Our Day At The County Fair, In Pictures!

If you like lots of pictures, then this is the blog post for you!! Last Monday, our family took a trip to the Pima County Fair. We hadn't been to the fair in about three years...the last time we went, Lorelai wasn't in school yet, Celeste was too small for most of the rides, and Aurora was a tiny babe in arms. We had fun, but we didn't stay long and didn't do much. We thought after a few more years of growth, the girls would have a lot more fun. So after a few years of "passing" on the fair, we finally decided to take the plunge this year.

This year, we went on a Monday--which was a discount day both for fair admission and parking. We also bought some cheap ride coupons prior to going to the fair. Last of all, we actually got Lorelai out of school early to go! Remember kids, education is important...but not as important as getting your money's worth at the fair!

Here's a bunch of pictures from our trip, with some commentary:

Our first stop was inside one of the big tents, where we got to see an "exotic lizard" presentation. It was especially great since all the girls got to be volunteer "animal handlers" at various points throughout the show.

Lorelai's the one in the middle with the blue hat...

...and you can't see her now, because a crocodile is in the way!

Lorelai's reaction upon being asked to pet the crocodile...those eyes...those eyes...

Celeste and Aurora got to go up next...you can see Aurora shyly "waving" to us while on stage.

They got to help hold a huge snake! (you can just barely see Aurora's arms just touching the snake; she was a bit nervous)

There was a lot of cool stuff inside this (very large) tent; including a whole mini-medieval world for the kids to play around in for several minutes.

Including this cute little wooden "warship"...

 

...and a jail cell for disobedient girls.

And stocks, too.

 

 

Lorelai's command style

Celeste's laissez-faire approach to ultimate power

Aurora's just happy to be here.

Nathan had one goal at the fair...to eat something deep-fried. He found one of those vendors that deep-fry all kinds of things, and bought himself a deep-fried Snickers bar.

Verdict: delicious!

It turns out the vast majority of deep-fried foods all end up looking like corn dogs, even when dusted with powdered sugar.

We saw a couple of shows at the fair; the girls' favorite was this one, with Frisbee-catching dogs. They were excited, friendly, and super-athletic. One of the male dogs had to "mark his territory" all over the field before he would perform though; it was pretty darn funny.

 

 

 

These two dogs got into a competition for most Frisbees caught.

Look at that air!

We all really enjoyed the livestock tents. It's always fun to see farm animals, and most of these animals were healthy, beautiful specimens.

 

At first, Lorelai was calling these turkeys "HUGE CHICKENS."

The highlight of the livestock tent (for cow-lover Lorelai, anyway)

Lorelai posing with her favorite animal, the cow!

Lots of cute sleepy calves

The girls spent so much time looking at livestock, they began to resemble them somewhat.

After looking at the animals, we headed into the 4-H tent. It was neat to see so many different kids' projects in one place. The variety of projects was pretty impressive, too! We even saw a small "baked goods" section, and found some award-winning cookies made by one of Lorelai's school buddies. Small world!

But while "looking at stuff" was fun for a while, it was soon time to do what we'd all come here to do: ride a bunch of carnival rides!

Here's a free-fall ride Nathan rode.

Too tall for me!

I preferred this "hang-glider" style spinning ride. I loved it, but Lorelai was freaking out the entire time! She is not a big fan of the rides in general.

The swing ride on the left elevates almost to the level of the tall Ferris wheel in the background. Much too high for my liking. Celeste was waving her hands in the air and screaming with delight, while I grabbed her tightly with one hand and prayed not to die. Right before the ride, Celeste told me, "Mommy, I hope this helps you overcome your fear." Sorry kid, it didn't...especially not when she's riding with me, and I'm spending the whole time worrying about her. Who knew my little princess would be so fearless?

After making our stomachs upset for an hour or so, it seemed only appropriate to buy some greasy fair food for dinner:

I love me a good barbecued turkey leg. Everyone else either had hot dogs, sandwiches, or nachos.

Too bad this monster leg was too much for met to eat by myself!

Good thing I had a hungry girl around to help me out.

Since Aurora wasn't quite big enough to ride most of the adult rides, we headed to the Kiddee Land near the fair entrance to spend the rest of the evening. Once there, Aurora and Celeste got all the rides they wanted, and then some!

They all had lots of fun riding this weird caterpillar-coaster.

Aurora and Celeste were in heaven on this mini-swing ride.

 Sadly, the one ride Aurora couldn't ride on was the Ferris wheel--the very ride she'd been looking forward to for much of the evening! Hopefully the next time we go to the fair (in another 2-3 years), there won't be any height restrictions for her. Thankfully, in Kiddee Land, there were lots of other options for her...

...like this sweet motorcycle ride!

While Aurora rode her "hog," Lorelai, Celeste, and I headed into the Ferris wheel, for a lovely panoramic view of the whole fair...

 Whee!

Daddy and Aurora waved to us while we were waiting to be unloaded...

After this, we all piled into the car and headed home. We were very tired, but we had had so much fun! Not something I'd want to do every year, but a wonderful little escape from reality for a night. The rest of my week was definitely more hectic...more on that next time! As it stands, my kids will have a lot of fun memories to cherish.