Corn Dogs and Lemonade

This afternoon we decided to partake in a Chicago tradition and go to one of our local street fairs, Retro on Roscoe. I think we would have actually bagged this event due to our intense involvement in the house today. (After a huge IKEA run yesterday, we spent much of the day putting up curtain rods and assembling storage units. Matt gets huge credit for starting assembly on a piece of furniture before 6 AM. Pre-breakfast. Pre-coffee. I am still in shock.) However, one of our very favorite kids' music pop stars, Justin Roberts, was going to be playing for the kiddies at this fair, so we headed out.

It was a funny day, weather-wise, and it rained lightly on us despite the bright sun overhead most of the way there. It was a beautiful little walk. In fact, I was excited to see that Justin Roberts was playing at both of the big local street fairs that we can walk to this summer. Very cool.

It was an interesting childhood phenomenon that Baxter was all set to groove with the other mini rock stars in the kids-only zone right up in front of the stage - until, that is, The Man himself appeared on stage a mere three feet from where Baxter was standing. At that point, he flew back to where we were and stood stock still, staring down at his feet and looking rather pale. So we danced and he stood there feeling very uncomfortable until Matt picked up the huge boy and showed him more of what was going on up on stage. I think it was one of those moments when he really needed the security of one of us holding him to feel comfortable with the situation...after listening to this guy's music for a couple of years, it was extremely freaky for him to see a real, live person behind the tunes - and so close. He said that he felt very shy. This happened last year at the Dan Zanes show as well. It's a hard thing to get used to as a parent, when you were accustomed to your child dancing happily - even on the stage itself - at a very young age! But I guess as they get older, they actually "get it" and it's very weird for them.

The music was great, and Lyle enjoyed bopping around with me despite his frequent pleas for milk and eventual desperate declaration "Lyle HOT!", at which point I grudgingly agreed to leave the music in search of shade.

But it was a great street fair. A bounce house, bubble machines, Baxter's first glimpse of cheesy carnival games, lots of cool vendors. And corn dogs. Now, I know that fairs in California peddle corn dogs, too, it's just that, well, we never went to any of them. So to be at this fair here in the midwest and eating corn dogs on a hot summer day was just too perfect. I can't say it was anything like fairs I remember in Minnesota - after all, I didn't see any cheese curds, and there were a few items sold that were not on sticks. Therefore, it felt quite urban and sophisticated, compared to my memories of midwestern fairs, but still - corn dogs in Chicago! Awesome. I also got a pretty big kick out of watching Lyle drink from the hideously enormous lemonade cup that we all shared - he was completely undaunted by the cup, which was far larger than even his adult-sized noggin.

I'm glad we put the curtain rods aside and left the house.