My kids and I spent a whole day at the Perth Royal Show and we had a fantastic time!
OK. There were a few exceptions to our “fantastic time” – like the moment I almost yelled at a ride operator because I thought my 9 year old was stuck inside a dark, mirrored maze with strobe lighting and deafening music, possibly throwing up, having a seizure, laying on the floor overcome with sensory overload. He was in there for 20 minutes! I made the ride operator stop the ride, and go inside and rescue my kid. Of course, he was absolutely fine, he just took a long time to finish the maze game and I freaked out.
Also, the whole cost going to the show is always an expensive endeavor. So I made my kids work out a “Day Trip Itinerary” ON A BUDGET. They did a pretty good job. Except they suffered a bit of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)… and their plans ended up being ambitiously tiring. We were on our feet for 7-8 hours!
But, other than those exceptions, yes we had a grand old time enjoying the farm animals, the farm technology, the fire fighters, the wood choppers, the horse riders and the ALPACAS!
If only I could exude a presence this cool and happy, my life would be complete. It was so cute and adorable, that I didn’t even mind when I stood in its poo.
Look at her beautiful shiny coat. That horse brown is amazing.
My kids thought the animals and farm stuff were “fun and educational”… but my kids are a bunch of daredevils. They live for speed, height, fast drops, tight corners, g-forces. They’ll try anything new and exciting. So we made a bee line for the rides and games.
I wasn’t thrilled.
The noise, the frantic energy, the cost, the crowd, the blaring music… It all made me so aggro!
My older kids chose a couple of crazy, gravity defying, monstrous mechanical beasts to sit on.
I had to count to 10, meditate, think of calm blue oceans… anything, to silence THE UTTER TERROR EXPLODING IN MY BRAIN BECAUSE MY CHILDREN ARE GOING TO FALL AND DIIIIIEEEE!!!
After all that… I made my older kids sit with my younger boy – who is only 5 – as he rode on some “baby rides”.
Despite their humiliation, they were very cool about it. They are such good big brothers.
It also meant that I didn’t have to ride with my 5 year old, yay! I have successfully trained my older kids to look after my younger kid.
Here’s my little cute little Angry Bird, waiting at the train station at the end of the day.
Happy but exhausted!
