Wanderer's Daughter

The other evening, we packed up the bike stroller and rode the beautiful path that runs along Clear Creek (yeah, it's that one from the Coors ad) to a certain park where we found this....
Wheat Ridge's annual Carnation Festival. Though we did not see a single carnation (and I still have not discovered the source of the name), the very first thing we came across was this guy...
...and my heart was lost.
He was on a rest from donkey ride duty, and quite possibly the sweetest, softest donkey that ever lived. Just look at that blue velvet nose, and that forelock! Did you ever see anything like that forelock? It was as soft as angora. I couldn't tear myself away.
Oh. My. Goodness! Just look at those EARS!!!! By the time I finally dragged myself away, Mike and Q were already well into the fairgrounds.
We took in the petting zoo first since they had miniature goats and sheep. I've seen miniature goats before, but never a sheep the size of a terrier. Fortunatly Q has finally learned to pet gently (instead of a sound whacking about the head and ears, which was her initial idea of how to pet our dogs) and did a wonderful, restrained job among the animals.
Of course she had to have her donkey ride. We give her a ride whenever we get the chance because I want her to feel comfortable on horseback, and to live without fear.
This baby goat got itself up onto a camp chair when no one was looking, and then couldn't figure out how to get down from his unstable perch. I would have helped, but was too busy taking pictures.
And then I saw this guy and fell in love for the second time. You can't tell from the picture, but this goat was the size of a small cat. I put the camera in the grass just an inch or two from his face to take this picture. His horns were so tiny that you could barely see them, and if you rubbed the top of his head they were just two teensy little nubs.
And look at those eyes!! Plus a nose so tiny it would fit in a thimble.
We avoided the deep-fried twinkies (though it was tempting to see what one looked like) and saved ourselves for the BBQ. Why is it that fairs always bring out the best BBQ?

There were strings of balloons rising up into the cloudless sky in every direction, which made Q nearly insane with excitement.
And then she got to play the drums.
Maybe it's all those drumming demos on Yo Gabba Gabba, but she had proper form the minute the sticks were handed over to her. Is there anything this kid can't do?
Pretty proud of herself with a police dept badge and a pom pom from the local cheering squad.

I couldn't stop myself from snapping pictures of this modern-day Spiccoli and his entourage.
And then QQ discovered that - as if the day could get any better - there was a ballgame in progress. When she realized that the crowd was cheering for the batters, she turned around and started cheering back at the crowd.