James looks forward to this day for weeks and wouldn't miss it for anything. He wanted to go to the midway as soon as we entered the gate. His favorite ride is the merry-go-round and here's some pictures of him and his dad. It's getting harder and harder to help James get up on the horses. Jim wasn't with us last year and I gave up trying to help James get on one of the horses, and he and I sat on one of the benches and enjoy going "round and round".
He wanted a peanut festival cap and I ended up going to the fair office to buy one. The building that houses peanut festival products (caps, shirts, etc) was not open on Wed. With his cap in hand, and riding the merry-go-round, he was ready to move along to the end of the midway looking at all the rides. No many were operating on Wed. Near the end he said he was unable to walk any further, and sat down on a bench. He was extremely tired and wanted something to drink. Not a single food vendor was open in the midway. I left James with his dad on a bench in a shade and walked back to the entrance of the park to find someone to come give James a ride back to the entrance so we could go home.I found some nice people at the First Aid station and they came to pick James up in their John Deere "Gator". We found him a Pepsi at one of the food vendors. Then after being there for about an hour, he was ready to leave.He's still talking about how much fun he had at the fair!Since we were out of the park by 11 a.m., we went shopping and stopped at the mall for lunch in the food court. I had my favorite - chinese food. Our Buick was at Maaco in Dothan getting some dents in the bumper taken out and the bumper painted. Jim and James came home in the buick and I spent a couple of more hours shopping. I was totally exhausted when I got home but after a fresh cup of coffee I was ready to go to Wed. night supper at church. It was a very long day.
The Peanut Festival ended with a parade on Sat. morning. For the past few years, we have made a deal with James. We will go to the fair with him on his special day and he would watch the parade on TV. Usually on Friday before the parade he will say something like "I sure would like to see the parade in person and sit in front of First Baptist Church on one of the chairs they rent to "festival goers" and I feel a little bit guilty for not wanting to take him. Actually the parade is a little nostalgic since I remember marching with the band in the parade in the early 50's. (Note: the first peanut festival was held in 1943) I remember one year the band marched behind Johnny Mack Brown on his famous horse, whose name I can't recall. Yesterday (Mon.) when we took James to his appointment with his kidney doctor, we saw big trucks carrying the fair rides, etc. as they were leaving Dothan. James was excited as they passed us on the highway.
By the way, James got a good report (no change in his kidney function which is 20%). If it gets lower, that means dialysis 3 times a week, in 4 hour sessions. We try not to think about that.
Now that the fair is over, James is looking forward to going to SC and NC for Thanksgiving to be with family. We were there just a month ago. Traveling in our "almost new" Honda Odessey van makes the trip much easier.
