Sproingatude

A couple of weeks ago, the schools gave out $10 coupons for the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo. I must admit this was an act of marketing genius. Jono came home very excited about going to the fair, riding the rides, and especially walking through the "mirror maze", or hall of mirrors. "Papa, can we go to the fair today? No? How about tomorrow? No? How about the next day?" Eventually I caved.

I don't really like the fair. It's kinda creepy and crowded and expensive. Taken together, these three characteristics put it near the bottom of my list of favorite things to do: right there between go to the dentist and contract dysentery. But Jono really wanted to go, and I thought it might be a nice chance for the two of us to spend some father/son time together. Perhaps make a memory. It turned out to be wonderful.

First things first, he had to do the mirror maze a few times. Then he drove the bumper cars and then we both did the super slide together. After getting off the super slide he said it made his "innards go up and down". Innards? While we stood in the lines together we would talk about all kinds of things from how the rides worked, to what he did in school, to how there was no way we were getting on the scary rides. I could tell he was enjoying my attention. I frequently knelt or squatted so I could be face to face with him. He was affectionate and at one point he told me I was "made of preciousness". Wow.

This is a picture I took of us with my phone. Sorry about the quality. We're riding the Tilt-A-Whirl which was about as rambunctious as we got that night. He liked what this one did to his innards too. By the end of the ride I was getting a little woozy, so I was glad he didn't want to ride anything wilder. Who gets woozy on the Tilt-A-Whirl? Are you kidding me? For me, it should be called it Lilt-And-Hurl.

One of the last things he did was a bungee trampoline thingy. As we waited in line he watched the other kids bouncing and enjoying themselves. He told me matter-of-factly that he was going to go higher than they were going. And man, did he! I was surprised how vigorously he went for it. We had such a great time together. I drew the arrow on the picture to help you see him at the apex of his sproingatude. The kid was flying.

And so was I.