Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

CNE Redux
I picked up Vanessa after her last day at Art Garage, and after taking her and Annie home and feeding them lunch, Julian from next door came over to look after Annie so that Vanessa and I could head back to the CNE, this time to do some rides.

Got there just before 2pm, I thought in time to see the Eukabana Dog Show Vanessa loves. Turns out that I got the times wrong, so after wandering around the International displays in the Conference Building and admiring some flamenco dancing, we headed straight to the kid's midway at the other end of the grounds. Vanessa played a few games and won herself a few plush animals, and after scouting out the various rides I bought tickets and took her on some rides. She really wanted to go on the bumpercars with me, so that was the first thing we did, with her steering and my foot on the accelerator. Then she want on a small pseudo-spaceship ride, where she was measured prior to getting on to it – not to check to see if she was tall enough, but to see if was too tall! After that she went not once but twice on a tall slide on a sackcloth, enjoying it so much that she begged to go on it again. ;-)

After another silly game and another small plush animal, we went into an adjacent hall. After gazing at things like people getting henna tattoos, neon girded metal clocks and plenty of silly-looking New Age art, I found a fudge stand and let Vanessa pick out some fudge for herself. We found the magician we bought a magic kit from last time, but we didn't stick around for the show, since he was in the middle of selling various kits. Noticed an adjacent stand selling melted and warped vinyl records for various cheesy purposes, arguably the best being the "the most ironic CD holder available".

Then to the Food Building, where Vanessa asked specifically for a donut. We found the Tiny Tom donut factory, where we bought a dozen mini-donuts with cinnamon sprinkles thrown liberally into the bag for $3. Then we found a stand selling fruit smoothies for a couple of bucks. We sat outside enjoying Abba tunes from a look-alike cover band, and managed to catch the last song of their set close up before we had to go.

For fun, I took Vanessa through the "big kid" midway on the way to catching a taxi back home from the Princes' Gates for a taste of what she might want to try next year. She marveled at the Drop Zone, where people plunged rapidly several dozen feet in free-fall, though she said she didn't want to try it next year. At one of the fright houses there was a guy in front trying to entice people in, using a simple but effective illusion whereby it appeared as though his head sat above a partial skeleton body. He saw Vanessa shying away and tried to call her over, which of course spooked her even more. After explaining that he was just lying down and it only appeared that his head was on top of a skeleton she seemed a bit releaved. Then she saw the "big kid" version of the slide she so enjoyed at the kiddie ride section, which has to be at least three times the size of the one she had been on previously. She also marveled at the rollercoaster ride (and I don't think she believed me when I told her it was small relative to most others) and gawked at a couple more haunted houses, always telling me to "look at that!". ;-) Soon we were at the front gate and off in a taxi back to home and Annie. A fast trip to the CNE, but at least we did the rides Vanessa didn't get to do next time.