren't our thing to deal with. maybe our thing will just be the bully issue (seriously that girl is so dang bossy! we are working on this).
anyway, we finally got home, got her in the bath, got showers ourselves (so. much. sweat.), had a late lunch, and then enjoyed an epic thunderstorm that BARELY missed us from the comfort of our own air conditioned home.
would i go to the oyster festival again? i don't know. probably not, to be honest. it was 13 bucks a head (we didn't have to pay for bea because she is under 2, but we would have to next time), and then rides were like 2.50 a head minimum (standard, but when you're already paying to get in, it just seemed like a lot), and there just really wasn't much to do. maybe if you're more into craft beers, wine tastings, oysters, and maritime things it would be for you, but i am not into any of those things so it just wasn't the event for us i guess. but we still had an ok time. it beat hanging around the house for another whole day! and it got bea hot enough to finally play in some water! so it was all in all a success. even if i got the world's WEIRDEST tshirt tan. i was wearing a white and navy striped v neck shirt. #zebratan
being a parent really is great. watching bea have fun is seriously so much more fun than doing something fun for myself. i'm so excited for the stage she's in and that she's learning to do so many more things, i love watching her grow.