hot dog on a stick...

the event that only comes once a year...and no i'm not talking about Christmas.

i'm talking about the county fair! where else do they call corn dogs, hot dogs on a stick?!

we love the fair. and i'm not being the least be sarcastic. we really do. the lights, the food, the rides, the animals, the rodeo, the food, the games. because we only live 3 blocks from the fairgrounds, the kids get to see the horses whenever we run errands. we went to the park on tuesday and they were watching "da wookers" who were putting the Ferris wheel up...every day since then i've heard ''i wanna go to the fair mommy."

now i know that a county fair is not every ones cup of tea. some people hate fairs all together. some people would rather wait for the state fair. not me. i prefer the county fair. i like to see all the 4-H animals and the rodeo horses. i like free parking and zero traveling. i remember going to the county fair when i was young (a little older than bubba, i think) and watching the pig races, riding the swings and begging to go on the Ferris wheel. playing the 'pick the duck' game and eating cotton candy. i want to be able so share all that summery over-priced goodness with my kids too.

so after dinner tonight, despite the fact that it was 94 degrees out with ZERO breeze, we loaded up the kids and finally went to the fair. in true fair fashion, we were lazy enough to drive (you know, all 3 blocks. in our defense we have 3 kids and it's a BIG hill) and the first thing we did when we got there was walk through all the 4-H buildings and see the animals. which by the way was a very good idea and we may have seen the cutest thing ever. seriously, adorable. bubba loved petting the goats but pooks did not. he would not get near any farm animal which was completely opposite of him last year.
this big ol' mama pig just gave birth yesterday to SIXTEEN piglets. SIXTEEN. and we were lucky enough to get to see her, plus the piglets and they 13 of those piglets were nursing--which bubba and pooks thought was so cool. in the words of pooks, "dat pig gots yots and yots of boobies! mommy, piggies dwink yots of boobie milk mommy." he watches for minute. "yike baby [peanut]."
told you it was adorable.

so after sanitizing our hands, we found a spot to sit down and dine on all the fried goodness that the fair offers. B has been talking about eating a huge turkey leg for the last 2 weeks at least. whatever, Neanderthal. i'm more traditional and couldn't wait for a funnel cake! the boys liked both, equally. although pooks did like all the powdered sugar, a lot!
after our snack, we walked around and took in the sights and smells. the boys played the rubber ducky game and each won a stuffed monkey. B and I played the skee-ball game but neither of us could score the 210 necessary points to win a prize. then the boys *finally* got to ride a few kiddie rides.

bubba took the motorcycle ride VERY seriously

but the cars were their hands down favorite. they actually rode them twice. while waving like movie stars.
peanut napped for a bit, then contently rode around in the stroller. he was more than happy to stare at all the lights, listen to the sounds and watch the people. he got pretty comfy in baby yeah yeah's stroller. (we're ordering his this week...i think i'm more excited than he is!)
after a bathroom break the boys rode the cars for the second time, as well as the carousel. well at the last minute pooks chickened out form the carousel so i rode it with bubba. i don't even remember the last time i did that, but he thought we were racing and apparently his horse beat my bunny.
by this time bubba was begging for cotton candy so we went back over to the food area. the boys shared cotton candy, i enjoyed a hot dog on a stick and B ate a huge ear of roasted corn. overall it was a huge success! no meltdowns, injuries or accidents but a lot of smiles and laughs and full bellies. bubba already said that he wants to go again next year!

i personally think the best part was on our way out of the park; i saw a family that was just sitting on the hill watching everything. the kids were probably 8 and 10 but they weren't running around with their friends, they were just sitting there, watching with their parents. while they weren't whining or pouting, you could just tell by looking at them that they were happy to be there, but wanted to join in so badly. we had a few leftover extremely, ridiculously overpriced ride tickets so i asked them if they'd like the rest of our tickets. they were SO excited! the kids happily took the tickets and the parents were genuinely thankful. the dad told us 'thank you' about 3 times and that we 'were just so kind'. afterwards (seeing the parents reaction) I realized that they didn't have the money. the kids were so sweet about it and i was so glad we were able to help. even bubba said ''now those kids get to ride yike us?" yep bubba, now they do.

i love the fair.