Fair Fun & New Pets

Thonon was hosting it's annual County Fair.  Of course we decided to check it out.  Was surprised to discover that basically a Fair is a Fair wherever you are in the world.  Of course the food choices were slightly different and the language was different but otherwise I could've been back home at my Marin County Fair; hot, dusty, farm animals, lots of people, rides, carnies, and beer gardens.  One other difference though is that it was not a "smoke-free" Fair.  Ugh!  I forgot what it's like to constantly be walking through second-hand smoke.  

Girls had fun at the carnival:

They had the typical animals to pet but I didn't take any pictures of all the chickens, rabbits, and ducks they had for sale!! Of course, the girls were begging us to get them some pet chickens or bunnies.

  

Trying their hand at some games.

Prizes!

There was a large showcase of foods produced in the region.  Lots of meat!

 

And bread. Cheese too of course, although I didn't get any pics of those booths.

We enjoyed some french fair food: rosti (grated potatoes formed into a patty and cooked in lots of butter; like a fritter), sausage sandwiches, and beer!

Teah didn't even bother with the baguette the sausage came in.

One of the games the girls played they had the option to pick a goldfish as their prize.  Although we were resistant at first.  I mean really, what are we going to do with goldfish?  We finally gave in hoping that maybe having some pets would help soften the intense transition they were experiencing.

Here they are excitedly displaying the fish they picked out.

That night the fish slept in small bowls we found in the kitchen.  We tried to explain to the girls that there was no way to know how healthy the fish were and there was a chance they wouldn't live very long.  Fingers crossed they would pull through.  I really didn't want to add "pet dying" to the list of un-pleasantries the girls were dealing with.  Thankfully the fish made it through the night and after dropping the girls off at school the next day we went straight to the garden/pet store to get some fish food and supplies.  As Marc and I wandered around the store wondering which of the 10 different goldfish foods we should choose a nice lady came over to help us.  We told her what we were looking for and she immediately guessed that we were the proud new owners of goldfish from the Fair!! Apparently we weren't the first ones to aimlessly wander the fish section wondering what to do with our new Fair pets.

Here they are in their happy new fish bowls. 

Teah's fish is the one on the right with the white belly.  Her name is Bubbles.

Lola's you can only see her back fin. Her name is Luna.

(Of course they're girls, right?)