County Fair 2012

I decided to brave the fair alone on Friday morning. After I purchased the tickets I saw that the weather wasn't going to be as nice as we'd hoped. It was going to be windy and rainy. I figured oh well it's a morning out even if we only last an hour. I didn't bring the stroller because they are big enough to walk and I didn't want to be stuck with it. Of course we park next to another family getting out with a stroller and immediately the girls start complaining how their legs are tired and they want to ride in a stroller. I said to bad and if there legs are tired we'll go home. I never heard another complaint about tired legs.

Once we get in the gate Rachel sees the foot massage chairs and is so excited that she has to sit in everyone she sees the entire time we're there. This made me laugh because 2 years ago when we were here she was obsessed with the same thing. So I had to take a picture!

We went to the small animal pavillion where the girls got to identify insects, use a corn grinder to husk the dry corn and then take the corn and grind it to corn meal. They tried out a saddle, watched a sow and her piglets, viewed some chicks, and milked a pretend cow. They had no interest in the roosters or peacocks or other small animals that were in there.

So we moved on to the pig racing. The pigs race for oreos. I'd race for oreo's too. They had their youngest pig, Swifty, swim and then afterwards you could have your picture taken holding the pig. Of course the girls wanted to so I relented and paid $5 to have a polaroid picture of the girls and Swifty. I'm going to try an scan the picture, if it works I'll put it up here.

After the pig races we got corndogs for lunch and then funnel cake while we waited for the K-9 Frisbee Dog show to begin. The wind at this point had started and so they had to do the show a little different. They did some frisbee throwing but had 2 labs out at the same time to increase the odds of someone actually catching it. They did a great job. The girl lab after every catch would run to the large water tub and jump in it. The girls thought this was hilarious. The announcers finally had to dump the water. They brought out the 6 month old frisbee pups in training and let them have a go too.

Then it was time to head over to the Jr. Rodeo areana for the Mutton Bustin. This rodeo event is for kids 3-7 to see how can ride a sheep the longest. They are official about this event. There was a kid rodeo clown, real chutes, and had the kids in helmets, vests and chaps.

The final thing we did before getting Italian Water Ice was have the girls go for their first pony ride. Rachel loved it. Ashley was brave and didn't need me until after the first lap, then she was done. So they let me come in and walk with her. However they wouldn't let me take pictures from the inside but I found a nice lady who took a couple for me. Once I was inside and could distract Ashley for a minute then she was fine. She told me about the belt that she had on so she wouldn't fall and how she was holding on real tight to the horn of the saddle. She even leaned over to pet the pony's mane.

We had a very memorable and enjoyable day at the fair. I'm glad I braved it, that the weather held out for us (we didn't get any rain, some wind but that's all), and well behaved little girls. It made me want to do more things like this with them.