A night at the fair

The Ohio State Fair is every summer and Jason and I used to go annually....until we had kids. Our whole purpose for going was mostly to eat junk food, so once the kids came along and it would have involved a stroller, diapers, etc. we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Now, my mom and step-dad take the kids every year so we still don't go. But this year, my mom invited me to go one evening after she got off of work. Aside from the fact that my mom is fun to hang out with, we also have very similar tastes in food (minus my disdain for olives and stinky cheese and her texture issues with fruit). That being said, I had someone to share fair food with, which equaled ability to try more things.

Our first stop was sweet potato fries. Then we walked around to look at the chintzy memorabilia stuff people try to sell and spent a good deal of time looking at the contest submissions in the art building. We worked up an appetite after that so decided to try some deep fried bacon and cheddar mashed potatoes with ranch dressing. My mom didn't care for them too much, but I liked them. Next we went to see the butter cow and then a horse competition. Not sure how the judging took place where the horses were concerned, but the horses we liked didn't win, so we moved on.

The day they brought the kids to the fair the afternoon was cut short due to rain, so my mom had some extra ride tickets and suggested we put them to use. We then became the oldest people in line for the roller coaster. I'm typically okay with roller coasters, however; this roller coaster literally folded up into a truck like a Transformer so I was a little concerned about its safety. But we survived and went next to the ferris wheel. It was much better and we had a great view of downtown Columbus.

After the rides we went to the LaSalle building to look at our favorite exhibits: decorated Christmas trees and baked goods. We thought these were two of the best cakes this year. I'm always amazed by what can be made with fondant.

On the way out we passed some cute baby animals and then got our last snack....hot mini donuts covered in cinnamon-sugar. It was a fun and yummy night!

Bonfire

Every October the city where Jason works has a community bonfire. Last year we tried to take the kids and it didn't go so well, but I figured this year maybe we'd go early and things would be better if we didn't have to wait in long lines. The kids enjoyed meeting up with Daddy when we got there.

Okay, I'm not gonna' lie, I enjoyed meeting up with him too. He looks cute in his uniform.

The kids got the first train ride of the night so they were pretty excited to sit up front in the lead car.

They also got on the inflatable slide and rode the Whirlwind.

After the rides we waited in just a small line for hot dogs, donut holes and apple cider. It was the kids' first time having apple cider and they loved it. We went to the playground for a little bit and got a glow stick, too. Then we found a spot by the fire for a little bit before going home. It was really cold, but a great fall night.

A day at the fair

Last Sunday my mom and step-dad took the kids to the Ohio State Fair. The original plan was to start taking them when they were four, but last year after watching poor Jordis run to the door with her shoes and then get left behind they couldn't bear to do that to her again. So this year she got to go too, even though she's just three. I can't really elaborate since I wasn't there, so I'll just post some of my favorite pictures.

The kids can't stop talking about it and are already anticipating next year.

Thibodaux Firemen's Fair

After some down time upon our return from our morning activities, a bunch of us headed out to the Thibodaux Firemen's Fair. It's an annual fair to raise money for the fire department, since they operate on a volunteer system there. All the kids wanted to do was ride the rides. As in, after dark we had to buy them food and force them to sit down and eat because they would have been on the rides all night. Jason's parents have pictures of him on either one or both of these rides, we can't remember which. Apparently the fair has used the same ride vendor for years. Xan is all about saying hi everytime he rides by. But waiting in line is not his cup of tea. This was the cutest fair ride I've ever seen and the trucks even made realistic noises. After a few hours of rides we took the kids to meet up with family where everyone was listening to the headlining band Bag of Donuts. They were dressed like KISS but played a variety of music. The kids had lots of fun dancing, especially Jordis.

It was such a beautiful night and we had lots of fun just being with family.

Magic Kingdom

What a beautiful day it was when we went to the Magic Kingdom. Sunny and in the low 70's. I would have loved two days just here, as we didn't get to see as much as we wanted, and I was sad that we had to miss the Peter Pan ride. But it was fun anyway.

We rode the tea cups first at Xander's request. Jason went with the kids and my dad and I was in the non-extracurricular-spinning cup with Erma and Troy.


In line to ride the race cars.




It's A Small World is one of my favorites. I think I took the most pictures here (don't worry, I won't post them all). Jordis liked to wave and say hello to all of the dancing ladies.





Of course we had to ride Dumbo.



Xander scaled this house in no time while Jason took Jordis to meet some princesses.

The kids wanted to ride the train so we took it around to another part of the park.


After Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which Xander loved, he begged to go on Splash Mountain. We weren't sure how that would play out since he doesn't like getting wet but Jason took him and said he had a great time. Unfortunately, the picture I got of them on the ride is really blurry because I can tell it would have been really cute. While they did that the rest of us went to see the Bear Jamboree show.



It wasn't long before nightfall. The kids opted to skip the parade, so we rode a few more rides, got burgers and fries and they rode the race cars again with Grandpa, Grammy and Uncle Troy while Jason and I rode Space Mountain. Watched a few fireworks and then stuck around for awhile to let the crowd thin out.


They had put up the Christmas decorations the week we were there and I loved the Mickey-shaped wreaths they had on the lightposts. They also took out the usual flowers out front that form Mickey's head and replaced them with poinsettias.


Are you noticing a theme yet with how all of our days ended?