Santa-Cali-Gon Days

With Kyle on twin duty this afternoon, Claire and I had the opportunity to take a short drive out to Independence, Missouri to enjoy the carnival and see a few historic sights too (I'll post separately for the history lesson). Claire finally rode her first carnival rides, and I captured all of them on film. First she tried the flying elephant ride ...



... and then the roller coaster ...



... and lastly the canoe ride (where Claire seems to have her game face on for this relaxed ride) ...


... and of course I got sucked into paying for a couple of carnival games to win cheapy toys ...

... and we partook of the requisite snack of lemonade and funnel cakes ...

... all for a most satisfying afternoon. I missed being with the twins (really, I did), but Claire and I had some great mother/daughter time and I always love watching her have new experiences. I did a good job overlooking some of the seedier parts of the carnival because it's doubtful that Claire even noticed - she was taking it all in as a kid would, without noticing groups of swearing and smoking teenagers, or creepy looking men, or the lack of reasonable restrooms. It was also a bonus that our weather continues to be amazing and topped out around 80 degrees today.

Now if I could just return the noise-making horn she won in the fish game ...