Royal Melbourne Show

Today we went to the Royal Melbourne Show which is at the showgrounds not far from our house.  We realized this several days in to hearing fireworks every night and being baffled at why Australia seemed to end their days with a fireworks show.  Now, feeling silly, we realize that we're just close to the fair.  One of the dads at the park told Keith that today would be a good day to go since the footy finals were on and loads of people would be at home watching that.  So after Emily's nap we headed out to the showgrounds.  The kids were very good as Cian did not want a repeat of last weekend where we made it almost the entire way to the Zoo and then his behaviour was so horrible that we turned around and went home with him crying all the way.  That severe lesson seemed to have hit home as he was amazing today.
We got to the showgrounds at 3:45pm and there was a reduced price after 4pm so we were waiting around til 4 which worked out amazingly well since a woman came up to me on her way out and gave me 8 kid ride tickets for free (I have to say Australians in general have been lovely!) so when Keith came back from buying our after 4pm tickets we had admission tickets and some ride tickets for everyone.
First stop was the Cars guys cause I knew they had Lightening McQueen and Mack the Truck and I knew our little Cars lover would be happy to meet them which he was.  We then walked into the My Backyard pavillion where they had the ugliest roosters I have ever seen.  Ours was named Ronnie and Cian was as gentle with an animal as I have ever seen him.  The kids loved running around to all the different chicken coops and seeing the ducks and turkeys and seedlings it was great fun.  Then we happened by the Animals of Oz pavillion where there was a grazing wombat.  I think wombats might be my new favourite animal - they are ridiculously adorable.  The guy had a baby crocodile which my kids were much more interested in and, of course, Cian's favourite...the snake.  We pet some lizards but thankfully the snake handler was taking her time getting close to us and we managed to get out of there.  We then saw the widest variety of cows I have ever seen (and the cutest too) and we pet some giant sheep just before they were sheared.  I will also have you know, my knitting friends, that knitting was well represented and I have taken pics of the yarn-bombed tractor (super cute).  We also went to the Animal Nursery which was huge and there were tonnes of goats running around and baby piglets, ducklings, ponnies, rabbits - basically an animal lovers dream and the kids were in heaven.  Cian went on a couple rides and then we put Emily on a ride and she was hooked from the first moment.  She was no longer sitting in the stroller while Cian had all the fun.  A ride monster has been born.
With our late entry tickets Keith and I got rides too.  I went on a combination Tilt-a-Whirl and roller coaster.  I hadn't been on an adult roller coaster in a while and it was really fun.  Keith and I both went on the log shoot (seperately as parents of young children sometimes need to do - kind of lame but fun).  Keith climbed a rock wall (so awesome) and I went on another spinny fun ride with death drops.  You know that quote where they say (and I'm going to butcher it now) "Take time in the pursuit of happiness to just be happy" I think it's easiest to really do that when you are spinning around on a ride in the sky in the middle of a fair.  Everything else just melts away and you can scream and laugh and just be. We also oggled at all the other crazy rides that we were both way too chicken to ever attempt.  There was a fresh food pavillion that had all sorts of different foods and products to try and we had supper there too.
When we came back out the sun had set and all the neon lights lit up the rides.  There were vendors blowing big bubbles everywhere and the pop music was starting to swell and my kids were looking around like they had entered a brand new world.  I love that sense of wonder and amazement in kids.
We topped off the night with the death-defying motorcycle guys and a big fireworks display.  It was beautiful and very well done considering they do fireworks every night.  It was fun to watch Cian on Keith's shoulders with his eyes glued to the sky.  Emily liked them too but she was so tired at this point she mostly wanted to cuddle with mommy which was ok with me.
We pushed our little sleepyheads home in the stroller.  Emily asleep almost immediately and Cian bobbing his head all the way home, exhausted from all the fun.  He was so joyous the whole day.  Sometimes I rag on how hard my kids can be when their behaviour is bad but I have to say today they both got it right - there was some sort of cosmic alignment.  Today was a wonderful day.