Rachel at Super Ex Part the fourth

The bee ride was also a favourite with the two girls.
Interestingly the carny who ran this ride made me ride with the girls (yes, perhaps I rode on a few of these rides. Perhaps I even enjoyed it) after their first intial go around. I think he had not realized quite how small Rachel was the first time.
I snapped this picture from another bee car. Interestly I was riding with another little girl. The dad could not come on the ride (he had not tickets or wrist band), but I guess the little girl had really wanted to go on the ride. But the carny did not want her to around by herself and was trying to put her in with Rachel and Sorcha - which I figured might freak her out a bit. Her dad seemed okay when I offered to take her. Apparently going around with a strange lady who took pictures and shouted to her, pointing, "there's your da-da" was okay.

Rachel at Super Ex Part the Third

As mentioned, we went to Super Ex with Rachel's cousin Sorcha who was visiting from Miramichi.
This flying elephant (and yes, this one did fly into the air) was the first one that they rode on together.

Rachel at Super Ex Part the Second

As the sun rose in the sky, we moved on to a surprising similar series of midway rides. Most involved a vehicle of some sort and moving in a circular fashion. Rachel LOVED it.
Perhaps she has the boat driving gene passed down to her from a legion of relatives - like her Aunt Ruth, Cousin Michelle, her grandfather, and even perhaps her mother (who could drive a mean 10 horse in her day around Purdy Lake).
We were talking to the carny about this ride (after about the 10th one) and he admitted that some other breaktime replacement carny had broken it the day before. In theory, the hydrolics on the ride are supposed to lift the rider into the air as they go around in a circle. Apparently break time carny managed to let all the oil out of the system while the usual operator was on his break - thus breaking the flying part on the ride. The usual carny guy was a bit miffed by this. As mentioned, I had let Rachel ride on this thing many times that day. I was mildly horrified. However, I was glad to hear that the usual carny guy was going home to his family after not seeing them for eight weeks (really, you get to know these guys after seeing them 10 times in a day).

Super Ex Part the First

This is Rachel's first ride on a mid-way - ever! We arrived and met her Nana and Papa and cousin Sorcha at Super Ex at 11:30 when the gates opened. This is the first ride she wanted on - but it wasn't open right away. Would she ride on anything else....nooooo! (although she did deign to try the glass house after a half hour of prodding. She was okay with that).
As you can see the fire engine ride was worth the wait. Despite dealing with a surly carny. He warmed up to us as the day wore on though. Because if we rode this ride once, we rode it 50 times (good thing we bought the day-long bracelet). And he was looking forward to the Kim Mitchell concert...(I am not making this up).
Perhaps Rachel was a fire person in a previous life. She really glommed on to this ride for some reason. And it was surprisingly fast, considering her 5 year old cousin was too tall to get on it.