Coffey County Fair and the "beach" at Melvern Lake (WARNING! lots of photos!

This past Friday night was the parade in Burlington and since Sydney and I hadn't seen some of our friends, the Fullens, for awhile I convinced Joe to take us after he got off of work. Kent and Janelle had saved us spots right along the path of the parade and by the time we got there Sydney was raring to go! (A few seats down from us were two guys and a little boy who Sydney was drawn to right away--she kept calling him "baby" and kneeling and saying "aw"--we later found out that Sydney and this little boy were just a few weeks apart in age and actually we were in our birth class with his parents! Kind of ironic, but not so much in a little town like that!) Anyway, my plan was to feed Syd the supper I had packed for her (PB sandwich, grapes, cheese, and sweet potatoes!) However, the parade began and she was so enthralled by the animals, people, vehicles, etc. that she only ate about half of the sandwich! (I saved it for later when we ate supper.) Here are some pictures of her at the parade!

Anxiously awaiting the next part of the parade!
Playing with the ball that the ladies of Central National Bank passed out!
Enjoying her first sucker...Janelle was convinced I was depriving Sydney for never letting her have a sucker. So in the spirit of parades and fair weekend, I caved but I watched her like a hawk--and didn't let her finish it. :)

After the parade we went out to eat (at this point it was already her bed time! yikes! We were a little bit nervous on how this could pan out.) Sydney didn't last long in her chair, but we were in the back room so she had some space to run around and throw her ball, etc. She was doing so well once we were done eating, we thought we'd take her down to the fairgrounds to see the animals. When we brought her to the Franklin Co. fairgrounds she LOVED the animals there...just loved them. So I knew she wouldn't be throwing any fits there surrounded by the stinky farm animals she loves so much! Our first stop was the goats and bucket calves. The pygmy goats were by far her favorite (probably because she could pet them!) Then we went to the birds and bunnies, which she also enjoyed (especially the ducks!) We saw cows and she liked them when they "moo"ed at her. The pigs kind of scared us though! We just watched them from afar!!

The goat saying "hi" to Sydney...you can kind of see that she's smiling or at least doing her "oohh!" face!
The pygmy goat she was able to pet!She is thrilled to pieces--can't you tell? :)
Some type of chicken that she thought was cute.Reading about the bunnies
The quack-quacks! (FYI: her fingers were promptly removed from the cage, just in case :) )

Today, Sydney and I were invited to go to the Melvern Lake swimming beach with some new friends of ours. Last time we went to the Pomona swimming beach and it was really crummy. The beach part was full of big, rough rocks, the water was very very dirty...so needless to say we hung out on the sand and Sydney just scooped sand in to her bucket! This time was completely different--there was beautiful soft sand and the water was clear up to my knees, which I thought was pretty good! Sydney LOVED it, absolutely loved it. Her inner "fish" came out and she was splashing, and walking circles around me, carrying on. She even loved it when she lost her footing and fell in to the water (I had her hands the whole time, but she would still get her face in it or her shoulder, etc.) She laughed hysterically while we were out walking around in the water. It was so much fun to see her enjoy something new and to enjoy it as much as she did!!

Playing "catch"/float with her new friend Lexi.
Splashing!Splashing some more!!
Refueling with some craisins after playing hard in the water!