Field Trip to the Fair

Even though we just started school last week, I decided that we had to take part of the day off and head to the State Fair.

I always enjoyed the fair as a kid. I shudder to think of the amount of money I spent going on the "Zipper" ride alone. They didn't have the "Zipper" at this fair, so I wasn't tempted. I don't think my body could take it anymore anyway.

I was never one for the silly games though. I mean, really, what do I want with a life-sized purple stuffed gorilla anyway? We steered clear of them today, but the kids gawked at all of the toys hanging from the booths.

We made sure that we ate some cotton candy (yes I remembered the baby wipes!). We had to get some kettle corn too. I think the bag was almost as big as Lexie!


We went through the agricultural and livestock exhibits. The kids got a kick out of the rabbits and goats. They came to realize that having animals can be stinky...


And it wouldn't be an Alaskan fair without giant cabbage, right?


They went on a couple of rides, but they were "little" ones. Ones that didn't involve flips or heights or any kind.

First of all, they are EXPENSIVE!! I probably never noticed before, because I was the one begging my mom for money. Really, who can afford $3-5 a ride, per kid??

Second, is it just me, or do those rides look RICKETY and unsafe? Are they the same exact rides from when I was a child? Have they not been replaced? Or did I just never care before I became a mom? No child of mine rode this:
Instead, they stuck to the close-to-the-ground and I'm sure much less exciting rides:
And poor Lexie, bless her heart. We chose a very tame (and lame) little viking ship ride. This was a mini version of ones that I have seen before. It was really small (with only 4 seats). Ellie and Kate were forced on there with her so that she wouldn't be alone. And look at her in the picture. I really think that had she been on there for about 10 more seconds, she would have tossed her cookies on Kate, who was facing her. That would have been precious.
All in all, it was a decent day. We spent way too much money on way too little entertainment. Will we be returning later this week? Definitely not. I think maybe we'll save our money up for a nice trip to Disney World, where the rides are much better maintained and not run by carnies. :)

One good thing about the fair, was that Ellie realized that she could enter her artwork in to compete for ribbons. She thought that sounded pretty exciting. Maybe we'll have to look into that when we move.