Melina's third Country Fair

It's hard to believe that Melina's only two and has already gone to three Oregon Country Fairs (the first when she was only three months old). The first time we used my parents' VW bus; the second time we camped; and this time we camped again. Next time I intend to use my parents' trailer (hint hint) because I just don't know if I can take another stretch of three sleepless nights, laying there in the tent listening to drunk twenty-somethings whoop around the camp at 3:00 a.m. That part just isn't fun anymore. Especially since I am essentially tent-bound at 11:00, trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep because I know that Melina will be waking me up at 7:30. (Jeff can stay out later because he seems to thrive on less sleep). Oh, the exquisite joy of being kept up until all hours, only to be woken at sunrise by a car alarm going off, somebody's baby screaming, or my own daughter wanting to jump on the bed.

I have to admit there were times during this OCF that I felt like I was just too old for this anymore. Or too something. (Nevermind the many aging hippies who thrive in that environment.) I told someone that it seemed less magical to me this time, and they pointed out that I had spent several days chasing a two-year-old around. Oh, yeah. During the 20 minutes when Jeff and Melina got lost trying to find the kids' area, it DID feel kind of magical. With a two-year-old there's never any time to actually get INTO anything, or relax, or go to a talk, or focus on the music...

Oh well. It was fun to watch Melina having fun. She LOVED it. She talked to lots of people, and ate corn on the cob, and ate tamales, and drank huge amounts of lemonade, and climbed on things, and rolled in the dust, and played with our friend's three sons, and darted out into the road, and got to sleep in a tent, and saw horses, and rode in a yellow school bus, and admired the water truck, and swam in the muddy lake, and saw a big striped bug, and ate illicit jellybeans for breakfast, and pretty much lived on fried things and sugar for a while. She even sat still long enough to watch some bellydancers, and part of a puppet show, and part of a couple juggling shows. By the end, she looked like a brown dusty little hippy baby who has never had a bath. (I took a shower at the fair for $8; Melina stood on a stool and mixed up the shampoo and body soap so I ended up washing my hair with Dr. Bronner's).

There were a few sweet moments after Melina went to bed where I got to roam around Zumwalt (our campground) with friends. (Usually that was when Jeff was putting Melina to bed, or shortly afterward. We did have about half an hour together when a friend babysat for us). Jeff's friends Monica and Cipriano were there, and I really enjoyed talking to them, sitting by the big bonfire and listening to music. Sibelia and Simon and their three sons camped next to us, and Jeff's friend Chris was also there. It was nice hanging out with them all. Zumwalt is great because it's next to Fern Ridge Reservoir, which cools the air in the evening and at night; and the same people go there year after year, so a community forms. A couple of my coworkers have started going there, which is nice.

Next time, if we go (and I'm sure Jeff and Melina will want to), I am going to bring a) ear plugs; b) my parents' trailer; c) sleeping pills and d) an eye shade. And a nanny. And THEN I will feel the magic.