the County Fair

The County Fair is in town, so we decided to load up the kids and venture out yesterday afternoon. I've never had much interest in the Fair before, mainly because I have zero interest in seeing livestock, eating those ginormous turkey legs, or trying out the "ride at your own risk" fair rides. But as with everything else, things change once you have kids.

They had a few tigers on display at the Fair. This was probably the most interesting exhibit, but also the most depressing as I can't stand to watch the tigers just pace back and forth like they're about to lose their mind being held in captivity. Of course, I'd rather them be behind the bars so I'm safe, but you know what I'm saying. The funniest part of this exhibit was when Braedyn kept pointing at the tigers saying "dog, dog". I mean, it does have four legs and a tail... close enough!

So I've never eaten the "fair food" when I visited the Fair in the past. All I ever really wanted was a basket of french fries (go figure). But Ben talked me into this...

And can I just say "Oh My Gosh, I Love Funnel Cake". Yes, sadly enough, I've never eaten funnel cake before (I know, I live under a rock). But it didn't take me long to find out that this yummy food clearly meets the definition of "heavenly". I must admit that I'm secretly glad I haven't discovered this food until now, because 15,000 calories later, I nearly ate the entire plate myself. However, I did "allow" Braedyn and Ben to taste a little bit of it. And I think it's safe to say that Braedyn also thoroughly enjoyed this treat... surely you can tell this by the way he's shoveling it into his mouth.

Braedyn has a never-ending fascination with lawnmowers. Seriously, he'll hear someone 2 blocks away mowing the lawn and his little head will pipe up and he'll say "mawn-mow! mawn-mow!". (Hey, it's a big word, give the kid some credit for trying!!) So of course, anything that resembles a lawnmower is totally mesmerizing for him. So when they had the tractor parade, he was totally glued to the sidelines and watched in awe.


After the tractor parade, Braedyn quickly moved on to the second most fascinating thing at the fair... this wonderful rock that he found on the ground. He toted this thing around for quite awhile, and only gave it up for a french fry (you know, the french fries that Ben begrudgingly bought for me). Is it just me, or does Braedyn look like he's up to no-good in this picture?!?

I would like to say that Chase had an equally fun time as his big brother, but he spent most of the day like this...

... although he did eventually wake up when it was getting dark out, and he was completely fascinated by all the colorful lights on the rides.

So after one funnel cake, one basket of fries, one box of extremely salty popcorn, one medium coke (even I couldn't justify the $5 for a large), and a few hours of walking, we decided to head home - mainly because the boys were getting sleepy as it was getting close to their bedtime. I think it's safe to say that I came home with the biggest stomach ache ever. And also, I felt like I had this layer of - what I refer to as - Fair Filth all over me. Do you know what I'm talking about... that feeling when you feel like you've been in dirty air for several hours, and nothing will make you feel better except for a shower. So between the stomach ache and Fair Filth, all I can say is thank goodness the Fair only comes to town once a year!