We were on the fair grounds for less than an hour last Thursday morning when Lulu first spotted the slide and what she had only imagined from my stories became an actual vision. With the bombardment of new sites and sounds though, she seemed content with just walking by the first day with a promise we’d be back at some point. By Thursday night, it was all she talked about at the hotel. By late Friday morning, there was no containing the excitement.

So, once the calves were clean, fed, and laying in the stalls on Friday morning we were off to the Giant Slide. Lulu was in a hurry to get there. Lulu was in a hurry to get her ticket. Lulu was in a hurry to get in line. Then Lulu started to slow down. Way down. By the time Lulu and the DW (she’s the one in the pink top) where half way up the steps, a line was beginning to back up behind them and Lulu insisted on being carried.

You get a better idea of how things backed up once they were to the top. I’m pretty sure Lulu has asking “are you sure about this?” at about this point. It’s quietly become her favorite question when she’s too brave to admit she’s scared.

Good thing there wasn’t much time for her to think about things. Once they sat down they were were off.

Now, you’ll have to work with how grainy the pictures get, but to get an idea of just how nervous Lulu was about this I zoomed in on the photo above to capture Lulu and the DW in one frame and Lulu’s cousin “B” with his mom in the second. (You can click on each photo for a larger version.)

Even with the poor photo quality you can see Lulu is wearing the textbook picture of horror while “B” is grinning from ear to ear. I would have guessed that would have been the end of the Giant Slide if it hadn’t been for the conversation I had with Lulu immediately after as I helped her back in the stroller.

Me: What’d you think?
Lulu: Daddy, I’m never doing that again.
Me: Was it fun?
Lulu: I’m never doing it again. (giggles) It made my belly go whoosh.
Me: Do you think you’ll take Peanut down the slide when she gets older?
Lulu: Yeah, that’d be fun. I thought I was going up in the air.
Me: I bet.
Lulu: Can I do it again?

I’ll never pretend to understand how her mind works.