Friday we also had dinner with and visited the house of a friend of Brian's. While at his house, we made a plan to join them at a festival in Edmonds, a short drive from Everett, WA, where we were staying. We drove out there for a late lunch at Anthony's Waterfront. Little did we know it was a restaurant with two separate dining areas. One, more upscale, was upstairs. This is the one we ended up in. The other, located below, was their Beach Grill, which had a nice sandbox, which Zorah played in while we were waiting for the upstairs restaurant's kitchen to open.
It was worth the wait due to the half-price appetizers and the view of the water. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, Brian intoduced Zorah to Hangman. I don't know why we have to include the noose. Next time I think we'll leave it out. Her favorite part of the game was actually finishing out the drawing of the effigy.
After we ate we wandered around the waterfront festival, which is another way of saying "people in tents trying to sell you things". There was one booth for a local preschool where they had free arts and crafts activities for the kids. Zorah made a bead necklace with big wooden beads and drew a picture with big wax crayons.
Interestingly, Zorah gives a similar look to that of her creation when she feels she's looking or acting particularly appealing.
After the preschool booth, we wandered the stalls until we found our friends. They were in an area enclosed by a chainlink fence, which the Rotary Club had dubbed the beergarden. Inside, a band was playing and beer was being sold. Minors were not allowed in there, but they did have tables set up on the outside, pushed up against the chainlink fence, so that family members under the age of 21 could enjoy the fun as well. Nothing like waving at your family or giving them the thumbs up through a chainlink fence, right?
Brian stayed there and gave Zorah twenty dollars to spend on pony rides, a climbing wall, and any other entertainment contained outside the walls of the beer garden. We waved goodbye and went off to see what fun could be had without beer.
The pony ride was five dollars, which is pretty much the standard fare for pony rides we've encountered; that wasn't the strange part. What struck me was the staff.
The ride was run by a mother and her two children, who I'm guessing were about 11 and 14. The ponies were attached to spokes on a hub, and one person would take a pony by the bridle and walk it around the circle. It seemed an easy enough task, and the day was slightly overcast, breezy, and cool. Nevertheless, the children looked so beleaguered as they trudged around in the circle. It recalled Conan the Barbarian prior to his escape from slavery. The highlight of the ride, according to the sign, was that you could stay on for a long time. Zorah and another little girl went on, and with each revolution, you could see their expressions shifting slightly from "Isn't this fun?" to "Get me off of here!"
Zorah decided to spend the rest of her money on a necklace. It was originally $20, and she bargained it down to $15. We wandered the stalls for a while longer and had some gummy siao pao and some pizza. By that time, the biergarten show was over, adn we headed home. Good times.
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