Chilbi - Is it a Food? a Disease? a European Auto?

None of the above! Chilbi is the local carnival that graces many of the small villages around the Lake and throughout the countryside during the year. Take carnival rides, raclette booths (smelly melting cheese scraped onto pieces of fresh bread), some cheap product hawkers and a few 'bier gartens' and you have the Waedenswil Chilbi. This fair takes place from Sat. to Mon. starting from 2pm in the afternoon and we're not sure when it stops - heard it going full steam ahead Sat. morning at 12:30am (Kendra was having a nightmare - maybe it was the loud music blaring from the Bahnhof!). I am afraid our pics here are from last year when we didn't know any better. BUT, we obviously thought it had redeeming entertainment value for the family as we decided to go Monday night for dinner and some rides - but forgot the camera.

Last year the girls were content with kiddie rides and a whirl on the Ferris Wheel. But Bart had to go and corrupt Kendra with the Pepsi Ripsaw in Snoopyland at the Mall of America (she remembers every last bit of that label exhausting title) last Dec. and the rest will go down in history - and Susan will probably go down with it! Bart & Rachel are unable to do anything fast and spinny for fear that, well, you know, they may never want to eat another Bratwurst again. So Kendra has found that Mom can handle these crazy rides - likes spinning fast and has a strong stomach. But I found I had a stronger stomach before children. These are not your run-of-the-mill carnival rides. Yes, they are mobile, carnival sorts but they rival the speed and chill factor of a Six Flags - with exception of roller coasters.

Kendra had her heart set on riding the Snow Dream which is a bunch of linked sleighs that chase each other around an undulating track at high speed. As I am clinging to her at warp speed (trying to keep her from flying out), she is yelling how Awesome it was. She then convinces me to go on this crazy swing ride seen in the pic below. I was doing OK until they sped things up and started tilting it - which I did NOT remember from last year. I did not enjoy the ride!!!! All I could thing was - "How could I be whipping around up here 30ft off the ground in this little chain link chair and how could I have thought it was OK to let Kendra go on it too!" She thought it was fun but admitted it made her a little nervous. A big Hannah Montana "YA Think!" can be inserted here. You realize my mother is reading this now and thinking she needs to save her grandchildren from irresponsible parents - but no one's going to listen because I'm sure Kendra got the daredevil guts from her in the first place. So then, we let them ride the little roller coaster by themselves - all the while yelling at them to HOLD ON - because Mommy is about to cry, certain something terrible is going to happen to her beloved babies on these crazy carnival rides. I was not relaxed. So what did I do? Gave in and went on the Snow Dream again w/K - this time we screamed louder and seemed to go faster (maybe that was because it was now dark and they put on the strobe lights). We have stomachs of iron - had some cotton candy right after that. Bart and Rachel seemed to enjoy watching us - especially the "nervous" moments. So there goes another Chilbi. And I think we might find ourselves out of town or something the last full weekend of August next year.

We could see our house from the Ferris Wheel. Tall tree at the top of the horizon, left of middle - then straight down to the white building just below. That's us on top - you can see our backyard fir trees.

I still can't even contemplate a blog about the start of school yet. Maybe after Rachel's Birthday/Slumber party tomorrow night I might be cured. Or ruined forever. We'll see.