Going to the Fair

Friday we had a fun day planned. The kids went off to school. At home it was a fairly normal day. I put Melanie down for an early nap, and then woke her to go pick up the kids from school. That was crazy trying to wait for the kids to come out and finding a place to pull over. That's one reason I'm glad I don't do that every day. The idea was that Aaron had a dentist appointment and as soon as he was done we were going to the fair. He got home just after the bus dropped off the rest of the kids. So I really didn't need to pick them up in the first place - ugh!!! And even then we had to wait for Aaron to change clothes etc. Eventually we were on our way. I drove since Aaron was waiting for a phone call from Children's Hospital. They called before we got on the highway. It rained on the way up. It wasn't for very long, but it hasn't rained in quite a while.

We asked the kids if they wanted to take the bus (shuttle) or park at the fairgrounds. They were excited to ride the bus, so we parked at the shopping center, and the bus pulled up as we were all getting out. So I waved to the driver to make sure she knew we were coming, and we hopped right on. My only concern with the shuttle was waiting for it to come, and wasting time. It was actually faster that way because we didn't have to drive around looking for parking, and walk across the parking lot to the entrance. The bus drops us off right at the gate, and it's free! We didn't bring the stroller because I figured Melanie would want to walk anyway, and the umbrella stroller wouldn't hold the diaper bag anyway.

 The kids love this noisy fair staple

 We saw Liana J* and a friend of hers

 Melanie thought it was too noisy

 The rotating exhibit was about dinosaurs, but there was an admission fee, so we skipped it.

We found our bucket of junk entry, and it got 3rd place. That's better than 4th like last year, so we actually make money on the entry this time! I have to say the ones that came in 1st and 2nd, were way beyond our capabilities! Very creative! Somehow everyone else got 2 giant screws and we only got one. I hope that didn't get us a lower score because of that. The rules state you must use everything in the bucket, and we did, but I wonder if one piece was missing.

 Don't look now, but Amy wanted me to take a picture, and she's smiling!!!!

This one was outside the largest pumpkin display - I knew we didn't have any large pumpkins this year, so I didn't enter any.

Amy is eating a honey stick

 Melanie didn't want her picture taken this time

We went into the kids' exhibit. We ran into the W* family. Rebecca was working in the school booth while Lincoln and the kids were checking out the exhibits. While the older kids were doing the straw maze and sitting on saddles, I sat and rested while Melanie played in the corn bin.

 Amy playing with the stick pony

 Melanie loved the corn bin

 Amy got in for a bit too, she was almost to tall for it

 climbing on the tractor

 We saw horses in the stalls and then went to the petting zoo

 Texas Longhorn

 a sheep in with the hatching chicks

 Melanie was a little timid at first

 then she enjoyed it

 

 We watched the pig races

Then I sat in the STEM building while Aaron went to scout out vendor booths for dinner. I didn't get to sit long because Timothy needed to use the bathroom, then Amy and Melanie decided they wanted to come too. So I left the diaper bag with David - he was doing some coding on the computer - and I took the rest of the kids to find a bathroom. We barely got back when Aaron came back with some ideas for dinner. We ended up getting a pizza and some fries. They were selling poutine (something Aaron had tried in Wisconsin), however they didn't have actual cheese curd, just cheese. It wasn't quite the same. We also had curly fries. We took the food into the grandstands and watched some car racing. It was interesting, but the kids got bored, and apparently it was too loud.

 The most exciting part was seeing rainbows appear.

 The rainbow was really faint at first

 Eventually it darkened and there was a double rainbow

Aaron's picture was better

Once we had had enough of the loud cars Timothy suggested we check out the vendor booths in the dome. So we wandered over there. I knew there were drinking fountains in there, so I filled up our water bottles. Apparently Melanie tried to follow me and got lost. I came back around the corner to see everyone frantically looking for her. Aaron and I went two different directions and David went back outside. It was the longest 4 minutes ever! David found her outside. She must have thought I went back outside. She was clinging to Aaron when I got back. Then she wanted me to hold her, and she started crying. Then she got a little too heavy for me, and I couldn't walk carrying her. She let Aaron carry her for a while after that. After wandering the vendor booths, Aaron bought some candy for the kids, and then we had time for one last thing. 

They each had a little money to spend, so they had to choose to buy something, to play a game, or go to the dinosaur exhibit. David wanted to play a game, Amy wanted to buy something to take home, and Timothy wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit. So we split up. Timothy and Melanie with with Aaron, and David and Amy went with me. Amy wanted one of the inflatable toys, but when she saw her options for the amount of money she had, she changed her mind and wanted to see the dinosaurs. So I sent David ahead to catch Aaron, and then called him. So we walked over to the dinosaurs, and Amy went with them, so it was just David and I searching for a game to waste  spend his money on. I ran into Shannon and then Michael. Aaron had seen the K* family earlier, and we saw Madelyn and Nathan when we were getting dinner. We talked for a minute and then continued on. Oh I forgot we also saw Christopher A* and Alan J* with some friends earlier. David wandered around trying to find something to play. He ended up at the coin dozer. For some reason he likes that game. He usually wins some little trinket, but this time he didn't. He got a lot of coins to play again, but no prizes. I guess you pay for the entertainment of playing the game. Meanwhile Aaron and the other kids had fun with the dinosaur exhibit.

They had dinosaurs you could sit on (stationary) and some you could ride (mechanical).

Melanie was a little nervous, wouldn't smile or wave. But afterward said it was fun.

Just as David finished playing his game, Aaron called and said they were done, we met up at that noisy metal exhibit on our way out. Melanie decided she wanted to bang on it this time.

We exited the fair and waited about 5 minutes or so for the shuttle to arrive. We waited until the second stop and piled into the van. Aaron drove us home. Everyone had fun, and we were all ready for bed by the time we got home. Unfortunately the day ended with Aaron's dropped phone and a cracked screen :(. And then Melanie was so tired, she gave me a hard time about getting ready for bed, and I was so tired I was ready to send her to bed naked. I walked away for a bit to calm down, and eventually she was dressed and in bed. It just took way longer than I had expected or wanted. It was a sad way to end a really fun day.