Football, Fairs, and Freewheeling

Under the guise of exposing Elsa to new experiences, we have been dragging taking her along on some recent adventures. It's just a coincidence that these activities include a number of our favorite things, such as football, elephant ears, and biking.

Fortunately, we live close enough to bicycle to the Liberty Bowl, the stadium where the University of Memphis Tigers play football, so we quickly--and graciously--accepted tickets from one of Jon's co-workers for the first home game of the season. We thought this would be the perfect scenario for Elsa's first (live) football game: not far from home, not too crowded, and not guilt-inducing if we needed to leave early (no way would we leave a Nebraska or Washington game before the end).

While our seats were fantastic...

...the weather was not, and we got a little soggy.

Luckily, it wasn't cold, and the Tigers were destroying their opponent, so our spirits weren't dampened (pun intended). We're not quite sure if or how much Elsa enjoyed the game (or rather the half we stayed for since it was a night game), but she seemed to be really taking it all in. Upon reflection, we realized what a weird thing football is if you know nothing about the game. She'll learn quickly, though, if we have anything to do with it.

Elsa's next first was the Delta Fair. So many sights, sounds, and smells--talk about sensory overload. In just a few short hours, we saw monkeys riding on dogs, pigs racing around a track, and lots of goats in a petting zoo.

Elsa was content with looking at the animals; however, she wanted nothing to do with actually touching them. Hence, the disasterous pony ride (that wasn't):

 

The kid running the pony rides actually gave us our money back because he felt bad. Elsa's tears didn't last, though, especially once we let her try some lemonade and elephant ear.

There were tears associated with Elsa's next adventure, but not how one might think. Elsa has gone riding with, or rather behind, us a number of times in a bike trailer, which she has enjoyed. However, Jon recently upped the ante by getting a new seat for Elsa that fits on the front of the bike:

From the first ride, Elsa has absolutely loved it. Now she can see everything and is probably safer since Jon can see her. The crying occurred only when it was time to get out; she wanted to ride again. In fact, just this morning as Jon was getting ready to leave for work, she toddled over in her footie pajamas and handed Jon his helmet before putting on her own. Time to ride!

We are fortunate that Elsa is generally agreeable and goes along with most of our whims. Onto the next adventure!