Pioneer day & triggers

It was nice to celebrate Pioneer Day with the kids this weekend. One of the cities close by hosts a pioneer celebration in the park, and it has a lot of fun activities.

#1 Son and Kitty had fun competing in a log sawing competition, followed by carving 'petroglyphs' at the Native American Village. Surrounding the park were several activities which Kitty rolled her eyes about (apparently she is getting too cool to participate in kiddie activities). We didn't hunt for the Sheriff, put her in the jail, pan for gold or participate in the watermelon eating contest.

I made sure we gave a wide berth to the station that was hosting a "needle in a haystack hunt"-just walking by all the piles of hay with kids clawing through them was enough to make us start sneezing.

Then Kitty spied the miniature ponies from across the park. She dragged us over there, but oh, what a shame, the line was too long! What a disappointment! We also told her that it looked like it was just the little kids who were riding on the miniature ponies. And lucky us, there was also a petting zoo. Great. More hay and dander. As I saw her eyeing the animals I distracted her by saying, "I know it's not pioneer food, but I think I saw a pizza stand on the other side of the park!"

Shameless, I know. But you've got to know what diversion tactics work for which kid. Of course she did bat her eyes and give me her biggest smile while sweetly asking if we could get a pony for the backyard. (Ongoing joke) Sure! Let's get two so he has a friend!

It would be nice to be able to go somewhere without always scanning the surroundings to make sure there wasn't anything that was going to set off someone's asthma. At least #2 son wasn't with us, so I didn't have to scan all the food for tree nuts!

Ah, my life as an asthma mom......