Took the kids to the Carnival / Fair tonight, which was (of course) completely awesome.
Right before leaving, there was a gigantic jungle gym / obstacle course on which both kids went. There was only netting on the sides, so I could see them from the ground where parents waited for their well-behaved kids. The exit was a very long slide, where my six year old daughter came out of - but not my three year old son. He ended up running back and forth in this enclosed gym, between a bouncy house and a wiggly bridge, and was the only kid who would not exit.
Since my six year old had a wrist band (therefore an unlimited pass to any ride), I asked her to go get him out - but he ran around and away from her... After about fifteen minutes of this, a father asked me, smiling ear to ear: "Is this your son running back and forth? He's having a good time!" I tried calling his name to get his attention, but he was way too busy. I started realizing that unless I bought three tickets to go on the ride myself, he wasn't coming out.
So here I was, with my little sandals and my bag, going through ropes, punching bags, a cargo net, a bouncy house, wiggly bridges, trying to get to my son - and I am just laughing at that point...
My three year old finally sees me, realizes he's not doing the right thing, and goes down the big slide (a little girl yelled out to me: "He went down!!!"). Now I had to book and throw myself down the big slide to exit before he ran to get back in line - the oblivious worker would have let him back in, no doubt. Of course, I was not mad - even if I had been, the mere fact that a ton of amused parents had just witnessed the whole thing would have deterred me from scolding him. I believe I laughed about it all the way to the car...
